council communism
Letter on Workers Councils - Anton Pannekoek
Letter written by Anton Pannekoek where he expounds his theories on the organisation and power of workers' councils.
This letter by Pannekoek was first published in the journal Funken, Vol. III No. 1, and June 1952. This translation has been made from the version published in the anthology of his writings Neubestimmung des Marxismus 1. Diskussion über Arbeiterräte. Introduction by Cajo Brendel. (Karin Kramer Verlag, Berlin, 1974).
Review - Workers' Councils by Anton Pannekoek - Red and Black Notes
Red and Black Notes review of Workers' Councils by Anton Pannekoek. The full text of Workers' Councils can be found here.
For many years, at least in the English speaking milieu, Anton Pannekoek was one of the most important, but least read theorists of the communist left. While the Internet has gone considerable distances to rectifying this problem, outside of small run publications, little of Pannekoek's work is in print.
Review - The Dutch and German Communist Left: A contribution to the history of the revolutionary movement - Red and Black Notes
Red and Black Notes review of the history of the Dutch and German communist left.
[i]The following review contains differences from the version that appeared in Red & Black Notes #16-17. The reviewer added some minor changes too late to be included in the published version, so they have been included here.
Intervention->communication->participation - Antagonism
Text by the Antagonism group on the ideology of intervention, and the supposed separation between revolutionaries and the proletariat in low periods of lclass struggle.
Introduction/Intervention/Injection
The precondition for any intervention is the separation of those carrying out the intervention from those who the intervention is directed toward. Intervention takes us back again to the situation of the enlightened minority bringing revolutionary ideas.
Radical traditions: council communism - Steve Wright
Steve Wright gives a brief overview of the origins, history and basic tenets of council communism, and provides suggestions for further reading on the topic.
Asked to characterise the significance of the October Revolution, John Maynard Keynes - always one of capital's most astute thinkers - once suggested that 1917 heralded the victory of 'the Party of Catastrophe'.
The rise of a new labor movement - Henk Canne Meijer
Henk Canne Meijer discusses the problems facing the old labour movement and the organisation and function of revolutionary groups.
The impotence
On Anton Pannekoek - Paul Mattick
Mattick traces the life of Anton Pannekoek, and the development of his thought.
Anton Pannekoek's life span coincided with what was almost the whole history of the modern labour movement; he experienced its rise as a movement of social protest, its trans formation into a movement of social reform, and its eclipse as an independent class movement in the contemporary world.
Council Communism - Mark Shipway (1987)
Mark Shipway's easily-readable introduction to council communist theory.
Council communism is a theory of working-class struggle and revolution which holds that the means that workers will use to fight capitalism, overthrow it, and establish and administer communist society, will be the workers’ councils.
Theses on the Role of the Party in the Proletarian Revolution (KAPD, 1921)
The KAPD’s Theses on the Party were written in July 1921 to be discussed not only in the party but within the Communist International.
1. It is the historical task of the proletarian revolution to bring the disposal of the wealth of the earth into the hands of the working masses, to put an end to the private ownership of the means of production, thus rendering impossible the existence of a separate, exploiting, ruling class.
Schwab, Alexander aka Sachs, 1887 -1943
A short biography of council communist and organiser of underground networks, Alexander Schwab, who died in a Nazi concentration camp.
Born on the 5th July 1887, at Stuttgart, Alexander Schwab was the son of a choir master. He studied at the Universities of Rostock, Jena, Heidelberg and Freiburg in philosophy, ancient languages, political economy and sociology. He was a member of the Free Students movement.
