Table Of Content

but the roles ofmasculinity that they are P TRI RCHY playing and the power they have. At the same time women’s oppression cannot be understood solely in terms of patriarchy, as this fails to address the way capitalism has influenced women’s oppression, cre- A BIG WORD, used by many to de- pression and class exploitation were im- ating different circumstances for women scribe societies that are ruled by portant: “By patriarchy we mean a sys- in different classes as well as giving them men. Originally it was used to refer tem in which all women are oppressed, an differing amounts of power. In the same to more ‘primitive’, older cultures, oppression which is total, affecting all way that we cannot gloss over differences comparing them with the matriar- aspects of our lives. Just as class oppres- between men and women within the chal (ruled by women) societies that sion preceded capitalism, so does our op- working class, we cannot gloss over dif- had apparently come before. pression. We do not acknowledge that ferences between women. The term became popular in the late men are oppressed as a sex although Nevertheless, the concept of patriar- ’60s and ’70s with the growth of the working class men, gay men and black chy highlights the fact that women are women’s movement. Instead of talking men are oppressed as workers, gays and oppressed and that they are not just op- about capitalist society, which was a sex- blacks, an oppression shared by gay, pressed by capital but by men, who have neutral term implying the rule ofcapital, black and working class women.” (Edito- an interest in maintaining this situation. feminists were keen to use a word high- rial statement: Scarlet Women 8, News- In some cases it is obvious to see how lighting the dominant role men played in letter of the Socialist Feminist Current. men benefit from sexism: Men’s superior society. Bosses, military leaders, politi- place in the labour market, and the emo- cians, rapists, wife beaters, etc, are, for Side Issue tional and material benefits they gain the most part men. Even working class from the family. However, men benefit in men rule in their own home and upper In the end nothing was resolved. In the less obvious ways, as in sexuality, with class women are dependent and subser- Leninist organisations, the ‘class side’ women bearing the burden of contracep- vient to their dominant husbands and won and women’s oppression was once tion. Anarchist communism is about fathers. By using the term patriarchy, again relegated to a side issue. Many transforming all areas of life — not just feminists hoped to challenge the assump- women retreated angrily into separa- material circumstances. It follows that tion made by revolutionaries of various tism, reinforcing the view that men are we need to challenge the whole culture tendencies: that ending capitalism would the key enemy. So where do anarchist which will involve revolutionising the re- automatically end women’s oppression. communists stand in all this? lations between men and Women, liberat- Patriarchy could be used to describe a Anarchist communists reject the view ing both sexes from the traditional roles whole social system. In the ’70s and ’80s, that women’s oppression will end with that we have been brainwashed to play. debates raged as to whether such a social the overthrow ofthe bosses and recognise This struggle must be part of the gen- system existed. Traditional leftists in the it cannot be explained simply in terms of eral revolutionary movement to over- Marxist organisations denounced the use an economic system. A more complex throw capitalism. Capitalism uses the of the term because it implied that men’s framework of analysis is needed, recog- gender differences to its own advantage oppression of women was more funda- nising the role of ideology and the role of —- the ‘macho man’ for war and business mental than the bosses’ exploitation of men in keeping women down. For this the and the ‘feminine woman’ for caring, sup- the working class. Women activists ac- concept of patriarchy is useful, though a porting and picking up the pieces. The cused the political organisations of put- rather abstract term. This does not mean revolution must be one that ends all ting all oppression down to class exploi- that male domination is natural or un- power, whether it is that of capital, the tation, so ignoring the exist- changeable. It is State or male. On its own, the concept of ence ofmen’s role in society as not men as such patriarchy is inadequate for under- oppressors. Others tried to who are the enemy, standing women’s oppression. However, bridge the gap by using the used in conjunction with a general term patriarchal capitalism, class analysis it plays an essential arguing that both sexual op- part in our understanding of society. ——w' ‘I I -‘M E-_ ‘e 16 Organise! No. 32 Oct-Dec 1993 .l ORGANISEI GOI G TO THE DOGS? WANT TO JOIN THE ACF? WANT TO FIND OUT MORE? ORGANISE! IS THE national magazine of the Anarchist Com- I agree with the ACF’s Aims and Principles and I would munist Federation (ACF). Organise! is a quarterly theoretical THE VICTORY OF the fas- BNP may not all subscribe to like to join the organisation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . joumal published in order to develop anarchist communist cist British National Party the BNP’s fascist programme, ideas. It aims to give a clear anarchist viewpoint on contempo- I would like more information about the Anarchist in the Millwall council by- but they were elected because rary issues, and to initiate debates on areas not normally cov- Communist Federation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . election was met with hor- they appealed to deep racist ered by agitational journals. ror in the political estab- sentiments. Racism is deeply I am particularily interested in the Anarchist All articles in the magazine are by ACF members unless lishment, with Smith, Ash- ingrained in British society. Communist Federation’s views on . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . signed. Some reflect ACF policy and others open up debate in down and Major rushing to This racism is not just at the undiscussed areas, helping us to develop our ideas further. denounce them. Overt rac- level of street violence, it is at Please feel welcome to contribute articles to Organise! —- as I I O I I I O I . I I I C I I I O I D I I I I I I I I O U I I I I I O O I I U O I I I I O I I I I ists in the Conservative the level of State and institu- long as they don’t conflict with our Aims and Principles we will Name: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Party, like Winston Chur- tionalised racism — in the po- publish them. (Letters, of course, need not agree with our A&Ps Address: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . chill, the “miners’ friend” lice force, in customs and im- at all.) I I O I Q I O I I I I I I I I O I I I I O O I O I O I (ha! ha!) using the BNP vic- migration, in political parties. Deadlines for next issue are 4 December for features and tory as an excuse to call for The Liberal Democrats in I I I I l I I O I I I O 0 Q O O I Q Q Q I Q Q I Q I Q I I I I I I O I O Q Q O I Q Q Q Q Q I Q I Q reviews, and 11 December for letters and news. tighter immigration con- Tower Hamlets have been Please tick/fill in as appropriate and return to: All contributions for the next issue should be sent to: trols. churning out racist propa- ACF, PO BOX 4, BUCKFASTLEIGH, DEVON TQ1 1 OYZ. ACF, c/0 84b Whitechapel High Street, London E1 7QX. For revolutionaries, this ganda for a long time. One iii;‘r1H;T|l' r’*,l fanfare of dismay was sicken- Liberal Democrat councillor, -ii“ “Er ing. The Conservative Party Jeremy Shaw, stated 18 Women’s issues She returned in 1917 to create a Spain. She continued to fight in Who We Are... has long been pursuing racist months ago that immigrants black guard, an anarchist militia the resistance there afterFranco's policies, with tighter immi- couldn’t expect to be housed in group, in the Ukraine, which led victory, as well as in France ORGANISE! HAS developed an actions against the factory owners against the Nazis. Returning to THE ANARCHIST COMMUNIST gration controls and their Tower Hamlets. In the run-up anarchist communist analysis of and landowners. Linking up with Italy, she organised partisan Federation is an organisation of rabid support of a police force to the by-election Liberal ecology and the green movement the insurrectionary movement of bands against the fascists, includ- class struggle anarchists. Its that carries out daily abuse of Democrats continued with in its pages. This is because we Makhno, she carried on the fight ing women’s groups. In July 1944 structure is based on groups and blacks. It was the Thatcher their anti-Bengali propa- think it important to relate eco- for anarchism, before, according she helped organise a massive individual members. We have leadership’s adoption ofrheto- ganda in leaflets making out logical issues to a general critique to some, being hung by the demonstration of women in the members in the following areas: ric and policies not far from that Labour councillors ofcapitalism, and that the ecologi- Whites. Lina, daughter of an ac- main square in Carrara, defying Aylesbury that ofthe National Front that wanted to spend £30,000 of cal crisis is a direct result of the tive anarchist in Carrara, Italy, the German forces ofoccupation to Chesterfield ensured the racist vote in council money on food relief to development of capitalism. We fought with the anarchists in leave the town. Chester-le-Street 1979. The Labour Party, when Bangladesh. Local Labour ac- also feel that women’s liberation Coventry is an integral part of the social Sell Organise! it was in power, initiated the tivists for their part tried to Derry revolution. Sadly, we have failed stricter immigration controls use the threat ofa BNP victory Devon to develop this in the pages ofOr- that the Tories inherited. As to snatch back votes, which Gateshead ALTHOUGH sales are rising, we ganise! (with the exception ofarti- for the Liberals, they have backfired by increasing the need to keep boosting circulation, BACK issues (14-28) of Organise! Glasgow cles like ‘Women and Revolution’ known for a long time that the credibility of the BNP. so try and take a bundle to sell to are available at 20p & sae, from Hexham No Platform for Fascists! in No. 26) We hope to rectify this local Liberal Democrats in The East End has been friends or workmates. By selling the London address, also copies of in this issue, and will continue to London power in Tower Hamlets were plagued by casualised and develop our analysis of women’s Organise! you can help our ideas its forerunnerVirus. Included are: Manchester to reach more and more people. 0 Organise! 24: New World Or- using racism to gain votes. We poorly-paid work, often in oppression under capitalism and Merlhyr Tydfil s Write for Organise!: You can der; Children; BCCI; Clause were aware that British fas- small workshops and facto- ONE OF THE cornerstones nantly red flag were deliber- the important role women have Mlddlesbrough played in revolutionary move- help to make Organise! yours by 25. cists, encouraged by a resur- ries, for many years. There are of libertarian ideas is that ately used as part ofthe moves Newcastle ments in future issues. Upcoming writing letters and articles. Q Organise! 25: SOLD OUT gence of fascism throughout 19,000 on the housing waiting of freedom of speech and to control the working class. Nottingham Subscribe to Organise!!:Why 0 Organise! 