Sunday 9 April 2017

In the Shadow of a Hurricane: Global Anarchist Ideological and Organisational Lineages

Anarchism survived the 1939 defeat in Spain - and went on to almost seize power in countries such as Chile in the 1950s and to fight neo-fascism globally from Uruguay in the 1970s to Rojava today. The picture shows the 2nd Congress of the Spanish Libertarian Movement (MLE), Toulouse, France, 1961. In the Shadow of a Hurricane, my 17-year study, will be the most comprehensive global history of the anarchist movement over 15 decades. I hope to have the writing done by the end of the year and be ready to hand it over to my editors and indexers. Then it's sourcing pictures, finalising the maps I have drawn, and getting a graphic artist to illustrate key organisational lineages. Having now written the introduction and much of the concluding chapter, it currently stands at 390,000 words - and that's *after* having extracted 42,000 words a year ago to slim it down! :D For those non-writers who ask me "how many pages is that?," well, if formatted in the way I expect, it will be well over 1,000 pages ;) ... and of course the maps, graphics, and pictures will add a few more... My nearest competitor, Peter Marshall's Demanding the Impossible: A History of Anarchism (1993), by comparison, weighs in at a mere 768 pages ;)

IN THE SHADOW OF A HURRICANE

GLOBAL ANARCHIST IDEOLOGICAL AND ORGANISATIONAL LINEAGES 


MICHAEL SCHMIDT


 “Anarchism is no beautiful fantasy. No abstract notion of philosophy, but a social movement of the working masses; for that reason alone it must gather its forces into one organisation, constantly agitating, as demanded by the reality and strategy of the social class struggle.” – Nestor Makhno, Ida Mett, Piotr Arshinov and others of the Dielo Truda group, Organizatsionnaia Platforma Vseobshchego Soiuza Anarkhistov: Proekt (Organisational Platform of the General Union of Anarchists: Project), Paris, France, 1926 

CONTENTS

Preface

Acknowledgements

About the Author

Introduction
(The coherence of the broad anarchist tradition; Defining my terms; My “Six Waves” historical periodisation; Explaining the structure of this book; On translations and names)

Part 1: The Latin Heartland and its Peripheries

Chapter 1: Anarchist Mass Organisation 1860s-1930s: Latin Europe, Brazil and the Southern Cone of Latin America
(Spain and Portugal: the fiery roses of the CNT-FAI and CGT; Italy: Errico Malatesta, Armando Borghi, the UAI, the factory occupations and the Fascist menace; Argentina: Pedro Gori, John Creaghe, Juana Rouco Buela, Severino di Giovanni and the southern citadel of the FORA, CORA and FACA; Chile: José Domingo Gomes Rojas, Juan Gandulfo, the revolts of the FORCh, IWW, CGT and FACh; Uruguay and Paraguay: the FFREU, FORU, FORPa, FAU and the challenge of welfare reforms; Brazil: Neno Vasca, Domingos Passos, Maria Lacerda de Moura and the FORB/COB and FORGS)

Chapter 2: Anarchist Mass Organisation 1860s-1930s: the Andes, Central America, and the Caribbean
(Bolivia and Peru: the FOL, FORPe and the indigenous question; Colombia and Ecuador: bitter battles at high altitude; Venezuela, French Guyana and Surinam: the UOV and SAF in the margins of Bolivarismo and colonialism; Mexico: the PLM, COM-Lucha, CGT and FAC, the Flores Magón brothers, Antonio Gomes y Soto and the Mexican Revolution of 1910-1922; Nicaragua and Central America: Augusto Sandino, the CAS, FOH and the “banana republics”; Puerto Rico: the FLT, Louisa Capetilla and the question of who gets to wear the pants; Cuba: Enrique Roig San Martin, the FTC, FGAC, and the CNOC against imperialism, bigotry and the dictatorial elite)

