Revolutionary Initiative
The Exploited Individual
“We must take into
account not only the objective causes of oppression, but must also examine the
subjective factors which play an important role in the persistence of
exploitation and are hindering the process of workers' autonomy.”
- Jean Weir, Worker’s Autonomy
The will to resist exploitation and social exclusion is an
often overlooked factor within the revolutionary movement, but without this
subjective element revolutionary change can not take place. Oppression can
nurture apathy and resignation as easily as it can provoke hatred and anger.
The exploitation of the capitalist system creates the context and justification
for mass rebellion, but the determination to resist must come from within each
individual. The spirit of revolt, the indispensable revolutionary initiative of
individuals must be the groundwork of a project that aims at overthrowing the
dominant class and destroying the infrastructure of their economy. The struggle
for real individual freedom must also necessarily become a struggle for
equality of conditions and access to social life for the entire exploited
class.
The Insurrectionary Process
“When a revolutionary
situation arises in a country, before the spirit of revolt is sufficiently
awakened in the masses to express itself in violent demonstrations in the
streets or by rebellions and uprisings, it is through action that minorities
succeed in awakening that feeling of independence and that spirit of audacity
without which no revolution can come to a head.”
- Peter Kropotkin , The Spirit of
Revolt
With the individual as a catalyst, an insurrectionary
process can begin to take shape, first in small affinity groups, and then in
base structures; mass organizations founded on principles of self-management,
direct action and permanent conflict with the class enemy. The forum for
individual and collective action is the class war itself, the contradiction
between exploiter and exploited that can only be
resolved by the violent elimination of those in power. Organization is a tool
to be used in coordinating specific tasks, a tool to be fashioned, adapted and
dismantled as necessary. It should not be an end in itself. Only the struggle
should be permanent. Revolutionary initiative has a variety of means at its
disposal, from counter-information work and expropriation to attacks on
capitalist institutions. Class warfare may develop over time in the form of
escalating individual, intermediate and mass insurrectionary struggles, but all
efforts should aim at achieving concrete results and gains, and symbolic
methods should be dismissed as useless.
The Institutions of
Oppression
“Naturally one must
begin with the insurrectionary act which sweeps away the material obstacles,
the armed forces of government which are opposed to any social transformation.”
- Errico Malatesta, The
Insurrection
Capitalism is not merely an abstract concept or system of
social relationships. It depends on its institutions of repression, its courts,
police stations, and prisons. These structures will not destroy themselves.
They will not crumble under the weight of an inevitable historical process.
They must be physically assaulted. The subjective aspects of material
resistance also come into play, as individuals realize their capacity to
actively attack and destroy capitalist targets. By
intervening directly in the social clash, individuals and groups gain
experience that can be attained in no other way. When engaged in
collective action, the bonds of solidarity are strengthened between comrades.
The combative spirit gathers momentum.
The Class Enemy
“Let every dirty,
lousy tramp arm himself with a revolver or knife and
lay in wait on the steps of the palaces of the rich and stab or shoot the
owners as they come out. Let us kill them without mercy, and let it be a war of
extermination and without pity. Let us devastate the avenues where the wealthy
live.”
- Lucy Parsons
Behind every institution of oppression is the class enemy. Determined to maintain their position at all costs, intoxicated by power and willing to use the most brutal forces of repression at their disposal, the exploiters wage class war relentlessly. Revolutionary organizations must act against this reality by refusing negotiation or compromise with the class enemy. The only effective strategy in revolutionary warfare is the strategy of annihilation. The application of violence to this concrete necessity of the movement itself should not cause discomfort for even a moment. The lives of the exploiters and their servants are not worth a cent.
Autonomy and Centralization
“If revolutionaries
organize like those whose rule they seek to overthrow, they are defeated before
the battle is engaged.”
-
Autonomy is the prerequisite of social freedom. Only the
absolute autonomy of individuals and groups, the freedom to associate or
disassociate with others at will, can allow the natural tendency towards
solidarity and mutual aid to take root. The principle of self-determination
must grow from the free individual out towards the community, and further
outwards to distinct cultural groups and geographic regions. Autonomy provides
the basis for meaningful interrelations between groups and territories on the
basis of communism; the equality of access to the means of existence and social
life. Revolution is a project that develops decentralized organizational structures
on the one hand while it attacks the centralized formations of the class enemy
on the other. Revolutionaries must take the initiative to constantly fight
against any tendency towards centralization if they are to defend freedom. From
this perspective, revolutionary initiative becomes a project based on combining
the struggle for individual liberation with the social struggle to overthrow
the capitalist system and the class enemy.
Insurgent-S