26: Women & Revo- will be articles on abortion, por- Europe, would attempt to list on the Isle of Dogs, 25% thought for all. So why not The links are also more Portsmouth nography, the family, housework not take out a sub to Organise! Or lution; Direct action; US profit from the vacuum devel- unemployment, and grinding extend this belief to fas- subtle. The fascist love of uni- and a series of portraits of revolu- betterstill a supporters sub. Greens. Saffron Walden oping in British politics. poverty and squalor. And this cists, since they are a forms, marching, power, sub- tionary women. Organise! will improve 0 Organise! 27: LA Riots; Yugo- Worcester VVhite working class people in an area lauded as part of pretty small minority any- mission to leaders, racism, We take the opportunity to through a two-way process ofcriti- slavia; Malcolm X. The ACF promotes the build- in Tower Hamlets had experi- the Thatcher miracle, the way? On an evenly-bal- violence are merely more obvi- dedicate this issue of Organise! to cism and feedback, and will better 0 Organise! 28: ERM; Recession; ing of a strong and active anar- the unsung anarchist militants reflect the reality of struggle if Detective Fiction chist movement in Britain and in- enced the Conservatives in Docklands Development, with anced platform it would be ous forms of what capitalism readers communicate with us. 0 Organise! 29: Debate on the power nationally for 13 years, the half-empty Canary Vllharf easy enough to give fas- feeds us with every day of our Marusya Nikiforova and Lina del ternationally and has contact with Papa. Marusya, was born in Alex- Send feedback, contributions for Unions; Italian Workers Fight like-minded anarchists overseas. years of Labour corruption at looming over the run-down es- cists their voice, as their lives, down to the insecurity androvsk in Russia. Condemned Organise!, requests for papers I Organise! 30: SOLD OUT For all contact write to: a borough level, to be followed tates. The BNP exploited the arguments are so plainly that underpins individuals in to death in 1905 for anarchist ac- and Press Fund money (payable to 0 Organise! 31 Somalia: Travel- ACF, c/o 84b Whitechapel High by more corruption and com- anger among the white work- stupid that we could de- capitalist society. tivity, she escaped to America. ACF) to the London address. lers; Natural Laws Street, London E1 7QX. I _ placency from the Liberal ing class, turning it on other stroy them at our leisure. Democrats. working class people, rather However, fascism merely Storm troopers SUBSCRIBE: than against the boss class. represents the extreme right PRESS FUND Racist crap The fight back against fascism position of capitalism. There In times of insecurity for What they said about Organise! must involve a fight against may be little love lost between the capitalists, such as revolu- “It is one of the few decent English-language magazines we sell On telly and in the papers racism, both popular racism mainstream politicians and tionary periods, they will fall in our shop.” (Bokcafeen, Norwegian Anarchist Bookshop-Cafe) NOW IS A diflicult time to be asking for money, with many out of work the impression was given time and State and institutional- the megalomaniac fascist back on the storm troopers of “Great to have the latest copy of Organise’, containing as it or wondering ifthey’re going to get the chop. Cash is in short supply. But after time that the vote for the ised racism. The fascists must leaders, but they are toler- capitalism, the fascists, to try does such a powerfiil series of enlightening articles and letters.” Organise! desperately needs money to continue to appear and to improve. BNP was not a racist vote but be fought physically, but ated, and when situations de- and avert their increasing (Edinburgh reader) We need money for our projected pamphlets, for the stickers and posters a protest vote at the neglect of alongside this must come mo- mand, they are brought into problems. Name: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . and leaflets we intend to produce. So we are asking you, dear reader, to the white working class in bilisations around housing, play. It is no coincidence that So why the rise in fascism? think about sending something in, no matter how small, to help us Address: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Millwall. Voter after voter, in- homelessness, and rotten liv- fascism seized control in coun- We may well be a long way off continue the fight for anarchist communism. We know that many ofyou value the ideas presented in Organise! l)o please help us by sending in terviewed on press and in the ing conditions, which create tries like Spain, Italy and Ger- a revolutionary situation, but POs, lMOs or cash. You can even send us a standing order to our account papers was able to say “I’m not class solidarity and counter- many where revolutionary capitalism seems committed I enclose £3 for a four-issue sub (or £6 for a supporting sub). Add to regularly support Organise! Write to London address for account racist , but... ” and then spew act racism. movements were becoming a to paddling itself further and 25% for overseas/institutions. To: ACF, c/o 84b Whitechapel High details. Dig into your pockets now! Thanks to all those who contributed out the usual racist crap. The We will have a more in- serious threat to capitalists. further up shit creek. Society Street, London E1 7QX. Important! Letters for ACF nationally to the Press Fund this issue: vote in Millwall was a racist depth article in the next Or- In Germany the term national is increasingly fracturing, and should be sent to Devon (see ‘Want to join’ box). Letters for £80, Sheffield; £100, London E3; £300, London WCI ; £120, 'l‘ell"ord; vote. Those who voted for the ganise! socialist and the predomi- with a thoroughly-destroyed Organise!/ACF (London) should go to Whitechapel High Street. £20, Liverpool. 2 Organise! No.32 Oct-Dec 1993 Organise! Ne 32 Oct-Dec 1993 3 left wing of capitalism, the far regime and the traditional ingly more respectable organ- calls up the fascists, we will be ' wt I m-—I—I-I-11! -1| 1 |—- right can easily appeal to the German ruling class can be isations. Many ex-National put up against the wall along CLIB DOES” <I| --— BUNDLES of this poster can be insecurities engendered in the seen in the various assasina- Front (NF) members joined with anyone else who upsets obtained from the London ad- 1 dispossessed. However, the tion plots hatched by the mili- the Conservative Party. Sym- their ideology, as has hap- CAPl'l dress for a donation. Or get a capitalists do not yet feel des- tary top brass against Hitler. pathisers can be found in par- pened to millions before us. MEAN single copy and photocopy ’em. perate enough to resort to fas- Obviously industrialists liament and in groups like the Willi EXPLOITMIDH Glllhlf PUVERTY London ACF also have a small cism to instil some discipline, would rather avoid having Tory Monday Club. The de- Foothold ' llhCl$lll MCDONALD’S Halnburger tors, fund raising and mes- Bill) HOUSING concertina leaflet explaining ‘ THUGGERY so it continues at a low level their industries bombed every cline in the NF after its most 5: Corporation is the largest sages of support. KISNI the basic ideas of anarchist ‘ _ ILL HEALTH with attacks on ethnic minori- night because ofthe fascist de- successful period in the ’70s At its simplest level it is a MASSuuamvwrmen retail property owner and There will be a National INEQUALITY communism. Donation for a ties and political opponents. sire for empire, saving that was partly due to Thatcher matter of destroy or be de- food service organisation Demonstration against Mc- wani{'5‘Au3 bundle to above address. Of course, the capitalists ‘pleasure’ for other people’s stealing and implementing stroyed. We must not allow power to in the world, with annual Donald’s and their libel ac- tiny few Our last lot of six different would rather not use fascism countries, particularly in some of their race policies. them a foothold of respect- sales of nearly £20 billion. tion, on Saturday October “F CONCERNEI5‘-’ stickers has sold out. So we’ve as a weapon if they can avoid these times of transnational ‘No platform for fascists’ is ability as this only makes the Many people over the 16th at Euston station, 1pm __..|-“ produced a new series of nine it, saving it as a last resort, corporations where empires an essential policy. We are not boss class less concerned years have criticised its marching through central different stickers (anti-capital- ~ since it has a nasty habit of can be built more subtly. talking about political debate. about their use. How will we practices, its low pay, mili- London. A national meeting of THEN ist, anti-fascist, ecology etc). ? WSIT going out of control. Hitler We are opposing those who challenge the endemic bigotry tary-style work, its over- the Campaign will take place Again, bundles can be obtained was a prime example of this, Links shift the blame for our social in society if we allow small priced, mass-produced on October 30th, 4pm at the THE from London address, ifyou en- 1 RADICAL READER bringing Germany to its knees problems away from the numbers of people to spread ‘food’, its destruction ofthe London Greenpeace Fayre, lBOOKSHOPl close a donation. before the capitalists finally We can see links between bosses and onto minorities hate-filled ideas freely? It is environment through Conway Hall WC1. managed to regain control. fascist organisations in main- who suffer their violence. Be up to us to make sure they are ' I "$7 Int "' I-I mm "' "' Y packaging and waste, its The conflict between the Nazi stream capitalism, and seem- in no doubt that if fascism swept off the streets. promotion of a junk cul- ture. The attempted coup in Russia Fraud Squad In 1985 London Green- peace (a small, independent collective) launched a general anti-McDonald’s campaign to I try and co-ordinate opposi- THE FAILED COUP by an was there any warm support In clinging on to power tion. This resulted in a world- alliance offascists and old- for the Yeltsin regime. Yeltsin has put himself more wide Anti-McDonald’s Day style Stalinists, ironically Living standards have and more in the debt of the SINCE THE END of the having a hard time. After Everytime the police ap- every October 16th. A detailed crushed by tanks, failed to plunged drastically and the military, and‘ the influence of Second World War, popu- years of being lovable bobbies pear to discuss the Sheehy Re- fact-sheet was produced and win mass support, mass much-vaunted turn to a mar- the armed forces will increase lar culture attempted to they are suddenly being ex- port they are taking part in an translated and taken up in support that was relied ket economy has meant that in this coming period. There portray the police in a fa- posed. But it’s not as bad as all elaborate PR exercise in an at- dozens of countries. upon by Rutskoi and Khas- many are much worse off. will be further repression of vourable light’: Dixon of that, the State looks after its tempt to fool us into believing McDonald’s counter-at- bulatov. The population of Yeltsin’s closing down of par- any groups who oppose the Dock Green, the Laughing own. Politicians can get indig- once more in good old PC Plod. tacked by sending spies to Moscow stood by as specta- liament, his iron grip on the Yeltsin regime, including Policeman, PC Plod the nant, journalists can moan We are told for example London Greenpeace meetings, tors. media, and the brutal crush- those that criticise the intro- podgy patriarch who sets about rough justice, a few that the police “put their lives and serving writs on activists Seventy years of Stalinist ing of the rebellion have been duction of the market econ- the world to rights with a wrists get slapped, a few offi- on the line” as if this was who they followed home, in repression had ensured that