By Wayne Price
Anarkismo.net
August 3rd, 2017
Libertarian Socialism is the brand of socialism which opposes statist, authoritarian, and oppressive varieties of socialism. It is anti-statist, radically democratic, self-managing, and humanistic. It blurs the boundaries between anarchism and Marxism, especially between class-struggle anarchist-socialism and libertarian-autonomist Marxism. These 15 essays place libertarian socialism in the context of various anarchists, syndicalists, council communists, decentralists, and libertarian communists–examining their views and histories.
“Some
people believe that Marxism and anarchism are based on the same
principles and that disagreements between them concern only tactics, so
that…it is quite impossible to draw a contrast between these two
trends….This is a great mistake….Anarchists are the real enemies of
Marxism.” —J. Stalin (quoted on p. 290)
Historically, authoritarian, statist, versions of socialism have
dominated the Left—and do so today. Yet, even further to the left, there
have also been anti-authoritarian and anti-statist socialisms. To
redevelop and rediscover this broad current of libertarian socialism
requires looking at the historical interaction, overlapping, and
cross-pollination of anarchism and anti-authoritarian trends within
Marxism. There are various sets of ideas which challenge the status quo,
such as feminism or ecological thinking, and these are very important.
But I believe that anarchism and Marxism are the two concepts which
offer total challenges to the existing society. This is why it is worth
considering what they can learn from each other.
The editors of this book have decided to work at this task. Their
original inspiration was a 2009 conference in the UK, “Is Black and Red
Dead?” The book is composed of 13 essays plus an Introduction and
Conclusion. The editors and contributors have a fairly wide range of
Left views. There is a somewhat academic air to the chapters (all the
writers, except one, are professors or other college-level teachers).
Mainly they focus on reviewing the history of various interactions of
Marxism and anarchism. Their focus is scholarly and not on how to build a
revolutionary libertarian socialist movement. However, their approach
has the utility of looking at past experience and putting libertarian
socialism into historical context.
The editors regret their inability to get someone to write about the
relation of feminism to libertarian socialism. The book also lacks a
discussion on the struggles of People of Color in relation to anarchism
and Marxism. Chap. 8, by Christian Hogsbjerg, on C.L.R. James, does not
cover his important analysis of the autonomous struggle of
African-Americans. Chap. 9, by Andrew Cornell, does comment on the role
that anarchist-pacifists played in the U.S. Civil Rights movement. The
editors promise two more volumes, which will concentrate more on current
developments and on the oppressed (“non-European”) nations.
The thirteen chapters cover a wide range of topics. I am an anarchist
who has argued that anarchists can learn much from aspects of Marxism
(e.g., Price 2017a; 2015; 2013). I found this book exciting and
fascinating throughout. I was tempted to write responses to each of the
15 chapters! Unfortunately this would require a second book. Instead I
will discuss certain themes which are raised through the book’s essays
The Closest Trends of Marxism and Anarchism
There are a great many versions of Marxism as there are of anarchism.
These have interacted in many positive and negative ways. The
totalitarian versions of Marxism (Stalinism, Maoism, or orthodox
Trotskyism) do not mix well with any type of anarchism (with one area of
exemption, see below). The hyper-individualist-egotist versions of
anarchism do not mix that well with Marxism. In general, the two schools
closest to each other are “class-struggle anarchist-socialism” (or
“anarchist-communism”) and “libertarian Marxism” (or “autonomous
Marxism” or “left communism”).
Class-struggle anarchism is the historical trend from Bakunin
and Kropotkin to anarchist-syndicalism and anarchist-communism (as
opposed to individualist or market-based anarchism). Libertarian Marxism is
that minority set of tendencies which have oriented to the
radically-democratic, humanistic, and proletarian aspects of Marxism (as
opposed to social-democracy and Marxist-Leninism). Despite differences,
what they both have in common is a belief in working class revolution.
They advocate that the working class and its allies among all the
oppressed overturn the existing state, the capitalist class, and all
institutions of oppression—and replace them with non-state forms of
cooperative social and economic direct democracy and self-management. To
these ends, they reject bureaucratic methods of organizing and efforts
to take over the old state or to form a new state. Instead they advocate
methods of mass direct action and popular self-organization. They
believe, “The emancipation of the working classes must be conquered by the working-classes themselves!”
