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Title: Organise! Onwards
Author: Anarchist Communist Federation
Date: 1996
Language: en
Topics: Organise!, Anarchist Federation
Source: Retrieved on May 13, 2013 from https://web.archive.org/web/20130513152445/http://www.afed.org.uk/org/issue42/orgonwrd.html
Notes: Published in Organise! Issue 42 — Spring 1996.

Anarchist Communist Federation

Organise! Onwards

ORGANISE! HAS OCCUPIED a unique position amongst the many anarchist

papers which have arisen in Britain by its consistent format and level

of analysis. It has always been intended to sit between the agitational

‘in your face’ rag and the heavier theoretical journal. It is aimed at

the reader who doesn’t need to be convinced how bad our life is under

capitalism and the state, who is looking for more information and a

closer view of the class struggle. This has allowed us to present both

current news with in-depth analysis, and longer feature articles on a

great range of topics including histories of events and political groups

from around the world, and forays into anarchist-communist theory. The

ACF does not exist in a vacuum, which is reflected by an emphasis on

reviews of books, pamphlets and music, in our interviews with other

activist groups, and in the Letters section of Organise! which is an

important forum for feedback, criticism and clarification. Organise!

began with issue 14 following directly on from the 13 issues of its

forerunner Virus.

Internationally, the greatest trend over the last 10 years is one

towards a more globalised capitalism and a new world (dis)order. We have

seen the ending of the Cold War between the two superpowers of the

United States and Soviet Union, and a consolidation of the new European

bloc. The manufacturing ‘tiger’ economies of the East have continued to

grow, and at the same time we are subjected to the effects of an ongoing

economic crisis in the West. All over the world, the working class is

paying for these changes by increased exploitation with a worsening of

working conditions and security on one hand, and nationalist wars and

power-struggles on the other. In Britain, the dismantling of the welfare

state has meant increased poverty for many, and privatisation of

industries has meant a shift from traditional forms of struggle. At

least in Britain, we have seen a change in emphasis from a workplace

dominated struggle to a mixed industrial and community based one. This

is something that most anarchists have recognised, but one which the

left-wing parties have had a lot of trouble getting their heads around,

remaining stuck in their Marxist dogma. Organise! has attempted to

analyse and comment on these changes so that we can modify our efforts

to best push forward revolutionary ideas and tactics. In order to carry

out this retrospective, we have chosen the anti-Poll Tax struggle, South

Africa, Ireland, the Eastern Bloc and the Unions, as issues which have

maintained a thread over many issues of Organise!

An Eruption of Class Anger

From the beginning the ACF recognised the importance of the anti-Poll

Tax struggle, and has probably produced more on this than any other

subject, spanning ten issues of Organise! and two pamphlets The Poll Tax

and How to Fight It and Beating the Poll Tax. In the early days, at the

same time as describing the personal effects of the tax as it was

piloted in Scotland, Organise! was talking about its effects on the

power of local councils, and why Labour councils would be second to none

in their enthusiasm for implementing the collection process whilst they

and the TUC would focus on it as a ‘Tory’ tax. Furthermore it was seen

why the Poll Tax could be beaten purely as a community based struggle,

even though attempts could be made to involve council workers. While

news of 300,000 non-payers in Strathclyde was being reported, Organise!

was vigorously encouraging ‘twinning’ initiatives between Scottish and

newly formed anti-Poll Tax groups in England, and warning of a

re-emergence of Militant’s parasitical behaviour. It seems to have

become some sort of myth (that we’re sorry to say even some anarchists

believe) that Militant was there from the start in Scotland, setting up

‘community’ anti-poll tax groups in a genuine effort to help the working

class struggle. It must be remembered that Militant leaders, like Tommy

Sheridan, were still inside in the Scottish Labour Party at the time,

just waiting to be thrown out and use the Poll Tax as a lever to build

support for the party outside of Labour. By the time the anti-Poll Tax

struggle really got ahead in England, Militant was already well used to

the tactic of setting up bogus community groups, so it might well have

seemed that they were there first. It’s important to look back and

remember that anarchist or at least libertarian influenced groups were

the prime movers initiating the community based campaigns.

As non-registration and non-payment continued all over Scotland and

England, Organise! covered the council house demos and burning of forms,

the Trafalgar Square and October poll tax riots and the subsequent

defence campaigns, and bailiff busting activities. In the case of the

Battle of Trafalgar, rather than just celebrate the fightback, Organise!

put forward a clear case for class violence, against the idea of the

riot as either ‘anarchist organised’ or ‘police provoked’, and against

any alliance with the left. Many of these ideas have bearings on

previous and coming struggles against the Criminal Justice Bill/Act (we

put our case against the Fluffies in Issue 36) and the Job Seekers

Allowance (see Issue 40), so the period of the anti-Poll Tax struggle

must be seen as one of the most important since the Miners’ Strike.

Not talking ‘bout a revolution

The South African situation has long been a big issue on the left, and

is an important one for anarchist-communists. The ACF has always been

critical of Anti-Apartheid Movement’s support of the African National

Congress, poised as the ‘government in waiting’ — waiting to take

political and military control over a new South Africa founded on a

multi-racial capitalism. When Nelson Mandela was finally released from

prison, Organise! was quick to quote his call for discipline, support of

private enterprise and disowning of the Freedom Charter. Other articles

covered the ANC’s suppression of township activism, notably the murder

of 14 year old Stompie Seipei. Whilst the ANC were carrying out elitist

military campaigns on the borders and into Angola against UNITA, arms

were being denied to the ‘Young Comrades’. In spite of this, townships

became no-go areas for police and military controlled by street

committees, something both the white ruling class and the ANC could

rightly fear. The politics of nationalism and Stalinist ‘stages’ theory

have nothing to offer the South African working class. Now the reality

of this ‘democratic’ stitch-up is clear. Mandela has negotiated the

lifting of sanctions and has appealed for foreign investment, supported

by President Clinton with his promise to permit lending from the

International Monetary Fund. The white Nationalist Party and ANC leaders

then faced the problems of a power struggle with the AWB Boer right-wing

and the Inkatha Zulu tribalists, which has resulted in ongoing warfare.

