To παρακάτω κείμενο παρουσιάζεται χωρίς τις υποσημειώσεις για την ευκολία ανάγνωσης, μιας και το κείμενο είναι αρκετά εκτενές. Οι υποσημειώσεις θα παρουσιαστούν σε μελλοντική έντυπη έκδοση του κειμένου.
Στo συγκεκριμένο κείμενο ο Lucien var der Walt εξετάζει περαιτέρω τα ζητήματα που είχε αρχικά αναλύσει στο κείμενο του “Αντιεξουσία, Συμμετοχική Δημοκρατία, Επαναστατική άμυνα: Συζητώντας περί μαύρης φλόγας, επαναστατικού αναρχισμού και ιστορικού μαρξισμού”, το οποίο είχε εκδοθεί στο περιοδικό International Socialism: a quarterly journal of socialist theory, no. 130, pp. 193-207 και μπορεί να βρεθεί στα αγγλικά στο http://www.isj.org.uk/index.php4?id=729&issue=130. Η αρχική αγγλική έκδοση αυτού του κειμένου μπορεί να βρεθεί στο http://lucienvanderwalt.blogspot.com/2011/02/anarchism-...-and- list.html Μετάφραση: kostav read full story / add a comment

NOTE: Heritage Day is a post-apartheid South African national holiday; unlike most, it has no clear link to major struggles in the past, although there are efforts to position it as a more “political” day. The talk below was given by Lucien van der Walt at an event organised by Sakhaluntu Cultural Group in Grahamstown, for black youth. Thank you all for coming. Thank you, chair, for the invitation. Thank you, organisers, for the event today. Today looks like a great day, a great day to look forward. But before we look forward, we must look back as well. Unless you know where you come from, you will never know where you can go. read full story / add a comment

**Based on a talk given in Kenya, this article argues that, while official minimum wages and other improvements are welcome gains, they are inadequate in an exploiting system based on the rule of the few. It is necessary to pose the more ambitious demand for a 'living wage,' set by the working class, and to enforce this by building powerful, autonomous, self-managed, conscientised class-struggle movements. Rejecting 'privilege' theories, it argues that all sectors of the working class benefit from demands and campaigns that secure equal rights, equal treatment and equal wages, against divide-and-rule systems, and in which strikers build alliances with communities and users. A 'living wage' movement of this type should be located in a larger project of building a popular counter-power that can resist, and then topple, ruling class power. [Italiano] read full story / add a comment

Σε αυτήν την ενότητα θα ερευνήσουμε κάποιες από τις πλέον συγκλονιστικές περιπτώσεις εμπλοκής του αναρχισμού και του συνδικαλισμού στους εθνικοαπελευθερωτικούς αγώνες. Θα εστιάσουμε σε αγώνες που διεξήχθησαν στο εσωτερικό χωρών που βρίσκονταν υπό ιμπεριαλιστική κυριαρχία. Βέβαια, αυτή είναι μόνο η μισή ιστορία της αναρχικής και συνδικαλιστικής συμμετοχής στους αντιιμπεριαλιστικούς αγώνες, καθώς ένα σημαντικό μέρος της αντιιμπεριαλιστικής ιστορίας της ευρύτερης αναρχικής παράδοσης έχει να κάνει με τους αντιμιλιταριστικούς αγώνες στο εσωτερικό των ίδιων των ιμπεριαλιστικών χωρών· επαναλαμβάνουμε ότι αυτό το σκέλος έχει συζητηθεί στο κεφάλαιο 8, όπου μελετήθηκε η αντίθεση των αναρχικών στον πόλεμο και τις κατακτήσεις. read full story / add a comment