This was the “first rule” of the First International, written by—but
not invented by—Karl Marx. That is revolutionary libertarian socialism.
Of Marxists, the various chapters discuss William Morris (the first
libertarian Marxist), Antonio Gramsci (who worked with anarchists on
factory councils), Georges Sorel (described as an “anarcho-Marxist”),
the council communists and other councilists, C.L.R. James (of the
“Johnson-Forest Tendency”), Daniel Guerin (a libertarian Marxist who
sought a synthesis with anarchism), the French Socialisme ou Barbarie group and its British co-thinkers in Solidarity
(they both evolved from dissident Trotskyism to libertarian Marxism to a
rejection of Marxism), the Situationists, and Italian autonomous
Marxism.
To refer to these and other libertarian Marxists is not to say that they
have the “correct” interpretation of Marx while Marxist-Leninists are
“incorrect.” It is merely to point to the empirical reality that some
Marxists have had politics compatible with anarchist perspectives. There
were both libertarian and authoritarian elements in the original
Marxism of Marx and Engels—so both sides have a basis to claim to hold a
“correct,” even “orthodox,” interpretation.
Besides these libertarian Marxists, other Marxist trends covered include
DeLeonism, which was anti-anarchist but contributed to the syndicalist
movement, and Trotskyism. Two of the writers are from the unorthodox
wing of Trotskyism (which rejected Trotsky’s concept that Stalin’s
Soviet Union remained a “workers’ state” because it still had
nationalized property). One of these is Paul Blackledge (Chap. 2), who
essentially rejects anarchism for Leninism. On anarchism, Andrew Cornell
(Chap. 9) covers the U.S. anarchist-pacifists and others of the ‘60s.
Toby Boraman (Chap. 13) also discusses the “carnival anarchists” of
1970s Australasia (who sound a lot like the U.S. Yippies). But most of
the anarchists discussed are anarchist-syndicalists or other types of
class-struggle anarchist-socialists.
To say that libertarian Marxism and class-struggle anarchism are the two
schools which are closest to each other does not rule out other
Marxist/anarchist interactions. Boraman (Chap. 13) covers the closeness
of “carnival anarchism” with cultural Marxists inspired by Situationism.
As a far-left Marxist, Daniel Guerin was oriented to “social, constructive, collectivist, or communist anarchism.”
(quoted by D. Berry, Chap. 10; p. 197) Yet he also valued Max Stirner,
the ultra-individualist anarchist. As a Gay activist, Guerin appreciated
an emphasis on individuality and opposition to moralism. Personally I
have learned a great deal about decentralism from the anarchist-pacifist
Paul Goodman (1965) and the gradualist-mutualist anarchist Kevin Carson
(2010; Price 2017b). It is also important to remember that, as Cornell
(Chap. 9) and Boraman (Chap. 13) point out, it became difficult for
either Marxists or anarchists to maintain a revolutionary working-class,
perspective during the period of prosperity which followed World War II
(which is now over).
Strategy and Tactics
In 1872, the split between the Marxists and the anarchists in the First
International was over various issues. The most immediately practical
issue was Marx’s insistence that all sections of the International form
workers’ parties to run in elections. (Price 2017a) The anarchists
rejected this as a state-oriented strategy. Instead they proposed
non-electoral, extra-parliamentary, direct action by the working class.
(Both sides were already for building unions and supporting strikes.)
William Morris (a contemporary of Engels) had allied with the
anarchists against the Marxists in opposition to parliamentary action.
This was up to the last years of his political activities when he
apparently retreated in disappointment from anti-electoralism and
similar opinions (Kinna Chap. 3). Mates (Chap. 4) discusses the
interaction in the pre-1914 British coal fields between
anarchist-syndicalists and Marxist syndicalists from DeLeon’s Socialist
Labor Party. One disagreement was over the SLP’s running in
elections—but the SLP was, properly speaking, more left-social
democratic than libertarian Marxist. Almost all libertarian Marxists
felt that (whatever had been the case in Marx’s day) it was now a
mistake to engage in electoral action. In this they split from Lenin and
the Communist International, which had insisted on their parties
running in elections.
