Bookchinism

[socialistfuture]

bookchinism-
"Hybrid political theory, a combination of environmentalism, unorthodox Marxism, and Anarchism, which was developed upon by Murray Bookchin, a former Communist and New Left activist. Bookchinites believe in "dialectal naturalism", a deviation of dialectal materialism which combines Marx’s ideas on societal evolution with the natural world. Bookchinites and other Eco-Socialists believe that the capitalist economy is responsible for the destruction to the environment. The world ecosystem can only be saved once world socialism (a more sane and humane system) is established. In the US, the Left Green Network (est. 1988, now moribund) follows the ideology of Bookchin. "

i have taken this from comrade chris' posting 'Bookchinism, Anyone with info on this?'on the CGLM (civilain guerilla liberation movment) forum, Anyone with info on this? (RED VOCABULARY at http://reds.linefeed.org/vocab.html#RW) is where the defination comes from originally)

I ask the same question as him - anyone know more about Bookchinism?
I would also consider myself one of those.

[redstar2000]

"Dialectical naturalism" sounds pretty weird. :huh:

But SonOfRage might know something about all this...I think he's read a lot of Bookchin.

:redstar2000:

The Redstar2000 Papers (http://www.redstar2000papers.fightcapitalism.net)
A site about communist ideas

[Valkyrie]

Bookchin is kind of like this:

Wooden Ships - Stephen Stills, (C,S,N)

Black sails knifing through the pitchblende night
Away from the radioactive landmass madness
From the silver-suited people searching out
Uncontaminated food and shelter on the shores
No glowing metal on our ship of wood only
Free happy crazy people naked in the universe
WE SPEAK EARTH TALK
GO RIDE THE MUSIC

(THIS IS A GREAT LYRIC)
If you smile at me you know I will understand
Cause that is something everybody everywhere does
In the same language

I can see by your coat my friend that you're from the other side
There's just one thing I got to know
Can you tell me please who won

You must try some of my purple berries
I been eating them for six or seven weeks now
Haven't got sick once
Probably keep us both alive

Wooden ships on the water very free and easy
Easy you know the way it's supposed to be
Silver people on the shoreline leave us be
Very free and easy

Sail away where the mornin sun goes high
Sail away where the wind blows sweet and young birds fly
Take a sister by her hand
Lead her far from this barren land
Horror grips us as we watch you die
All we can do is echo your anguished cry and
Stare as all you human feelings die

We are leaving
You don't need us
Go and take a sister by her hand
Lead her far from this foreign land
Somewhere where we might laugh again
We are leaving
You don't need us

Sailing ships on the water very free and easy
Easy you know the way it's supposed to be
Silver people on the shoreline leave us be
Very free
And gone
NO C'MON
GO RIDE THE MUSIC
C'MON RIDE IT CHILD

[Morpheus]

There is no such thing as "Bookchinism." There is social ecology, dialectical naturalism & libertarian municipalism - all of which are advocated by Murray Bookchin. Opponets of these ideas call them "bookchinism."

Social ecology is the belief that enviromental problems are the result of social problems, specifically hierarchy. Capitalism is just one manifestation of this, though an important one. Dialectical Naturalism is a heavily modified version of dialectical naturalism. It makes some changes to dialectics, and focuses much more on ecology. Libertarian municipalism advocates a society run by federations of neighboorhood/community assemblies. This would be based on absolute majority rule, and individuals who don't participate in assemblies are still bound by their decisions. There would be no workers self-management, instead the economy would be run by these community assemblies. Lms also advocate running candidates in local elections, believing this can somehow be used to advance their agenda. Supporters of these ideas usually regard themselves as eco-anarchists.

See http://dwardmac.pitzer.edu/anarchist_archi...BookchinCW.html (http://dwardmac.pitzer.edu/anarchist_archives/bookchin/BookchinCW.html) for some of Bookchin's writings. I would recommend you read his books "The Ecology of Freedom" and "The Philosophy of Social Ecology" if you can find copies, they lay out the basic theories. You can find a good refutation of libertarian municipalism at http://www.infoshop.org/inews/stories.php?...4/07/19/3362018 (http://www.infoshop.org/inews/stories.php?story=04/07/19/3362018)

[SonofRage]

Originally posted by [email protected] 2 2004, 09:07 PM
"Dialectical naturalism" sounds pretty weird. :huh:

But SonOfRage might know something about all this...I think he's read a lot of Bookchin.

:redstar2000:

The Redstar2000 Papers (http://www.redstar2000papers.fightcapitalism.net)
A site about communist ideas

Yeah, I've read a lot of Bookchin (although I often find myself wondering why). He really is a "mixed bag." Sometimes he writes really great stuff, but sometimes he writes the kind of thing that would give Redstar2000 a heart attack (just a friendly word of caution in case redstar gets curious :D ) Murray Bookchin was once a Trotskyist, but moved towards Anarchism and eventually toward a form of libertarian socialism he calls "Social Ecology" which follows a philosophy called "Dialectical Naturalism" (which is kind of Hegelian but not exactly, he has issues with both Hegel's dialectic and Marx's but doesn't go so far as to proclaim it useless altogether. I'm still undecided).

One work of his that I enjoyed was "Social Anarchism or Lifestyle Anarchism: An Unbridgeable Chasm." It's an critique of "Lifestyle Anarchists" (the kind who seem to think that being vegan or living on a commune is a revolutionary act) and Anarcho-primitivism. Part of this work is available online (http://dwardmac.pitzer.edu/Anarchist_Archives/bookchin/soclife.html).

Bookchin has also written a lot of great stuff on the Spanish Revolution. Some works worth a look:

The Spanish Anarchists: The Heroic Years 1868-1936
The Third Revolution: Popular Movements in the Revolutionary Era - Volume 1 & 2
To Remember Spain: The Anarchist and Syndicalist Revolution of 1936 (http://anarchism.jesusradicals.com/library/bookchin/spain/spaintoc.html) (this is a link)

Of course you could always just get the Murray Bookchin Reader.

One of the things about Bookchin that leaves me scratching my head is his idea which he calls "Libertarian Municipalism" which in my view is pretty close to Social Democracy. He believes that we should run candidates for local office and try and "democratize" at the local level. He seems to think that we can get more power to things like the city council or neighborhood councils of some sort, make them more democratic, and once this is done we would be in the position to challenge the State. This is kind of naive in my view.

Another thing about Bookchin: he totally rejects the class struggle. While he really does write good stuff about the Spanish Revolution, he has a pretty obvious bias against Anarcho-Syndicalism and think's it's a movement of the past. See his work The Ghost of Anarcho-Syndicalism (http://dwardmac.pitzer.edu/Anarchist_Archives/bookchin/ghost2.html) (a link).

Bookchin's The Philosophy Of Social Ecology: Essays on Dialectical Naturalism was interesting, but I'm still not sold on this whole "dialectics" thing. I'll have to read it at least one more time, there were parts I didn't understand the first time through that I'll hopefully get the second time around.

So, I recommend people really read his works before labeling yourself a "Bookchinite." He's a pretty smart guy in my view who sometimes is way off but it's worth reading even if it's just to make you think about the things you disagree with.

Also, check out Murray Bookchin's Collected Works (http://dwardmac.pitzer.edu/Anarchist_Archives/bookchin/BookchinCW.html)