Total Failure of Class Struggle Politics in the UK
The Messenger | 25.11.2011 11:28 | Occupy Everywhere | Culture | Public sector cuts | Workers' Movements
In Sept 2011 a thread was posted on Indymedia under the title "Total Failure of Class War Politics in Britain", and while that thread focussed on analysing the specific failure of the anarchist group "Class War", that thread is also a critique of class struggle activism generally. One thing Ian Bone was right about was the need to create a genuinely populist anarchist movement in the UK, but "populist" no longer means "workerist", and until British anarchists face up to that then they are doomed to fail forever in the UK.
In Sept 2011 a thread was posted on Indymedia under the title "Total Failure of Class War Politics in Britain" (1), and while that thread focussed on analysing the specific failure of the anarchist group "Class War", that thread is also a critique of class struggle activism generally, as a philosophy and as a form of activist strategy. It goes without saying that this thread did NOT say that class warfare does not exist as a critically important aspect of everyday life, and (if they've not done so already) Indy readers are asked to study its arguments carefully, before jumping to hasty conclusions (or posting hasty comments) about what it was that thread actually said.
The thread argued that the kind of activism promoted by Class War (and since continued by Class War's founder Ian Bone) alienated more people than it attracted - including alienating many working class people, and alienating activists, as more activists left politics as a result of Ian Bone's ideological coup than joined. The thread also described the reasons why this happened, and backed-up its case with hard evidence - pointing to the final closure Class War as a group itself, and comparing the 20 signatures attracted by Ian Bone's "Close down Eton College" petition to the 439,166 signatures attracted by the 38 Degrees petition to defend the NHS. Comments following that thread also showed the video of Ian Bone's Eton protest was "liked" by just 81 people, but "disliked" by 394.
By way of an update, in the 2 months since then, the "likes" on Ian Bone's video have risen by by just TWO people to 83, while the "dislikes" have risen to 410, and the 38 Degrees petition had attracted 494,083 signatures while again Ian Bone's e-petition has attracted just TWO more signatures (see images).
While I totally agree with Ian Bone's statement that Eton "should be closed down immediately without compensation and (the) buildings handed over to local state schools", his statement that "Old Etonians run" not just "our government" but also "everything else" is straight-up false, and Bone's own words illustrate contradictions in anarchist dogma that cripple activists in their ability to communicate with the general public. Ian Bone says that Eton's buildings should be handed over to state schools, but anarchists are opposed to the very existence of the state! Most "ordinary" people are well able to see that agitators like this are being willfully hypocritical, therefore (and for all the good points about anarchist ideas and practices) most people are NEVER going to waste their lives getting involved with activists whose ideas absolutely do not make sense. A fair bit more importantly, the NHS is also in large part still run by the state.
Another thread has been posted on Indymedia arguing why it is that political strategies that seem viable in cultures like Greece almost certainly won't work in the UK (2), and, particularly in the light of how Ian Bone used the totally legitimate issue of opposition to private education to display a banner that in effect associated anarchism with threats to murder school-kids, another thread shows how, in the same way, in its present form the British anarchist movement is more of an asset to the right-wing establishment than a threat (3). One thing Ian Bone was right about was the need to create a genuinely populist anarchist movement in the UK, but "populist" no longer means "workerist", and until British anarchists face up to that then they are doomed to fail forever in the UK.
This present critique is NOT some kind of call to disillusionment or apathy however, as with the Nov 30 strikes and protests fast approaching, the prospects for activist politics are very exciting, and we all need to work hard to engage and involve as many of our friends and work-mates as we can. We need to NOT FUCK-UP on N30 however, so readers are asked to think very carefully about the arguments put forward in these various threads. One final thought - of course the public are alienated by the class struggle rhetoric of hard-line Communist groups just as much as they're alienated by class struggle anarchism, so the core arguments apply just as much to the Hammer & Sickle merchants who do so much to ruin protests and demonstrations etc as they do to class struggle anarchists.
1)
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2011/09/485338.html?c=on#comments
2) http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2011/09/485142.html
3) http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2011/09/485095.html
The thread argued that the kind of activism promoted by Class War (and since continued by Class War's founder Ian Bone) alienated more people than it attracted - including alienating many working class people, and alienating activists, as more activists left politics as a result of Ian Bone's ideological coup than joined. The thread also described the reasons why this happened, and backed-up its case with hard evidence - pointing to the final closure Class War as a group itself, and comparing the 20 signatures attracted by Ian Bone's "Close down Eton College" petition to the 439,166 signatures attracted by the 38 Degrees petition to defend the NHS. Comments following that thread also showed the video of Ian Bone's Eton protest was "liked" by just 81 people, but "disliked" by 394.
By way of an update, in the 2 months since then, the "likes" on Ian Bone's video have risen by by just TWO people to 83, while the "dislikes" have risen to 410, and the 38 Degrees petition had attracted 494,083 signatures while again Ian Bone's e-petition has attracted just TWO more signatures (see images).
While I totally agree with Ian Bone's statement that Eton "should be closed down immediately without compensation and (the) buildings handed over to local state schools", his statement that "Old Etonians run" not just "our government" but also "everything else" is straight-up false, and Bone's own words illustrate contradictions in anarchist dogma that cripple activists in their ability to communicate with the general public. Ian Bone says that Eton's buildings should be handed over to state schools, but anarchists are opposed to the very existence of the state! Most "ordinary" people are well able to see that agitators like this are being willfully hypocritical, therefore (and for all the good points about anarchist ideas and practices) most people are NEVER going to waste their lives getting involved with activists whose ideas absolutely do not make sense. A fair bit more importantly, the NHS is also in large part still run by the state.
Another thread has been posted on Indymedia arguing why it is that political strategies that seem viable in cultures like Greece almost certainly won't work in the UK (2), and, particularly in the light of how Ian Bone used the totally legitimate issue of opposition to private education to display a banner that in effect associated anarchism with threats to murder school-kids, another thread shows how, in the same way, in its present form the British anarchist movement is more of an asset to the right-wing establishment than a threat (3). One thing Ian Bone was right about was the need to create a genuinely populist anarchist movement in the UK, but "populist" no longer means "workerist", and until British anarchists face up to that then they are doomed to fail forever in the UK.
This present critique is NOT some kind of call to disillusionment or apathy however, as with the Nov 30 strikes and protests fast approaching, the prospects for activist politics are very exciting, and we all need to work hard to engage and involve as many of our friends and work-mates as we can. We need to NOT FUCK-UP on N30 however, so readers are asked to think very carefully about the arguments put forward in these various threads. One final thought - of course the public are alienated by the class struggle rhetoric of hard-line Communist groups just as much as they're alienated by class struggle anarchism, so the core arguments apply just as much to the Hammer & Sickle merchants who do so much to ruin protests and demonstrations etc as they do to class struggle anarchists.
1)
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2011/09/485338.html?c=on#comments 2)
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2011/09/485142.html 3)
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2011/09/485095.html
The Messenger
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