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Freedom

THROUGH CLASS UNITY AND RESISTANCE

Zabalaza Books Bulletin #14 Free or Donation

Fr e e d o m w i t h o u t S o c i a l i s m i s P r i v i l e g e , I n j u s t i c e
S o c i a l i s m w i t h o u t Fr e e d o m i s S l a v e r y, B r u t a l i t y - BAKUNIN

Against Parliament - For Anarchism


Why Anarchists Oppose once enough working class parliamentary The Ruling Class
seats had been gained. Similarly a socialist What is it that makes such attitudes so
Parliament system, using the power of the State in the easy to adopt? It stems from the fact that,
We are constantly told that we live in a working class’ favour, could then be intro-
free society. The guarantee of this “freedom” once existing in a world of large salaries,
duced by Acts of Parliament. consultancies and bribes, chauffeurs and pri-
is said to be the parliamentary system. This Strangely, one of the reasons for taking
allows us to elect representatives who gov- vate secretaries; politicians become largely
this line was precisely the repressive capa- divorced from life as most of us experience it.
ern the country in our name, and who are bilities which the capitalist State had built up.
answerable to us. That, at least, is the theo- They are also both more and less informed
Only anarchists anticipated that such stan- than most people. On one hand, privy to
ry. dard governmental tools as courts, prisons,
This system had its beginnings in information and the making of decisions that
police and troops, whoever commanded will affect millions, with only a selected por-
England in a body that only represented feu- them, would end up preserving a society of
dal nobles, and evolved into one which rep- tion of that information available for what is
inequality and exploitation, not abolishing it. laughably termed public debate.
resented land-owning and agricultural inter- But parliamentary socialists, believing that
ests more generally. There was no pretence On the other, living in ignorance of every-
any attempt at revolution must resolve itself day life and having their information filtered
that it was democratic, i.e. representing the to the advantage of the ruling class, took a
will of all the people. By the 19th century, via civil servants, lobbyists and journalists.
gradual, reformist approach. By patient The contempt for the public thus encouraged
with the development of industrial capital- legal changes, a socialist utopia would be
ism, the newly-rich owners of factories is plain in the constant necessity for leaks to
arrived at, and no-one hurt or enable us to know much at all of this world.
and mills lacked political power to aggrieved in the process. Typical of
match their economic strength. There is in addition a basic condescension
this outlook were the Fabians, an on the part of politicians, in their assumption
Agitation for an extension of early socialist think-tank still
the franchise produced the so- that some people (i.e. themselves and their
influential in the Labour Party. economic counterparts) are best suited to
called Great Reform Act of Many believed in the rea-
1832, which only granted making the major decisions on how society
sonableness of such should run its affairs.
the right to vote to sentiments. With the
property-owners like The debates about MPs' pay, with the
gradual winning of outcome of increases of 26% (whilst urging
the industrialists the vote by all of
despite their 3% or less on everyone else), are especially
the working significant in revealing this gulf between gov-
reliance on class, sub-
working- ernment and the governed. Once, the argu-
sequent ment was that Parliament would work for the
c l a s s history
support working class through the election of working
has too class representatives, on the basis of com-
during o f t e n
the long mon interest and experience. Now it was
revolved said that MPs' wages had to be raised by
campaign. around work-
The working huge amounts in order to attract the right cal-
ers giving up ibre of person, who would otherwise be lost
class continued to their power by
have no significant to a managerial position in industry.
electing “representa- Exactly so. MPs and ministers are politi-
economic or political tives”. The fallacy has
voice. Consequences of cal middle managers, and their gaze is so
been that, by ceding frequently turned to the City and the Bosses
this situation were the work- power to someone or some
ing class fight for the vote in organisations like the Chamber of Labour
party claiming to represent (and their international equivalents, such as
the Chartist movement and the you, your interests and those of
growth of trade unions. Most sig- the Council of Ministers of the European
others like you will be the chief con- Union, the World Trade Organisation and the
nificant, in terms of an independent cern of those representatives. This
class outlook, was the development dur- IMF) because these are the people to whom
idea has legitimised the election of full- they are really accountable. For their part,
ing the rest of the century of various forms time union officials as well as politicians.
of socialism, communism and anarchism. they exert firm central control via local coun-
It has proved untrue on two counts. cils and also by means of placeperson-
Short of the actual statement of the class of packed quangos (unelected bodies like hos-
