hello all

"An Anarchist FAQ" webpage has been updated. It can be
found at:

 http://www.anarchistfaq.org/
 http://www.anarchismfaq.org/
 http://www.anarchyfaq.org/
 http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/1931/

(the last url is usually updated first)

An Anarchist FAQ is an in depth introduction to anarchist ideas, ideals and history. Find out why anarchism is opposed to hierarchy, state and capitalism. Find out what different types of anarchism there is and why it is also called libertarian socialism. Find out why anarchists oppose the
present system and what they aim to replace it with.

It has been updated on October the 27th to mark the birth of Nestor Makhno, an influential anarchist
militant and partisan leader in the Ukraine during
the Russian Revolution. Born in 1889, of a poor
peasant family, Makhno became the leader of a
highly influential movement and army of poor
working people (mostly peasants). It was under
the areas protected by the Makhnovists were anarchist
ideas were most successfully applied during the
Russian Revolution. In these areas working class
people organised their own lives directly, based
on their own ideas and needs -- true social
self-determination. The movement fought against
both Red and White dictatorships (although they
co-operated with the Red Army three times to defeat
the Whites -- and there betrayed by them).

Makhno inspired his fellow peasants and workers to
fight for real freedom:

"Conquer or die -- such is the dilemma that faces the Ukrainian
peasants and workers at this historic moment . . . But we will
not conquer in order to repeat the errors of the past years,
the error of putting our fate into the hands of new masters;
we will conquer in order to take our destinies into our own
hands, to conduct our lives according to our own will and
our own conception of the truth."

To ensure this end, the Makhnovists refused to set up
governments in the towns and cities they liberated, instead
urging the creation of free soviets so that the working
people could govern themselves. Once they liberated a
town or city, they immediately invited the
working population to participate in a general
conference and it was proposed that the workers
organise the life of the city and the functioning
of the factories with their own forces and their
own organisations.

Slandered by their enemies (the Bolsheviks falsely
accused them of anti-Semitism and alliances with
the Whites, for example), the Makhnovists showed that
there was an alternative to the politics and policies
of Bolshevism. The received wisdom on the left is that
there was no alternative open to the Bolsheviks. The
experience of the Makhnovists disproves this and shows
that there was (and is) a practical alternative to
Bolshevism -- anarchism.

In addition, visit the updated FAQ links page with over 750 links to anarchist webpages, organisations, papers, magazine, books, publishers
and so on as well as many non-anarchist but related sites of interest.
This can be found at:

 http://www.infoshop.org/faq/links.html
 http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/1931/links.html

The best one-stop place to discover the anarchist community on line.

yours in solidarity

Anarcho
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So Whats New in the FAQ? -- version 9.3

Section H.1
New section on how anarchists have opposed
state socialism (including Marxism) from the
start. Indicates Stirner's and Proudhon's
opposition to state socialism and gives a
short summary of Bakunin's critique of Marxism.
Discusses the key differences between anarchism
and Marxism. Also indicates why Engels' infamous
essay "On Authority" does not refute anarchism.