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                                        French Language Version
 Please note: This is not an official NEFAC text, it
 is a compilation of articles written by a NEFAC
 member, meant to give only a brief introduction to
 why the Federation was formed. A fuller
 introduction to the Federation, our activities,
 philosophies, and goals will eventually be added.

     We currently live in an exciting period where the
 theories of anarchism have the ability to be viewed
 as practically the last remaining option for the
 emancipation of humanity against Capitalism. With
 the fall of the Berlin Wall and the resulting
 liquidation of the Communist bloc, we can assess
 the impact and complete failure of
 authoritarian-Marxist regimes in providing
 anything for the working class other than a useful
 model of how not to impose Socialism. It will be
 extremely difficult for Marxist-Leninists to shake off
 the baggage of the bureaucratic Stalinist police
 state in order to appeal to any sort of wider
 audience in the future. Likewise, with the cult-like
 mentality and almost comical factionalizing,
 splintering and sectarianism that exists amongst
 the various Maoist and Troskyist groups, it doesnt
 appear that we'll be seeing any positive
 contributions to the anti-capitalist struggle coming
 out of these camps anytime soon. Prospects on
 the not-so-far left are hardly more appealing. Most
 of what passes for orthodox socialist groups
 nowadays can only be viewed as liberal
 reformists, and on the whole, quite
 accommodating to the Capitalist ruling class.

     With discontent growing steadily on a global
 level we can see spontaneous manifestations of
 anti-Capitalist struggle in the form of scattered
 strikes, riots, protests, and in some areas, full
 fledged uprisings. Conditions are getting worse
 and worse for the oppressed, and the confirmed
 bankruptcy of authoritarian-Marxist movements
 leaves anarchists an important task to fulfill. With
 this opportunity staring us in the face, the question
 that should be asked amongst ourselves is -- Are
 we able to fulfill this task?

     The movement, as we know it, is hardly more
 than a cluttered assortment of individuals and
 small groupings possessing differing, and often
 times contradictory, ideas of what anarchism is
 and not having the slightest clue as to the actual
 realization of these ideas. For all too long a
 majority of North American anarchists have shied
 away from the subject of organization, and judging
 from the size, sustainability and effectiveness of
 the anarchist movements here in the States,
 Canada and Mexico, this is one of the foremost
 problems to overcome.

     Why build an anarchist federation? Because the
 achievement of an anarchist future will remain an
 impossibility unless we actively organize to make
 it reality. For our efforts of anti-capitalist and
 anti-statist struggle to be effective, we will need
 organization, coordination, and collective strength
 amongst ourselves, without which, we can hardly
 be perceived as any sort of threat to the ruling
 class. History has shown that without careful
 planning and organization, any kind of serious
 challenge to the dominant ruling power has proven
 easily defeated, or else easily co-opted.

     Despite the recent resurgence of militant
 left-activism and a growing interest in anarchist
 theory and practice, very little has been
 accomplished in the way of revolutionary anarchist
 organization here in North America. Since the
 collapse of Love & Rage over two years ago, few
 attempts have been made to fill the void left
 behind. If anarchism is to develop into a serious
 revolutionary movement, it is important that we
 begin to establish revolutionary organizations that
 are capable of maximizing the political impact of
 militant class struggle anarchist ideas and action
 within social movements and popular struggles.
 For several months throughout late 1999 and early
 2000, a number of anarchist-communists from the
 northeastern region networked around the need
 for such an organization.

     From April 7-9 2000, the Northeastern
 Federation of Anarchist Communists (NEFAC)
 was officially launched at a conference held in
 Boston, Massachusetts. For three days, over two
 dozen anarchists met extensively, discussing the
 need for more theoretical coherence, tactical unity
 and collective responsibility within the growing
 anarchist movement, and collectively working
 together in establishing a regional
 anarchist-communist federation based around
 these principles here in the northeast.

     It was agreed that the basic structure of NEFAC
 would consist of a membership based on active
 collectives, affinity groups and individuals from the
 region who identify with the communist tradition
 within anarchism. The activity of the federation will
 be organized around three poles: study and
 theoretical development; anarchist agitation and
 propaganda; and intervention within the class
 struggle. Overall, the federation is not intended to
 act as a mass organization in itself, but rather as a
 militant anarchist minority working within existing
 social movements and popular struggles in an
 effort to radicalize them, while simultaneously
 furthering a specifically communist perspective
 within the general anarchist movement.

     In an effort to organize across national and
 linguistic borders, NEFAC will maintain both
 French and English sections, uniting
 predominantly English-speaking
 anarchist-communists from northeastern U.S. with
 French-speaking Quebecois
 anarchist-communists.

     The Federation, by definition, is a freely
 associating group, made up of many smaller
 groups. These groups are encouraged to organize
 their own local campaigns, protests, solidarity
 actions, prisoner support, study groups, projects,
 bulletins, lectures, etc. that would be beneficial to
 their given area. Decentralized action and initiative
 is one of the great strengths of the anarchist
 movement, and this autonomy should not be
 stifled in anyway.

     Why build a specifically anarchist-communist
 federation? Of the various forms of revolutionary
 class struggle anarchism, we see
 anarchist-communism as offering the highest
 degree of social, political and economic freedom.
 This is not to discount the many important
 contributions that other tendencies within the
 anarchist movement have put forward in
 advancing anarchist theory and practice, and
 hopefully this call for organizing a specifically
 anarchist-communist federation will not be
 interpreted as an act of sectarianism on our part.
 We are not blind as to who are our allies in the
 struggle and who are our enemies. We wish to
 remain in full solidarity with other varying
 tendencies within the revolutionary anarchist
 movement, however, just as most
 anarcho-syndicalists effectively organize
 themselves within groups such as the I.W.W. or
 the I.W.A, we feel that it is equally important for
 anarchist-communists to have a federation
 structure in order to more effectively organize with
 one and other.

     Why form a regional federation over, say, a
 continental, nationwide, or coastal federation?
 One of the biggest problems that North American
 anarchists face is the sizable geographic region of
 North America itself. To have semi-regular
 meetings or conferences that would effect the
 whole federation is asking alot of people in the
 way of travel, time off work, expenses, etc. A
 practical solution to this problem is to federate
 regionally. Once a few regional federations are
 established, then we can talk about organizing
 nationally.




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