Active Revolution

Introduction by Adam Weaver

While the larger radical/anti-capitalist left has arguably few universal tenets of strategic agreement, the statement that “a strong left is one that’s rooted in working class and oppressed communities and struggles” is easily one of them. The question that all tendencies and formations grapple with is how do we understand this process and what are the methods to transition from being isolated and powerless players to a left with deep roots within powerful working class social movements.

A welcome discussion along these lines is from Philly Socialists and the Marxist Center conference and a recently compiled reader around the concepts of ‘base building’ and ‘dual power’ titled “It’s All About that Base.” If you’re not familiar we recommend giving it a read.

With this post we wanted to highlight a number of writings with similar themes coming out of the contemporary US anarchist milieu stretching back over 20 years into the late 1990s. Likely the entry of the concept of dual power into the vernacular of US anarchism first came with Love & Rage Revolutionary Anarchist Federation in numerous writings and made the point in their Draft Political Statement that “The creation of a general state of dual power is a necessary requirement for a successful revolution.”

The reprinted article below, “Active Revolution” by James Mumm, published in The Northeastern Anarchist (Issue #4, Spring/Summer 2002) and circulated in other forms in the late 1990s, provides an extensive treatment on the difference between activism and organizing, dual power, movement building and collective power. While we may not agree with all the particulars today and these discussions have advanced and evolved over time, this piece is an important reference point for those active in US anarchism since the 2000’s. (We also would highlight the “Editor’s Note” from The Northeastern Anarchist at the end which takes issue with the piece’s position on political organization).

Other reference points since the publication of this piece are those of the late Joel Olson with Bring the Ruckus in his 2009 piece “Between infoshops and insurrection: U.S. anarchism, movement building, and the racial order.” Influential pieces include “Back to the Roots: Anarchists as Revolutionary Organizers” by Ian Martin circa 2005 which highlighted the need to “build relationships,” “organize relationships into a structured form,” and “build leadership and empower people” toward the goal of dual power. This and other similar pieces are included in “An Anarchist Reader for Effective Organising” published by Zabalaza Books in South Africa.

An important landmark especially for those of us Black Rose/Rosa Negra is the influence of the South American current of anarchism known as “especifismo” which introduced a new vocabulary around relating to movements, concepts such as “social insertion” and later the concept of “popular power.”

From “Especifismo: The Anarchist Praxis of Building Popular Movements and Revolutionary Organization” published in The Northeastern Anarchist (Issue #11, 2007):

“Social insertion means anarchist involvement in the daily fights of the oppressed and working classes. It does not mean acting within single-issue advocacy campaigns based around the involvement of expected traditional political activists, but rather within movements of people struggling to better their own condition, which come together not always out of exclusively materially-based needs, but also socially and historically rooted needs of resisting the attacks of the state and capitalism.”

Later documents such as Anarchism and Social Organization, a 2008 organizational and programmatic document of the Federação Anarquista do Rio de Janeiro (FARJ), provide more detailed discussions. Translated into English in 2012 (we recommend reading the English edition introductory note) the document details their perspective on building popular movements and how these relate to political organization. In sum, we think pieces like “Active Revolution” and the other writings mentioned here can be useful reference points in discussions today around these concepts.

(Source: The Anarchist Library)