Electoralism is no longer an issue between anarchists and libertarian
Marxists. But there were other issues which were not so much between the
two traditions as cutting across the two. Whether to work within unions
or to work solely outside the union structure, including whether to
take union offices, were major areas of controversy (Mates Chap 4;
Boraman Chap. 13). Guerin, for example, was strongly supportive of
unions. Another issue (not covered in this book) was whether to support,
however “critically,” national liberation struggles against
imperialism. Most anarchists and libertarian Marxists did not, and still
do not. C.L.R. James did, and Daniel Guerin supported the Algerian
peop[e’s war against French oppression.
Pinta (Chap. 7) covers the discussions of the Spanish Revolution
(1936—1939) by the council communists, such as Paul Mattick and Karl
Korsch (by then, living in the U.S.; Mattick had joined the IWW). Of all
the forces in Spain, these libertarian Marxists were most supportive of
the anarchist-syndicalists, their union federation (CNT) and their
revolutionary organization (FAI). Mattick wrote, “In the course of the present civil war, anarcho-syndicalism has been the most forward-driving revolutionary element.” (p. 127)
Other far-left Marxists (such as Bordiga’s followers) rejected both
sides of the conflict (the pro-government Loyalists and Franco’s
fascists) as capitalist. But the council communists recognized that the
revolutionary working class had to ally itself with the liberal
Loyalists, until they were strong enough to overthrow them. The
councilists admired the anarchists’ federalism and their implementation
of worker control in industry and agriculture. Pinta shows the
similarity of the councilists’ views to those of the dissident anarchist
Friends of Durruti group. The FoD condemned the main anarchist
organizations for joining a government coalition with the capitalist
parties and the Stalinists—leading to the defeat of the revolution.
As can be seen, there is a tendency among many libertarian socialists
(not all, but many) to take a sectarian, inflexible, and ultimatist
approach to many struggles. There may be some truth in the Trotskyist
Hogsbjerg’s criticism of James (and, implicitly, other libertarian
Marxists) for “abandonment of the rich classical Bolshevik legacy of strategy and tactics….” (Chap.
8; p. 158) This includes the united front, critical support,
rank-and-file unionism, support of democratic rights, etc. But
libertarian socialists would have to be careful in evaluating how to use
such tactics for different ends than the Bolsheviks.
Revolutionary Organization
Another major issue which cuts across traditions is whether a
revolutionary libertarian-socialist minority should organize itself, in
order to develop its ideas, and to fight for its program in broader
organizations and movements (unions, workers’ councils, community
organizations, antiwar movements, etc.). This would not be a “party” because it would not aim to take over the state, either through elections or revolution.
Opinions have varied. Benoit Challand (Chap. 11) shows that Castoriadis in Socialisme ou Barbarie
did advocate such an organization. Challand mistakenly interprets this
as equivalent to an authoritarian Leninist party. Pinta (Chap. 7) shows
that the council communists were divided between those who were against a
special organization (Otto Ruhle) and those who were for one (Herman
Gorter), with some vacillating between the two (Mattick and Pannekoek).
Pinta points out that the pro-organizational councilists’ view was very
similar to certain views in the anarchist tradition. This stretches from
Bakunin’s Alliance for Socialist Democracy to the Platform (of Makhno and Arshinov) to the Spanish FAI to today’s neo-platformism and especifisimo.
Jean-Christophe Angaut (Chap. 12) summarizes “what the differences were
between Leninist and situationist conceptions of the avant-garde:
basically Lenin understood the avant-garde as a general staff and not as
an advanced detachment.” (p. 250) Libertarian socialists with “an
advanced detachment” perspective see the most revolutionary and
anti-authoritarian among the workers as forming groups to spread their
views and to fight against authoritarian and pro-capitalist views. This
is not opposed to the self-organization of the working class and
oppressed people but is an essential part of it.
Democracy, Anarchism, and Marxism
Paul Blackledge (Chap. 2) and Ruth Kinna (on William Morris; Chap. 3),
raise the issue of democracy, which is controversial among anarchists
(see the essays in Massimino 2017). Blackledge argues that anarchism is
based in individualist-egotist thinking, as exemplified by Max Stirner.
