1. DEFINING THE WSF, ANARCHISM AND SYNDICALISM
Liberty without socialism is privilege, injustice;
socialism without liberty is slavery and brutality.
Mikhail Bakunin, cited in S. Dolgoff (ed.), (1989),
Bakunin on Anarchism. Black Rose.
1. INTRODUCTION: WHERE WE STAND
Preamble to the WSF Constitution
*Text version
The Workers Solidarity Federation (WSF) is a left-wing
worker-student organisation.
We oppose capitalism and the State (judiciary, government
bureaucracy, police force, parliament etc.). These are structures of
oppression that help a small ruling class of capitalists, generals,
professional politicians and top officials to exploit and rule the
majority of the population: the working class and poor (workers of
all grades, their families, rank and file soldiers, the unemployed,
the rural poor).
We are anti-authoritarian: the only limit on individual freedom
should be that it does not infringe on the freedom of others.
We oppose all forms of oppression and discrimination like racism.
Capitalism and the State are the primary cause of oppression like
racism. Racism was developed to justify slavery, colonialism, and
apartheid capitalism. It was a way to super-exploit Back workers and
divide the ruling class to keep the bosses in power.
This authoritarian, racist, capitalist society can only be
overthrown by an internationalist working class revolution. Only the
workers and the poor can create a free society because only they are
productive classes that do not have a vested interest in the system.
Racism is the product of capitalism and the State, and can
therefore only be defeated by class struggle. At the same time, the
class struggle can only succeed if it is anti-racist- the working
class can only be united and mobilised on the basis of a consistent
opposition to all forms of oppression.
The revolution cannot come through oppressive structures like the
State. The economic disaster and political tyranny of the Marxist-led
Soviet Union shows this clearly.
It must come through mass workers organisations like the trade
unions that will take over the land and the factories and put them
under direct workers control and a democratically planned economy for
the benefit of all. This future society- stateless socialism- will be
defended by a workers army. We want a society without bosses, rulers
and oppressors of any description.
The role of the WSF is not to "lead" or rule the masses or stand
in elections, but to educate and organise the toiling masses to make
the revolution by and for themselves.
Tomorrow is built today. We support all struggles against
oppression. We support the progressive student movement. We work
inside existing trade unions to increase union democracy, spread
revolutionary ideas, and unite all unions into "One Big Union". We
aim to encourage the self-activity and political consciousness of the
mass of the people -the workers and the poor- so that they can make
the revolution for themselves.
We are not Marxists. We proudly stand in the mass tradition of
Anarchism/ Syndicalism. Our movement has historically attracted
millions world wide, because it serves the needs of the workers,
working peasants and the poor, not the power-seekers and exploiters.
Today it is growing like wildfire on all the continents. If you agree
with our aims, you should join us.
* Short version
AIMS AND PRINCIPLES OF WORKERS SOLIDARITY FEDERATION
(1) Opposition to capitalism and all states as structures of
domination and exploitation by the ruling class of capitalists and
rulers.
(2) Opposition to all forms of oppression: racism, sexism,
homophobia, imperialism, environmental destruction etc. The State and
capitalism are the primary causes of these special oppressions.
(3) Opposition to coercive authority. Support for individual
freedom so long as this does not limit the freedom of others.
(4) Mass action and revolution by us the workers and the poor is
the way to defeat capitalism and the state and all forms of
oppression.
(5) Only the working class, the working peasants and the poor can
create a free society because only we have the necessary
organisational ability , numbers, class interest and productive role
in society to do so.
(6) The trade unions and democratic working class civics will be
the vehicle of the revolution. The unions must seize and
democratically manage the factories, land, mines, and offices
(7) The aim of the revolution will be to create an international
stateless socialist society run by worker and community councils,
defended by a democratic workers militia.
(8) The role of the WSF is not to "lead" or rule the masses but to
educate and organise the toiling masses to make the revolution by and
for themselves. We work within existing trade unions.
(9) We support all forms of progressive struggles that improve our
lives.We proudly stand in the mass tradition of Anarchism/
Syndicalism. We are not Marxists. Our movement has historically
attracted millions world-wide, because it serves the needs of the
workers and poor, not the power- seekers and exploiters. If you agree
with our aims, join us.
2. WHAT IS THE WSF?
1. The Workers Solidarity Federation is an Anarchist/Syndicalist
(anarcho-syndicalist) organisation.
2. We are proud to stand in the tradition of class struggle
Anarchism/Syndicalism that emerged in the First International Workers
Association in the 1860s.
2.1. We draw our inspiration from the struggles and theories of
the class struggle Anarchist/ Syndicalist mass movements of the
1860s-1940s. We base our understanding of society firmly in the
writings of Bakunin, Kropotkin, Berkman, Reclus, Goldman, Malatesta,
Makhno, Archinov, Rocker, Durruti and other classical Anarchists and
Syndicalists.
