(en) Britain, Libertarian Communist Initiative - Statement of Intent

1. The established Left has failed and continues to fail to gather a response to the 
politics of austerity, and the global capitalist crisis broadly conceived. It has 
stagnated in the face of unprecedented changes to class composition and ruling class 
hegemony. It no longer offers the space or opportunity to build a revolutionary 
counterpower. ---- 2. Despite attacks on wages and conditions, as well as a decrease in 
the standard of living, the bureaucratised labour movements remain wedded to the ideology 
of class peace and the politics of social democracy. They pose no threat to capitalism or 
the austerity offensive, and seek to reconcile their differences with our class enemies. 
---- 3. The 2011 August riots demonstrated clearly the existence of communities in which 
there exists a potential for the growth of politicised and militant sections of the class, 
formed of heavily exploited and racially abused proletarians.

4. The Left?s failure to seize the potential of this extraordinary moment was a 
fundamental mistake, and only demonstrated the Left?s real detachment from the people 
whose interests it claims to hold closest. We feel that when social unrest of this kind 
happens again, there must be a clear and determined engagement by libertarian communists. 
This engagement should build upon a strategy of social insertion which needs to be 
underway in the present.

5. Those sections of the class that inhabit the riot subjectivity are antagonistic towards 
capitalism and the state. They are conscious of those antagonisms and are willing to 
struggle against them. These sections will naturally include disparate groups of people 
across all sections of the class and have varying levels of political efficacy and 
determination.

6. These sections of the class often have internally contradictory ideas and we must 
recognise there is a difference between a consciousness of antagonistic class relations 
and a consciousness of political direction. We must also recognise the dangers of 
co-option by the state, the far-right and Left opportunists.

7. United alongside certain existing militant projects, we recognise those communities as 
being an arena in which protagonists in future struggle can emerge. Our role in these 
communities is not to sell ideology, but to present opportunities for advancing demands 
which can deliver socially-equitable gains.

8. We believe this strategy of social insertion needs to be occurring across both the 
class in its broadest sense and multiple terrains of struggle in order to bring lasting 
social change, but recognise the present need to focus our energies instead of diffusing 
them. As the riots of 2011 represented in some ways the impetus for our project, it is 
from the circumstances which brought them about, that we wish to begin.

9. At this stage, we believe it is essential to create a pole of attraction to regroup 
existing pro-revolutionary militants and tendencies, sincere in the belief of the 
magnitude of the tasks at hand. Many are and continue to be disillusioned in the existing 
projects of the anti-capitalist, socialist and anarchist milieus.

10. We have come to reject the anarchist moniker. We continue to take inspiration from the 
ideas, methods and heritage of the historic anarchist movement, but feel that the 
contemporary anarchist milieu has lost sight of this heritage in all but name. The 
contemporary anarchist milieu is not capable of learning lessons from the failures of the 
past, or creating new thought and praxis from the ashes of previous movements. Instead, 
and to our sadness, it increasingly manifests its political activity through the 
reproduction of certain forms of lifestyle, fashion or esoteric behavioural affectations. 
We therefore seek to inhabit a space that neither relies upon the ?liberalised? 
methodologies of contemporary anarchism nor the failed strategies of Left populists.

11. The Libertarian Communist Initiative is a medium term, pre-party formation which means 
to establish a pole of attraction for political regroupment which is capable of moving 
beyond both anarchism and Leninism. The Initiative intends to grow into a Libertarian 
Communist Party that can build on existing struggles and campaigns in order to pursue a 
clear programme for advanced struggle across all sections of the class and across an 
assemblage of terrains.

12. We use ?Party? here in the broad sense deployed by Malatesta, and do not feel this 
form compromises our libertarian content. We have never sought to build a mass 
organisation or union, and continue to reject substitutionist modes of organisation which 
prioritise the interests of the organisation or member over the interests of the class at 
large. The proletariat is the motor of social change and does not require being anything 
but itself, acting in solidarity against all forces which harass and undermine its interests.

13. Subsequently, we seek to establish a minority political organisation, the success of 
which does not rely in sheer growth and party-building. The Initiative will therefore take 
the form of a cadre of dedicated, energetic and disciplined communist militants who strive 
always to be allies to the class. Our affiliation to this cadre does not stem from our 
individual desire to belong, but always to a commitment to making plans towards building 
counter-hegemony and carrying them out.

14. Initially, the role of the Initiative will be to elucidate the positions of 
libertarian communism (both as issues of clarification and analysis between 
revolutionaries and to the wider public), to initiate, intervene and participate in the 
organisations of the class through social work, and to act as an example of influence to 
the anti-capitalist milieu as a whole. The Initiative will operate on the principles of 
theoretical clarity, practical unity and collective responsibility.

15. Ultimately, we seek a strategy of dual power that can escalate class struggle and 
build institutions of counter-hegemony. Over time we hope these institutions will seek 
overt and covert antagonistic relationships with capital and the state, and work to build 
unity and solidarity throughout the class, consolidating a confident counter-power that 
can seize and reduce the means of production and begin a process of social re-organisation.

- Libertarian Communist Initiative