Our Dogmatism and Theirs

Kazi Tanvir Hossein’s article ‘Bolshevik Confusion and the Theoretical Bankruptcy of Anarchists’ takes issue with a solidarity campaign conducted by the International Confederation of Labour with the Garments Workers’ Trade Union Centre (GWTUC) of Bangladesh over five years ago. His primary concern is GWTUC’s affiliation with the Communist Party of Bangladesh (CPB), arguing that “for anarchists to support or assist any Marxist-Leninist group essentially means directly opposing the core ideals and free thought of anarchism.” A critique of authoritarian socialism is necessary, but it shouldn’t lead us to create new certainties of our own. Anarchism is not a fixed doctrine; it is a living movement of the working class. In rejecting authoritarian socialism, we cannot withdraw from the struggle of workers who finds themselves (at least for now) within imperfect organisations.

To give some context of the situation, the ICL was approached in August 2020 with a call for solidarity with workers at Dragon Sweaters, a firm in Dhaka under the organisational reach of GWTUC. The ICL is a federation of anarcho-syndicalist and revolutionary syndicalist unions – a definition relevant to this discussion as it makes clear that the ICL is not an exclusively anarchist organisation. In its 2018 statutes, it lists solidarity as one of its core principles, “understood as mutual aid among all working people towards each other.”

The letter received by the ICL arrived in the context of Covid-19 lockdowns, detailing a decision by Dragon’s owners to terminate the majority of workers on their sites without outstanding employment entitlements (severance pay etc). The letter therefore appealed to the ICL to campaign on behalf of those workers against brands partnered with Dragon, including Primark, Zara and New Yorker. In announcing their campaign, the ICL also noted that the workers at Dragon were supported by Auraj, a Bangladeshi anarchist network.

After a brief but intense multinational effort, the ICL announced in December 2020 that the campaign was a success. The exact circumstances aren’t relevant to this discussion, but in January 2021 GWTUC General-Secretary Joly Talukder addressed a letter to the ICL and other supporting unions stating that international efforts “pushed the movement to the victory”. This success led to further collaboration between the ICL and GWTUC, including efforts to raise the Bangladeshi minimum wage for garment workers in 2023.

Hossein argues that the ICL’s decision to campaign and raise funds for GWTUC presents “a profound theoretical contradiction”, given the latter’s affiliation with the CPB:

“On one hand, Leninist parties believe in bureaucratic central leadership and the politics of state capture, while on the other hand, anarcho-syndicalist international networks fight for the establishment of a stateless, decentralized, and independent workers' federation. This contradiction is not merely theoretical; it severely damages the labor movement in practical terms as well.”

According to him, Leninism’s ideological dogmatism is among the “primary obstacles to human free intellect” . To free itself of all constraints, he writes that “kindling the flame of doubt is … the sole tool for liberating thought from any dogmatist and materialist shroud.” The problem with this line of reasoning is that anarchism is not just an abstract philosophical system, but a practical ethic of freedom based in material struggle.

Perhaps the most substantial question that Hossein raises is the level of organisational overlap between GWTUC and the CPB. Talukder and much of the union leadership also hold senior positions within the CPB, raising the legitimate question about whether solidarity with GWTUC strengthens the influence of the CPB. This possibility is not in itself sufficient grounds to condemn the ICL’s campaign, however. While GWTUC’s bargaining power has increased, there is no evidence to suggest that solidarity funds were misappropriated by the CPB’s political apparatus. The question Hossain should be asking is not whether GWTUC is affiliated with the CPB but whether the ICL’s solidarity is strengthening worker’s struggle or the party structures that hold it back. Ideological affiliation by itself is not the problem.

In treating affiliation with Leninists as grounds to reject solidarity, Hossein runs the risk of creating new organisational taboos. He is absolutely correct in arguing that anarchists must never submit to Leninist authority, but solidarity is not equivalent to endorsement, and cooperation does not mean capitulation. Fundamentally, anarchists should tactically cooperate with worker’s organisation when it strengthens worker’s self-activity. If anarchism is based on worker’s self-management, they cannot judge potential collaboration based on the ideological purity of the organisation in question. Refusing to act in solidarity with exploited workers because their union leadership is Leninist is harmful and purist.

Refusing solidarity because of ideology has never been a component of anarchist practice. To the contrary, Malatesta argued that anarchists should strive to ensure that unions “remain open to all workers of whatever opinion or party on the sole condition that there is solidarity in the struggle against the bosses.” In the same article, he states that anarchists should also “prevent the Unions from becoming the tools of the politicians for electoral or other authoritarian ends” .