Therefore it is supposedly unable to really support the collective
decision-making of democracy. In a democracy, sometimes individuals have
to give way to majority opinion (although this is truly democratic only
if all individuals have participated in the decision-making process
equally and continue to have full rights). Blackledge cites various
anarchists who reject “democracy” because they see it as coercing
individuals and minorities. Blackledge asserts that Marxism sees workers
under capitalism as developing collective class consciousness and
social awareness, which supposedly makes real (socialist) democracy
possible.
Kinna cites William Morris (a contemporary of both Engels and Kropotkin)
as making similar arguments. Morris connected anarchists’ extreme
individualism to pointless terrorism and violent-sounding
propaganda—which he (rightly) opposed. The difference between Morris and
Blackledge is that Morris rejected the state while Blackledge is
advocating a “democratic” state—a transitional, “workers’ state.”
There has been a hyper-individualist and anti-democratic trend in
anarchism, but it is not the whole of anarchism. Stirner was not
influential in the early anarchist movement (until later individualists
rediscovered him). Certainly, from Bakunin and Kropotkin onward,
socialist-anarchists have rejected a view of society as nothing but
isolated individuals, oppressed by collectivities. Even Blackledge
admits that socialist-anarchists saw society as an interaction of
individuals and social groups—holding that individuals could only exist
in societies. For him, this is still too much individualism, but I see
this as consistent with a basic concept of libertarian democracy.
He claims that pro-democracy anarchists (he cites me, among others) “do not address…anarchist criticisms of democracy….”
(p. 22) This has since been done—again, see the essays in Massimino
(2017), especially those by Carson, Milstein, Graeber, and myself. (For
lack of space, I am not going to get into Blackledge’s use of Marxist
social psychology to defend the state. For a Marxist view contrary to
his—and which cites Kropotkin positively—see Struhl 2016.)
Kinna also shows that William Morris saw anarchists as extreme
individualists. He was blind to the social, cooperative, views of many
anarchists. He even denied that people such as Kropotkin, because of
their social viewpoint, could “be anarchists in the true sense
of the word”! (quoted on p. 38) She suggests that Morris’ presented
“democracy” in a fashion which anarchists could not accept. However, in
some of his works, she points out, Morris had offered a more libertarian
vision of participatory democracy, one which was consistent with
anarchist values. “…Disagreements about [a] proposal are resolved
through dialogue and a continuous process of direct, open
balloting….Agreement is reached through…consensual and deliberative
debate…a model of decision-making which assumed that individuals might
reach voluntary agreement through open discussion and consensus….” (p. 52) Many anarchists could agree with this version of radical democracy.
Writing about Daniel Guerin’s historical study of the French Revolution, Berry (Chap. 10) says, “For
Guerin, the French Revolution thus represented not only the birth of
bourgeois parliamentary democracy, but also the emergence of ‘a new type
of democracy,’ a form of working-class direct democracy as seen,
however imperfectly, in the sections…precursors of the Commune of 1871
and the Soviets of 1905 and 1917.” (p. 191)
Marxism: Its Weaknesses and Strengths
Oddly there is no discussion of the limitations of the Marxist approach to democracy.
Even Marx’s most radical presentations are, at best, very democratic
versions of representative democracy. This is the case with his writings
on the Paris Commune of 1871 or Lenin on the original soviets
(councils). There was no conception of direct, face-to-face, democracy,
in the neighborhoods or in production workplaces. Direct democracy does
not rule out federation of such self-managed communities or the election
of delegates to other bodies—but it roots federation and election in
the daily, democratic, decision-making of the people—it makes democracy
literally into a way of life.
Blackledge quotes Marx’s conclusion from the Commune that the workers
cannot take over the existing state and use it for their emancipation.
Blackledge does not consider Marx’s statist strategy after the defeat of
the Commune, namely his attempt to force the First International to
form workers’ political parties to run in elections to try to take over
the existing states. Similarly Blackledge cites various democratic
statements by Lenin, without discussing how Lenin (and Trotsky)
established a one-party police state in Russia, laying the basis for
Stalin’s totalitarianism.
