Platformism is a tendency[clarification needed] within the wider anarchist movement originally theorised by Nestor Makhno and is mainly based on his concept of anarchism and the organisational theories in the tradition of Dielo Truda's Organizational Platform of the General Union of Anarchists (Draft).[1] The document was based on the experiences of Russian anarchists in the 1917 October Revolution, which led eventually to the victory of the Bolsheviks over the anarchists and other groups. The Platform attempted to address and explain the anarchist movement's failures during the Russian Revolution. The book drew both praise and criticism from anarchists worldwide.
v· Dielo Truda ("Workers' Cause"), a group of exiled Russian anarchists in France. The pamphlet is an analysis of the basic anarchist beliefs, a vision of an anarchist society, and recommendations as to how an anarchist organization should be structured. The four main principles by which an anarchist organization should operate, according to the Platform, are ideological unity, tactical unity, collective action, and federalism.
Until recently, the platform was known in English as the Organizational Platform of the Libertarian Communists, because the English translation was based on Voline's mis-translation of the original and not the Russian original.[citation needed]
The platform argues that "We have vital need of an organization which, having attracted most of the participants in the anarchist movement, would establish a common tactical and political line for anarchism and thereby serve as a guide for the whole movement".
Principles
The Platform has 4 key organizational features which distinguish it from the rest of the anarchist movement. They are:
Tactical Unity - A common tactical line in the movement is of decisive importance for the existence of the organization and the whole movement: it avoids the disastrous effect of several tactics opposing each other; it concentrates the forces of the movement; and gives them a common direction leading to a fixed objective.[2]
Theoretical Unity - "Theory represents the force which directs the activity of persons and organizations along a defined path towards a determined goal. Naturally it should be common to all the persons and organizations adhering to the General Union. All activity by the General Union, both overall and in its details, should be in perfect concord with the theoretical principles professed by the union."[3]
Collective Responsibility - "The practice of acting on one's personal responsibility should be decisively condemned and rejected in the ranks of the anarchist movement. The areas of revolutionary life, social and political, are above all profoundly collective by nature. Social revolutionary activity in these areas cannot be based on the personal responsibility of individual militants."[4]
Federalism - "Against centralism, anarchism has always professed and defended the principle of federalism, which reconciles the independence and initiative of individuals and the organization with service to the common cause."[5]
The Platform today
Today there are platformist groups in many countries including the Workers Solidarity Movement in Ireland, North Eastern Federation of Anarchist Communists (NEFAC, or Fédération des Communistes Libertaires du Nord-Est) in the northeastern USA, the Communiste Libertaire in Quebec, Common Cause [1] in Ontario, the Organización Comunista Libertaria (OCL) in Chile, the Federation of Anarchists of Greece (OAE) in Greece, Anarchist Communist Initiative (AKI) in Turkey, Organizacion Socialista Libertaria (OSL) in Argentina, the Federazione dei Comunisti Anarchici (FdCA) in Italy, the Coletivo pró Organização Anarquista em Goiás in Brazil, Grupo Qhispikay Llaqta in Peru, the Libertarian Communist Organization (France) in France, the Alianza de los Comunistas Libertarios (ACL) in Mexico, Melbourne Anarchist Communist Group (MACG) and Sydney Anarchist Communist Trajectory (SACT) in Australia, and the Zabalaza Anarchist Communist Front (ZACF) in South Africa. RKAS - Revolutionary Confederation of Anarcho-syndicalists by the name of. N.I. Makhno (Революционная конфедерация анархо-синдикалистов им. Н. И. Махно) - an international anarcho-syndicalist, platformist confederation. Sections and individual members of RKAS exist in Ukraine, Russia, Georgia, Germany, Latvia, Bulgaria and Israel. Platfomist organizations also founded the now defunct International Libertarian Solidarity.
The website Anarkismo.net is run collaboratively by Platformist organisations from all over the world.
Criticism
The Platform attracted strong criticism from many sectors on the anarchist movement of the time including some of the most influential anarchists such as Voline, Errico Malatesta, Luigi Fabbri, Camillo Berneri, Max Nettlau, Alexander Berkman,[6]Emma Goldman and Gregori Maximoff.[7] Malatesta in a written response to the Platform commented that "Their organisation, being typically authoritarian, far from helping to bring about the victory of anarchist communism, to which they aspire, could only falsify the anarchist spirit and lead to consequences that go against their intentions."[8] However, in his last response to Makhno — after seeing a Platformist group in formation — Malatesta concluded that he was actually in agreement with the positions of the platform; but had just been confused by the language they had used:
"But all this is perhaps only a question of words.
In my reply to Makhno I already said: "It may be that, by the term collective responsibility, you mean the agreement and solidarity that must exist among the members of an association. And if that is so, your expression would, in my opinion, amount to an improper use of language, and therefore, being only a question of words, we would be closer to understanding each other."
And now, reading what the comrades of the 18e say, I find myself more or less in agreement with their way of conceiving the anarchist organisation (being very far from the authoritarian spirit which the "Platform" seemed to reveal) and I confirm my belief that behind the linguistic differences really lie identical positions."[9]
As an alternative to platformism Voline and Sebastien Faure proposed synthesist anarchist federations[10] who they envisioned to form under anarchist without adjectives principles.[11]
Manifesto of The Libertarian Communists Written in 1953 by Georges Fontenis for the Federation Communiste Libertaire of France. It is one of the key texts of this anarchist-communist current.
Towards a Fresh Revolution Written by the Friends of Durruti group following the Spanish Civil War, this text is arguably one of the most important Platformist texts ever written. It reaffirms the early calls from the Russian comrades for tactical and theoretical unity, and better organizational practices, and sheds light on the errors in organization during the Spanish Civil War.
Anarkismo.net - Multilingual anarchist news site run by over a dozen platformist organisations on five continents
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