A Communist Left Critique of Platformism (Part II): The Platform and its Disciples
Submitted by Internationalis... on Jul 21 2021 14:29
In Part I we examined the Free Territory, or Makhnovshchina, the revolutionary movement in Southern Ukraine 1918-21. It was neither a peasant counter-revolution as portrayed in Trotskyist and Stalinist propaganda, nor an anarchist utopia. Rather it was part and parcel of the bloody process of the rise and fall of the Russian Revolution, itself a part of the post-war revolutionary wave. In Part II we finally look at The Organisational Platform of the General Union of Anarchists or simply the Platform, and the Platformist tendency that it later inspired.
A Communist Left Critique of Platformism (Part I): The Makhnovshchina
Submitted by Internationalis... on Jul 21 2021 14:12
Many over the years have pointed out the apparent similarities between Platformism and the Communist Left, and indeed some comrades whom today we count among our ranks first came to the politics of the Communist Left through Platformism. But while the need for revolutionaries to come together, in an organisation united around a common platform, is something both tendencies acknowledge, the differences go a bit further than whether one stands beneath a red or black banner. We often get asked what is our attitude towards Platformism and the following is a two-part attempt to grapple with the question.
The Two Octobers - Peter Arshinov/Piotr Archinov
Peter Arshinov's short history of the Russian Revolution. First published in English by the Organisation of Revolutionary Anarchists as part of Libertarian Communist Review #1, then made available online at the struggle.ws website.
Libertarian Communist Review #1 (Winter 1974)
The first issue of Libertarian Communist Review, with articles on Leninism and the idea of the revolutionary party, the need for "sectarianism" and hostility to the Leninist groups, the economic crisis, Arshinov on the Russian Revolution, notes on Russian state capitalism, and reviews of recent publications including The Tyranny of Structurelessness.
The best is yet to come: a review of Mitchell Abidor’s edition of the Anarchist Encyclopedia
Submitted by sherbu-kteer on Jun 18 2019 08:46
A review of Mitchell Abidor's translated abridgment of the Anarchist Encyclopedia, an immense, collaborative work produced largely by the French 'grand old man' Sébastien Faure. Abidor's contribution is valuable, but leaves us wanting more.
La du Oktobroj: Petro Arĉinof
Eseo sur la temo de la Oktobro Rusa Revolucio, kaj la kontraŭrevolucian rolon de la bolŝevisto partio.
The Old and New in Anarchism: A Reply to Comrade Malatesta
Piotr Arshinov's 1928 reply to Errico Malatesta.
History of the Makhnovist movement, 1918-1921 - Peter Arshinov
Submitted by Steven. on Sep 27 2010 16:16
The full text of Peter Arshinov's definitive history of the revolutionary Ukrainian guerrilla movement led by anarchist Nestor Makhno.
