Anarchist Communism (an attempted theory to unify the Far Left in a response to Capitalism)

This is a response to KC's blog on how there can not be a 'viable alternative to global capitalism'. I say there can! The problem is everyone wants there alternative to be perfect. This is indeed impossible, there has to be a compromise. If the Far Left unify then Capitalism can at last have a viable alternative. (I use the term far left because the left I.e. Social Democracy, Social Liberalism, Centrism etc, seeks to exist alongside capitalism. This isn't an answer to Capitalism! The only acceptable alternative can be the complete abolition of Capitalism.)

The aim of this blog is to not offer a a unified response from the Far Left with out any faults, indeed this would be impossible. The aim is to provide a foundation which can be built upon in order to establish an effective response and replacement to Capitalism. As a Marxist this seems like a good place to start.

Anarchist Communism is the theory that argues for the abolition of the state, private property and Capitalism. It is in favour of; common ownership of the means of production, a horizontal network of voluntary associations and 'workers councils'. It also argues for direct democracy.

It therefore envisions a society that is; democratic, has no state, common ownership of the means of production, and that there is no hierarchy as everyone is equal and at the same level of society. It is a stateless, classes, and equal society, with decisions made directly by the people who either operate independently or belong to voluntary associations such as small communities.

The way it is envisaged for this society to come about is via violent revolution. It has been argued that this would be achieved by people organising themselves into their own revolutionary movements that is equally controlled by everyone in them. These groups would eventually unify internationally (into a united international working class) and bring about the long needed revolution.

Society and everyone one in it will thus become free and see the end of Capitalism.

There are however some problems with this theory. The first is that without a state there can be no law and no law enforcement. That is why there would still be some sort of authority in place. An Open Sourced Network would be at the heart of this society. This Network would be controlled only by the people using a direct democratic system. This system would only have power over those who wished to be apart of it. Anyone who was part of it would also be able to leave it at anytime. This system would therefore act as a safe barrier from criminals such as rapists and murderers. It would also stop one community violently invading another to try and form a new state or expand its power by exploiting others. This system would also ensure that capitalism could not return.

The second problem would be the situation where there was a lack of work done by the people. That is why this society would be better suited in a more advanced era were automation was common and self sustaining. This would mean that jobs such as frequent maintenance to public works were constantly being done by machines.

The network would also aid in gathering hands for projects such as the maintenance of infrastructure such as the building of new transport systems. For example a commune who wished to develop a transport system would request help on the OSN. It can be assumed that engineers, planners etc and labour forces would aid in doing this as they to would require benefit from a transport system. They would also benefit helping others as others would then be more likely to aid them. For example if an engineer required food, or housing, the commune he/she was helping could provide this. In organising this it would most likely be the Trade Unions and/or Workers Councils as in this society, organised labour would be at the heart of everything. This sort of arrangement would also be much easier in an advanced automated, self sustaining society.

Communities would also likely have their own local laws which if anyone did not agree with they could leave the community. The open source network would in theory be the closest thing to a world government with which participation was voluntary. The open sourced network would also likely only allow laws to be made that were aimed at preventing people from harming each other. The OSN would also play a role in monitoring and regulating welfare services such as health care and energy demand. Again however in a more automated society this to would have little problems as machines would have access to all of humanities information via the Internet and could be programmed to function in a way that responded to the needs of the people.

Perhaps the biggest advantage of Anarchist Communism is its ability to get rid of Capitalism. By this it is meant that Communists (be they Marxist or other) should ally with the Anarchists across the world in order to work together in bringing about revolution. After all the both Communists and Anarchists have similar ends which allows them to achieve their goals with out opposing each others ideologies. It therefore seems that the choice is either wait for society to become more technologically advanced and be highly automated and abolish the state quickly through a quick spontaneous revolution or for the entire working class of the world to unite and implement an organised revolution and enter into the Dictatorship of the Proletariat. In doing this the ruling working class can place focus on creating this; technologically advanced, automated society more quickly and then abolish the state, thus entering into Communism and also allowing Anarchist to implement their form of society within their own independent communes.
The other possibility would be for the Anarchists and the Communists to have mutually agreed to not interfere with each other and agree to revolt using revolutionary methods at the same time and once Capitalism is overthrown negotiate on achieving the end by compromising on the means of achieving this end. It does therefore seem that the only way revolution could be successful would be a joint attack from Anarchist Insurrectionary forces (using methods proposed in the coming insurrection) and mobilising Communist labour organisations (such as Trade Unions and Workers Councils) (as stated in the Communist Manifesto) and also using Leninist Revolutionary Vanguard Political Parties to seize power. After all there is strength in numbers.

I am aware that some groups of Anarchists and Communist would find it difficult to work together as certain aspects of the two ideologies oppose each other. This is why a compromise would need to be met as unless the Far Left unite then Capitalism will forever remain. This is due to the fact that at present, there appears to be no agreeable alternative to Capitalism.

In the words of Otto Von Bismarck 'Crowned heads, wealth and privilege may well tremble should ever again the Black and Red unite!'

Note: It must be noted that while most of these theories tend to be Communist answers, Anarchist still have a place within this society. This is due to the fact that everyone is free to live apart from the system, which means Anarchist could live within their own communes and be left alone by the Communists and live in a way that is acceptable to their ideology.

Again, it must be stressed that for those that disagreed with the Communist way of living (such as the examples given earlier) would also be free to live in a way they see fit. However the biggest problem would be when two communes came into conflict with each other. I.e. claim over land or resources. The problem would be the same problem we have now with the Nation States that exist now, there would be war. To avoid this, the OSN would be used to mobilise a peacekeeping force. This 'armed force' could be used to prevent conflicts between communes or prevent a commune from turning into a nation state. This sounds impractical, however it does work as this method was successfully used by the Spanish Republic and its supporting factions during the Spanish Civil War. All communes would be free from all laws set down by the OSN (with the exception of people not being able to harm one another or claim authority over one another). Again to many this would sound impractical, but it was done with a degree of success by the Spanish. It only failed because other Nation States existed and the Spanish Republic received little help from the outside world in dealing with the Fascists (who had help from Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy). It therefore leads me to conclude that in order for Communism and Anarchism to work, the effect would have to be global and be monitored by a minimal 'Nightwatchmen State' (the OSN) in order to be protected.