Government: the Way to industrialists, bankers, stockbrokers, etc., pital trust boards, responsible for spending
political representatives are driven to make millions in public funds). This in turn expos-
Freedom? deals with these people, whose prime aim is
Anarchists, because of their belief in the es the hollowness of “local democracy”.
to preserve and expand their social and eco- Despite the form of a democratic political
strength of voluntary co-operation and mutu- nomic privileges, not give them up. And
al aid, were (and are) opposed to the coer- process which allegedly includes us all, the
these representatives themselves, when not impotence of national governments before
cive power of government on principle. They born into the ruling-class (making connec-
therefore denied the notion that the working the activities of transnational companies
tions and assumptions at elite schools and (otherwise known as globalisation or neo-lib-
class should work to extend the franchise university to last a lifetime), sooner rather
and then vote its own representatives into eralism) has meant that its content has
than later adopt its attitudes. Supposedly increasingly become concerned simply with
power, convinced that this could only ever working class MPs lose touch with their orig-
achieve domination by a minority. devising ways to improve the lot of the well-
inal background, just as do those elected pri- off or ease their worries.
However the idea was spread by others marily as women; and for the same reasons.
(often socialists from the middle class) that Since its election in May 1997, the
capitalism and the many laws required to Labour government in England has been at
sustain it could eventually be legislated away pains to stress how business-friendly it is
both to domestic and foreign investors. The reveals the basic fallacy that has always shift so much that their own self-importance
proof has been in such measures as its underlain the parliamentary road. This is that (the “need” for them or other bosses) is put in
appointments of businesspeople to head var- the working class can make continuing and doubt.
ious commissions on aspects of the Welfare permanent gains while another class domi- Those claiming to be socialist (rather
State (e.g. the ex-chief of Barclays Bank in nates it economically and politically. The than social democratic) or communist, while
charge of a commission on benefits!), its “finest hour” of parliamentary socialism in the perhaps committed to economic equality, see
harassment of the unemployed and the set- post-1945 nationalisations and creation of political equality as a goal that is much fur-
ting of a minimum wage based on what the National Health Service in England con- ther off. They, of course, will benignly rule us
bosses wish to pay rather than what workers tinued to preserve managerial chains of com- in the meantime. Thus they end up on a par
need. mand and had no idea of how to counteract with the others, who always seek to offer
The other parties now believe in only the the harmful inroads of market capitalism “strong leadership” when not merely “repre-
mildest reforms of unfettered capitalism, other than through subsidies. This may have senting” us.
based on the further belief that nothing but a cushioned the workforces against unemploy-
capitalist system is workable. And this con- ment for some decades, but by now the truth Anarchist Apathy?
viction unites all of the main political parties - is plain: the ruling class drive for profit is the It is often argued that those like anar-
hence the growing ease with which they supreme value in a capitalist world. If this chists who deliberately refuse to vote in elec-
swap members. This is the essential means a return to sweatshops, disregard for tions are apathetic, and have no right to
"choice" of which they make so much. the health and safety of workers and exces- comment on political affairs if they do not
None of the above comments should be sive hours of work, this is the price to be paid participate in the approved manner.
mistaken for any nationalistic stance. to compete in a global market. In the case of Anarchists vigorously deny this. Even the
Anarchists are quite clear that the injustices public services it means either their aban- politicians profess to be disturbed at the
suffered by the working class are common donment in privatisation, or severe limita- mounting lack of participation in the “demo-
across the globe. Indeed it is this common tions being placed upon their expenditure. cratic process”, a worldwide phenomenon.
character that helps create a working class The same point is true of all such areas that There are now MPs arguing that voting
that is international, for all its local variations, have been the object of reform by should be made compulsory: so much for
and makes the need to unite across national Parliament: if they can be clawed back for freedom of choice! Anarchists in fact argue
boundaries ever more urgent. profits sake, they will be. for constant and general involvement in poli-
And this despite the fact that bosses and tics, that is, all of the questions (work, food,
politicians still play up national differences in housing, transport, education, etc.) which
order to maintain weakness and division affect our lives.
amongst the world's workers. Those who Apathy - and despair- are the by-prod-
