💾 Archived View for library.inu.red › file › des-mccarron-evolution-or-revolution.gmi captured on 2023-01-29 at 09:13:11. Gemini links have been rewritten to link to archived content
➡️ Next capture (2024-07-09)
-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Title: Evolution or Revolution? Author: Des McCarron Date: 1994 Language: en Topics: evolution, revolution, Workers Solidarity, Ireland Source: Retrieved on 18th November 2021 from http://struggle.ws/ws94/ws42_evolve.html Notes: Published in Workers Solidarity No. 42 — Summer 1994.
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.
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-tennants
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.
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.
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 19^(th) 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.
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.
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 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.