At The Cafe

What does the slogan 'No War but the Class War' mean in the interimperialist conflict between Russia and NATO-backed Ukraine?

The recent actions of the Russian state in Ukraine follow on from its military support for the Assad regime in Syria, its presence in Libya, its intervention in Kazakhstan to help crush the revolt there, its support for the Lukashenko regime in Belarus, and its disguised military presence in Africa via the Wagner Group. In all these cases the Russian state wants to maintain/further its imperialist interests.

In opposing Russia the NATO countries have chosen to back Ukraine, both politically and with limited military support. Western liberalism has re-embraced a (supra-)nationalism.

The conflict poses uneasy questions and issues for libertarian communists, especially for those in “the West”. What action can/should groups take? Should support be given to Ukraine, and if so what does that mean? Is ‘no war but class war’ just a slogan? Can it be turned into something more? What are the longer term outcomes, is a new cold (or even hot) war beckoning?

This public meeting organised by the Anarchist Communist Group intends to give discussion to these questions and hopefully provide, if not answers, some clarity about how communists and anarchists can approach the matter.

The Anarchist Communist Group had its first national reading group event. We selected the topic of the Green New Deal to launch the reading group because it is often put forward as a key part of a strategy to tackle climate change. Through the readings we addressed the following questions in small groups (not recorded) before reporting back and having a whole group discussion.

Questions

1. What are the positive features of the Green New Deal? (US/Britain)

2. What are the limitations?

3. What does this issue tell us about how social transformation will come about? What is the role of the State- national and local- and the struggle for reforms?

4. What ideas do we have for campaigns/actions/strategies that will lead to real change- and an eco anarchist communist society?

Readings:

https://www.resilience.org/stories/2019-05-14/one-cheer-more-or-less-for-the-green-new-deal/

http://www.anarkismo.net/article/31250

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1MHHHvblfrO0TyCC9T9IqLCjNrO9N2N_p/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=110879616352976367677&rtpof=true&sd=true

If you are interested in finding out more about anarchist communism or are interested in the Anarchist Communist Group (ACG), please visit: https://www.anarchistcommunism.org with links to all our socials.

11th January 2022

Under the rule of Johnson’s right-wing populist regime, we are seeing a dramatic increase in the levels of authoritarianism here in the UK. With, for example, the Police, Crime, Sentencing & Courts Bill, the Online Safety Bill, the Judicial Review and Courts Bill, a rash of lengthy jail terms for protesters, the continuation of the “hostile environment” and the appalling treatment of refugees, all of these measures are a means of punching down at the weakest, the poorest, the vulnerable and the most powerless in society, while ensuring the repression of any opposition or dissent. 

If you are interested in finding out more about anarchist communism or are interested in the Anarchist Communist Group (ACG), please visit: https://www.anarchistcommunism.org with links to all our socials.

Presentation about the fourth aim and principle of the Anarchist Communist Group (ACG): 

"We are opposed to the ideology of national liberation movements which claims that there is some common interest between native bosses and the working class in face of foreign domination. We do support working class struggles against racism, genocide, ethnocide and political and economic colonialism. We oppose the creation of any new ruling class. We reject all forms of nationalism, as this only serves to redefine divisions in the international working class. The working class has no country and national boundaries must be eliminated. We seek to build an anarchist international to work with other libertarian revolutionaries throughout the world."

If you are interested in finding out more about anarchist communism or are interested in the Anarchist Communist Group (ACG), please visit: https://www.anarchistcommunism.org with links to all our socials.

Anarchism is a political tradition that unites a number of different anti-authoritarian currents and is seen as an alternative to the Leninist tradition. However, anarchism itself has been divided historically, to an extent over the ultimate goal, but largely over important issues of political analysis, strategy and tactics. The situation is the same today.

This session will look at the distinct tradition of anarchist communism to explore how it is both similar and different to other currents. Some of these differences are far from trivial and often put our current in opposition to those who have been grouped under what we call big tent anarchism. It is not a question of sectarianism, as we work with a wide range of anarchists in grass roots campaigns and projects, but with how we can best build an effective revolutionary anarchist movement.

The issues we will discuss are not just of interest to anarchists. Questions such as the role of organisation, insurrectionism, analysis of class, freedom and collective responsibility, attitude towards Labour, support for national liberation are relevant to all who are concerned with social transformation. We will address these questions in the context of specific contexts, from the Russian Revolution to today’s pandemic.

As cases rise and restrictions are lifted, we discuss the current situation focusing on the impact on work and working conditions.

If you are interested in finding out more about anarchist communism or are interested in the Anarchist Communist Group (ACG), please visit: https://www.anarchistcommunism.org with links to all our socials.