praised by his Western allies, omy. We will have a more in- firm (but friendly) clip cers get sent to spend more somehow unique. It would be September 1990. They had al- there was no love for this gang usually so accustomed to de- depth look at the events in round the ear and a stern time with their families and a pointless to deny that police ready silenced other criti- of authoritarians. Yet neither fending ‘democracy’. Russia in the next Organise! word or two. generous pension and things work involves physical danger cisms through threatening li- This image was of course get back to normal. Until the but it’s worth knowing that bel action. Two ofthe activists, very different from reality, Sheehy Report. the number of fatal injuries at illustrated by the clear-up A new winter of Dave Morris and Helen Steel, but it was what people wanted The Sheehy Report is not work in the construction in- rate for burglary of eight per backed by London Greenpeace to believe. The State and rul- designed to give the police a dustry stood at 158 in 1987-8 cent for London. The police and the McLibel Support ing classes had just emerged good kicking while they are as compared with 11 in both conjure up the ‘catching discontent? Campaign, have resolved to ‘victorious’ from war and peo- down. The Government is the prison and police services, crooks’ myth to justify in- fight this major libel case. ple felt no need to question the strapped for cash and needs to eight of those being road acci- creased numbers to streng- They intend to use the trial as nature of the system that had save money by not being as dents. The figures for assaults then their forces of repression a public forum to expose caused the bloodbath. In any generous to the police as it on the police can be contrasted against strikes and demon- McDonald’s. They are un- ANGER AND discontent is population of each area, in- case most people were being once was. with the 37 deaths in police strations and the general de- waged and up against the co- increasing among public cluding the unemployed, bought off by the cosmetic Apoint to remember is that custody in 1989 in London fence of capitalism. lossal resources ofthe McDon- sector workers, from fire- housewives, the old and the changes of nationalisation. the State is not a huge mono- alone, or the 21,825 com- For the government the ald’s empire. They have been fighters to town hall work- young. The unions and their British justice, British police lith. It is ridden with petty plaints ofpolice violence made Sheehy Report is a justifica- refused legal aid. ers. friends in the Labour Party (the best in the world) and rivalries which with the wid- in the same period. tion for penny pinching; for McDonald’s hoped to ex- The Fire Brigades Union is may well sabotage any action, even our criminals were some- ening of class warfare will The police claim that the the police an opportunity for a haust or financially cripple attempting to defuse the an- as they did in the recent mobi- how gentlemen. someday prove its undoing. implementation of the Sheehy propaganda drive to re-estab- the defendants by dragging ger of 50,000 firefighters, dis- lisations against pit closures, But it couldn’t last. If a ‘few Report will result in experi- lish the myth of its role and out proceedings. When they gusted by the suspension of a but things could escape their bad apples’ had been turning Favourites enced officers leaving the force nature. It is no surprise that saw that this wasn’t working pay formula that tied their clutches. Organise! will report up through the ’60s and ’70s, and a decline in numbers, af- the Labour Party is now try- they began to dramatically wages to the average earnings on any further developments by the ’80s the whole barrel The police are not going to fecting their ability to ‘catch ing to steal the Tories’ mantle speed up the process and pile of industrial workers for the in the next issue. was beginning to stink: fit- merrily trot into line just be- crooks’. The myth that detec- of Law and Order and to be on the workload. past 15 years. ups, violence and murder, Ma- cause they are told to. After tives track down criminals is seen increasingly as the Po- Among civil servants, Con tra flo w sonic corruption, the regular all, throughout the ’80s they just that, a myth. Studies in liceman’s Friend. For anar- The great cover-up health workers, and town hall deployment of riot squads, were Thatcher’s favourites, the USA found only three per chist communists it illus- workers there are signs that For news about resis- sexism, racism and soaring with the perks that made cent ofall arrests were the re- trates once more the treacher- McDonald’s are applying militancy is beginning to re- tance to capitalism crime rates. Something had to them something more than sult ofspecial training or skill, ous nature of the internal for the trial to be without a emerge. Any fight against the worldwide get Con- be done, not, it should be the humble public servants the vast majority of cases be- politics of the State, and an jury. They are withholding employers and the Govern- traflow. For acopy send pointed out, that the State dis- they’d like us to think they ing ‘solved’ by the offender’s opportunity for further agita- documents that will reveal ment must be united, links be- stamps, donations, saes approves of much of this, but are, like the average £3000 a identity being obvious, vic- tion about the nature of one of just what their practices are. ing created beween the differ- to 56A Infoshop, 56 because the illusion of ‘British year overtime. The police have tims’ testimony or the of- its important component The McLibel Support Cam- ent sectors. Local solidarity Crampton St, SE17. justice’ and the elaborate farce decided to use the Sheehy Re- fender being caught red- parts. paign is asking for protests to committees should come into They don’t have a bank that surrounds it might be ex- port as an opportunity to re- handed. The detective’s job is JD be stepped up, information existence, attempting to help account, so leave any posed. store public confidence in the really to make a case stick The above article was sent in about McDonald’s practices, these links come about and cheques, POs blank. The police, it seems, are police. rather than solve cases, as is by a comrade outside the ACF. help with research, transla- drawing in the working class 4 Organise! No.32 Oct-Dec 1993 A Organise! N0 32 Oct_Dec 1993 5 The Russian Revolution and The Price of Peas Women THE PRICE OF peas tells us a lot about the society in which we live. Local supermarkets now stock peas IT WAS WOMEN, women workers, to the women workers to maintain re- from Kenya, and peas from Guat- who set off the chain of events that straint and discipline. And suddenly this amala, although they’re usually la- resulted in the February Revolution strike. It appeared that there were no belled as ‘mange tout’, ‘snow peas’ or in Russia in 1917. goals and purposes, if we discount the ‘sugar snap peas’. They’re rarely In Petrograd, women textile workers ever-increasing bread-lines, which were called peas unless they’re frozen, and decided to celebrate International essentially the reason for the strike.” they rarely come from Britain, al- Women’s Day on February 23rd. Leaflets though peas grow here well on a sea- were distributed by the Mezraiontsy Unfolding sonal basis. In fact, the exotically la- group, which was formed of members of belled varieties are usually available both Bolshevik and Menshevik factions of By the following day, the numbers in out of season, when the supermarket the Russian Social Democratic Party op- the streets had risen to 197,000. Trotsky can charge more. But what does their posed to the split in its ranks. The leaflet, again: “The women go up to the officers profit cost us? referring to International Women’s Day, more boldly than the men. Taking hold of One of the reasons that profits are agr- pointed out that workers, and in particu- their rifles, they beseech and almost com- bigger is that production costs are lower lar women, were victimised by the World mand: ‘put down your bayonets and join in Third World countries. Land is cheap, War that was raging. Despite its inflam- us’.” By February 26 women were going doesn’t have the same ‘development’ matory language, the leaflet was in- up to the soldiers’ ranks in masses and value. But most of all, wages are low. The W. tended to be merely educational. It was taking their guns. The Russian Revolu- low wages result from the deliberate un- ._.j-'jfj;-gj:§§;:§j.§jII=I_; '- -- -"=-. not intended to bring workers out on the t tion was unfolding, and the Bolsheviks, der-development of Third World econo- streets. taken by surprise, now rushed to control ~j mies by the major capitalist countries, agr- The Bolsheviks for their part, re- "9 it a"' "1-. and not because, as the myth so fre- garded the build-up of organisational In spite of centuries of darkness, Rus- E20"- quently suggests, Third World countries strength of their Party as vital and re- sian working women had broken with are intrinsically backward, or ‘haven’t fused to divert unnecessary energy for their deeply-ingrained submissiveness caught up’. what they regarded as relatively insig- and fatalism. Women in the factories wt" - - O ‘Q’ I‘ Capitalism has had a global economy nificant propaganda. Some Bolshevik were instantly sacked if they were found for hundreds of years. Initially it was rank and file workers resented this, call- Infantry Regiment to get the pledge ofthe to be pregnant. They worked long hours based on pillage and slavery, the early ing for bolder action, including a strike for soldiers that they would not fire if they for less pay than men, and were often features of capitalism developing out of a Q the day. One Bolshevik factory worker, came out on strike. About 90,000 workers, forced into casual prostitution to make matrix of commerce and militarism. The Kayurov, was asked by a group of women both women and men, began to come out ends meet. And now for a brief moment, imperial voyages of discovery in the 16th itin- textile workers to explain the meaning of on strike, as women textile workers went working women had got off their knees century made it possible for capitalism to Women’s Day and for guidance on events to the large metal factories calling on the and were indeed to initiate one of the expand the global economy, slaughter the on the Day. He urged them to refrain from men to join them. most important events in human history. indigenous populations of vast regions of action and only follow the directives ofthe The Bolsheviks in the factories were We don’t look at history because we are the world, and establish the basis for the Party. All the parties, whether Bolshevik, put on the spot. They knew their Central obsessed with dusty archives, we remem- current world order. To replace the mil- Menshevik or Social Revolutionary, un- Committee was reluctant to take direct ber these events because they show that lions of people that had been massacred derestimated the mood in Petrograd. As action. On the other hand, they did not people can transform themselves into no- in the name of profit, millions more were Trotsky himselfwas forced to admit later: want to be isolated. Kayurov was to go on ble human beings. The dark clouds lifted enslaved and transported across the “The February revolution was begun from record as saying: “I was extremely indig- and the sun broke forth for a few instants oceans to work in plantations, growing below, overcoming the resistance of its nant with the actions of the strikers. Not in Petrograd in February 1917. By recall- and harvesting the raw products that own revolutionary organizations, the in- only did