Anarchism And The Platformist Tradition

Submitted by Common Struggle on Wed, 07/30/2003 - 16:07


Platformism is a current within libertarian communism putting forward specific suggestions on the nature which anarchist organzation should take.

The origins of the Platform lie in the Russian anarchist movement's experiences during the Russian Revolution and the resulting civil war. One group of anarchist exiles (Dielo Trouda/Workers' Cause Group) came together in 1926 and published The Organizational Platform of the Libertarian Communists, since known as 'The Platform'. They wrote the pamphlet to examine why the anarchist movement had failed to build on their successes before and during the revolution.

The Platform was an analysis of the disorganization of the anarchist movement at the time, and was an attempt to push it in a more organized, class struggle direction. The Platform was not an attempt at writing an anarchist manifesto. It was a discussion document and the authors never claimed to have all the answers.

The Platform was written because of what was going on in the international anarchist movement at that time. However, it remains relevant today in its insights on how libertarian communists should organize.

The Platform argues that to create a well organized libertarian communist movement, we need a "grouping of revolutionary worker and peasant forces on a libertarian communist theoretical basis (a specifically libertarian communist organization)" and "regrouping revolutionary workers and peasants on an economic base of production and consumption (revolutionary workers and peasants organized around production)".

Though they provided no extra insights on organizing around production, their ideas for organizing libertarian communist federations was something of controversy amongst many in the anarchist movement. To combat the disarray the movement was in, they suggested forming a "General Union of Anarchists" based on four basic principles: theoretical unity, tactical unity, collective responsibility and federalism.

Theoretical Unity meant simply that if you don't agree with someone, don’t be in a political group with them! This doesn't mean that everyone has to agree all the time (they won't) but there does need to be a certain amount of ideological unity. Everyone being 'anarchists' or 'libertarian' isn’t enough. If half the group believe in class struggle while the other half don’t, then both sides would benefit from having two smaller groups rather than one big group which spent all its time arguing.

Tactical Unity meant that the members of an organization should struggle together as an organised force rather than as individuals. Once a strategy has been agreed by the collective, all members should work towards ensuring its success saving resources and time concentrating in a common direction.

Collective Responsibility meant "the entire Union will be responsible for the political and revolutionary activity of each member; in the same way, each member will be responsible for the political and revolutionary activity of the Union." This means that each member should take part in the collective decision-making process and respect the decisions of the collective.

Federalism is an organizational structure based on "the free agreement of individuals and organizations to work collectively towards a common objective". All decisions are made by those effected by them as opposed to centralism, where decisions are made by a central committee for those effected by them.

Though Platformism had a shaky start with many prominent anarchists denouncing them as trying to 'Bolshevize' anarchism, it has now been taken on by many libertarian communist groups across the world such as the Workers' Solidarity Movement in Ireland, Northeastern Federation of Anarchist-Communists in North America and the Zabalaza Anarchist Communist Federation in South Africa.



Historical



Platformism Today



Especifismo Anarquista



Common Struggle Writings on Platformism



The Global Influence of Platformism and Especifismo


"It is time for anarchism to leave the swamp of disorganization, to put an end to endless vacillations on the most important tactical and theoretical questions, to resolutely move towards a clearly recognized goal, and to operate an organized collective practice"

- The Organizational Platform of Libertarian Communists, 1926