How would this be achieved in the case of a union already dominated by an authoritarian party? By exposing rank and file to libertarian ideas and encouraging libertarian practice. Internally, Malatesta argues that anarchist-inclined workers “should form groups within the various organisations that wage class war.” From outside the union, anarchists can actively engage in solidarity. Solidarity doesn’t automatically amount to political endorsement. If anarchists can participate in a union alongside politically opposed workers, as they should, there is no real reason why international solidarity with such a union is impermissible.

In Australia the trade union movement is controlled by the Australian Labor Party (ALP). The ALP has consistently moved to discipline the worker’s movement and keep its activity within a legal stranglehold, clamping down on rank and file militancy whenever workers have developed consciousness beyond its control. A recent expression of this has been the administration of the militant construction division of the CFMEU, which has seen the ALP dismantle democratic structures in favour of a state-appointed administrator.

Anarchists have not turned away from the CFMEU in this moment of crisis, instead actively campaigning against administration despite the CFMEU’s hierarchical structure and affiliation with the ALP. Just as GWTUC is dominated by the CPB, so too is the CFMEU is by the ALP. Anarchists routinely demonstrate solidarity with workers organised in unions whose structures and affiliations they oppose. Militant unions are strategically essential, even when they are flawed, as Lawson points out:

“Despite the contradictions, the fact remains that unions are the front line of working class defense. They are the primary vehicle for day-to-day struggle for bettering our lives, and they are where the organised mass of the working class remain. It is imperative that they are key to socialist work.”

We need to ask ourselves: what is more useful to workers engaged in winning back outstanding entitlements or trying to raise the minimum wage? Over the course of its campaign, the ICL fundraised for bail debts, school fees and legal and medical expenses. Whatever the immediate effect, solidarity creates a different relationship between groups than denunciations from afar. As Lawson notes, “Sectarian divisions amongst the left are often meaningless to rank and file workers.”

I appreciate the frustration that Hossein has had in dealing with Leninists, both as an anarchist and a trade unionist. Encounters with them are usually one-sided, cynical and manipulative. Ultimately, however, I concur with Malatesta when he argued that abstracting ourselves from the union movement will only “put us out of reach of people’s everyday lives and condemn us to perpetual powerlessness.” The fact that the comrades of Auraj supported the workers at Dragon demonstrates that this was not a case of foreign anarchists misunderstanding the context.

It is up to GWTUC’s rank and file to change their union – “if workers are not capable or willing to fight for their own institutions in spite of faults, the creation or joining of a revolutionary labour movement is even more unlikely.” The ICL’s decision to support the workers at Dragon is entirely defensible. Ideological differences are not sufficient in themselves to refuse solidarity - workers are entitled to solidarity in struggle. They don’t stop being workers just because their organisations may have bad politics. The answer isn’t abstentionism, it’s solidarity, participation and persuasion.

References

Hossain, Kazi Tanvir. 2026. “Bolshevik Confusion and the Theoretical Bankruptcy of Anarchists.” https://redandblackanarchists.com.au/bolshevik-confusion-and-the-theoretical-bankruptcy-of-anarchists/

International Confederation of Labour. 2020. “Dragon Sweater Factory (Bangladesh) must reinstate workers and pay unpaid wages.” https://www.iclcit.org/dragon-sweater-factory-bangladesh-must-reinstate-workers-and-pay-unpaid-wages/

International Confederation of Labour. 2018. “Statutes.” https://www.iclcit.org/statutes/

International Confederation of Labour. 2023. “Call for Solidarity with the Garment Workers’ Struggle in Bangladesh.” https://www.iclcit.org/call-for-solidarity-with-the-garment-workers-struggle-in-bangladesh/

International Coordination of Revolutionary Parties and Organisations. 2018. “Seven CPB leaders and Garments Workers leaders sent to Jail.” https://archive.icor.info/2018-1/seven-cpb-leaders-and-garments-workers-leaders-sent-to-jail?month%3Aint=7&orig_query=&year%3Aint=2025

Lawson, Tommy. 2021. “Understanding the Right Wing Attack on the CFMEU.” https://www.redblacknotes.com/2021/09/22/understanding-the-right-wing-attack-on-the-cfmeu/

Prairie Struggle. 2021. “Combative Unionism: Waging Class War Within Labour.” https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/combativeunionism