(en) Canada, Cause Commune #34 - Mapping of revolutionary anarchism (fr)

"History is not neutral. At school, we believe that we have need of employers and 
governments. We are told that history is the story of struggles between governments, 
between armies, among elites. We are told that it is the rich and powerful who make 
history, but we are not told is that there have always been ordinary people to fight 
against the bosses and leaders, and that class struggle is the real engine of civilization 
and progress." ---- Michael Schmidt ---- Mapping with revolutionary anarchism, published 
by LUX last May, Michael Schmidt contributes to rehabilitate the historical impact of 
anarchist movements. The advantage of this valuable - and too short - publication is 
threefold. ---- Mass movements at the international level ----

She goes first anarchist history ruts in which several - some anarchists! - The sink: 
especially those of a European movement which would have major deployment Spanish episode 
of 1936-1939. Michael Schmidt brilliantly deconstructs the myth convenient flying into 
five waves (see below) the rich history of anarchist movements internationally.

Unions anarchist gathering dozens - sometimes hundreds - of thousands of people have been 
the main drivers of social change in many regions of the world: Argentina, Uruguay, Cuba, 
South Africa and the Philippines. Their presence is also felt in North Africa, South 
Africa and Southeast Asia. From 1868 to 2012, Schmidt made the recension not exhaustive - 
glossary available - nearly 200 organizations revolutionary anarchists in one hundred 
countries and regions. The golden age of anarchism is located between 1880 and 1920, 
although some regions - especially Asia - have experienced their most important activity 
in the 1920s and 1930s.

Anarchism was so much more than a matter of bearded European revolutionaries, but a set of 
tools and living practices put forward by "ordinary" people. And these people, when 
confronted with repression and challenges of their time, offered a variety of responses 
and contextualized that Schmidt takes the time to look. End of each chapter and concluded 
by articulating responses roughly around the same "complex issue that lies at the heart of 
any social revolution that has given so much of trouble to all the revolutionary left that 
relationship between a revolutionary organization and all the exploited and oppressed-es-es. "

Principles: a clear and consistent definition of anarchism

A second advantage of the book is that it provides a more stringent definition - and in my 
opinion more consistent - anarchism. In the first pages of his book, Schmidt identifies 
what he calls the "great anarchist tradition" through principles. He dismisses this step a 
few thinkers who have influenced anarchist movements, but some dimensions of thought 
exclude family anarchist. For various reasons, Proudhon, Marx, Stirner, and Tolstoy are 
thus part of the lot!

Strategies: trade unionism as the preferred means of anarchists

Within this family anarchist he charted Schmidt are two strategic approaches: 
insurrectionary anarchism anarchism and mass. If the first postulates that reforms are 
illusory and emphasizes armed action, the second considers the social movements and unions 
can create a revolutionary change, and focuses on daily gains. Each strategic approaches 
has its strengths and limitations, but Schmidt emphasizes the second cover. He then 
stressed that revolutionary syndicalism - not one large central Quebec complacent - has 
Constitute the main driver of anarchism.

Of course it would have been interesting to have a history of anarchism a little more 
generous. Mapping of revolutionary anarchism is also, in many respects, a substitute Black 
Flame: The Revolutionary Class Politics of Anarchism and Syndicalism, a more comprehensive 
book published in 2009. But until we have a complete translation of this book, we must 
welcome this publication in French!

FIVE WAVES ANARCHISM

Set of historical landmarks indicating the ups and downs of the anarchist movement.

First wave (1868-1894): The rise of the great anarchist movement in the era of capitalist 
expansion state.

Second wave (1895-1923): Consolidation of anarchist and revolutionary syndicalism and 
anarchist organizations specific wartime and assaults of the reaction.

Third wave (1923-1949): The anarchist revolutions against imperialism, fascism and Bolshevism.

Fourth wave (1950-1989): Shares rear background of the Cold War and decolonization of 
Africa and Asia.

Fifth wave (1990 to present): Resurgence of the anarchist movement in the era of the 
collapse of the Soviet bloc and the neoliberal hegemony.

UNIONISM

"For unionism, we mean a strategy in which revolutionary anarchist syndicalist unions - 
which apply participatory democracy and a revolutionary vision of libertarian communism - 
are considered the main means and immediate resistance to the ruling classes and as the 
core of a new social order based on self-management, economic planning and democratic 
universality of the human community. "

- Michael Schmidt