In Defense of Revolutionary Organisation
Part 5
The Future Lies Open
The revolutionary wave which swept the world from 1917 to 1919, in Germany
as much as in Russia, but also in other countries of the world, this revolutionary
wave took the form of workers' councils. But it would be wrong to conclude,
as do the councilists, that this is the new form of revolutionary organisation.
For something that we have learnt in this modern era, inaugurated by the
English revolution, is that moments of great social tension call forth their
own appropriate social forms rather than replicating or reviving old social
forms. Critics call this spontaneism, deliberately confounding two meanings
of this word. In one sense it means coming out of nowhere, arriving without
warning. I oppose this meaning in this context to another - that of being
self-generated, of the revolution being the work of the workers themselves.
It is in this later sense that social evolution evokes crises which stimulate
class struggle, and that class struggle in turn clothes itself in organisational
forms appropriate to itself.
For revolutionaries without a revolution it is easy to mull over revolutions
of the past. In this way there develop 'fellowships of discourse' which
stem from this. Far from providing an overview or some sort of strategic
viewpoint, such groupings become conservative and simply protect their gems
of proletarian wisdom in an ever more greatly ossified form. As such they
constitute parasites feeding upon the host of proletarian struggle. Their
existence isn't necessarily serious, and it certainly isn't necessary to
picture them in the way evoked by the ICC, where they are depicted
as being a significant weapon in the arsenal of the bourgeoisie. Nevertheless
they can constitute a break or barrier to the development of more interesting
movements, and at such times they must be swept aside. This is what must
be done with the ICC now.
Back to: Introduction
Going Around in Circles
In Defense of The Proletariat
New Atlantis
Forward to: What is to be Done?
Return to: Psychic Warfare
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