ANARCHISM

Anarchy is a scary word. It is associated with chaos, violence, and disorder. However, the word anarchy simply means without (an) rulers (archy). Anarchism, as a political theory, is the idea that humanity can and should organise without rulership, and doing so will lead to less chaos, violence, and disorder than we suffer today. This is because rulership has always allowed those who rule to exploit, oppress, and neglect those they rule. This is a simple fact of how rulership works; to rule is to have the ability to ignore the wants and needs of those under you, and to be ruled is to be expected to put aside your own desires, reason, and sense of right and wrong to obey orders.

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TWO IDEAS OF SOCIALISM

Today socialism is mostly associated with social democratic political parties like Labour or totalitarian states like North Korea. So close is this association that most people assume that socialism is an inherently statist idea that depends on great leaders to guide us to utopia through government action.

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A BLEAK FUTURE

The trade union movement has been extremely important in furthering the desires of workers and improving our living conditions. This movement was vital in raising many workers out of the gruelling fourteen hour days, unsafe working conditions, poverty pay, and general degradation of the industrial revolution.

However, the modern trade union movement seems unable to extend or defend those gains. For many workers, the next decade looks like it will be bleaker than the last, and in the long term we may be slowly sliding back to the soul crushing working conditions of the 19th century. In the face of this, modern unions often seem to lack the ability to effectively stand up for their members. They are also often wracked with problems of internal abuse and a lack of accountability to their membership.

This pamphlet will argue that this failure is inherent to the way that modern unions are structured, and that in order to defend the interests of the working class we need to build a better kind of union with a radically different structure. However, before that, we will explore why the trade union movement developed in the first place and what the purpose of those early unions was.

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THE RIGHT TO PROTEST

The right to protest is a key right within our political system, and the suppression of protest is a sign that a government has become oppressive and authoritarian. Protest is seen as the voice of the people, and an important tactic to raise issues and push for changes that the political system would otherwise ignore.

However, protest has also had a very uneven record of bringing about such changes, especially on its own without other forms of political action. This pamphlet will argue that this is due to the limited ability of passive protest to effect politics, and will discuss other tactics outside of the formal political system that are needed in order for people to assert their interests against a government that often does not care about them.

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DEMOCRACY

The core assumption of our political system is that the government represents the will of the people and that this will is expressed through elections. Because of this, political parties are the most important organisations in mainstream politics and many people do not get involved in politics beyond voting. Most people do not even know what politics looks like outside of trying to win elections and those wanting progressive social change rely on parties like Labour, the Greens, or the Liberal Democrats.

This pamphlet will argue that this approach to politics is not enough to achieve lasting progressive change, that our political system does not work the way it is described, and that our votes are worth far less than we are led to believe. Instead, we need to build stronger organisations in our workplaces and communities, and with these organisations we can change society regardless of who is in government and no matter how hard they try to resist change.

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OWNERS AND WORKERS

Today the economy is divided into two broad classes of people. One is a small elite who control the vast majority of the wealth, organisation, and productive capacity of society; private business owners. The other is the majority of workers who have little independent access to the means of survival and must work for one of these private owners in order to make the money we need to live. This structure has put workers in a position in which we must accept mistreatment by our employers or risk the insecurity and poverty of unemployment, and as such it is called “capitalism” as it is a system in which those who own the means of production, or capital, run the economy.

Many workers trapped in this economic structure hate their jobs. Even many workers who enjoy their work and the more farsighted owners can see that capitalism is often harmful. However, capitalism is treated as either a fact of nature or the best of all available options. This pamphlet challenges the idea that our current economic system is natural or optimal, suggests an alternative way of managing the economy, and lays out how we can get there.

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MEANS OF SURVIVAL

The majority of people are reliant on a web of different organisations and infrastructure in order to live full and happy lives. We need access to hospitals, transport, waste disposal, water, electricity, and many other municipal services in order to live. Many of us do not own our own homes, but rent them from a landlord or local council. Even those who own a home or small business are reliant on the financial system that provides mortgages and other loans.

The organisations that run this infrastructure can be corrupt, cruel, and uncaring. Landlords, businesses, and government departments often treat us with contempt, providing poor services and using them to control us. In the face of these problems, people look to politicians for help. This pamphlet will argue that politicians can never live up to their promises, and that we need to follow a more radical path if we want services and infrastructure that serve our desires instead of the whims of the rich and powerful.

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CHANGE IS POSSIBLE

We face many problems today. From economic stagnation and poverty, to state violence and oppression, to crumbling infrastructure and services, to discrimination and hatred based on any number of characteristics, to the possibility of complete environmental collapse. Many of these problems have been with us for hundreds of years, or have flared up again after progress was seemingly made against them. Many of those in power are unwilling to address these problems, and they often benefit directly from them. Worse still, popular movements to solve these problems have only won temporary relief and have often acted as a stepping stone to power for their leaders instead of creating lasting change.

The repeated failure of both established rulers and their opponents within and outside of the formal structures of power has led many to doubt that real change is possible. All that seems possible is to replace one oppressive and exploitative ruling class with another, and people who hope to create a better world are nothing but useful tools for their new masters. This pamphlet will argue that this is not true, but that there are structural problems with popular movements that we need to confront if we want them to achieve real liberation.

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These are some books we recommend for anyone who wants to learn more about anarchism and syndicalism

Short Introductions

Your Freedom is My Freedom (7 pages), by William Gillis – An excellent short introduction to the very core of anarchist though.