Presentation and discussion about the aims and principles of the Anarchist Communist Group (ACG)

“Paris is a true paradise! No police, no nonsense, no exaction of any kind, no arguments! Everything in Paris rolls along like clockwork. If only it could stay like this forever. In short, it is a beautiful dream. All social groups are organised federally and are masters of their own fate”.

Gustav Courbet- artist and revolutionary, April the 30th, 1871.

Anarchist communists see in the commune a sketch of how society could be organised. The commune model provides an organisational basis for creating self-directing, integrated units which when federated with similar bodies could have a national and even international character. The Paris and Kronstadt Communes were both brought about under extremely difficult circumstances and lasted only for a matter of weeks. Despite their preoccupation of survival, they demonstrated the practicability of the commune as an organisational form which generated the maximum level of freedom, solidarity and equality. The commune as a geographical entity can accommodate both community and workplace anarchy.

This meeting will start with the Paris Commune, commemorating its 150 anniversary. The grass roots clubs and associations that sprung up in the neighbourhoods show the perennial capacity of the working class to create its own organisations.

Then we will consider how the idea of the commune could inspire our activities today as we struggle to create resilient working class communities in localities which have been torn apart by divisions created by capitalism and racism: between work and home, waged and unwaged, old and young.

A meeting to mark the centenary of the Kronstadt rebellion, crushed by the Bolsheviks. What are the lessons to be learned for today?

In this meeting we look at the circumstances that led up to the Revolt, and examine the idea of an aborted Third Revolution intended to carry out the true revolutionary aims of the Russian masses. We look at the implications of what happened and how the truth about Kronstadt needs to be revealed to expose the dangers of Leninist vanguardism, which still has a detrimental effect on our struggles today.

The sailors at the naval base of Kronstadt were at the forefront of the Russian Revolution of 1917. They formed one of the first soviets in summer of that year. They were among those who stormed the Winter Palace in October. They took an active part in the defence of Petrograd against the White advance. Yet by 1921 they were disillusioned with the Bolshevik government, with War Communism, the lack of free speech, the exactions of the Cheka, the Bolshevik political police, and the brutal grain requisitioning in the countryside. On March 1st, 1921 they held mass meetings of up to 15,000 on various ships and garrisons and demanded immediate new elections to the Soviet by secret ballot; freedom of speech and the press for all left and anarchist parties and groups; freedom of assembly for trade unions and peasant organizations; abolition of Communist political agencies in the Army and Navy; immediate withdrawal of all grain requisitioning squads, and re-establishment of a free market for the peasants.”

For this they were denounced as agents of the Whites. In reply, they broadcast the following radio message: “Comrade workers, red soldiers and sailors. We stand for the power of the Soviets and not that of the parties. We are for free representation of all who toil. Comrades, you are being misled. At Kronstadt all power is in the hands of the revolutionary sailors, of red soldiers and of workers. It is not in the hands of White Guards, allegedly headed by a General Kozlovsky, as Moscow Radio tells you.”

Trotsky ordered the Red Army to attack. Fierce fighting followed and the revolt was brutally crushed. Victor Serge wrote: “The final assault was unleashed by Tukhachevsky on 17 March… Some of the rebels managed to reach Finland. Others put up a furious resistance, fort to fort and street to street; they stood and were shot crying, “Long live the world revolution! Hundreds of prisoners were taken away to Petrograd and handed to the Cheka; months later they were still being shot in small batches, a senseless and criminal agony. Those defeated sailors belonged body and soul to the Revolution; they had voiced the suffering and the will of the Russian people”.

13th January 2021

At our last At the Cafe event we looked at the anti-working class, pro-capitalist role of the Labour Party. As a follow up, this meeting will be discussing the alternatives to reformism, parliamentarism and the same old capitalist politics.

Currently, the working class is generally de-politicised, demoralised with wider class consciousness at a low. Meanwhile, nationalism and other forms of identity politics, as well as populism, conspiracy theories and the “re-normalisation” of racist attitudes seem to be on the rise. That said, there have been some attempts to break out of this state of affairs, for example, the Black Lives Matter movement over the summer and the recent string of successful strike ballots (despite the UK government’s 50% ballot threshold). Internationally, there have also been examples of class resistance, but we need more.

So how do we get from where we are now to where we want to be, with a viable mass working class movement capable of taking on the boss class? This meeting will look at the current balance of class forces and how to build a revolutionary movement, both here in the UK and globally. It will also discuss the idea of “social insertion” as practiced by a number of South American libertarian communist organisations.