Organise! also predicted swift action by the ANC against any attempts by

the black working class to fight for immediate improvements in living

conditions, and this was borne out in the waves of strikes in 1994 which

were put down by batons, rubber bullets, tear gas and stun grenades, the

last of these rarely used even by the old apartheid regime. Union

leaders such as those of COSATU also showed their willingness to make

workers demands more ‘realistic’, and called for orderly strikes and

normal collective bargaining under the complete control of the unions.

Processed Peace

As the Western media was hailing a new peace in South Africa and the

Middle East thanks to a new world order offered by the end of the Cold

War, similar attention was being paid to the IRA cease-fire in Ireland.

Organise! has continually put forward the anarchist-communist position

against the nationalist politics of the Republican movement, against the

IRA and Sinn Fein or any group calling for a ‘united’ Ireland, showing

that to be anti-imperialist does not mean you have support the weaker

state, or a state in waiting. As explained in the ACF’s Ireland

Commission statement (see Issue 20) , “the presence of British troops in

Ireland is only one aspect of imperialist domination. As in any fight

against imperialism, we support the removal of capitalist troops through

united internationalist working class action. The removal of troops on

any other basis would only occur if the interests of the British and

international ruling class were maintained, and such a move would have

nothing to offer the Irish working class. As anarchist communists we see

that nationalistic and hierarchical resistance can merely unite a

capitalist Ireland”. There are plenty of counter-revolutionaries with

guns, and Ireland is no exception. Another aim of Organise! is to help

us know our history in the face of the ignorance pushed by the media,

and many of the articles on Ireland have concentrated on explaining

traditions such as the Orange marches, the origin of British troops in

Ireland, and the politics of both republican and loyalist groups. In the

light of recent events, it is all the more important to be arguing the

case for revolutionary politics in Ireland, and we support the difficult

task of our comrades there.

All change in Eastern Europe?

The collapse of the Eastern bloc has a particular significance for

anarchist-communists. On one hand capitalists all over the world have

gleefully acknowledged the failure of ‘communism’, which gives us a new

opportunity to explain the potential for real communism against the

state capitalist and command economy nightmares of the old Soviet Union

and its satellite states. On the other hand, the end of the Cold War has

resulted in many left-wing parties floundering in disarray.

Again, we can usefully look back at history, so Organise! has included

many articles on the people and events of the Russian Revolution,

examining its successes and failures, and debunking of both the

Stalinist and Trotskyist agendas. We have also presented analyses of

events since Gorbachev’s glasnost and perestroika, including the

attempted coups by the old guard and fascists, the rise of Yeltsin and

the break-up of the Soviet Union. It is clear that there are no

guarantees that any unrest against the restructuring will result in

anything other than reactionary conclusions, as we have seen in the

rapid rise of national liberation struggles. As the new unified Europe

threatens to leave out the East from its promised prosperity, we are

hearing less and less about Eastern Europe in the capitalist media.

Organise! has countered this by articles on Romania, Hungary, Poland,

though we did also print a letter from Czechoslovakia (Issue 27)

complaining of our lack of articles on Eastern European anarchists. We

are pleased to report a recent contact from anarchists in Lithuania and

we hope to build up better links in the future.

When the marching’s over...

The union question has occupied many column inches over past issues, and

rightly so. We have reported on unofficial action and union sell-outs

over a large number of disputes, covering most recently the dockworkers

lockout on Merseyside and wildcat action by postal workers who were

subsequently called back to work by the Communication Workers Union.

This has been supplemented by numerous features on Rank and Filism,

Syndicalism, including an open debate with Dave Douglass of the NUM and

the then Direct Action Movement. Finally we have shown that far from

being a British phenomena, unions are very much the same the world over

and Organise! has printed articles on the rise of Solidarity to

government in Poland, the COSATU/ANC collaboration in South Africa, and

the antics of French unions in the recent wave of actions against

welfare cuts and attacks on wages and working conditions by the

Chirac/Juppé administration. We should expect similar union activities

elsewhere in Europe in the near future, as many states attempt to pave

the way for European Monetary Union in 1997. In a more general sense,

Organise! has encouraged a more general view of the class struggle,

which is not based solely in the workplace but is increasingly taking

place in the wider community, by the unemployed, by homeworkers and in

some aspects of campaigns like the anti-roads movement.

Although Organise! has remained in a similar format and style, and is

constrained by cost (and number of ACF members!) as to its frequency and

thickness, we are open to suggestions from readers on how we can improve

it. A questionnaire was sent out to subscribers, the results of which

were given in Issue 25, which has helped us make changes in content. The

back page Aspects of Anarchism series was started at the end of 1991,

covering the fundamental areas of anarchist-communist theory, which is

now approaching its 20^(th) article. More recent issues of Organise!

have included features on art and culture, including music and poetry,

and special issues have been published on women, prisons and racism.

Look forward to more articles about anarchist prisoners, the Job Seekers

Allowance and the growth of anarchist-communism internationally. Look

out also for the Organise! index which is advertised in this issue,

listing and categorising the articles, reviews and letters from all

previous issues. Finally, thanks to all readers for your support over

the years, and everyone who has contributed to the Press Fund.