Part 2: The Western Imperial Centre and its Peripheries 

Chapter 3: Anarchist Mass Organisation 1860s-1930s: Western and Northern Europe and North America
(France and Belgium: the CGT, CSB, FCRA/UA, GCL, Jean Grave, Fernand Pelloutier, Ernest Tanrez and the syndicalist laboratory; Germany and Switzerland: the Jura Federation, AKP, AFD, LAB, Gustav Landauer, Fritz Kater, André Boesinger and the anti-militarist, anti-Nazi struggles of the FvDG/FAUD, MTWIU and the AAUE; the Netherlands: the LVC/LFVC, NSV, “Domela” Nieuwenhuis, Christiaan Cornelissen, Harm Kolthek and the forgotten syndicalist template of the NAS; Sweden, Norway and Denmark: the SAC, NSF, DFS, Martin Tranmǽl, Christian Christensen and industrial unionism versus the seductions of reformism; Britain and Ireland: the IWB, ITGWU, James Connolly, Tom Mann and the refuge of Freedom; the United States and Canada: the IWPA/CLU, IWW, FRAKG, Daniel de Leon, “Big Bill” Haywood, industrial unionism and desegregation)

Chapter 4: Anarchist Mass Organisation 1860s-1930s: Central and Eastern Europe
(Pre-revolutionary Russia, the Ukraine and the Georgian Commune of 1905-1907; the NWU, Cherny Peredyel, Afanasy Matiushenko and Varlaam Cherkezov among the narodniks and terrorists; Bulgaria and Romania: the LCB, FAKB, BONSF, FAY, Mikhail Guerdzhikov, Gueorgui Cheitanov, and platformism armed; Greece: the Democratic Popular League of Patras, “Kostas” Speras, the SEMS and the lessons of direct democracy; Poland, Finland and the Baltics: the ZZZ, FAGPL and the shadow of Russia; Czechoslovakia: the FÈAK, ZJH-O, Bohuslav Vrbenský and the seductions of nationalism; Hungary and Austria: the URW, URS, Sandor Czismadia, Ervin Szabó and Leo Rothziegel in the heart of the empire; Yugoslavia and the Balkans: Miloš Krpan, Krsto Cicvarić, Paul Zorkine and the direktaši workers’ faction)

Part 3: The Colonial and Postcolonial World

Chapter 5: Anarchist Mass Organisation 1860s-1930s: East Asia, South-East Asia, and Oceania
(Japan and Taiwan: Ōsugi Sakae, Kanno Sugako, Hatta Shūzō, the Zenkoku Jiren, Nihon Jikyo, AKP and the struggle against gender oppression and Japanese imperialism; China: Liu Shifu, the Wuzhenfu Gongchan and multinational resistance; Korea and Manchuria: Shin Chae-ho, the KAF, KACF, KPAM and the Manchurian Revolution of 1929-1931; Vietnam: Phan Boi Chau, the Phuc Viet and the question of class consciousness; Malaya and East India: insurrectionists in anti-colonial struggles; the Philippines and Oceania: Isabelo de los Reyes, the UOD and the universal appeal of anarcho-syndicalism)

Chapter 6: Anarchist Mass Organisation 1860s-1930s: the Middle East, South Asia, Africa, and the Antipodes
(Anatolia and the Middle East: Alexandre Atabekian, Daud Muja‘is and radicalism in the empire; Palestine: Joseph Trumpeldor and left-Zionism; Algeria, Egypt, Tunisia and Senegal: Saïl Mohamed, the CGTU and CGT-SR; India and South Asia: Lala Har Dayal, the Ghadar Party and violent anti-imperialism; South Africa, Mozambique and Southern Africa: Andrew Dunbar, “Bill” Thibedi, Johnny Gomas, the IWAf, the ICU and the critique of White Labourism and craft unionism; Australia and New Zealand: Tom Glynn, the Red Feds, Wobblies, Maoris and labour solidarity)

