Difference between revisions of "An Anarchist FAQ - Why do anarchists oppose state socialism?"

Revision as of 08:23, 20 September 2008

Introduction

• H.1 Have anarchists always opposed state socialism?

     H.1.1 What was Bakunin's critique of Marxism?
     H.1.2 What are the key differences between Anarchists and Marxists?
     H.1.3 Why do anarchists wish to abolish the state "overnight"?
     H.1.4 Do anarchists have "absolutely no idea" of what the proletariat will put in place of the state?
     H.1.5 Why do anarchists reject "utilising the present state"?
     H.1.6 Why do anarchists try to "build the new world in the shell of the old"?
     H.1.7 Haven't you read Lenin's "State and Revolution"?

• H.2 What parts of anarchism do Marxists particularly misrepresent?

     H.2.1 Do anarchists reject defending a revolution?
     H.2.2 Do anarchists reject the need for collective working class struggle?
     H.2.3 Does anarchism "yearn for what has gone before"?
     H.2.4 Do anarchists think "the state is the main enemy" rather than just "one aspect" of class society?
     H.2.5 Do anarchists think "full blown" socialism will be created overnight?
     H.2.6 How do Marxists misrepresent Anarchist ideas on mutual aid?
     H.2.7 Who do anarchists see as their "agents of social change"?
     H.2.8 What is the relationship of anarchism to syndicalism?
     H.2.9 Do anarchists have "liberal" politics?
     H.2.10 Are anarchists against leadership?
     H.2.11 Are anarchists "anti-democratic"?
     H.2.12 Does anarchism survive only in the absence of a strong workers' movement?
     H.2.13 Do anarchists reject "political" struggles and action?
     H.2.14 Are anarchist organisations either "ineffective," "elitist" or "downright bizarre"?
     H.2.15 Do anarchists reject discipline?
     H.2.16 Does the Spanish Revolution show the failure of anarchism? 

• H.3 What are the myths of state socialism?

     H.3.1 Do Anarchists and Marxists want the same thing?
     H.3.2 Is Marxism "socialism from below"?
     H.3.3 Is Leninism "socialism from below"?
     H.3.4 Don't anarchists just quote Marxists selectively?
     H.3.5 Has Marxist appropriation of anarchist ideas changed it?
     H.3.6 Is Marxism the only revolutionary politics which have worked?
     H.3.7 What is wrong with the Marxist theory of the state?
     H.3.8 What is wrong with the Leninist theory of the state?
     H.3.9 Is the state simply an agent of economic power?
     H.3.10 Has Marxism always supported the idea of workers' councils?
     H.3.11 Does Marxism aim to place power into the hands of workers organisations?
     H.3.12 Is big business the precondition for socialism?
     H.3.13 Why is state socialism just state capitalism?
     H.3.14 Don't Marxists believe in workers' control?
     H.3.15 Can objective factors explain the failure of the Russian Revolution?
     H.3.16 Did Bolshevik ideology influence the outcome of the Russian Revolution?

• H.4 Didn't Engels refute anarchism in his essay "On Authority"?

     H.4.1 Does organisation imply the end of liberty?
     H.4.2 How does free love versus marriage indicate the weakness of Engels' argument?
     H.4.3 How do anarchists propose to run a factory?
     H.4.4 How does the class struggle refute Engels' arguments that industry required leaving "all autonomy behind"?
     H.4.5 Is the way industry operates "independent of all social organisation"?
     H.4.6 Why does Engels' "On Authority" harm Marxism?
     H.4.7 Why does Engels' argument that revolution is "the most authoritarian thing there is" totally miss the point? 

• H.5 What is vanguardism and why do anarchists reject it?

     H.5.1 Why are vanguard parties anti-socialist?
     H.5.2 Have vanguardist assumptions been validated?
     H.5.3 Why does vanguardism imply party power?
     H.5.4 Did Lenin abandon vanguardism?
     H.5.5 What is "democratic centralism"?
     H.5.6 Why do anarchists oppose "democratic centralism"?
     H.5.7 Is the way revolutionaries organise important?
     H.5.8 Are vanguard parties effective?
     H.5.9 What are vanguard parties effective at?
     H.5.10 Why does "democratic centralism" produce "bureaucratic centralism"?
     H.5.11 Can you provide an example of the negative nature of vanguard parties?