they blatantly ignore the deci- ing events like these, we show that it is were needed to fuel the growing indus- security forces and their civilian agents. it is those very countries which directly itiative being taken oftheir own accord by sions of the party district committee, but possible to bring change, and that the trial revolution. Scores of others ‘disappeared’. The vic- cause the global system of terror, torture the women textile workers, among them also just the night before I had appealed summer can still come. tims included indigenous people, human and death. no doubt many soldiers’ wives.” rights activists, trade unionists, street Destroyed B children and a police officer investigating Invasion Anger The countries that capitalism and im- human rights abuses. Members of popu- perialism conquered were varied societies lar movements, journalists and others They still use their military might to Meetings took place in the Vyborg dis- with developed agricultural economies, were increasingly subjected to death invade countries that do not do their bid- trict on that day, and a mass of women and often possessing local industrues threats and harassment: several were ab- ding. Guatamala, Panama, Grenadfi, ‘and marched to the Municipal Duma, the pup- which were destroyed. The cotton indus- ducted and tortured by unidentified most recently Somalia, are some of the pet parliament set up by the tsar’s re- try in India was destroyed to ensure that armed-men believed to belong to the secu- more obvious examples. They train and gime, to demand bread. The soldatki, the India became a market for mass-pro- rity forces. Police officers were reported to arm the torturers and murderers — and wives, daughters and mothers of soldiers, duced English textiles. The social and eco- have tortured or ill-treated criminal sus- let’s be quite clear about this, it’s not just left the massive bread-lines and started nomic disruption caused by the expansion pects and street children.” the United States that does so, but our to raise their voices in anger and indigna- ofglobal capitalism was massive, and still There follows a detailed account of oh-so civilised British state. The way in tion at the suffering of the last few years. continues. some of the best documented incidents. which Britain armed and equipped the These women, held in as low standing as Guatamala is one ofthe countries from Guatamala is not an isolated case. Iraqi state was not an aberration, but prostitutes, began to raise banners de- which peas are imported. Wages are low, Scores of dictatorships, fascist and sub- part and parcel of what happens every manding ‘Bread!’ and ‘Our Children Are but the reason they are low is because fascist regimes around the world, appear day, as the recent sale of military aircraft Starving’. Joined by housewives and the i anybody who tries to do anything about in the Amnesty Report, to the extent that to the Indonesian government shows. In women textile workers of Vyborg, they _ rm the imposed system of wage slavery is no-one who reads the report can have any the pursuit of power, and in order to line began to swarm over the bridges on the um! gunned down. This is what Amnesty In- doubt that death squads, torture and im- their pockets, there is nothing that the River Neva towards the centre of the city. ternational said about Guatamala in prisonment are virtually systematic. Al- state and the ruling capitalist class will The women of the trolley terminus on their 1992 report: though the ‘developed’ capitalist coun- not stoop to do. Vasilev Island swelled their ranks, first “Hundreds of people were alleged to tries would like to pretend that they have And that is the real price of cheap, out visiting the nearby barracks of the 180th have been extrajudicially executed by the no responsibility for this state of affairs, of season peas on the supermarket shelf. Organise! No. 32 Oct-Dec 1993 7 6 Organise! No.32 Oct-Dec 1993 \ leave it in place and strive for a ‘separate because of the attitudes of some com- wanted alternative employment. Mer- omen in the Spanish but equal’ status for women? rades. There is a saying ‘Women belong cedes Comaposada argued that one of the Up to the 1930s Spanish society was in the kitchen or darning socks’. No, it tasks ofthe revolution was to change men dominated by the Catholic Church and was impossible. Women barely dared to and women, and that it was impossible was extremely sex divided. Most women speak in that context.” for men to transform their lives while Revolution and men were forced to keep exclusively It was experiences like these, and they kept a portion of the people in pros- to the company of their own sex. The there were many, that compelled anar- titution. “As long as any woman is kept as economic and cultural subordination of chist women to start discussions that led an object and is prevented from develop- women was more extreme than that of to the founding ofMujeres Libres. On one ing her personality, prostitution, in fact, men. So, for example, rates of illiteracy hand, the participation of women in the continues to exist.” ML regarded the were higher among women, and women ateneos, the CNT, the FAI and the youth spreading of information on birth control who worked outside the home had the movement had given women confidence, as a major task and did this through their WOMEN HAD A major role in the 1939 it had grouped together over 27,000 and something that would be solved with lowest pay and the worst conditions. To had empowered them, through political paper and through classes. social revolution that swept through women in 147 groups throughout Repub- the incorporation of women into the paid some extent the libertarian movement education and learning. On the other Temma Kaplan argues in her work on Spain in 1936. Anarchist women or- lican Spain. labour force or on the “morrow of the attempted to answer this with the wide- hand, the attitude of men in these bodies Mujeres Libres that women revolutionar- ganised themselves in the Mujeres Within revolutionary anarchism, the revolution”. spread establishment of ateneos. These demonstrated the need for specific organ- ies subordinated their specific demands Libres (Free Women) linked to the problems of hierarchy and formalised Lola Iturbe, who was later to be a were cultural centres which were estab- isation of women so that they could in the interests of winning the war mass anarcho-syndicalist union, the authority have always been seen as im- leading activist in Mujeres Libres wrote lished by anarchists to educate and en- emerge ,_ as fully equal members of the against fascism. In my view, this was the Confederacion Nacional del Trabajo portant problems, related to class society, in her article ‘Anarchist Communism lighten. They were particularly impor- libertarian movement. As Lola Iturbe re- general problem with the Spanish anar- (CNT). They had always been active and interdependent with it, unlike many Will Liberate Women’ that: “Only the tant for women in attacking illiteracy and marked in the anarchist newspaper chist movement, which tended to place in the Spanish revolutionary move- socialists, who saw class relations in sim- reign of libertarian communism can pro- helping build self-confidence. However Tierra y Libertad: “All those companeros the winning of the war before the social ment. One example is Teresa Clara- ple terms. So anarchist thought has been vide a humane solution to the problem of there was widespread contempt for (male comrades), however radical they revolution. Kaplan argues that that was munt, an anarchist textile worker able to see various forms of oppression - women’s emancipation. With the destruc- women expressing themselves among the may be in cafes, unions, and even affmity no reason to believe that the condition of who was active in the general strike racial and sexual — as interlinked with tion of private property, this hypocritical men in the ateneos and throughout the groups (FAI), seem to drop their costumes Spanish women would have been funda- of 1902 when women attacked food economic relations. morality will fall by the wayside, and we libertarian movement. as lovers of female liberation at the doors mentally changed if the anarchists had speculators and stopped buses and As early as 1872, a Spanish libertarian will be free... We will experience love with of their homes. Inside, they behave with won the war. She tends to adopt a pessi- trolleys. conference declared that women should the complete freedom of our appetites, their companeras (female comrades) just mistic attitude on the reluctance of Span- Self-organisation Women active in the CNT and the be the full equals of men in the home and respecting all the various forms of amo- like common ‘husbands’.” One young ish anarchists to envisage a change in sex Iberian Anarchist Federation (FAI) workplace. Yet despite this positive re- rous and sexual life.” This was fine as far In 1933 in Madrid some women active woman remembered that when girls went roles, whereas I think that the develop- founded the Mujeres Libres dedicated to sponse to the whole question of womens’ as it went, but in Spain, where there was in the libertarian movement sent letters to meetings of the Libertarian Youth, the ment of a movement to challenge the old liberation from the “Triple enslavement liberation at a theoretical level, both in a sharp sexual division of labour, this left to women throughout the country saying boys would laugh at them before they values would have made this possible. to ignorance, as women, and as produc- Spain and internationally, many anar- a lot of questions unanswered. How that they wanted to set up a womens’ even spoke! But, as Liz Willis points out about Mu- ers”. The organisation lasted only three chists treated their emancipation of would women become involved? Would a organisation and asking what issues The Mujeres Libres went to work im- jeres Libres: “The characteristic anarchist years when the victory of Franco termi- women as at best, secondary to the eman- new society automatically abolish the needed to be addressed. There was a large mediately they were set up. They mount- mixture of high-flown rhetoric, sketchy nated all hope of social change. But by cipation of the working class as a whole, sexual division of labour? Or would it and enthusiastic response. Meanwhile in ed a huge literacy campaign with regular theory and intensive practical activity did Madrid women in the CNT were becom- classes in towns and villages wherever not match up to the exigencies of grim ingconcerned that the numbers of women they had groups. In cities where they political reality, despite the real achieve- in the organisation were dropping -—- and were strongest they set up large centres. ments of the group under difficult condi- this in a city where thousands of women These held literacy classes, and classes in tions.” - “'4 /-/5 .... .---'"-\ \ -' J were involved in textile work. These two typing, stenography, nursing and child- When we think of women’s specific or- I "\ -4 *:.~=3~'\ ‘"7-. £9235 groups combined to form Mujeres Libres. care (nursing was usually carried out by ganisation we tend to think of the suf- They did not use the term feminism, most nuns and male nurses) electrics, mechan- frage movement at the turn ofthe century 1 "‘, I Q-3 Q of them never having heard of the word. ics and plumbing. There were general and the womens’ liberation movements of I 'I~:'§E’ \ Those who had, associated it negatively weekly meetings. As one activist noted: the ’70s. But between these was an organ- 6.5 Ygad I-J"-' '_ _./ with the fight for the vote for women and “We encouraged women to pay attention, isation of 27,000 that wedded the oppres- for admission into the professions. As to become active.” sion of women to libertarian revolution- ,1-"Pk A\-KiL/\W"€$k“‘\ '7 working class women, they saw these ML worked closely with the CNT ary politics, and this organisation has ‘li- aims as irrelevant, ifnot contrary, to their around the problem of women doing the been hidden from history, receiving little .11‘- ‘tr /W 1 . . . own. poorest paid work, and around equal coverage even in the books written by "L >_.