Ο αναρχισμός είναι ένα διεθνιστικό κίνημα. Όπως ακριβώς η εργατική τάξη και οι αγρότες βρίσκονται σε όλον τον κόσμο και όπως ακριβώς ο καπιταλισμός και η γαιοκτησία υπάρχουν παντού, έτσι και οι αγώνες είναι απαραίτητο να διεξάγονται και να συντονίζονται πέρα από τα όρια των συνόρων. Το κράτος αποτελεί εργαλείο των πλουσίων και των ισχυρών, όχι τη φωνή ενός λαού ή μιας χώρας, συνεπώς ο αγώνας δεν θα πρέπει να περιορίζεται στα κρατικά σύνορα· τα βασικά συμφέροντα των λαϊκών τάξεων είναι ουσιαστικά παντού τα ίδια. read full story / add a comment

From Mother Earth volume 12, number 1, March 1917: OBITUARY : James Guillaume (1844-1916 read full story / add a comment

May Day – a call to build an international movement of working class and poor people across lines of race, nation and religion for workers’ control and democracy from below, social justice and freedom from political and economic oppression – remains critical. In a country racked by anti-immigrant violence, racial and ethnic tensions, the fragmentation of the labour federation Cosatu, corporate scandals and political corruption, it is time to remember May Day’s roots and aspirations.
**A version of this appeared in the South African weekly, "Mail & Guardian" (30 Apr 2015).

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Prefácio ao livro "Bandeira Negra: rediscutindo o anarquismo", de Felipe Corrêa, publicado em 2014 pela Editora Prismas, na Coleção Estudos do Anarquismo. read full story / add a comment

Το Κουρδικό Ζήτημα: Υπό το πρίσμα των Αναρχικών Αντιστάσεων στην Καρδιά της Οθωμανικής Αυτοκρατορίας 1880-1923
Michael Schmidt & Lucien van der Walt
μετάφραση kostav read full story / add a comment

Un movimento globale, quello della tradizione anarchica e sindacalista rivoluzionaria, ha influenzato persone di tutti i ceti sociali. Una delle figure più rappresentative fu Bernard L.E. Sigamoney, nato nel 1888. Il nipote di braccianti indiani a contratto, che emigrarono in Sud Africa nel 1870, divenne un maestro di scuola con una impostazione da classe operaia. [English] read full story / add a comment

A global movement, the anarchist and syndicalist tradition has influenced people from all walks of life. A notable figure was Bernard L.E. Sigamoney, born in 1888. The grandson of indentured Indian labourers, who arrived in South Africa in the 1870s, he became a school teacher with a working class outlook. [Italiano] read full story / add a comment

Ο θάνατος του Νέλσον Μαντέλα συνοδεύτηκε από χιλιάδες άρθρα και εκατομμύρια ανθρώπων τα οποία απέδιδαν σε αυτόν φόρο τιμής. Εξυμνώντας τον σωστά, για την εναντίωση του στον φυλετισμό, την συνεισφορά του στους απελευθερωτικούς αγώνες στην N. Αφρική και για την στάση του ενάντια στο καθεστώς του απαρτχάιντ, το οποίο και τον κράτησε φυλακισμένο για 27 χρόνια. Για μεγάλο μέρος της ζωής του ο Νέλσον Μαντέλα υπήρξε η βασική φιγούρα των απελευθερωτικών αγώνων στην N. Αφρική κατά την διάρκεια των δεκαετιών του 1960, 1970 και 1980.
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Perché è importante sviluppare una nuova visione del ruolo trasformatore dei sindacati in un mondo di crisi e di disuguaglianze; i limiti del sindacalismo concertativo, degli approcci nazionalisti, di quelli marxisti-leninisti e social-democratici; e come l'anarcosindacalismo ed il sindacalismo rivoluzionario - in quanto importante tradizione storica, bagaglio di idee ed esperienza rivoluzionaria, soprattutto in Spagna nel 1936-1939 - possono contribuire al dibattito. [English] read full story / add a comment

van der Walt, Lucien (2014) “Reclaiming Syndicalism: From Spain to South Africa to Global Labour Today,” Global Labour Journal, vol. 5, no. 2, pp. 239-252.

