Apologies again for replying so late to the debate provoked by my letter.
Phil Kent (letters, issue 406) states that the "position of the Weekly Worker is, however, to defend the democratic content of the Bolshevik programme, not any backsliding or compromises forced upon them by adverse circumstances." However, the point is that it was jettisoned as soon as they got into power. Why did they manage to "backslide" so easily and without regret? Does that suggest a "democratic content"? Far from it. And it bodes ill that advocating the "dictatorship of the party" can be considered a "compromise"!
Kent argues that "prior to 1917, Lenin advocated the democratic dictatorship (i.e., rule) of the workers and the peasantry." Actually, before and during 1917 Lenin equated the rule of the workers with rule by the Bolshevik party. After 1917, "many soviets" did not "simply [fall] part -- and not due to any evil plan by the Bolsheviks" -- rather, they were deliberately disbanded by force when the Bolsheviks lost soviet elections. By 1919, Lenin was arguing "Yes, it is a dictatorship of one party! This is what we stand for and we shall not shift from that position." In 1920, Zinoviev was arguing at the Comintern that "the dictatorship of the proletariat is at the same time the dictatorship of the Communist Party." The path is clear. Any political ideology that confuses party power with working class power will obviously see democracy as less than essential.
Kent states that I am quoting Trotsky "out of context" when I used him to refute the argument that "exceptional circumstances" can explain this change. Far from it. Anarchists have long argued that a social revolution would be marked by economic disruption and, therefore, to blame the degeneration of Bolshevism on the economy collapsing is hardly convincing. Unless you think a revolution is a walk in the park, you will have to recognise that it will face "exceptional circumstances." That the followers of Bolshevism continue to justify the dictatorial policies of the Bolsheviks in these terms suggests a similar process will occur again. To argue as Kent does that "in the circumstances a dictatorship of the revolutionaries was the only way to maintain the revolution" suggests that Bolshevism (unlike anarchism) sees working class power and freedom as something which can be left out (if need be) without harming the nature of the revolution.
He argues that "Trotsky criticised and tried to advise the Spanish revolution from its inception. The full meaning of his remarks only becomes apparent when you compare his programme with that of the anarchists." Which raises the questions, what was his advice and what was his programme? In Trotsky's words: "Because the leaders of the CNT renounced dictatorship for themselves they left the place open for the Stalinist dictatorship." In case this is not clear enough, in the same letter he talked about the "objective necessity" of the "revolutionary dictatorship of a proletarian party," explicitly rejecting the idea that "the party dictatorship could be replaced by the 'dictatorship' of the whole toiling people without any party." He stressed that the "revolutionary party (vanguard) which renounces its own dictatorship surrenders the masses to the counter-revolution." [Writings 1936-37, pp. 513-4]
Now, "which was more likely to maximise the working class's chances of success?" Party dictatorship (Trotsky) or a federation of self-managed workers' councils (anarchism)? I will leave it up to the reader to decide!
Even after the rise of Stalin, Trotsky was still advocating party dictatorship! Does this suggest a "backslide" due to "exceptional circumstances"? Far from it! So, rather than defend the "democratic content" of Bolshevism, I would suggest investigating Bolshevik ideology and understand why it could so easily, and with no regrets, take the positions it did and, of course, alternatives like anarchism.
Kent then turns to anarchism. He argues that "working class democracy does and always has involved authority." Far from it. The most radical forms of working class self-organisation have been based on self-management and the rejection of hierarchy ("authority"). Like Engels, he fails to understand revolution from a working class perspective. In class society, workers are subject to the authority of the boss and the state. Revolution involves working class people making their own decisions within self-managed class organisations and so it means the destruction of authority. As the Russia shows, a revolution which creates a "revolutionary" authority soon ends up seeing it use coercion against the very class it claims to represent!
Kent wonders how my "plan for bottom up democracy through revolutionary councils electing mandated and recallable delegates . . . square with [my] anarchist theory?" Quite easily. By governing ourselves we exclude others governing us. He supposes that "anarchists would refuse to be bound by votes not to their liking. What a jaundiced view of human collectivity and reason." What is jaundiced is an ideology that cannot envision human co-operation without "coercion" or being subject to hierarchical power ("authority"). Are human beings really so backward that they cannot work together without the master's stick? Luckily, anarchism has a more positive perspective on humanity.
Kent comments that "fear of authority leads not to liberation but to paranoia." Only someone with little faith in humanity could dismiss the desire for participation and accountability at the heart of anarchism in such terms. It also reminds me of Trotsky's argument that workers should not fear state appointed managers and officers because the Bolsheviks were in power. Elections, mandates and recall ("fear of authority") are essential to ensure that we do not have dictatorship. History shows that it is not "paranoia" to oppose top-down, centralised power and to insist that working class people govern themselves -- it is liberation.
Socialism must be based on freedom (both individual and collective) if it is to succeed and that implies collective self-discipline. It means recognising that there is a difference between co-operation and coercion. It also means recognising that the majority can be wrong. I look forward to Kent explaining why the anti-war minority in the German Social Democrats was right to betray socialism by submitting to the pro-war majority in 1914. And the fate of Social Democracy confirmed the reason why anarchists "stand aside from democratic politics" -- participation in bourgeois politics destroys the radicalism of those involved.
Kent argues that "all democracy is a form of the state." What an impoverished perspective on human social relations and organisation! Really, "democracy" takes many forms, the vast majority of them not remotely state-like (i.e. based on centralised power in the hands of a few). As he himself recognised by noting that democracy will "continue to exist in a classless society but not as a form of state." Ironically, Kent is arguing that self-management is possible, but only after the revolution. I will note the obvious contradiction -- how do people become capable of self-government post-revolution if they do not practice it now and during a revolution?
Democracy, he stresses, "is the only viable revolutionary programme for a class that wants human liberation." Surely communism is the only such "viable" programme? Statist "democracy" simply becomes a "pseudo-democratic" form that maintains minority power (hence bourgeois and Bolshevik support for it). As such, Kent is correct to argue that "democracy" is a "revolutionary class programme" -- that of the bourgeoisie. We can do better than them, surely? Can we not envision a programme based on achieving real human libertarian by the abolition of wage labour and the state by self-management (i.e. a system of workers' councils).
Perhaps this explains why Kent argued that Bolshevism in 1917 could "only succeed" if exchange would be organised "between town and country whereby the peasants would . . . steadily become proletarianised." "Proletarianised"? I thought the aim of communism was to abolish capitalism? If the peasants become "proletarianised" then they are separated from the means of production. Like Lenin, does he see "socialism" as universal wage slavery to the state, without workers' self-management of production? Like his defence of "democracy," does this comment indicate the (state) capitalist nature of Bolshevism?
Kent argues that, for me, "the greatest evil is the state." How boring, the usual Marxist invention that anarchists view the state as the "greatest evil"! Anarchists see many evils in the world (e.g. capitalism) and do not say one is greater than the rest -- we aim to abolish all of them! Similarly, anarchists reject the simplistic Marxist idea that the state is "an armed machine." This fails to address the real issue, namely that of power. Anarchists from Bakunin onward have taken it as a truism that a revolution would need to be defended. The real question is who has the power. Is it the working class, in its own class organisations, or will it be a "revolutionary" government, a small minority of leaders at the top using the state machine to impose its own concept on socialism onto the masses? Bolshevism, both in theory and practice, clearly supports the latter. This explains why so many people are becoming anarchists.
Yours,
Iain McKay