Fundamentals of Revolutionary Communism (Part 2)

Here is a link to the text.

Bordiga's critique of anarchism is pretty good, but I would argue that internationalist and class struggle anarchists generally do seek the emancipation of the proletariat as a class and not just the individual.

Anarchist doctrines are the expression of the following thesis: centralised power is evil; and they assume that the entire question of the liberation of the oppressed class can be resolved by getting rid of it. But for the anarchist, class is only an accessory concept. He wishes to liberate the individual, the person, and thereby conforms with the programme of the liberal and bourgeois revolution.

The criticisms of the anarchist support for the "commune" and attacking the anarchist view of the Paris Commune was very good and very well developed. While I agree with Bordiga's critique of anarchism I do not agree with him that we shouldn't consider anarchists allies. I would consider many of those that follow social anarchism to be allies.

The criticisms of syndicalism are good as well, as they are in all of Bordiga's writings. I really like this next quote.

The culmination of the Sorelian theory of "direct action" – that is, without legally elected intermediaries between proletarians and the is the bourgeoisie – is the general strike. But in spite of it being conceived of as occurring simultaneously in all trades, in all cities of a particular country, or even on an international scale, in reality the insurrection of the syndicalists is still restricted, insofar as it takes the form of actions by individuals, or at most, actions by isolated groups; in neither case does it attain the level of class action. This was due to Sorel's horror of a revolutionary political organisation necessarily taking on a military form, and after victory, a State form (proletarian State, Dictatorship); and since Sorelians don't agree with Party, State, and Dictatorship they would end up treading the same path as Bakunin had thirty years before. The national general strike, assuming it to be victorious, would supposedly coincide (on the same day?) with a general expropriation (the "expropriating strike"), but such a vision of the passage from one social form to another is as nebulous and weak as it is disappointing and ephemeral.

The section THE TEST OF THE FIRST WORLD WAR is very good.

Like always, Bordiga shines in his critique of syndicalism as workerist and immediatist. This next quote shows Bordiga's thoughts on this.

The narrowness of the trade-unionist perspective, when compared to the political, resides in the fact it is restricted within a trade, rather than a class, context, and is affected by a rigid, mediaeval separation of crafts. Neither should the recent transformation of trade – or professional – trade-unions into industrial unions be regarded as a significant step forward. In this latter form, for instance, a carpenter operative who works in an automobile plant has to join the metal-workers union rather than the carpenters' union. But both forms are equally characterised by the fact that amongst the rank-and-file, contact between the union members is restricted is to dealing with the problems of just one narrow sector of production rather than that of society as a whole. Bringing about a synthesis of the various interests of local, professional and industrial proletarian groups, can only be accomplished by an apparatus which includes officials from the various organisations.

I think Bordiga is correct in showing the limited nature of the factory councils if there is no struggle in the political realm and, consequently, if there is no political party.

This next quote is a good response to those who claim that all socialism is is workers' control of production and management and workers' autonomy.

If the ridiculous search for "content" is applied to a fully socialist society, we have all the more reason for saying that the formulae "workers' control" and "workers' management" are lacking in any content. Under socialism, society isn't divided into producers and non-producers any more because society is no longer divided into classes. The "content" (if we have to use such an insipid expression) won't be proletarian autonomy, control, and management of production, but the disappearance of the proletarian class; of the wage system; of exchange – even in its last surviving form as the exchange of money for labour-power; and, finally, the individual enterprise will disappear as well. There will be nothing to control and manage, and nobody to demand autonomy from.

I completely agree with the next quotation from the article.

Confusion between the State of the workers' councils, with the councils functioning as political and territorial organs, and the fictitious ordinovist factory Council State, with each council managing itself independently, was rapidly dispelled. On this subject we need only read the Theses of the 2nd Congress of the Communist International on Trade Unions and Factory Councils which define the tasks of such bodies before and after the revolution. The Marxist solution to the problem is the penetration of these organisms by the revolutionary party, and their subordination to (rather than autonomy from!) the revolutionary State.

Anarchist doctrines are the expression of the following thesis: centralised power is evil; and they assume that the entire question of the liberation of the oppressed class can be resolved by getting rid of it. But for the anarchist, class is only an accessory concept. He wishes to liberate the individual, the person, and thereby conforms with the programme of the liberal and bourgeois revolution.

I agree with Bordiga's critique of anarchism here.

Despite being able to draw on the rich historical experience of the Russian Revolution, many "left-wingers", and declared enemies of Stalinism, nevertheless still look to the anarchists for potential support. We therefore need to reiterate that libertarianism was the first of the diseases to infect the proletarian movement, and was the precursor to all later opportunisms (including Stalinism) in that it falsified politics and history in order to attract the petty and middle bourgeois strata of society onto the proletarian side – despite the fact that these classes have always ruined everything, and been the source of every kind of calamity and error. What resulted from this approach wasn't proletarian leadership over the "popular masses", but destruction of any proletarian features of the general movement, and a reinforced enslavement of the proletariat to capital.