2.2. We do not need to "revise" Anarchism, "bring it up to date"
or "go beyond" it- instead we need to study the theory and history of
our tradition in order to find the answers and approaches needed to
rebuild the revolutionary movement and apply a revolutionary analysis
to the conditions that exist in modern society.
2.3. We do not accept "individualism", "egoism", counter-culture
or other petty bourgeois philosophies as valid parts of the Anarchist
tradition. Anarchism is a philosophy of class struggle, of
revolutionary action by the exploited workers and peasants and poor-
not a haven for the off-casts of the bourgeois world or a set of
"life-style" choices for middle class drop-outs and poseurs.
3. More specifically, we stand within the broad "Platformist"
tradition in Anarchism (as opposed to "individualism", "synthesism"
etc.). That is to say, we take as a founding document the
Organisational Platform of the Libertarian (Anarchist) Communists
written by Nestor Makhno, Peter Archinov, Ida Mett and others (1926).
The key principles of the Platform include
3.1. recognition of the centrality of the class struggle
3.2. recognition of the necessity of a worker-peasant revolution
to establish a stateless socialist society based on worker/ peasant
structures of self-management and worker-peasant army/militia.
3.3. recognition of the need for a specific Anarchist political
organisation with theoretical and tactical unity, federalist
structures (with a national committee), and collective responsibility
to fights for the "leadership" of the Anarchist idea amongst the
working and poor masses as a precondition for a successful social
revolution.
4. We also endorse the Syndicalist tactic for making the Anarchist
revolution, that is to say, revolutionising the trade unions so that
they can be not only the defenders of working class interests in the
here and now, but the battering ram that destroys capitalism and the
State in a revolutionary general strike in which the means of
production are seized and placed under workers self-management. This
tactic is compatible with the prescriptions of the Platform. 5. We
call ourselves "anarcho-syndicalists" because this expresses clearly
the core of our politics, because we are proud to stand in this
tradition, and because we affirm the historical link between
Anarchism and Syndicalism.
3. WHAT IS ANARCHISM?
6. By Anarchism we mean:
a definite intellectual current ... whose adherents advocate the
abolition of economic monopolies and of all political and social
coercive institutions within society.
In place of the present capitalistic economic order Anarchists
would have a free association of all productive forces based upon
co-operative labour, which would have as its sole purpose the
satisfying of the necessary requirements of every member of society,
and would no longer have in view the special interest if privileged
minorities within the social union.
In place of the present state-organisations with their lifeless
machinery of political and bureaucratic institutions Anarchists
desire a federation of free communities which shall be bound to one
another by their common economic and social interests and shall
arrange their affairs by mutual agreement and free contract ...
In modern Anarchism we have the confluence of ... two great
currents during and since the French Revolution: Socialism and
Liberalism ... Anarchism has in common with Liberalism the idea that
the happiness and prosperity of the individual must be the standard
in all social matters...
Within the Socialist movement itself the Anarchists represent the
viewpoint that the war against capitalism must be at the same time a
war against all institutions of political power, for in history
economic exploitation has always gone hand in hand with political and
social oppression."
Rudolph Rocker, Anarcho-syndicalism, 1938, (reprinted 1989 by
Pluto Press)
4. WHAT ARE THE PRECONDITIONS OF REVOLUTION?
7. Capitalism, the State and all forms of oppression must be
fought at every occasion. In the long run, there must a be a
revolution by the working and poor people to establish a free,
stateless socialist (anarchist) society.
8. Revolution requires
8.1. a widespread revolutionary consciousness in the working
class, poor, working peasantry (including a rejection of capitalism,
the State, all oppression; a desire and a vision of a new better way
to organise society in the interests of the workers and the poor; and
a recognition that only the working class and the poor can create a
free society).
8.2. there is industrial organisation (the workers must have
enough organisation and solidarity to be able to physically take over
and self- manage the means of production and distribution and destroy
all remnants of the State; in practical terms this means that the
workers must be organised into revolutionary trade unions (Anarchist-
Syndicalism) and that the workers and the poor must be able to defend
their conquest by means of a democratic workers militia).
9. In order for these conditions to be met it is necessary that we
build an Anarchist/Syndicalist political organisation based on
tactical and theoretical unity (i.e. agreement on tactics and ideas).
This organisation will aim to win the most widespread possible
understanding of Anarchist/Syndicalist ideas and methods in the
working and poor. It will also aim to reconstruct the trade unions on
the basis of Anarchist ideas. The WSF aims to build such an
organisation.
9. Such an organisation must develop a coherent, revolutionary
analysis of society, and immerse itself in the struggles of the
masses to maximise revolutionary consciousness and self-organisation.
5. THE POSITION PAPERS
10. These Position Papers serve as a guide to our analysis,
activities and interventions. They provide a necessary first step
towards the achievement of our goals, and should be studied and
understood by all WSF members.
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