today complain about Brussels' interference ucts of a vote every few years and the
should simply ask themselves, is a British chance to sign the occasional petition to
boss or politician so preferable? Parliament. They do not come from the
The idea that they are somehow more refusal to be mocked in a farce. As anar-
under our control or more sympathetic is a chist-communists, then, we are opposed to
gross fallacy. No, it is having a ruling class parliamentary democracy and capitalism.
at all that is the root problem, whether its Neither can we be satisfied with the end of
members are of the same nationality or not. one and not the other. For example, capital-
ism can thrive in all kinds of political environ-
A Free Society? ments but it will still produce similar misery
For those who cannot be pacified by Freedom of Choice and injustice.
material goods (or at least the hope of them), Most political parties offer some variant We conclude by outlining some of our
the other side of the democratic picture is of managing capitalism politically. Ultimately positive views of a world in which they have
coercion. This goes both for those who have this is to resign ourselves to continuing both been superseded. Our starting-point is
an insecure hold on work, housing or educa- stressful work, unemployment, discrimina- that individual freedom is best realised in a
tion, and those who dissent. With the con- tion, pollution and wars, whether over natural society without domination, brought together
tinuing legal and technical tooling-up of the resources (as in the Gulf War) or regional instead by voluntary co-operation and asso-
police, detailed and linked government data- political influence (as in the Lesotho). ciation. The needs of the individual and the
bases, Internet and mobile phone monitor- Naturally, policies for this management needs of society are in a constant tension,
ing, and the widespread use of CCTV, all the vary, as do the gestures towards social jus- but they stand the best chance of being har-
means for a totally authoritarian system are tice. But although certain specific policies monised in a world that has seen the aboli-
coming into place. Freedom is reduced to will change, there are ideological limits to tion of classes. This means an end to the
mere consumerism. each party, which preserve continuity. Thus power of anyone to dominate, either eco-
Crime is the alleged justification for these today's ANC, while being more explicitly pro- nomically or politically. Power would instead
measures. Anything that might indict the role business in its outlook than its early 1980s be diffused.
that the propaganda and pressures of a cap- model, is in both cases part of a tradition that One hundred years ago, anarchists
italist world play is disregarded as an excuse has never envisaged any more than the tam- chiefly argued against the working class tak-
for individual weakness. More than this, in a ing of the market, rather than its abolition. ing the parliamentary road on a theoretical
system where the market is held to be Similarly, its commitment to reformation level. Today we have all too much experi-
supreme, any assertion of the interests of the of the economy will only mean that we can ence to confirm their original insight that
working class that is not thoroughly diluted elect more of our oppressors, instead of their freedom; equality and well-being are not to
by politicians and union bureaucrats itself simply inheriting the right to do so. be achieved via that route. In the 21st cen-
becomes defined as bordering on crime. Similar examples could be given for all of tury it is more than time to leave behind the
Thus the outlawing or restriction of strikes, the parties. They adapt, change rhetoric, political illusions that littered the 20th. This
demonstrations, picketing, etc. symbols, even their names, but they never pamphlet is a contribution to the exposure of
The point that we have reached today one still deeply-rooted.

The role of Zabalaza Books is to make Anarchist literature cheaply available to working and poor people in southern Africa. However,
no idea is of any use unless it is rooted in, and influences in a positive way, the practical experiences of ordinary people. Our actions
and ideas are to try influence the class struggle. However, we do so as equals, not as self-appointed "leaders" or "vanguards". We do
not aim to "seize power" on behalf of the workers and poor - to make ourselves the new privileged ruling minority.
Instead, we urge everyone to fully and directly control and manage their own struggles and organisations and to make their own deci-
sions. As Anarchists, we try to develop and extend the class struggle for improvements and reforms within Capitalism into an openly rev-
olutionary movement aiming to replace the present system - while, at the same time, fighting the day-to-day struggle in an Anarchist way.
The struggle will be long and hard, but worth it. We at Zabalaza Books are committed to developing a movement that will create this
New World. Join Us… We have a World to Win! Text adapted from that of the Anarchist Federation www.afed.org.uk

Zabalaza Books ”Knowledge is the Key to be Free!”


Post: Postnet Suite 116, Private Bag X42, Braamfontein, 2017, Johannesburg, South Africa
E-Mail: zababooks@zabalaza.net Website: www.zabalaza.net/zababooks

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