While the book has Blackledge’s attack on anarchism for its supposed
individualism, there is no comparable critique of Marxism, its
weaknesses and its strengths, except for brief comments (such as on
Guerin’s views, p. 193). The critique of Marxism developed by Socialisme ou Barbarie
is not considered in the chapter on it. This is a lack, if anarchists
are to consider Marxism as a partner in developing libertarian
socialism. There is a serious question here: why was libertarian Marxism never more than a minority trend within Marxism?
Why was most of historical Marxism either pro-imperialist
social-democratic or totalitarian Marxist-Leninist? No doubt there were
objective factors but what was there in Marx’s Marxism which contributed
to these statist, authoritarian, and mass-murdering forms? This would
requite a discussion of Marx’s centralism, his teleological determinism,
and his statist program: state ownership of the economy achieved
through taking over a state by workers’ parties.
On the other hand, the book does not really discuss one of the main strengths of Marxism,
namely Marx’s economics (more precisely, his critique of political
economy). This was an analysis of how capitalism worked, what changes
were happening, and how the working class and its allies should respond
to capitalist developments. Unlike Marxism, anarchism has valuable
explorations of how a post-capitalist economy might work. But it does
not have an analysis of how capitalism works today. Here we have to look
to Marxism. This may include even looking to authoritarian schools of
Marxism (this is the exemption I mentioned above) which may have useful
economic theory. For example, the council communist Paul Mattick, Sr.,
was greatly influenced in his writings on political economy by the
unconventional Stalinist, Henryk Grossman (Kuhn 2007).
Boraman (Chap. 13) uses a Marxist political-economic approach on one
topic. He challenges the common view of many anarchists (and Socialisme ou Barbarie)
to reject the centrality of class exploitation in favor of “domination”
in all aspects of society. “Domination” provides a broad-range view of
the total social system, but it downplays the need of the capitalist
class to rely on the surplus value squeezed out of the workers. Without
that extra amount of wealth, the capitalist class cannot survive, nor
can its institutions, including the state. Therefore he concludes,
“Fundamentally transforming the decision-making processes in society is
not enough in itself; private property, the market, and the wage system
also need to be abolished.” (p. 262) Which leads to the working class as at least one of the central agencies needed to make a revolution.
Conclusion: Libertarian Socialism
In the Conclusion (Chap. 15), Pinta and Berry write, “The purpose of
this collection of papers has been…to rediscover the lost history of a
libertarian socialist tradition—an ideological current effectively
blurring the boundaries between anarchist and Marxist variants of
revolutionary socialist thought—…by re-examining the relationship
between Marxism and anarchism—or rather between Marxisms and
anarchisms….” (p. 295) Despite the inevitable limitations of such a collection of viewpoints, I think the book achieved its purpose.
References
Carson, Kevin (2010). The Homebrew Industrial Revolution: A Low-Overhead Manifesto. Booksurge.
Goodman, Paul (1965). People or Personnel; Decentralizing and the Mixed System. NY: Random House.
Kuhn, Rick (2007). Henryk Grossman and the Recovery of Marxism. Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press.
Massimino, Cory (ed.) (2017). “June C4SS [Center for a Stateless Society] Mutual Exchange Symposium: Anarchy and Democracy.” [36 essays] https://c4ss.org/content/49206
Price, Wayne (2017a). “The First International and the Development of Marxism and Anarchism.” http://www.anarkismo.net/article/30330
Price, Wayne (2017b). “Kevin Carson’s Revival of Individualist Anarchist Economic Theory.” Review of Kevin A. Carson, Studies in Mutualist Political Economy. http://www.anarkismo.net/article/27661?search_text=Kevi…arson
Price, Wayne (2015). “In Defense of the Anarchist Use of Marx’s Economic Theory”. http://www.anarkismo.net/article/28438?search_text=Wayn…Price
Price, Wayne (2013). The Value of Radical Theory: An Anarchist Introduction to Marx’s Critique of Political Economy. Oakland CA: AK Press.
Pritchard, Alex; Kinna, Ruth; Pinta, Saku; & Berry, David (eds.). (2017). Libertarian Socialism: Politics in Black and Red. Oakland CA: PM Press.
Struhl, Karsten J. (2016, January). “Marx and Human Nature: The Historical, the Trans-Historical, and Human Flourishing.” Science & Society. Vol. 80; No. 1. Pp. 78—104.
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