New article: why it's important to develop a new, transformative vision for trade unions in a world of crisis and inequality; the limits of business unionism and of nationalist, Marxist-Leninist and social democratic approaches; and how anarcho- and revolutionary syndicalism -- as an important historical tradition, as a set of ideas, and as a revolutionary experience, notably in Spain 1936-1939 -- can contribute to the debate. [Italiano] read full story / add a comment

Lightly edited transcript from Lucien van der Walt’s discussion at 1st National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA) Political School, September 2013. From his debate with Solly Mapaila, 2nd deputy GS of the South African Communist Party (SACP) on anarcho-syndicalist versus Leninist views of the revolutionary potential of unions. A version was printed in ASR #61 2014, pp. 11-20

Captures van der Walt’s main points: the debate on the anarcho-syndicalist view that revolutionary trade unions, allied to other movements, creating a self-managed worker-controlled socialism through mass education, counter-power and workplace occupations; anarcho-syndicalism as a working class tradition; the anarcho-syndicalist view that unions can potentially be more revolutionary than political parties including Communist Parties, & be revolutionary without leadership by parties; the view that electioneering can be replaced with direct action campaigns; that the Spanish Revolution (1936-1939) shows unions taking power and making a bottom-up worker-controlled revolution; and how NUMSA’s current actions refute Marxist-Leninist theory; other problems with that theory’s traditional approach to unions; and the implications of all of this for current debates over the form of a new socialist movement in South Africa and elsewhere; and the nature of the South African ruling class and the primary social contradictions.

Lucien van der Walt is co-author of “Black Flame: The revolutionary class politics of anarchism and syndicalism” (w.Michael Schmidt, 2009, AK Press) and co-editor of “Anarchism and Syndicalism in the Colonial and Postcolonial World, 1870-1940” (w. Steve Hirsch and Benedict Anderson, 2010, Brill). He has a long history of involvement in the working class movements. read full story / add a comment

Στο παρόν κείμενο παρουσιάζεται μια ανάλυση του μαζικού αναρχισμού και συνδικαλισμού από θεωρητική και πρακτική πλευρά, ως απάντηση στις απόψεις του Daryl Glaser, που θέλουν τα εργατικά συμβούλια να μην πληρούν τις βασικές δημοκρατικές αρχές και να χρησιμοποιούνται μόνο ως ένα απλό εργαλείο κατά την διάρκεια των πρώιμων σταδίων μιας επανάστασης, τα οποία είναι πολύ πιθανό είτε να καταρρεύσουν είτε να οδηγήσουν σε ένα σταλινικού τύπου καθεστώς- ενώ αντιπροτείνει μια μορφή κοινοβουλευτισμού μέσω συμμετοχικών δομών. read full story / add a comment

Mandela, the ANC and the 1994 Breakthrough: Anarchist / syndicalist reflections on national liberation and South Africa’s transition
Shawn Hattingh and Lucien van der Walt

The destruction of the apartheid state form, with its odious policies of coercion and racism, was a major triumph for the working class in South Africa and elsewhere, showing that ordinary people can challenge and defeat systems that seem quite unbreakable. Mandela did play a heroic role, but was also the first to admit that “It is not the kings and generals that make history but the masses of the people, the workers, the peasants, the doctors, the clergy." And indeed, it was the black working class, above all, that through struggle tore down many features of apartheid by the late 1980s, such as the pass law system, the Group Areas Act and numerous other odious laws and policies.

The 1994 transition in South Africa was a political revolution, a break with the apartheid and colonial periods of state-sanctioned white supremacy, a “massive advance” in the conditions of the majority. It introduced a new state, based on non-racialism, in which South Africa was to be a multi-racial, multi-cultural but unified country, founded on human rights; welfare and social policy and legislation was transformed; capitalism was kept in place, but despite this, there were very massive and very real changes, political and material, that made qualitative differences in the daily lives of millions of black and working class people. And for millions, it is precisely the association of Mandela with that victory and with those changes that makes him so emotionally powerful.

