💾 Archived View for gemini.spam.works › mirrors › textfiles › politics › SPUNK › sp000390.txt captured on 2022-03-01 at 16:20:53.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Workers Solidarity No. 42
Irish Anarchist Paper
Net addition
Making changes happen
Evolution and Revolution
THE IDEA OF evolution has always been important to
socialists. Except for a handful of utopians most have
thought of socialism in terms of human progress and
improvment. This idea was given a scientific basis in
the nineteenth century by socialists who saw society as
evolving through stages towards socialism (not that it
would stop here socialism would just be the end of pre-
history real history could then begin.) Most socialists
believed that the struggle towards socialism was a
striving of people to develop and move forward.
So socialists have been united by the idea of the human
race advancing towards a better society. They have been
divided about how to get there. A major division has
arisen between does who believe that socialism can
evolve passively through education and example and
those who believe it has to be fought for.
CAN CHANGE OCCUR BY ITSELF?
As capitalism began to develop during the nineteenth
century small groups began to question the system and
whether it ran in the interests of everyone. Most of
this criticism was moral. capitalism was seen as evil
because it dennied humans their through potential and
freedom. One of the first practical solutions put
forward was to build a new society from within
capitalism. This was the idea of forming socialist co-
operatives.
Some of these settlements were models of socialist
ideas in practice with all goods held in common and an
equal say for all. For example a Co-op set up at
Rahiline Co. Clare in 1831.
This was founded when the owner John Scott Vandeleur
donated his 618 acre estate to the orginal tenants. The
Ralahine Agricultural and Manufacturing Co-operative
Association was an instant success. All land was held
in common and workers were paid in labour notes. These
could be redeemed for supplies from the committee but
such was the abundance they were hardly required. The
committee was elected by all the ex-tenants and was
made up of both men and women.
Unfortunately Vandeleur lost all his money gambling
and the estate was sold to pay debts. The worker's
signed a declaration"We the under-signed members of the
Ralahine Agricultural and Manufacturng Co-Operative
Association have experienced over the last 2 years
contentment, peace and happiness.........." (quoted in
P. Berrisford Eliss History of the Irish Working Class)
The area quickly settled down to the old pattern of
police and landlord violence and agricultural revolts
exactly as before. Despite the best intentions of the
co-operativists few wanted to follow their example and
just hand land to the peasants. None of their schemes
led to socialism though some gave a clue as to how it
might work in practise. In Ireland today modern farm
co-ops are just limited companies. Many are among the
most sucessful capitalist enteprises in the country.
ISLANDS IN THE STREAM
Unfortunately these isolated social experiments are
doomed to failure. There can be no islands in the
stream of capitalism. Any such group has to enter into
economic relations with the modern capitalist economy
eventually.
The only other choice is total self containment and
isolation like the religious colonies of Hutterites,
Menonites and Amish in America. Though these societies
spurn war and violence and hold all goods in common
they are also conservative, sexist and rooted in
tradition. They have basically stood still for 400
years and ignored the world around them. They cannot
move forward because progress and evolution is
ultimately based on social and human contact.
IS THAT A BALLOT BOX IN YOUR POCKET?
So socialism won't evolve from islands within
capitalism. Neither will it evolve from example,
education or voting to put the "good guys" in power.
Only a total idiot (and I've met a few in my time)
could believe that voting social democrats into power
could bring about socialism. A study of parliamentry
democracy in Western Europe between 1970 and 1985 noted
that "all European parties of any reasonable size have
enjoyed at least one period of power in this period."
"Socialists" have been in government everywhere! Yet
through out Europe it has been business as usual. No
matter what party was in power economic policty
remained unchanged In the election in Australia last
year a panel of leading economic experts could not see
any difference between the Labour party and neo-
thatcherite Liberal party on economic policy.