¢."“ 5‘ [/ (ft hi‘, i I ,. Mujeres Libres argued that women wages. During the Revolution this was women historians (for instance Sheila \-_. r 74’ were forced to organise independently be- put into practice to a limited extent. It is Rowbotham fails to mention it in her _-/‘xix, “?‘Tl..-._..__ . .___'fi?(P\\} i cause of their lack of self-confidence and estimated that equal wages were paid in Women, Resistance and Revolution). L . J , because of male resistance to women’s about 50% of the collectives. ML groups What the story of Mujeres Libres tells us .1 “’\ 3 l," \/\i/~,_ participation in struggle. grew up in many factories, and in rural is the need to develop a revolutionary As one of them argued: “I always felt areas ML sponsored training pro- perspective where the liberation of 5\. strongly that women had to be emanci- grammes from first aid to advanced forms women is a fundamental component. -7 pg 1 pated. That our struggle was -— and still of stock breeding. They advocated and Things have changed to a certain extent is - more than just the struggle against supported child care facilities in the for women, if only in the industrialised ("\“l£\\f *}c~ capitalism... We used to talk a lot about neighbourhood and workplace, so that countries of Western Europe. Within the that, insist that the struggle was not just women could be liberated from the home. anarchist movement, men cannot get av“ F l in the factories, in the streets, or even in In Barcelona they created a flying column away with things as they could have had the ateneos. That it had to go into the of child minders to ensure women could before, and it is to be hoped, would not al"'ar"' house. The boys would sometimes laugh attend classes and political meetings. want to. But the liberation of women can- .r""" and make fun of us when we’d say those not be subordinated to a vague ‘social things. They said, it is the struggle of all Problems revolution’, or the real social revolution ofus, and we all should struggle together. that will take place will itself be partial, But I would say, no, it’s not just that. We Despite these achievements, ML paid inadequate and diminished. \§..._./,fl// need to express ourselves, to be who and little attention to the sexual division of \ what we are. We’re not trying to take labour or the stereotyping of men and Further reading: \w// //-3... things away from you, but we need to women into certain kinds of labour. Mar- Women in the Spanish Revolution. Liz it . T i develop ourselves, to demand our own riage, long seen by the anarchist move- Willis. Solidarity pamphlet. rights.” Another activist, Mercedes Co- ment as an evil was rejected and a mutual Free Women of Spain. Martha A _... maposada, talked about her experience of agreement was introduced instead. ML Ackelsberg. Indiana University Press. trying to teach a class sponsored by the took a strong position on prostitution, (Expensive paperback so try to order it CNT in Madrid: “But it was impossible running training courses for women who from your library) ~ Organise! N0. 32 Oct-Dec 1993 9 8 Organise! No.32 Oct-Dec 1993 Woman’s Place: Women and where men are ‘intense’, women are ‘hys- builders or being laughed at because you the media move on to the business us the terical’. want to play football or be in a band, they next trendy fad. These are just some examples of how are still important and disgusting and It is to their credit that some Riot women are marginalised into subordi- this is our time to do something about it. Grrrls are intent on resisting this proce- Culture nate positions, into the passive objects of The oppression ofwomen is universal and dure of recuperation, and it shows us that ""i1i§i§§§§§§§' male servitude, through culture. In the I can’t change the world on my own, but this movement has more real potential to izéiffii . process this culture, especially in its most I’m not on my own anymore and neither challenge sexism and build confidence . F 5 -fr I-I 1 everyday manifestations, takes on the ap- are you. Riot Grrrl has empowered me to among women than any mere fad or ‘sub- __. .-" Cali- pearance ofthe ‘natural’ and the ‘normal’, act.” culture’. and so functions to mask its material There is a concern in the fanzines, and In this process of oppression, resis- THE OBJECT OF this article is to _?;:-'-.;:-_,--.;: gl .:;?£:: basis in the interests of patriarchal capi- in the bands associated with the move- tance, recuperation, and resistance to re- examine how culture works in the talism. ment, to get girls and women to be sup- cuperation, we can see that culture forms production and legitimisation of fe- portive of each other and build their con- a kind of battleground where ideas and male oppression and subordination, Battleground fidence, an attempt to see being female as meanings are fought for, where territory by naturalising their position in pa- something positive in its own right, is lost and won, where we must always be triarchal capitalism In addition, it Butflthis process is also resisted and is rather than being negatively defined as strong, inventive and vigilant in our will show how this is resisted and never totally successful inits positioning an object and instrument of male pleas- struggles against the oppressions of capi- challenged through culture, and of women. There are many examples of ure. This can take the form of subverting talism. how in turn, such challenges may be such resistance, including women’s strug- images and messages culled from girls’ The author would like to acknowledge recuperated in an attempt to contain teen mags so that, for example, when an and thank Aylesbury Riot Grrrls for their gles over birth control and abortion them within a logic and practice ac- rights, and the women’s liberation move- advice column starts to tell girls: “The five help with this article. ceptable to the system. ment of the 1960s and 1970s. One of the big mistakes women make with men...”, From this we can understand how cul- most lively and positive oppositions to the Riot Grrrls of Tight T-Shirt respond: For more information about Riot Grrrl I._.1.;'1. ture should be thought of as a process, a IIII everyday sexism today comes from Riot “Cooking, cleaning, keeping quiet, having contact: BM Nancee, London WC1N 3XX site of constant struggle for meaning '-'-Hflu‘- Grrrl, where, as one of their fanzines sex, going to football matches.” enclosing an SAE. where active social agents deploy strate- .._. §=:=EE=:' states, women should “dare to believe Like other challenges to the various 1'c'¢'.' gies and practices to achieve objectives. . that we belong anywhere but under his forms ofoppression that sustain the capi- The term ‘culture’ is not used here to refer The Friends of Durruti heel”. talist society we inhabit, Riot Grrrl is exclusively to the ‘high’ or ‘legitimate’ cul- Riot Grrrl can’t be pinned down to one subject to attempts at its recuperation: an New pamphlet! ture ofclassical music, the ballet or paint- set of ideas or opinions, and they are attempt to define, or redefine Riot Grrrl ing, as in its common usage. It also refers rightly antagonistic to attempts to cate- in terms which are acceptable and profit- LONDON ACF have produced a to the culture of the everyday and the gorise and label them. But, in general able to capitalism and play down, or ig- pamphlet on the Friends of Dur- personal, of what we wear, eat or say. terms it might be described as a loose nore the elements which are a real chal- ruti, a much misunderstood group One of the most obvious ways in which network of, mainly, young women in- lenge to the existing order. that attempted to defend and ex- women are positioned into roles of subor- tend the Spanish Revolution of volved in producing fanzines opposing dination is manifest in the daily bom- sexism and other oppression, often in- Music press . 1936. In criticisms ofthe leadership bardment of images of women on TV, in of the anarcho-syndicalist unions cluding gig reviews, articles on self-de- films, magazines and ads where they are fence and attacks on the mass media, Some Riot Grrrls see the music press, they represented an important mo- portrayed as submissive objects to be con- especially magazines aimed at women, like the New Musical Express and Melody ment in anarchist history. In- sumed by the male gaze. As John Berger F and the music press. With fanzine names Maker as being a major instrument in cluded: an historical introduction argued in Ways of Seeing, this portrayal ._ _ _ .I._-‘ll ._.‘.|.> _.. ._ . _ _._..|:__ .|:|l. ._._ _ .-._ I. _. ._.‘._._.'._._.. _ |__'I,'_:_:_:__,:_:,:,:_:.:.-_»| like Clitoris, Destroy All Music, Grrrl this process: “They think it’s all on the by an ACF member, and two politi- _ _, _ _ __ ...... , V .. .. .......,_,,.,,,,,,,,,,-- of the female image is rooted in a tradi- Pride and A.N.G.R.Y., the attitude is surface and we are following some fuck- cal statements from the Friends. tion originating in the history of Euro- 13-1ti -113" positive, confident, and aggressive, as ing fashion because NME says: OK, Kids, This will be the first in the Stormy . ' pean oil painting and the genre of the shown in this passage from A.N.G.R.Y.: this is Riot Grrrl and it’s trendy.” Petrel series. Coming up will be a :_:_.;.:g.,:','. .. nude. -'1-?"'1'-:'-iii-. ' ;.;;-_:----:=.:=.:§._:-.:'.“.'.‘.;_-_.r;:-r1;=.-1r:.::- -:55.-I:. “I care about everything that affects The most sussed among the Riot pamphlet on the Italian Factory In this tradition social presence is de- .-.-:3 - women, I live and feel for women because Grrrls are antagonistic towards their cat- Councils of 1920-21. termined by gender so that “men act and I am one — whether the issues are serious egorisation because they see that this is Copies of the Friends of Durruti women appear”. The role of the woman is or horrific like rape or battered wives or just an attempt to turn their movement pamphlet available from ACF (Lon- to be represented as a passive, submis- female circumcision or abortion rights or into a trend: a trend that can be defined don) c/o 84b Whitechapel High St, sive object of display, an object to be con- whether they are less appalling and life- simply in terms of music and fashion that London E1 at 75p inc. postage. sumed and used by the active male spec- threatening like being whistled at by can be consumed, and then passed over as tator for his pleasure. This mode of the representation of women, based upon the traditions ofEuropean painting(just take a look around any major art gallery) cre- ates an orthodoxy which also informs the representation of women in, for example, outside world — struggling, striving and pleasure ofthe ‘naughty but nice’, a pleas- advertising and pornography in contem- achieving. This is reinforced by the nu- ure which can only be satisfied in the porary culture. This objectification of merous articles ir1 women’s magazines image, as a substitute, on pain of being women, through images, has a real effect concerned with food and how to prepare ‘unattractive’ to men. on the way men use women as objects in it. But this also functions as a kind of The marginalisation of women everyday life. In this way patriarchy is pornography for women, where food is through language has been taken up by reinforced through culture. presented as an illicit