Yet at the same time, Mandela’s policies and politics had important limitations that must be faced if the current quandary of South Africa, nearly 20 years later, is to be understood. Mandela never sold out: he was committed to a reformed capitalism, and a parliamentary democracy, and unified South Africa based on equal civil and political rights, a project in which black capitalists and black state elites would loom large. These goals have been achieved, but bring with them numerous problems that must be faced up if the final liberation – including national liberation – of South Africa’s working class is to be achieved.

The 1994 breakthrough was a major victory, but it was not the final one, for a final one requires a radical change in society, towards a libertarian and socialist order based on participatory democracy, human needs rather than profit and power, and social and economic justice, and attention to issues of culture and the psychological impact of apartheid.

As long as the basic legacy of apartheid remains, in education, incomes, housing and other spheres, and as long as the working class of all races is excluded from basic power and wealth by a black and white ruling class, so long will the national question – the deep racial / national divisions in South Africa, and the reality of ongoing racial/ national oppression for the black, Coloured and Indian working class – remain unresolved. And so long will it continue to generate antagonisms and conflicts, the breeding ground for rightwing populist demagogy, xenophobia and crime. By contrast, a powerful black elite, centred on the state and with a growing corporate presence, has achieved its national liberation.
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Examining the theory and practice of ‘mass’ anarchism and syndicalism, this paper argues against Daryl Glaser’s views that workers’ council democracy fails basic democratic benchmarks and that, envisaged as a simple instrument of a revolution imagined in utopian ‘year zero’ terms, it will probably collapse or end in ‘Stalinist’ authoritarianism—Glaser also argues instead for parliaments, supplemented by participatory experiments. While agreeing with Glaser on the necessity of a ‘democratic minimum’ of pluralism, rights, and open-ended outcomes, I demonstrate, in contrast, that this ‘minimum’ is perfectly compatible with bottom-up council democracy and self- management, as envisaged in anarchist/syndicalist theory, and as implemented by anarchist revolutions in Manchuria, Spain and Ukraine. This approach seeks to maximise individual freedom through an egalitarian, democratic, participatory order, developed as both means and outcome of revolution; it consistently insists that attempts to ‘save’ revolutions by suspending freedoms, instead destroy both. Parliament, again in contrast to Glaser, from this perspective, meets no ‘democratic minimum’, being part of the state, a centralized, unaccountable institutional nexus essential to domination and exploitation by a ruling class of state managers and capitalists. Rather than participate in parliaments, ‘mass’ anarchism argues for popular class autonomy from, and struggle against, the existing order as a means of winning economic and political reforms while—avoiding ‘year zero’ thinking—also building the new society, within and against, the old, through a prefigurative project of revolutionary counter-power and counter-culture. Revolution here means the complete expansion of a bottom-up democracy, built through a class struggle for economic and social equality, and requiring the defeat of the ruling class, which is itself the outcome of widespread, free acceptance of anarchism, and of a pluralistic council democracy and self-management system. read full story / add a comment

O nosso país está numa confusão. A fome, a pobreza, a exploração e a injustiça espreitam.

A classe trabalhadora e os pobres deparam, a cada passo, com os muros altos da injustiça, as cadeias do desemprego e as balas e os cassetetes da polícia.

Os conflitos agitam o país e as esperanças que brilhavam em 1994 estão a desaparecer, envelhecidas, enferrujando sob as águas da ganância, da opressão e da desigualdade; essas esperanças são como um sonho que desaparece quando se desperta para uma realidade sombria.

A questão nacional, as nossas profundas divisões de raça e nacionalidade, continuam sem solução: os políticos, pretos e brancos, pioram ainda a situação com o objectivo de obterem votos. read full story / add a comment

Our country is in a mess. Hunger, poverty, exploitation and injustice stalk the land.

The working class and poor face, at every step, the high walls of injustice, the chains of unemployment, and the bullets and batons of the police.

Conflicts shake the country, and hopes that shone in 1994 are fading, rusting under the waters of greed, oppression, and inequality; those hopes seem like a dream that fades when you awake to a grim reality. read full story / add a comment