The striking thing about parliamentry democracy is
its entirely undemocractic character. John Stuart Mill
the 19th century liberal philosopher saw democracy as a
form of government in which "the intellectual classes
would lead the government and the government would lead
the stupid classes" Whatever about the intelligence of
"democratic" governments they certainly rule in the
interests of a minority class. The "stupid classes" get
to mark a card every few years and otherwise put up or
shut up. Capitalist democracy is merely an exercise in
mass disefranchisement.
BIOLOGICAL CRISIS
So how do we anarchists see socialist ideas evolving?
Evolution is not necessarily a smooth and even process.
The modern veiw of evolution in biology is a story of
long periods of stability with little change separated
by brief crisis periods. Within this short periods of
evolutionary time there were huge waves of evolutionary
change along with mass extinctions. During this time
hundreds of species perished and hundreds of new ones
evolved. This idea was first put forward by a
materialist zoologist; Stephen J Gould. It is to the
idea of materialism that we turn to for our veiw of how
societies evolve.
Society does not progress slowly and smoothly but
after long periods of evolution there are briefer
periods of revolutionary change. Capitalism, for
example, evolved slowly from within feudalism. However
the actual transition from feudalism to capitalism was
marked by upheaval and social revolution throughout
Europe. A new class of merchants and capitalists
overthrew an old order of lords and monarchs. Democracy
and the nation state replaced a network of earldoms and
dukedoms losely bound together by a king or queen.
REVOLUTIONS
Our view is that, unfortunately, major social change
does not happen quickly or easilly. Anarchism won't
just happen. It will only succeed when the majority of
society have the ability and the wish to run it in
their own interests.
In practice we see revolution as building from the
ground up. Workers infringing more and more on the
bosses' profit margins and eventually questioning their
right to make a profit on the backs of the working
class and taking over their workplace. As the struggle
progresses more workers setup workplace commitees,
councils and eventually defence militias. Groups begin
to federate upwards on the basis of democracy,
delegation and recallability. This is a revolution
desired by many not imposed by a few (as most past
revolutions have been.)
Inevitably when faced with a major challenge the
bosses and state will be ready to fight to defend their
wealth and power. We have to be ready to fight to
defend and forward the revolution.
With good organisation, most people on our side and
much of the army coming over we would hope this would
not be a long or bloody fight. We are certain the
system can't be reformed out of existence. It has to be
destroyed. We are revolutionaries not out of blood lust
or because we think it sounds cool. We are
revolutionaries because it is the only way forward.
Des Mc Carron
This is the sixth part of the latest issue of Workers Solidarity,
produced by the Irish anarchist group, the Workers Solidarity
Movement. We are changing the format for this posting to
two parts consisting of short articles and then posting longer
related articles separately. They should arrive on this
list/newsgroup over the next few days. Some lists/
newsgroups will only get postings relevant to them. To
get other parts reply to this address with a request or
watch out for them on alt.society.anarchy between the
13th and 24th of June.
The parts and their contents are.
Workers Solidarity 42 (Editorial and shorts) 1/6
For starters
That's Capitalism
Stake your claim to cash
PLC students demand grants
Telethon - A hypocritical sham
If the cops don't like you
French show how to fight... and win!
Bosnia, Rwanda and UN intervention.
Workers Solidarity 42 (More shorts) 2/6
Significant minority say NO to union leaders
Don't vote...it only encourages them
Letter
Prepare to Sink the service charges
Find Out More
WS 42 Gay Pride 3/6
Loud and Proud
The reasons Emmet Stagg should resign
WS 42 Ireland, Sinn Fein and the peace talks. 4/6
Yes to peace
WS 42 Year of the Family 5/6
Parents, puritans and poverty
Gas masks and pantyhose
WS 42 Evolution and revolution 6/6
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The Workers Solidarity Movement can be contacted at
PO Box 1528, Dublin 8, Ireland
or by anonymous e-mail to an64739@anon.penet.fi
Some of our material is available via the Spunk press electronic archive
by FTP to etext.archive.umich.edu or 141.211.164.18
or by gopher ("gopher etext.archive.umich.edu")
in the directory /pub/Politics/Spunk/texts/groups/WSM