Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Some Principles of Anarcho-Communism

ANTI- CAPITALIST AND ANTI-AUTHORITARIAN.

Anarcho-communism is a revolutionary idea where communities, workplaces, and
societies can organize themselves autonomously and from the bottom up under a federation where people govern, manage and decide for themselves in worker councils, mass assemblies, and delegate in the federation council


Federalism-

Anarchists (libertarian-socialists) and
Anarcho-communists (Libertarian-Communists) argue that we do not need a centralized state (government) to manage ourselves, our communities, and our resources.
We feel we can do much better than
representative/republican democracy, we don't want a handful of people making decisions (usually in their own interests).

Direct-Democracy is the practice of people engaging political decision making themselves, and its just about creating new ideas, as it is as agreeing on them. Federalism and direct-democracy works through delegation not representation. A delegate is elected, when it is necessary to communicate with other regions, as a mouth-piece and holds no authority what so ever. He can be recalled instantly, if he is not carrying out the delegation process, or if he's not doing his job correctly. The delegate communicates with other regions in terms of what the collectives, councils and mass assemblies decide on.

Regions, and chapters of the federation choose delegates to be part of the federation council (which is where regions and chapters discuss, develop new ideas, communicate, share resources). No final decisions can be made until, the delegates take the information back to their own regional chapter of the federation.

A federation is united usually under a
constitution, guidelines, bylaws -- and share unity in goals, tactics, and responsibilities.

Syndicates -

Syndicalism is a political and economic ideology which advocates giving control of both industry and government to labor union federations. Syndicalisme is a French word meaning "trade unionism".
A model syndicalist community is as follows. The local unit, the syndicat, would communicate with other syndicats through the bourse de travail (labour exchange). The bourse would handle management and the transfer of commodities.

It believes, on an ethical basis, that all participants in each organized trade internally share equal ownership of its output and therefore deserve equal earnings and benefits within that particular trade, regardless of position or duty.
Instances of syndicalism in power, during the Spanish Revolution or the 1956 Hungarian Revolution (wikipedia)

Mutual Aid-

In political economy, mutual aid is a term which describes a principle central to libertarian socialism or anarchism, and is used to signify the economic concept of voluntary reciprocal exchange of resources and services for mutual benefit.

Kropotkin proposed a system of economics based on mutual exchanges made in a system of voluntary cooperation. Kropotkin's thesis was based on the premise that scarcity was unnecessary, and it was possible to produce enough wealth to satisfy the needs of everybody by working only five hours a day during adult life (leaving the rest of the day to satisfy desires for luxuries, if so desired). (wikipedia)

Autonomy -

Autonomy means self-government or self-management. It means a community, region, workplace, is free to make their own decisions without a national beuracracy. This is one of the ressons why anarcho- communism is different from state-socialism

Reasons: Decision making is localized and unaffected by outside regions. This does not mean that the communities, syndicates, and regions are isolated, his will lead to our revolution failing eventually. The autonomous regions have to work together, in cooperation, sharing goals, resources, abundance, and vision. This is why we organize under federations to keep our autonomy, and anti-authoritarian principles, while being self-sustainable, and building collectivity and unity througout different regions.

Autonomy is the indigenous people in Chiapas ending dependency on the state. It is Argentinian workers ending their dependency on their boss, and foreign interests. It is a land-less peasant in Brazil, Bolivia, Africa, and elsewhere fighting against privatization of land.
Autonomy can enable oppressed nations and cultures to build indepence from imperialism and oppressive states, this is why autonomy is important, it is crucial in the struggle for equality and solidarity
overall. note: this is the reason why we need to support national liberation struggles, and struggles for equality.


Anti- Capitalist
"But owing to our wage system, this increase of wealth -- due to the combined efforts of men of science, of managers, and workmen as well -- has resulted only in an unprecedented accumulation of wealth in the hands of the owners of capital; while an increase of misery for the great numbers, and an insecurity of life for all, have been the lot of the workmen; the unskilled labourers, in continuous search for labour, are falling into an unheard-of destitution. And even the best paid artisans and skilled workmen labour under the permanent menace of being thrown, in their turn, into the same conditions as the unskilled paupers, in consequence of some of the continuous and unavoidable fluctuations of industry and caprices of capital." (Kropotkin)

Anti-Authoritarian:

Insights from the Enlightenment show us that people need to exist in free association with others -- not in isolation, and not in relations of domination. There is a need to replace social fetters with social bonds. Therefore any social structure that involves relations of domination -- whether it's the family, a transnational corporation, gender relations -- has a very heavy burden of proof to bear. It must demonstrate that the benefits it provides outweigh the restrictions it imposes on human capacities. If it can't demonstrate its legitimacy, it should be dismantled. (Chomsky)

"Does it follow that I reject all authority Far from me such a thought. In the matter of boots, I refer to the authority of the bootmaker; concerning houses, canals, or railroads, I consult that of the architect or engineer. For such or such special knowledge I apply to such or such a savant. But I allow neither the bootmaker nor the architect nor the savant to impose his authority upon me. I listen to them freely and with all the respect merited by their intelligence, their character, their knowledge, reserving always my incontestable right of criticism censure. I do not content myself with consulting authority in any special branch; I consult several; I compare their opinions, and choose that which seems to me the soundest. But I recognize no infallible authority, even in special questions; consequently, whatever respect I may have for the honesty and the sincerity of such or such an individual, I have no absolute faith in any person. Such a faith would be fatal to my reason, to my liberty, and even to the success of my undertakings; it would immediately transform me into a stupid slave, an instrument of the will and interests of others." (Michael Bakunin)

co-authored by Eugene Nulman and Joaquin Cienfuegos

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