Part 4: October 1917 and its Aftermath

Chapter 7: The Global Rupture of 1914-1923, and the Russian and Ukrainian Revolutions
(The Global Rupture: ten years that shook the world; The Russian anarchists and the February Revolution of 1917; The PACF, Iosif Bleikhman and the July Days; Anarchists in the October Revolution of 1917; Anarchists and the Bolshevik state; The Kronstadt Uprising and a “Third Revolution”; Marusya Nikiforova, Nestor Makhno and counter-power in Ukraine; The Ukrainian Revolution and Bolshevik Counter-revolution; Nestor Kalandarishvili, G.F Rogov, I.P. Novoselov, the AFA and the defence of the Revolution in Siberia; The anarchist underground in Ukraine, Russia and Siberia)

Chapter 8: A Blazing Star at Midnight: Anarchist Resistance to Red and Brown Corporate States
(Anarchism and the rise of Bolshevism; The Comintern, Profintern and the IWA; The conditions for survival, and the Spanish phoenix; Anarchism and fascism in Spain; Fascism or revolution; Revolution in agriculture and industry; Revolution and war on fascism; Crisis in the anarchist ranks; Counter-revolution and the anarchist split; “Crushing fascism once and for all”; Water and oil: anarchists and government; West European partisans against brown fascism; East European partisans against red fascism)

Part 5: Survival and Revival

Chapter 9: The Cold War: Syndicalists, Guerrillas and Imperialism, 1940s-1975
(Syndicalism after the war: the Metropole and New Zealand; Syndicalism after the war: the Heartland; traces of libertarian socialism in Africa; Ghadarite and anarchist echoes in India and Indonesia; anarchists and the dismantling of the French Empire; anarchist revival in East Asia; Anarchism and cracks in the East Bloc; Anarchist resistance in the Heartland; The Cuban Revolution and Counter-Revolution; The New Left, “Counter-Culture” and the Global Revolt of 1968-1969; Shengwulian: libertarian socialism re-emerges in China; Yugoslav "syndicalism" and Caribbean "self-management"; Post-war counter-power: The Uruguayan citadel; Anarchist guerrilla forces in the Heartland; Anarchist guerrilla forces in the Metropole)

Chapter 10: Neo-liberalism, Fascist / Soviet Collapse and Anarchist Reconstruction 1976-2016

(The collapse of Iberian fascism and the resurgence of anarchism; Anarchist alternatives to authoritarian “autonomism” in the Metropole; Turkey, the Middle East and the Iranian Revolution of 1978-1979; Japan, South Korea, India and reaction in the Far East; Zapatismo, Magónismo and resistance in the Andes; Self-management in the Southern Cone; African anarchism versus capitalist “liberation movements”; The end of the Soviet Empire, the IWA and the independent revolutionary syndicalist unions; Social insertion of the broad anarchist movement in the new millennium; The neo-Makhnovist revolutionary project in Ukraine; The Arab Spring and the Rojava Revolution)

Part 6: Reflections and Challenges 

Chapter 11:  Class Geography and Key Organisational Lineages
(The Western Mediterranean: Iberia, France, Italy and the Barbary Coast; The La Plata River Basin: Uruguay, Paraguay, Argentina and southern Brazil; The Gulf of Mexico: Mexico, Cuba and the southern USA; The Black Sea: Ukraine, Russia, Bulgaria and Georgia; The Yellow and East Seas: Japan, China, Korea and Manchuria; Key Lineages: “Four Vectors” transmission of The Idea)

Chapter 12: Counter-power: New Theories and Practices for the new Millennium
(The relevance of anarchism today; Social insertion in Latin America; “Three Spheres” balance of forces theory; “Five Forces” militant-to-mass gradient; “Three Axes” of contestation to build counter-power; “Three Levels” asending models of counter-power; Conclusion: building counter-power)

Part 7: Appendices

Appendix A: Maps
(First Wave: Emergence 1868-1894; Second Wave: Consolidation 1985-1921; Third Wave: Expansion 1922-1949; Fourth Wave: Contraction 1950-1975; Fifth Wave: Rearguard 1976-1991; Sixth Wave: Reconstruction 1992-2016; Anarchist Bids at Counter-power: Mexico, Ukraine, Manchuria, Spain)

Appendix B: Organisational Index

Appendix C: Thematic Index

Appendix D: Bibliography

[ENDS]