I read your article "Marxism or Anarchism?" (February 2004) with interest. I can only assume its author knows absolutely nothing about Anarchism.
The author asserts that we anarchists cannot "answer one critical question," namely how to defend a revolution. against its "many enemies, at home and abroad." Clearly he hasn't read any anarchists. If he had he would know that we have answered that question repeatedly. For example Bakunin argued the "alliance of all labour associations" would "constitute the Commune" with a "Communal Council" of delegates "invested with binding mandates and accountable and revocable at all times." These communes had to organise "to defend the revolution" and would "form a communal militia. But no commune can defend itself in isolation. So it will be necessary to federate with [other communes] for common defence" and so "organise a revolutionary force with the capacity of defeating the reaction."
This also answers the assertion that anarchists do not see that "the local institutions of democracy need to co-ordinate themselves at regional and national level." Like all anarchists, Bakunin is arguing for a federation of (to use the author's words) "workplaces and community councils." I should note that this was five decades before Lenin belatedly argued the same in 1917.
So if anarchists have been arguing since the 1860s for (to quote the article) "workers taking power through their own organisations," then what are the real differences between Marxism and anarchism? In a nutshell, we mean it. Lenin was clear in 1917 that the Bolshevik party would seize power, not the masses. And to stay in power they undermined the workers organisation. For example, by the spring of 1918 (i.e. before the start of the civil war) they were gerrymandering soviets and disbanding any which were elected with non-Bolshevik majorities. Less than a year later they had raised this de facto party dictatorship into a key ideological principle. Anarchists were not surprised, as the state is not simply "bodies of armed men" but rather a top-down structure which concentrates power in the hands of a few. The Marxist definition of the state ignores the key question, "who has power, the masses or a handful of leaders?"
So, in reply to the question "are you serious?" I simply ask the same of you. If you were, you would not inflict such rubbish on your readers. To discover the real differences between anarchism and Marxism on such issues as the state, political organisation, parliamentarianism, the Russian and Spanish revolutions and the other subjects the article distorts, I would suggest visiting "An Anarchist FAQ" at www.anarchistfaq.org.
yours in disgust,
Iain McKay