Towards a libertarian communism
by Daniel Guerin
Of all the reading which I did, in 1930, on the boat which took me to Indochina and back, of books which ranged from Marx to Proudhon, toGeorges Sorel, to Hubert Lagardelle, to Fernand Pelloutier, to Leninand Trotsky, those of Marx had without any doubt the greatest impact.These (books) opened my eyes, uncovered the mysteries of capitalist surplus-value, taught me about historical materialism and the dialectic. Entering, from then on, into the revolutionary movement, throwing overboard my bourgeois gown, I was initially, instinctually anti-Stalinist; at that time I was a left socialist around Marceau Pivert and a revolutionary syndicalist under the influence of PierreMonatte. Later, the writings of Bakunin, in the six-volume edition of Max Nettlau/James Guillaume, were like a second operation forcataract. They left me for ever allergic to any version o fauthoritarian socialism whether it calls itself Jacobin, Marxist or Trotskyist.
It was under the commotion provoked in me by these writings (of Bakunin) that I was led to fundamentally revise the admiration I hadheld for the revolutionary strategy of Lenin, to re-work (my view) of this idol and proceed to an in-depth critique of certain authoritarian conceptions of the Bolshevik leader. I concluded, from this internal debate, that socialism would have to rid itself of theworn-out notion of the dictatorship of the proletariat, in order torecover its authentic libertarianism,
LUXEMBOURG v LENIN
This was what led me, in my historical work on the French Revolution, to substitute everywhere for the words dictatorship ofthe proletariat those of revolutionary constraint. Following this, I paid more attention to that lightning-quick Process which Rosa Luxembourg had counterpoised to the ultra-centralism of Lenin and thesterile character of his bureaucratic substitutionism. Much later, in 1971, I deepened my analysis of Luxembourgism and attempted to emphasise her relative kinship with libertarian spontaneity.
The epoch when I was discovering Bakunin and re-reading Rosa was, in terms of the class struggle, the time of the Hungarian revolution and its savage suppression by Russian tanks. I felt, for my part, less interested in the political about-turns of that attempt at liberation from the yoke of Moscow, because it was charged through with disquieting ambiguities, than by the ephemeral flourishing ofthe Hungarian workers' councils.
ANARCHISM
My libertarianism passed through successive phases: in the beginning what I would call a classical anarchism, which found expression in Youth of Libertarian Socialism (1959), then Anarchism,from Theory to Practice (1965) and, simultaneously, Neither God norMaster &emdash; Anthology of Anarchism, where besides Bakunin, therewas space for Stirner, Proudhon, Kropotkin, Malatesta and manyothers.
Then moving on a good bit from classical anarchism, and notturning my back for an instant on my marxian studies, I published Fora Libertarian Marxism (1969), which title, I'm sure, confused and shocked some of my new libertarian friends. Then, just before the revolutionary tumult of May '68, into which I plunged up to the neck,I rejoined the Libertarian Communist Movement (MCL around GeorgesFontenis (returned from his authoritarian gaps!). Later I was withthe Libertarian Communist Organisation (OCL), in its first and secondforms, and then, right up until today, the Union of LibertarianCommunist Workers (UTCL).
LIBERTARIAN SOCIALISM
During a quarter century, therefore I aligned myself, and stilldo, with libertarian socialism or communism (the word anarchist seemsto me too restrictive and I don't use it unless it is joined by theword communist). This libertarian communism is different, though it can be combined with, the utopia propagated by the school of Kropotkin, anticipating the era of abundance. Specifically, Libertarian Communism, as I understand it, is a combination of the best of both anarchism and the thought of Marx. I tried to disentangle these disparate elements in a pamphlet called Anarchism and Marxism which was added on to the second edition of my littlebook Anarchism (1981).
In the evening of my life, I certainly do not claim to have foreseen, except in very broad outlines, the definitive crystallisation of an uneasy and informal synthesis. H.E., Kaminski, in his biography of Bakunin, thought it was necessary and inevitable, but that it was more for the future than for the present to formulate. It must come from the new social storms which will emerge,and which no-one today can Pride themselves on bringing about.
NOT A DOGMA
I hope I have been, throughout my militant engagement, a historian and theoretician to advantage. It seems to me highly presumptuous to announce, among other things, what aspects of anarchism and the floating thoughts of Marx are, or are not reconcilable. Libertarian Communism is as yet only an approximation, and not a dogma of absolute truth.
It cannot, it seems to me, define itself on paper absolutely. It will not be a rationalisation of the past, but a rallying point for the future. The main conviction which animates me is that the future social revolution will not be Muscovite despotism nor anaemic social-democracy, that it will not be authoritarian but libertarian and self-managing, or, if you like, councillist.
Daniel Guerin
First published Autumn 1988, recentpublications are also available
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