Anton Pannekoek

Dutch Marxist and one of the founders of council communism, best known for his writings on workers' councils.

Lenin as philosopher

Pannekoek's classic work analyses Lenin's philosophical views as being determined by the historical circumstances they emerged from; the battle against religious dominance in 19th century Russia. This made Lenin's simplistic materialism quite different from Marx's. Pannekoek illustrates that dualistic conceptions of a vanguard party as a 'consciousness' leading the working class 'body' are rooted in the philosophical underpinnings of Lenin's bourgeois materialism.

The Politics Of Gorter - Anton Pannekoek (1952)

Pannekoek writes in defence of the politics and practice of his late friend and comrade.

The Failure of the Working Class (1946)

Having been victimized by capitalism, the working class were deluded by state socialist parties German and Russian, who only engineered a return to capitalism. Then they were left behind by trade unions, who only served as a go-between for big business. The new way forward is the self-actualted, self-directed wildcat strike, which will become truly effective when it becomes a large-scale action during the last phase of capitalism.

Destruction As A Means Of Struggle

Prompted by the burning of the Reichstag in 1933 - by Marinus van der Lubbe, a council communist bricklayer and other possible accomplices - Pannekoek debates the value of destroying the products of bourgeois culture.

The Theory of the Collapse of Capitalism - Pannekoek

Pannekoek applies his critique to the theories of Luxemburg and Grossman - and shows why capitalism will never collapse due to any internal systemic contradictions, but only by the conscious action of the working class. "The self-emancipation of the proletariat is the collapse of capitalism."