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Title: Anarchism and Elections
Author: Workers Solidarity Movement
Date: July 2017
Language: en
Topics: Elections, position paper, democracy
Source: Retrieved on 15th October 2021 from http://www.wsm.ie/c/anarchism-and-elections-0
Notes: Passed by National Conference, July 2017. This paper sits under the State & Democracy paper. Have a look at that to understand contexts that are not repeated here.

Workers Solidarity Movement

Anarchism and Elections

1. What is Electoralism and WSM Participation

When we talk of electoralism we mean those methods that seek change

through putting forward individuals for representative forms of

government under class rule, i.e. parliaments and town or regional

councils.

We have two fundamental issues with these institutions:

They exist in order to manage capitalism through the state in a way

that minimises conflict between the capitalist class and dampens

conflict between that class and the rest of society.

They are constructed so that representatives cannot be mandated by

those who elect them or recalled as soon as they break such mandates.

This is by design, these methods of 2 rule are intended to be

unaccountable so that those in them can make decisions in favour of the

capitalist class that may be at odds with the wishes of those who

elected them.

For these reasons we do not run candidates for election, and in almost

every circumstance we do not advocate people vote. The only exceptions

being the rare occasions where an election is in effect a referendum in

a hyper-polarised society, one example being the 1994 election in South

Africa that was deeply connected to the movement to end apartheid.

Referendums are different in that the people get to directly vote on

an issue, thus making the decision themselves. While fundamentally

different this is not to say referendums do not have their own problems

including:

The question to be voted on is generally formulated by politicians and

may well be worded to exclude best options.

They still take place in class society and within the constitutional

limits imposed by that society. This means they can only be about

redividing the small share of the cake given to the working classes

rather than seizing the bakery.

In many countries including Ireland referendums can only be called by

politicians and needed referenda can thus be delayed for years and even

decades.

2. Opposition to Electoralism

We generally won’t run high profile ‘spoil your vote’ campaigns as

while these can have an educational aspect they also tend to create

unnecessary hostility with other groups and individuals on the left who

engage in electoralism. For that reason we are unlikely to engage in

active mass outreach around the anarchist criticism of electoralism

while campaigning is in progress, holding off until polls close or

before such campaigns are really underway.

Our focus is generally on:

Showing electoralism to be a carefully constructed mechanism for

managing capitalism and minimising dissent.

Showing that participation in electoralism de-radicalises

organisations and individuals over time. Electoralism restores faith in

the system, fosters a culture of ‘Someone Else Will Do It’, and

incentivises political opportunism.

Arguing that the decision to abstain far from being apathetic can be

based on an understanding of how the system really works which is far

more accurate than left electoralism.

Contrasting electoralism with systems of real democracy that give

people a direct say in governance.