Issue #7 Correspondence - Root & Branch

Issue #7 Correspondence - Root & Branch
Issue #7 Correspondence - Root & Branch

Correspondence from Bob Irwin in Issue 7 of the US libertarian marxist journal. Undated but published late 1978/early 1979.

Submitted by UseValueNotExc… on March 3, 2022

Dear friends,

In response to your request for feedback, I would like to limit myself to one point regarding Paul Mattick's remarks on violence and nonviolence [Interview, Root & Branch 5]. When Mattick states (on p. 35) that the bourgeoisie "does not allow the workers to choose between non-violent and violent methods of class struggle", I think he expresses a common but mistaken opinion long ago refuted by the historical development of methods of struggle. Out of the growing literature on nonviolent struggle, I need only refer to Gene Sharp's The Politics of Nonviolent Action (Boston: Porter Sargent, 1973), which in over 800 pages of well researched text establishes beyond a reasonable doubt that nonviolent action is a technique of struggle capable of winning victories against the violence of state and bourgeoisie, and that these methods have been resorted to frequently, not only with principled nonviolent leadership, but also innumerable times in the spontaneous activity of working people.

There is certainly room for debate on the role of nonviolent campaigns in the revolutionary movement and on the feasibility of a nonviolent strategy for revolution. I and my comrades in Movement for a New Society look forward to increasing discussion of these issues in libertarian publications; but, it is essential that such debate be informed.

In solidarity,

Bob Irwin

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Publications of Interest to readers of Root & Branch :

Synthesis
P.O. Box 1858 San Pedro, CA 90733

The New Socialist
Box 18026 Denver, CO 80218

Spartacus
5, rue Ste-Croix-de-la-Bretonnerie Paris 4, France

Collegamenti
Per l'organizzazione dretta de classe Gianni Carrozza C.P. 1362
50100 Firenze, Italy

Marxiana
C.P. 5, Bari-Palombaio 70036 Italy

Red Menace
P.O. Box 171 Station D Toronto, Ontario Canada

Now and After
A World to Win, P.O. Box 1587, San Francisco, CA 94101

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Available from Root & Branch :
Root & Branch Pamphlet 1 : Workers Councils, by Anton Pannekoek. $1.00.
Root & Branch Pamphlet 6 : Portugal : Anti-Fascism or Anti-Capitalism ? $1.50.

Root & Branch 5 : contains an interview with Paul Mattick, and articles on the new workers' movement in Spain, the "revolt against work", and the Ehrenreich class theory. $1.50.
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Paul Mattick, Marx & Keynes : Limits of the Mixed Economy. $3.95.
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