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Title: From insurrection to guerilla
Author: Anonymous
Date: 2018
Language: en
Topics: insurrection, guerrilla war, insurrectionary anarchy, Anarchist Fighter
Source: Retrieved on 15th August 2020 from https://bo-ak.org/index.php/en/theory-en/99-from-insurrection-to-guerilla

Anonymous

From insurrection to guerilla

A direct action, a physical attack on institutions and symbols of power,

is at the same time an act of rebellion and confrontation with

oppressors and a symbol that, having reached society, becomes a strong,

loud call to fight. It is the point where the existential meaning of the

act of combating converges with strategic considerations (with attempt

to involve more people in a direct clash with the system). That is the

basic goal of insurrectionary anarchism as a practice.

There are also more individualistic interpretations of the meaning of

“insurrectionary” actions — some understand this action as complete

self-worth, without having the task of influencing “ordinary people”.

However, this interpretation is not for us.

It is necessary to note the difficulty of interpretation of the meaning

of “insurrectionary anarchism”. Since the end of the 2000s, in Russia,

Ukraine, and Belarus, everyone who use Molotov cocktails in order to

damage instituions and symbols of power were called “insurrectionary

anarchists”. At the same time, in the West, from where the formulation

of insurrectionary anarchism or insurrectionism came to us, this trend

is defined more narrowly: basically this term is used to describe those

anarchists who support views of anacrhist-communist Alfredo Bonanno and

later nihilist groups. The Molotov cocktails, stone, armature and even

weapons in Western Europe and in the USA are the property of a much

wider range of anarchists, not only of insurrectionists.

But let’s go back to our latitudes. For those practitioners of

insurrectionary anarchism who seek to convey their statements to society

and to widen the struggle, the basis of the strategic line is in its own

way understood the principle of “propaganda through action”. This

principle is succinctly expressed in the phrase “sometimes direct action

speaks louder than words”. So, insurrectionary anarchists expect that

the given example will win the sympathies of many people, and encourage

the most active of them to fight.

Direct communication between active insurrectionary groups in such a

situation does not take place or, at best, is conducted only virtually

and anonymously without coordinated interaction and joint strategy

planning (so, insurrectionary groups are united rather by the general

“mental” focus on sabotage). So, their activity is based on the

expection that the anonymous message-action will be heard, and gradually

the number of active fighters will increase to a critical mass. Then, at

a certain point, insurrectionary movement can become a factor

contributing to the crush of the system.

We do not intend to turn away from insurrectionary legacy and we know

for sure that the insurrectionary practices of anarchists in our region

noticeably and positively impacted on the movement as a whole, inspiring

and radicalizing many of its members.

It was “the insurrectionists” who made the anacrhist idea and movement

sound in public sphere very loud at end of 2000^(th) and at the

beginning of 2010^(th). However, the experience of the insurrectionists

themselves and significant public events of the last decade, such as the

protests in Russia of 2011–2012, Maidan, the Arab Spring, clearly show

the need to adjust this approach. Counting on “swarm of affinity groups”

did not prove to be working.

First of all, the need for an extensive revolutionary organization is

obvious to us. This underground organization will seek to unite and

coordinate as much as possible radical-minded people and their groups.

This will allow to carry out a common strategic line and fight much more

purposefully.

One of the main obstacles for the radicals in creating the organization

is the necessary security culture. Arrests, tortures and long prison

terms threaten members of such an organization much more than members of

more peaceful-minded groups (despite recent experience which shows that

peaceful-minded anarchists are in group of risk too). Many anarchist

groups from the outset came to the conclusion that security requirements

do not allow them to come into direct contact with other groups and

conduct active recruiting work.

Meanwhile, the experience of the most diverse radical political forces

clearly shows that the illegal struggle is fully compatible with the

recruitment of new people, and with the creation of broad associations.

There are different tools to do this — first of all, work through the

old reliable contacts and surety, as well as a number of other simple

conspiracy methods which shouldn’t be voiced publicly. This active

organizational work must be combined with the necessary security

measures but, at the same time, there is no way to avoid some risks as

each new acquaintance is a risk itself. But if it is necessary (and it

is necessary) for our revolutionary goals, then the interests of the

struggle should be more important than complete personal safety.

In addition to such kind of organization it is necessary to increase the

degree of “seriousness” of action. We support insurrectionary approach,

according to which physical confrontation with the system is needed here

and now. However, this direct actions should become not as symbolic as

they are not rather more guerilla-like. At the dawn of the

insurrectionary anacrchists trend in Russia one of its detractors stated

that the insurrectionists on their actions “invariably miss”. Regardless

of the fact that this statement came from the lips of unscrupulous

cowards, there is a certain amount of truth in it. It is time for us to

become better, comrades! Guerrilla struggle and strikes, painfully

beating on the state machine and capitalists, will have incomparably

more significant propaganda effect and will allow us to realize

ourselves as a full-fledged revolutionary political force.

In our opinion, active work on the creation of a guerilla anarchist

organization and a prepared, organized transition to guerilla struggle

are the essence of the practice of guerilla anarchism. Guerrilla

anarchism is the creative development and critical correction of

insurrectionary anarchism. We believe that victory is ahead of the

anarchist movement.

Freedom or death!

Long live the revolution!