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(en) Anarchism, Marxism and the Future of the Left, Interviews and Essays 1993-1998, by Murray Bookchin. Thrall #19
From
Thrall <thrallnet@yahoo.com>
Date
Sun, 8 Jul 2001 12:59:23 -0400 (EDT)
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A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C E
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Anarchism, Marxism and the Future of
the Left, Interviews and Essays
1993-1998, by Murray Bookchin.
AK Press, Edinburgh and San Francisco,
1999.
Reviewed by Fydd
All too often class-struggle anarchist literature is out of
date. The bulk of it was written over 50 years ago.
Classics like Peter Kropotkin's The Conquest of Bread
(1892) and Alexander Berkman's What is Communist
Anarchism? (1928) are good expositions of libertarian
communism, but often seem quaint and irrelevant to
the conditions of today. Thankfully, Bookchin's
Anarchism, Marxism and the Future of the Left may be
the first leftist anarchist book which presents a
reasonably coherent and revolutionary anti-capitalist
vision which is relevant to the here and now for many,
many years.
CONTENTS
mayday2001 roundup aotearoa
mayday 2001 global
what is capitalism?
rediscovering the socialism in
anarchism
the latest anarcho-fruitloops
letters
waterfront dispute continues
new website fights university gag
order
CAPITALISM TRIUMPHANT, SOCIALISM
SUBVERSIVE
In an important, well argued and easy to read book,
Bookchin forcefully notes the obvious: we have seen
the triumph of capital since the 1980s; this has resulted
in increasing working hours, decreasing pay packets,
increasing alienation, mass unemployment and
poverty, increasing misery, and the brink of an
ecological crisis. This makes a revolutionary
anti-capitalist politics all the more relevant and urgent.
Bookchin notes that only through a libertarian
communist revolution can we get rid of capitalism and
the misery it produces. Such a revolution does not
involve replacing the capitalists with a new set of
bosses as in the USSR or China. It does involve the
complete destruction of the class system and the state,
and its replacement by a decentralised federation of
ultra-democratic workers' councils and neighbourhood
councils.
Yet in a time when capitalism is encroaching upon
almost every aspect of life, Bookchin ironically claims
that the left today has little understanding of capitalism.
This can be seen in the current "anti-capitalist"
movement, which often confuses the ideology of the
free market with capitalism as a whole. To Bookchin,
who has been involved in revolutionary leftist politics
since the 1930s, the tradition of revolutionary socialism
seems lost. The book is somewhat of a
semi-biography, with Bookchin interviewed about his
experiences as a radical since the 1930s (in the 1930s
he was a Stalinist, then a Trotskyist, before moving to
anarchism in the 1950s). In comparison to the left of
the 1930s, Bookchin looks with dismay at the current
left, and notes that many leftists don't even understand
what capitalism is, how it operates and how to get rid
of it.
Bookchin essentially argues we need to rediscover
socialism, that is, libertarian socialism. Anarchists
need to also rediscover the socialism in anarchism.
Many of the basic concepts of the leftist anarchist
tradition have been lost. For example, many anarchists
now view anarchism as a form of liberalism rather than
socialism and completely distrust any talk of class.
Thus means, as Bookchin notes, anarchism is losing
its traditional left-wing core, and thus is fast becoming
an unthreatening version of liberalism with a bourgeois
emphasis on the freedom of the individual, on personal
autonomy (a notion that suits capitalists just fine).
"Anti-statism isn't enough. Many reactionaries and
even corporate bandits are against state intervention
too. In my view, unless socialism is an integral part of
anarchism, then anarchism becomes self-indulgence.
Anarchists who aren't socialists might as well just call
themselves individualists." (p. 125). So Bookchin
claims what is sorely needed is a serious, coherent,
organised, revolutionary anarchist left which is
well-versed in anarchist socialist theory.
THE COMMUNE OF COMMUNES GONE
WRONG...
.
The book is not perfect. It's often coloured
by unnecessary personal grudges,
especially the article "Whither anarchism?".
It would have been far more interesting if
Bookchin were interviewed by (say) a
critical left-wing revolutionary anarchist
rather than a sympathetic interviewer. But the major
weaknesses of Bookchin are his belief in "libertarian
municipalism" and his vanguardism.
Bookchin's libertarian municipalism is a fundamental
misinterpretation of the communal dimension of
anarchist communism. Anarchist communists claim
that the new society would be composed of a
"commune of communes". This doesn't mean
middle-class hippies experiencing temporary
adventures in poverty, but a network of self-governing
communities. Local neighbourhoods and their services
would be run by democratically elected neighbourhood
councils (whilst workplaces would be run by the
workers themselves through workers' councils). These
councils would have open meetings which anybody
could attend, regular elections which would elect
temporary delegates who could be recalled at any
instant. These neighbourhood councils have, along
with workers' councils, been a feature of all working
class revolutions over the last century.
Bookchin has twisted this revolutionary approach by
forming a reformist, leftist party with a green tinge for
local body elections. His libertarian municipalism is not
anarchist because it involves people surrendering
control over their lives to a bunch of representatives,
rather trying to establish direct democracy. Bookchin is
not consistent in his opposition to the state: local
government is part of the state. If Bookchin's leftist
green party got into power at local government level,
no matter how well intentioned, it would sell-out its
supporters just as the German Greens have. Why
doesn't Bookchin apply his criticisms of the dismal
failure of national Green Parties around the world to
establish "non-party parties" to his own local body
Green Party?
VANGUARDISM
Bookchin also claims we need an organised vanguard
to lead a revolution. This is a very touchy issue.
Bookchin claims such an organisation, if it avoids the
Leninist centralised model of leadership and retains its
internal democracy, will not develop into an
institutionalised minority in power after the revolution.
This argument is unconvincing. Any leadership,
anarchist included, is in a position of power, and power
corrupts, as we saw with the leadership of the FAI and
CNT in revolutionary Spain in 1936. Whilst a revolution
does need a balance between spontaneity and
organisation, instinct and reason, it doesn't need a
vanguard imposing its vision from above on the
masses.
Despite its support for vanguardism and a reformist
local body party, Anarchism, Marxism and the Future
of the Left is important because it points out the
obvious: that what is relevant now is leftist anarchism.
And it's about time someone pointed this out. The book
is well worth reading by anyone interested in the future
of the left and leftist anarchism.
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