pleasure, whereas some strands offeminist thought as being for men food is presented as a source of a key mechanism of their subordination. Marginalised nourishment and nutrition — “a good The prevalent use of the terms ‘man’, hearty meal” — to sustain their activity ‘mankind’ or ‘he’ to refer to humanity or The activities of preparing and eating in the outside world. Women are encour- people in general, both male and female, food are also divided by gender in ways aged to consume food under a strict re- is not, as some would argue, merely an which define women in subordinate posi- gime of‘the diet’, counting calories and fat acceptable form of abbreviation, but an tions. The sexual division oflabour places content. Pressures to achieve the ‘ideal operation which makes the presence of women in the role of domestic workers, figure’ through dieting, as represented in women in society invisible. Language is responsible for childcare, cleaning and media images, are so great that many also used to value, or devalue, human cooking and this contains and marginal- women suffer from eating disorders caus- activity according to gender: here men ises their activities in relation to the ing illness and death. As such, images of ‘talk’ or ‘discuss’, women ‘chatter’ or ‘gos- male, who is seen as being active in the sugary and fatty foods become an illicit sip’, where men ‘laugh’, women ‘giggle’, 10 Organise! No.32 Oct-Dec 1993 Organise! No. 32 Oct-Dec 1993 11 fl‘ ? ho eeds the Famil creased even more. And we are supposed to want to do it out of ONCE AGAIN, we’ve been page article on ‘Terrorism’ in the ‘love’ for our family. last copy ofOrganise! (No. 30) did flooded with letters. We This brings us to the ideological role the family has to play. raise legitimate points about can’t print them all, so many armed struggle groups (in We are supposed to experience our most satisfying times with watch out in the next issue particular, their self-serving elit- members of our family. It is to this small group of people that for letters on unions, Is- ist nature, rigidly Marxist analy- we are to reserve our love and loyalty for. Outside the family are rael, capitalism and crime, sis and substitutionist approach) only ‘others’ for whom we have no responsibility. It is very and fascism. the critique did have a number of THE TORIES HAVE long held up ‘the woman was free to take up a number of we live our supposed personal lives is difficult to build a working class movement based on solidarity quite serious shortcomings: family’ as the cornerstone of capital- sexual partners, after going through a very much the concern ofthe ruling class. and responsibility to the class when people look first to their Japan 1. Using the headline Terrorism’ ist society. The recent onslaught sexual initiation ritual. As a result, the Materially the family unit provides many family, seeing these interests as different from the interests of next to a picture of a masked against single mothers is the most father of the children was difficult to de- benefits. It is a very cheap way of repro- COMRADES, the class as a whole. Provo is pretty stupid to say the recent example. This is mirrored termine. The mother’s brother or nearest ducing the workforce, the work being In issue 29 an article looked at least, reminiscent more of the across the Atlantic with Presidential male relative was responsible for sup- done by people who supposedly enjoy it. Japan, pointing out that workers shite we expect from the state- Inconvenient candidates outdoing each other in porting the mother. Ifa man wanted to be Any parent, particularly mothers, will at- amongst the poorest in Japan, controlled British media than took to the streets to protest their their support for ‘traditional family identified as a father he could give the test to the burden of work involved. If from a supposedly revolutionary It is in this context that we must analyse the State’s preoc- impoverished situation. You values’. midwife cloth and vegetables. But the childraising and housework were done by journal. A word like ‘Terrorism’ is cupation with single parent families. Capitalism finds this type pointed out levels of exploitation an unhelpfiil starting point in any Politicians blame the decline of the man had no rights over the child. This paid workers, the cost would be enor- of family highly inconvenient for a number of reasons. in terms of labour-time. I would debate of this kind, whilst ifcriti- family on the ‘permissiveness’ of the six- situation suited this type of society as the mous. Estimates have been done on the Firstly, it is unlikely that the parent can go out to work. Not like to draw attention to other as- cism ofthe IRA is going to be made ties and in particular on the womens’ men were often away at war. wages for someone looking after two chil- only is the person not doing their bit to make profits for the pect. We are all ofthe opinion that (which it certainly ought to be) liberation movements which campaigned The family was also not always viewed dren and doing the housework and it the Japanese economy is an unas- bosses but they are actually being paid (a pittance) to raise then it should be done in the light for birth contrpl, abortion, women work- in the same way as it is today. It was often comes to well over £20,000 a year. This sailable giant with well-paid children, something that should be done for free out ofone’s own of the history of the Six Counties ing outside the home and freer sexuality. an economic arrangement with a child itself is artificially low, being based on workers and little unrest. It is cer- earnings. It is for this reason that the government is intent on and in the light of the origins of Many women were no longer willing to being another worker rather than the low wages for ‘women’s work’ in the econ- tainly true that socially there is the armed struggle there. Sim- chasing down fathers, so the fathers foot the bill. get married and remain in the home car- centre of attention. Landlords often used omy. not the same sort or level ofcrime plistic moralising and ultra-leftist In addition, single parent families highlight the enormous as witnessed in areas ofthe West ing for husband and children. There is to arrange marriages for their tenants on This arrangement is especially useful purity is something I expect to strain that is involved in raising children. Women have been and that many Japanese workers also an element of racism in this on- the basis of who would work best to- when the work can be done in addition to find more in Socialist Standard quietly suffering in their homes, coping with what is one of the are relatively secure in their jobs than inthe pages of Organise! slaught as politicians target black people gether. In the upper class, marriages paid employment. Capitalism can have most demanding of jobs, hidden from the view of society. The and well-paid. But Japanese capi- 2. The article patronised in the who they claim do not share a commit- problems of child-raising experienced by single mothers are tal is as potentially vulnerable as extreme those anarchists who for r ml m-|—| I 1 I-Film I 1 ment to the two-parent and children any other form of capital. much greater and often spill out into the streets where they one reason or another maintain a model of the family. As mentioned Japanese capi- become public problems. There are few people who can raise position of critical solidarity to- Why all the fuss? Why do people’s per- tal has been seeking to export it- \_ ,L‘.*-r__f children on their own without financial and emotional support. wards some armed struggle 2-x A sonal lifestyles worry our rulers? People self across the world, particularly groups. Coming round to adopting ‘N It’s not suprising that there are problems. But the State doesn’t around the Pacific Rim, and into are still going out to work, being ex- hum such a position has often been a Want to know. That’s what families are for: to raise children in Europe. Why? Huge trade sur- ploited, accepting the system. Whether painful and tortuous process for private, not making demands on society. Single parent families pluses have meant such a high people get married, how they raise their those concerned and the argu- do not fulfill that role. How very inconvenient for capitalism! inflow of capital that there has to children, who they have sex with ments that they then go on to ad- l|iIq§.1+1, The growth in single parent families from 570,000 in 1971 to be an outlet. The 1991/2 surplus vance do have far more of a depth shouldn’t make any difference to the over 1.3 million today is in many ways a form of resistance, both was nearly $130b. The effect of to them than the writer appar- bosses’ profits. this and the decline in world trade to capitalism and sexual oppression. Many women will no longer ently wants to concede. Reiterat- Not so. The recent obsession with ‘the .. .. ..-_.._... _.~'_ -.i‘- .. _“_~_._..-.., accept staying in an unhappy marriage ‘for the sake of the has meant a depressed stock ex- ing idealised norms of anarchist 1?,"-':'-'q_¢-.q.___.,,:.1'.o-2 family’ only stresses the fact that capital- k‘:9-_.~---"9'-‘‘Yr.5, ‘ r.‘. "\, .“".‘.- $'31_‘-\-‘.:M...--_i_-_ ‘ change and lowered profits. To “'-.:‘*\‘-1"Fi¢g-‘9-I...\1-i.49t45-7-v4-..--w‘ V"_.\.' .,.\ ;_Z, -,.3~_.".---.§-~_1_\;-;..e children’. They realise that both they and their children would, thought and practice is by no ism needs to control every aspect of our '41. i’?.i."Z."7-,“ 1 I -- _u._sAK“ I .0,---3_\-._~‘v‘.- soak up this capital the State means an adequate response despite the difficulties, be better off without a man. Others lives. There is no divide between the per- I.-4-‘'r5‘.'"-"¢E.<_"._'-2.»1"/‘.I"I\.-._I_, brought in a variety of measures other than to the most naive of decide that they would like children, but for whatever reason do — a partial rearmament and pub- sonal and the public. The family is indeed armed struggle cheerleaders and not want to settle into a permanent relationship with a man. lic works progrannnes, but also one of the cornerstones of capitalism. nor is selective quotation from the ""‘\ These women are taking positive steps, refusing to accept that needed an artificially created Before we can examine how the family 2nd June Movement (had the any man is better than no man and showing that they can live land boom to aid the process. This quote been from the Angry Bri- props up capitalism, we need to first de- independent existences. Other women, usually younger, are latter measure unfortunately cre- gade would the contempt of the cide what ‘the family’ is. Doing this is not ated in its wake bad debts of becoming mothers also as a form of resistance to capitalism, but author been any different?) easy, since the family has changed form around $525 billion as the bubble in a less positive way in that they are forced into it rather than 3. Whilst attempting to juxtapose considerably over the course of human burst. Now major firms are re- making a free choice. Many girls leave school, often with few mass violent action on the part of history. People have lived in kinship porting huge losses (Nissan, Nip- the class to that of small ‘elitist’ qualifications, and there are few options open to them. Jobs are groups and communities where the nu- were the means of forming business and workers when it needs them and still pon Telegraph and Telephone, groups on the other hand, the ar- hardly plentiful and the ones that do exist are low paid and clear family was firmly embedded in a political alliances. Up until recently, it have children raised. The family unit is TUC, Pioneer, Matsushita) or ticle fails to recognise that the two boring. They are stuck in their parents’ home and the future drastically