I agree with Brosa that most anarchists should (currently) be regarded as our allies, even if there exist irreconcilable differences between us.

Those who substitute "people" for class, by prioritising the proletarian class above the party, believe they are rendering it a supreme homage whilst in fact they are declassing it, drowning it in "popular" confusion, and sacrificing it on the altar of counter-revolution.

I really like and agree with this quote.

The culmination of the Sorelian theory of "direct action" – that is, without legally elected intermediaries between proletarians and the is the bourgeoisie – is the general strike. But in spite of it being conceived of as occurring simultaneously in all trades, in all cities of a particular country, or even on an international scale, in reality the insurrection of the syndicalists is still restricted, insofar as it takes the form of actions by individuals, or at most, actions by isolated groups; in neither case does it attain the level of class action. This was due to Sorel's horror of a revolutionary political organisation necessarily taking on a military form, and after victory, a State form (proletarian State, Dictatorship); and since Sorelians don't agree with Party, State, and Dictatorship they would end up treading the same path as Bakunin had thirty years before. The national general strike, assuming it to be victorious, would supposedly coincide (on the same day?) with a general expropriation (the "expropriating strike"), but such a vision of the passage from one social form to another is as nebulous and weak as it is disappointing and ephemeral.

I agree here with Bordiga's critique of Sorelian syndicalism and the revolutionary potential of the general strike.

Sorel and his followers are actually far removed from Marxist determinism, and the interaction which occurs between the economic and political spheres is a dead letter to them. Since they are individualist and voluntarist, they see revolution as an act of force which can only take place after an impossible act of consciousness. As Lenin demonstrated in What is To Be Done?, they turn Marxism on its head. They treat consciousness and will as though they came from the inner-self, from the "person", and thus, in one deft movement, they sweep away bourgeois State, class divisions, and class psychology. Since they are unable to understand the inevitable alternative – capitalist dictatorship or communist dictatorship – they evade the dilemma in the only way that is historically possible: by re-establishing the former. And whether this is done consciously or not may be a burning issue for them but, frankly, we are not that interested.

Bordiga's demonstration here of the inherent idealism of syndicalism is great.

The narrowness of the trade-unionist perspective, when compared to the political, resides in the fact it is restricted within a trade, rather than a class, context, and is affected by a rigid, mediaeval separation of crafts. Neither should the recent transformation of trade – or professional – trade-unions into industrial unions be regarded as a significant step forward. In this latter form, for instance, a carpenter operative who works in an automobile plant has to join the metal-workers union rather than the carpenters' union. But both forms are equally characterised by the fact that amongst the rank-and-file, contact between the union members is restricted is to dealing with the problems of just one narrow sector of production rather than that of society as a whole. Bringing about a synthesis of the various interests of local, professional and industrial proletarian groups, can only be accomplished by an apparatus which includes officials from the various organisations.

I agree completely with this. Trade unions are incapable of transcending immediatism, sectionalism, and workerism, making them incapable of pursuing the general class interests of the proletariat and posing the central question of power.

The different sectional interests of the proletarian class can therefore only be overcome in the party organisation, which avoids dividing its members according to trade or profession.

Yes, this is among the most important functions of the Party, without which the proletariat cannot exist as a social and political force.

If the ridiculous search for "content" is applied to a fully socialist society, we have all the more reason for saying that the formulae "workers' control" and "workers' management" are lacking in any content. Under socialism, society isn't divided into producers and non-producers any more because society is no longer divided into classes. The "content" (if we have to use such an insipid expression) won't be proletarian autonomy, control, and management of production, but the disappearance of the proletarian class; of the wage system; of exchange – even in its last surviving form as the exchange of money for labour-power; and, finally, the individual enterprise will disappear as well. There will be nothing to control and manage, and nobody to demand autonomy from.

I agree with this.

Either we read history as Marxists, or we relapse into scholastic masturbations which explain great events as due to monarchical manoevrings over hereditary claims and the transmission of the crown to heirs, or as the exploits of dashing buccaneers, urged on to perform great exploits in the quest for personal glory and posthumous immortality!

For us, and for Marx, it is just not possible for the lone individual, taking conscious foresight as his starting point, to go out and 'mould' society and History in conformity with his motive will. And this goes not only for the poor devil of a molecule floundering about in the social magma, but even more so for kings and the queens, for those invested with high office and honours, for those with dozens of titles and initials after their names. It is indeed particularly these people who don't know what they want, don't achieve what they thought they would, and to whom, if you'll excuse the noble expression, historical determinism reserves its biggest kick up the backside. In fact, if you accept our doctrine, leaders are more puppets of history than anyone else.

This is a well-worded rejection of the "Great Man" theory of history.

Bordiga's critique of anarchism is pretty good, but I would argue that internationalist and class struggle anarchists generally do seek the emancipation of the proletariat as a class and not just the individual.

I don't think that Bordiga meant that anarchists only seek the liberation of the individual and reject the struggle for the emancipation of the proletariat. I think, rather, he meant that the stress laid by many anarchists on the former, bourgeois-liberal struggle renders the latter an accessory struggle.