5 ms·
I think Anarchism is ultimately but radical direct democracy with strong emphathis on the principle of subsidiarity. A paraphrase of a bit from the Makhno arti
by _0ffh 7y ago
I think Anarchism is ultimately but radical direct democracy with strong emphathis on the principle of subsidiarity.
A paraphrase of a bit from the Makhno article on Wikipedia:
""" The first Congress of the Confederation of Anarchists Groups issued five main principles:
1) Rejection of all political parties
2) Rejection of all forms of dictatorships (including the dictatorship of the proletariat, viewed by Makhnovists and many anarchists of the day as a term synonymous with the dictatorship of the Bolshevik communist party)
3) Negation of any concept of a central state
4) Rejection of a so-called "transitional period" necessitating a temporary dictatorship of the proletariat
5) Self-management of all workers through free local workers' councils """
There may be a discussion to be had about these principles, but they certainly do not sound like "a railroad towards dictatorship" to me.
Edit: Minor fixups
- Iv 7y ago"Democracy is one of the forms of bourgeois capitalist society. [...] As a result, democracy is merely one variety of bourgeois dictatorship, its fictitious political freedoms and democratic guarantees are a smokescreen designed to conceal its true identity. " [1] In his "constructive part" [2] he carefully avoids talking about assemblies or votes. It is clear he does not know really how to solve conflicts and just hope none will arise. He also mentions the need of an army to have a unity of command, but just specifies this must be decided quickly, without giving clear advice on how to do that without dreaded centralization nor democracy. [1] http://www.nestormakhno.info/english/newplatform/general.htm http://www.nestormakhno.info/english/newplatform/general.htm [2] http://www.nestormakhno.info/english/newplatform/constructive.htm http://www.nestormakhno.info/english/newplatform/constructiv...
- _0ffh 7y agoI'd say it stands to reason that in these quotes the word "democracy" is used as a stand in for "(centralised) representative democracy".
- Iv 7y agoYes, but he does not explicit that, equaling if with "democracy", something he proposes to reject altogether. The words "democracy" "vote" "majority" appear nowhere else in his proposal.
- _0ffh 7y agoGiven that the "Platform" document was written with anarchists in mind as the target group, maybe the authors just took it for granted? It seems to be more about strategy and tactics than about ideological basics. Which makes sense, as it is an attempt to address and explain the anarchist movement's failures during the Russian revolution outside Ukraine.