reduced profits web of kinship relations, with many was mainly the middle and upper classes also a source of profit, as a major con- have, at several junctures in his- looks bleak. Having a baby, though not a conscious plan, seems (Toshiba, Toyota, Sony). Growth members of the wider family taking re- who got married anyway as they were sumer. Think of all the products that are tory, coincided quite happily. a way of giving their lives more meaning. this year is likely to be under 1%. Small, autonomous groups within sponsibility for child-rearing. In pre-in- concerned to have clear heirs to pass their sold to the family rather than being used Raising a child seems a better option than slaving away for In Japanese terms these fig- movements such as the Wobblies dustrial rural societies, it is common to property on to. In other words, the family communally — TVs, washing machines, ures are nearly enough for sep- a boss. This is not surprising given all the propaganda we are and the Spanish Anarchists re- talk of the extended family where a num- can take a number of forms and serve cars, toys etc. puku-ritual suicide. Every econ- given about the joys of motherhood. And capitalism used to be peatedly complemented wider ber of generations lived in the same different purposes, depending on the The nuclear family is also useful in omy is vulnerable, even the worried that women were not having enough babies! events such as large strikes, riots household, with the oldest male ruling needs of a particular society. There is no that it is a geographically mobile unit. mighty Japanese. As the global and mobilisations with anned di- It would seem as if this discussion is leading us to argue for the roost. ‘natural’ or traditional family. Instead of being tied to a Wider family or economy tends towards three rect action against bosses, cops, the abolition of the family. After all, it is a prop of capitalism trading blocs each centre, the Since industrialisation and in particu- Today, the nuclear family, then, is community, the nuclear family is free to scabs and fascists. That this hap- and a major source of women’s oppression. However, this con- USA, Japan, E1n'ope around Ger- lar since World War 2, it is the nuclear seen as the ideal, its main purpose being move wherever capital wants it. This is pened without them totally dis- clusion is too simplistic. There are few people who would argue many, has problems. There is a family that seems to be accepted as ‘the to ensure that children are bought up to seen in the attitude of the State to Asian tancing themselves from the mass that children should be raised collectively in mass nurseries. tendency towards crisis which al- movements and forming them- family’. This consists of two married par- fit neatly into adult society. In addition, extended families. There is no recogni- Many people would also object to being forced to live in large though slow on a daily basis is still selves into Leninist vanguards ents (of opposite sexes, of course) living it is seen as a place where the adults, in tion of the wider family ties in immigra- groups of people on a 24-hour basis. It is not the form the family progressing on a world level. As surely raises questions about the with their children and cooperating as an particular the men, can relax and refresh tion policy. The extended family is not a such we have a duty as revolution- takes that is the problem. Any living arrangement in our society, neat dichotomy drawn between economic and social unit. themselves for their role in society. In convenient unit. aries to recognise what is going on whether a lesbian couple, a group of friends or the traditional different types of violence. If the Murdock, a pro-family anthropologist, other words the family is the unit which The State, however, can change its and take the appropriate action — ACF is saying the socio-political ‘family’ can be hierarchical and oppressive. The state’s defence claims to have studied 250 societies and creates stable, conforming people, able to views when it suits. The recent turn to international organisation! Liber- preconditions for such violence do of ‘the family’ must be challenged, but not on the basis of the tarian communist salutations, found the family as a common feature in cope happily with the society they live in. community care shows this. By having not at present exist — an argu- need for the abolition of the family. Instead, as part of the JC (Sheffield) all, concluding that the family was uni- the nuclear family take responsibility for ment which may well have some revolutionary struggle, we must fight. to transform the relations versal. Cheap other members ofthe family —— grandpar- validity — then it should say so between people, creating a society where people are free to Terror much, much more explicitly than However, others have discovered ents, aunts, uncles — the State is no develop the kind of living arrangements that suit them based on was done throughout the article. other societies where the child-rearing This version of the family has a key longer responsible for providing decent freedom and equality, not in isolation, but as part of a commu- DEAR ORGANISE! 4. Finally, I couldn’t help but be and marriage arrangements are quite role, both material and ideological, in health care for people that need it. So the nity. 1 Despite the fact that the back amazed at the comment that the different. In the Nayar tribe in India, a maintaining the capitalist system. How workload, for women in particular, is in- Organise! No. 32 Oct-Dec 1993 13 12 Organise! No. 32 Oct-Dec 1993 members of the various armed valry between the West and the matically qualify for the status of Using commodification, tech- ims and principles struggle groups throughout the Soviet bloc, and to a lesser extent, being in some way rebellious? nology, or musical styles as indi- world put the lives of themselves, China. They were content to come Western Marxist intellectuals cators ofresistance or its lack is of friends and relatives on the line into the orbit of the USSR or of have often taken this line when limited use for the reasons men- not because they are interested in China to obtain arms and finance. analysing the role ofculture in the tioned above. What might be more any type of liberation but out of The international anarchist reproduction of capitalist ideol- \.1SBfi.'l.l is an approach which looks pure self-interest. If the writer is movement has failed to rebuild ogy. For them the ‘mass media’ of for opportunities and possibilities seriously suggesting the majority mass movements throughout the the ‘culture industry’ churns out within ‘popular’ (a less derogatory 1. The Anarchist Communist ences and achieve little for cannot become vehicles for 8. Genuine liberation can only of individuals involved in groups world for a number ofreasons, but easily-swallowed rubbish to dis- term than ‘mass’) culture, and its Federation is an organisation them. Full emancipation can- the revolutionary transforma- come about through the revo- as diverse as the IRA, ETA, PLO to blame it for this phenomenon of tract the proletariat from realis- technologies, to find spaces and of revolutionary class strug- not be achieved without the tion ofsociety. They have to be lutionary self-activity of the or the ANC simply fight like a the Cold War is not on. ing its goal ofa communist society. points of resistance to challenge gle anarchists. We aim for the abolition of capitalism. accepted by capitalism in or- working class on a mass scale. abolition of all hierarchy, and 4. We are opposed to the ideol- der to function and so cannot An anarchist communist soci- pack of mercenaries in the hope of Yes, we would have criticised Conversely, intellectually chal- bourgeois ideology from within, work for the creation of a ogy of national liberation play a part on its overthrow. ety means not only co-opera- reaping personal benefits in the the Angry Brigade if it had come lenging art, eg James Joyce in lit- rather than searching for pure, world-wide clasless society: movements which claims that Trades unions divide the tion between equals, but ac- post-colonial set-up, then I sug- out with the sort of stuff the 2nd erature, Arnold Schoenberg in authentic examples of non-com- anarchist communism. there is some common inter- working class (between em- tive involvement in the shap- gest he or she should stop writing June Movement did. This was not music or Sergei Eisenstein in cin- mercial, non-technological music 2. Capitalism is based on the est between native bosses and ployed and unemployed, ing and creating of that soci- in revolutionary publications and one ofthe errors ofthe Angry Bri- ema, is presented as revolution- to symbolise an ideal ofresistance, exploitation of the working the working class in face of trade and craft, skilled and ety during and after the revo- take up a job in Fleet Street in- gade, but ifit had been, we would ary since its avant-garde form is In solidarity class by the ruling class. But foreign domination. We do unskilled, etc). Even syndical- lution. In times of upheaval stead. Sorry to sound so bitter but not have been scared to criticise. claimed to question and under- DS (Aylesbury) inequfility and exploitation support working class strug- ist unions are constrained by and struggle, people will need the fact is that internationally Yes, you do have a point about mine bourgeois ideology. are also expressed in terms of gles against racism, genocide, the fundamental nature ofun- to create their own revolu- thousands upon thousands of or- the relationship between mass However, such a distinction DEAR ORGANISE!, race, gender, sexuality, ethnocide and political and ionism. The union has to be tionary organisations con- dinary people have been forced to movements and small autono- actually serves bourgeois ideology In response to R.O’S’s letter (Or- health, ability and age, and in economic colonialism. We op- able to control its member- trolled by everyone in them. take up arms and for the most part mous groups within these mass very well. The bourgeoisie associ- ganise! 31) on my article about these ways one section of the pose the creation of any new ship in order to make deals These autonomous organisa- their motivations are totally movements. You cite the example ate themselves not only with clas- music, could I add the following working class oppresses an- ruling class. We reject all with management. Their aim, tions will be outside the con- genuine. That they talk ofrevolu- of the Wobblies and the Spanish sical music, but with avant-garde, comments to the remarks made by other. This divides us, causing forms of nationalism, as this through negotiation, is to trol of political parties, and tion in the language of so-called Anarchists. We can’t find much jazz and folk music, for instance, the editors? a lack of class unity in strug- only serves to redefine divi- achieve a fairer form of ex- within them we will learn national liberation and dictatorial evidence of this with the Wob- as patrons and audiences. This as- I didn’t discuss punk, or Crass gle that benefits the ruling sions in the international ploitation of the workforce. many important lessons of Marxism should be a source of blies, but it certainly existed in sociation is a form ofcultural capi- music in the article because there class. working class. The working The interests of leaders and self-activity. shame for the anarchist move- the Spanish anarchist movement. tal which proves their taste and is a danger of seeing only a single Oppressed groups are streng- class has no country and na- representatives will always be 9. As anarchists we organise ment as much as for anyone else. The point here is that groups of discrimination and sets them form of music as having street- thened by autonomous action tional boundaries must be different to ours. The boss in all areas of life to try to ad- At a time when anarchist groups anarchist militants, firmly rooted apart from the ‘masses’ and their cred, and anarchism has been so which challenges social and eliminated. We seek to build class is our enemy, and while vance the revolutionary proc- are marginalised and irrelevant within the mass movement, took vulgar taste for ‘mass culture’. clearly identified with punk that economic power relation- an anarchist international to we must fight for better condi- ess. s to an extent beyond belief in over part in actions that comple- This distinction, between the the connection doesn’t need to be ships. To achieve our goal we work with other libertarian tions from it, we have to real- We believe a strong anarchist two-thirds of the planet this un- mented mass strikes and mobili- bourgeoisie and its haute cuisine emphasised yet again. must relinquish power over revolutionaries throughout ise that reforms we may organisation is necessary to fortunately makes such caustic. sations. And yes, we are saying for the refined palate, and the pro- Yes, I could have written an each other on a personal as the world. achieve today may be taken help us to this end. Unlike sniping sound all too much like an that such actions in Britain in the les with their appetite for taste- article just about contemporary well as a political level. 5. As well as exploiting and op- away tomorrow. Our ultimate other so-called socialists or expression of Eurocentric chau- present conditions are not possi- less fast-food actually serves to music, but it would have made it 3. We believe that fighting ra- pressing the majority of peo- aim must be the complete abo- communists we do not want vinism than of a genuinely inter- ble or advisable precisely ‘because under-write and justify the privi- more difficult to show how class cism and sexism is as impor- ple, Capitalism threatens the lition of wage slavery. Work- power or control for our or- nationalist appraisal. of the lack of a mass movement. leges of the bourgeoisie, ie “Even struggle has always permeated tant as other aspects of the world through war and the de- ing within the unions can ganisation. That said, all the best for now, Finally, we cannot take your accu- if you gave the masses all the and shaped music and culture -— class struggle. Anarchist-com- struction of the environment. never achieve this. However, We recognise that the revolu- S (Shefiield) sation of Eurocentric chauvinism money they wanted they would which was my main purpose. I mumism cannot be achieved 6. It is not possible to abolish we do not argue for people to tion can only be carried out seriously. We have consistently only squander it on rubbish, so didn’t set out to write an article while sexism and racism still Capitalism without a revolu- leave unions until they are directly by the working class. ORGANISE! EDITORS REPLY: given space to news and analysis they don’t deserve anyway”. about anarchism and music; oth- exist. In order to be effective tion, which will arise out of made irrelevantby the revolu- However, the revolution must We are not particularly interested on the world outside Europe, So, how can commodified_mu- erwise I would have mentioned in their struggle against their class conflict. The ruling class tionary event. The union is a be preceeded by organisa- in the guilt trips that supporters much more so than other British sic be resistant? Take, for exam- the Fugs, MC5, and so on. What I oppression both within soci- must be completely over- common point of departure tions able to convince people of national liberation movements libertarian publications. We re- ple, the writer’s claim that “in- wanted was to show that culture ety and within the working thrown to achieve anarchist for many workers. Rank and of the anarchist communist unload on their critics. The photo fuse to support national liberation creasing technological sophistica- is a battleground, and that by con- class, women and black peo- communism. Because the rul- file initiatives may strengthen alternative and method. We of a masked, armed man that ac- movements because we are revo- tion continues to pushhome-made sciously developing a culture of ple may at times need to or- ing class will not relinquish us in the battle for anarchist- participate in struggle as an- companied the article could as lutionary internationalists. music into the margins”. While opposition we can strengthen our ganise independently. How- power without the use of communism. What’s impor- archist communists, and or- easily have been a member ofETA they may not be dirt cheap, elec- struggle against capitalism. ever, this should be as work- armed force, this revolution tant is that we organise our- ganise on a federative basis. or the Corsican FNLC, as it could Music tronic and computerised musical Culture isn’t a given ‘thing’ but ing class women and black will be a time of violence as selves collectively, arguing We reject sectarianism and a Provo. We have consistently ar- instruments are not significantly something which is shaped by our people as cross-class move- well as liberation. for workers to control strug- work for a united revolution- gued against both the politics and DEAR ORGANISE! more expensive (in the case of environment and our actions. ments hide real class differ- 7. Unions by their very nature gles themselves. ary anarchist movement. tactics of various national libera- It’s important to analyse cultural drum machines far cheaper) than As for John Cage, it should be tion movements. We never ques- forms, like music, to understand acoustic/traditional instruments recognised that whatever you tioned the commitment and cour- how they can produce forms ofre- of an equal sound quality. Tech- think his music sounds like (and age of those involved in these sistance, or reproduce and sustain nology, such as sampling, allows it isn’t all as dire as people pre- groups are seizing advantage of this and ans in Britain to take the initiative, and movements at the grass-roots capitalist relations in our every- the user to ‘steal’ expensive stu- tend, listen for example to ‘Fin- JOIN US! attempting to build up mass support. level, whilst pointing out that the day lives. So, while I was glad to dio-produced sounds, rhythms negan’s Wake’) it has to be con- start building a revolutionary organisa- leaderships of these movements see the subject ofmusic as an area and melodies and combine them ceded that he pushed back the They must be met with resistance, both tion that can be relevant to people’s expe- were governments in waiting. But of class struggle dealt with in Or- in new ways to produce his/her boundaries of music. Without ex- at the level of ideas and of physical force. riences and aspirations. If you feel dis- that’s not the point. Commitment ganise! 30, I disagree with much own music. This practice subverts perimentation in music we might It is imperative that we now start creat- gusted by the state ofthe world and want and courage are no substitute for of the analysis and would like to the idea ofindividual creativity as only have Strauss! or the Tango! THE INTERNAL CRISIS in the Con- ing a revolutionary anarchist movement to do something about it, then have a revolutionary politics. Even fas- add my own contribution. the mark of individual genius and — except that they also chal- servative Party, the dropping of any that can agitate in the neighbourhoods serious think about joining the ACF and cists can courageously fight for po- At the risk of over-schematis- undermines the concept of music lenged the musical preconcep- pretensions of ‘socialism’ by the La- and workplaces and start offering a cred- helpingcreate a new society without fron- litical goals. The point is, do the ing the article, there seems to be as copy-righted property. tions of their time. bour Party, and the BNP victory in ible revolutionary alternative to the mass tiers, prejudice or war, and where both actions and ideas of the various a distinction being drawn be- The music and words of black I don’t deny that people repro- Millwall, point to a vacumn opening of the population. the community and the individual will be national liberation movements tween music ofresistance which is rap groups like Public Enemy, duce music as a commodity using in British political life. This is re- enriched and re-invented. lead to genuine liberation? The non-commodified, experimental, though commodified and commer- capitalist technology -— and that’s flected throughout the world. The answer is clearly no! Take one ex- avant-garde, authentic and non- cial, can serve as a focal point of what Number One records are, Rebirth Communist Parties are all in disar- ample. We have made a point of technological, and pro-capitalist identification for cultures ofresis- commodities — but that wasn’t 5-as analysing the politics ofthe ANC. music, which is commodified, for- tance to challenge the ethnic and my point. ray and terminal decline, and the It may look grim, with reaction trium- It is quite likely that in some fu- malised, commercial, inauthentic class oppressions they face. Music is not rooted in daily life social democratic and Labourist phant throughout the world. Neverthe- -_. __.~ ture scenario, the brave and genu- and technology-dependent. Rave music and the whole in the way it should be. Creativity Parties have become increasingly less, opportunities have been opened up inely committed rank and file of But is it the case that because rave/dance culture is highly tech- and enjoyment are mediated by discredited in the eyes of the work- by the new situation. It could be argued Umkhonto we Sizwe, the armed a form of cultural production is nology-dependent, yet, while money and technology. The collec- ing class — after terms of office in that a new period in history has started. wing ofthe ANC, will be employed distributed in the shape of a com- again being commercial, also has tive creation of music is now split § //' France, Greece and Spain etc. With the rebirth of anarchist movements to crush a strike or uprising by modity it cannot be an expression its resistant aspects, in, for exam- between producer and consumer. r -ofas The collapse of the left of capitalism, in Eastern Europe and Greece, and their black workers in the ‘New South ofresistance to class, race, or gen- ple, its emphasis on the body as This alienation stems from capi- which always masqueraded as an alter- Africa’ that is on the cards. der oppressions? Is it simply that site of pleasure, even ecstasy, talism, and is one of the reasons emergence in Turkey, Lebanon and Af- Kx/('¢."§-'12!0 ‘\‘ '7 National liberation move- forms of music, such as avant- achieved through music, dance why people oppose capitalism. It native for the working class, and which to rica, the signs are that an international av, oj \\:,;,g_-_t#*-¢at1 ments tended to adopt the lan- garde, jazz or folk, which attempt and drugs, as opposed to the body is an alienation which affects all a lesser or greater extent received its revolutionary politics can be recreated 5* r(( guage of Marxism because of the to set themselves apart from the as a disciplined tool in the service areas of life (not just music). support, has left a void that is not being after so many years ofauthoritarian Len- :7 ‘/1 )q ‘cw situation created by the then ri- commercial mainstream auto- of wage labour. ME (Saffron Walden) filled by revolutionaries. The fascist inism. It is up to revolutionary libertari- ._:'.--. 14 Organise! N°- 32 O°t'De° 1993 Organise! No. 32 Oct-Dec 1993 15

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