Musical Suicide
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"Freedom without Socialism is privilege. Socialism without Freedom is Tyranny"
Anarchism is the most misunderstood of political philosophies, perhaps because it threatens both the established order and those who would become our new masters after we have overthrown it. Anarchists are constantly having to deny the images of them presented by both Left and Right. Taken in by these lies or suffering from their own preconceptions, few bother to investigate the reality. With this in mind we have put together this summary of what we do believe. Anarchists seek to maximise freedom for all. We believe all people should be as free as possible to determine their own destinies and activities within the limits required by a respect for the equal rights of others. This freedom should actual and practical, unhindered by unnecessary legal prohibitions or material constraints.
Anarchists are opposed to authority and hierarchy. All persons must be considered as equals. No-one has the right to coerce or expect obedience from others except where necessary to protect the equal rights of others.
Anarchists are opposed to patriarchy. As a coercive set of social relations based on gender hierarchy, patriarchy oppresses and silences women in ways that we are as yet not even fully conscious. Patriarchal structures must be destroyed wherever they are recognised.
Anarchists are not opposed to organisation. Anarchy is about organisation. It is about co-operation amongst equals, free of oppressive power relations. Often a lack of organisation allows oppression to go unnoticed and merely offers the "liberty" of the strong to take advantage of the weaker. We must organise to prevent this. We are opposed, however, to types of organisation which are based on authority and hierarchy or which involve the unnecessary regimentation and subordination of individuals or which strangle individual creativity. We are implacably opposed to the centralisation of power.
Anarchists believe in the necessity of *direct democracy*. Where disagreements exist amongst persons which cannot be resolved co-operatively, the will of the majority must be respected. Consensus decisions are always the ideal but when a consensus cannot be reached then democratic procedures must be employed. Considering peoples as equals requires this. Representative and Parliamentary democracy are frauds which separate the government from the people, deny us control over our own lives and encourage apathy amongst the citizenry. Real democracy places power in the hands of the people by making all decisions at the lowest possible level by voting in workplace and community councils.
Anarchists seek the destruction of the State. The State, a government which holds itself to be separate from and above the people, is always an oppressor. It has its own interests: its natural form is a bureaucracy and the military, the police and the security forces are its weapons. "Control" of the state is an illusion which corrupts all revolutionaries. We will not be free while the State exists.
Anarchists seek an end to private property. Our needs chain us as much as our enemies. "Liberty" without the means to exercise it is a hollow fraud. We are not free to do that which we cannot do because others deny us the resources. The capitalists' monopoly of the means of production, their control of society's wealth, enslaves us to them as surely as would a gun held to our heads. The division of the political from the economic is a bourgeois myth. True social equality requires equal access to the means of production. For this reason all anarchists are socialists (though not all socialists are anarchists).
Anarchists believe in the need for a total Revolution. There is no aspect of the existing evils, Capitalism, Patriarchy and the State, that we can afford to leave intact if we seek to build a world free of oppression. Like cancers these structures will reappear and destroy freedom if they are not sought out where- ever they are manifest and destroyed utterly and simultaneously. Because our goals are radical, involving the total overthrow of the existing order, we cannot hope to accomplish them by reformist means within that order.
Anarchists deny the distinction between ends and means. Liberation and revolution are our activities not our ends. For this reason we will never be able to achieve freedom through authoritarian methods or destroy the State by seizing control of it.
Anarchists follow no leaders. No-one can lead us to take responsibility for our own lives. Only we can liberate ourselves. The only "leadership" we recognise is by example.
Anarchists believe in a brighter future. We envisage a future free of oppression, of people living in community and in control of their own lives. We see a society governing itself though workplace and community councils, making decisions at the lowest possible level and cooperating and organising together. We believe in a society where "economic" decisions about production and distribution which affect all of us are made democratically rather than left in the hands of a privileged and unelected few. Free of the destructive imperatives of capitalism, we will be able to live in harmony with the environment, use technology to our own advantage rather than our bosses and escape from the threat of war derived by the needs of Capital and State to extend their influence. We will build our own future.
Anarchists know that it can work. We gain strength from the examples of anarchist revolutionaries at the forefront of progressive movements throughout history. We learn from the Spanish Civil War where peasants and workers seized control of large areas of Spain and organised them according to anarchist principles. We learn from other existing anarchist organisations and from our own experiences as we attempt to put anarchist theory into practice in our own lives.
Anarchism is the most misunderstood of political philosophies, perhaps because it threatens both the established order and those who would become our new masters after we have overthrown it. Anarchists are constantly having to deny the images of them presented by both Left and Right. Taken in by these lies or suffering from their own preconceptions, few bother to investigate the reality. With this in mind we have put together this summary of what we do believe. Anarchists seek to maximise freedom for all. We believe all people should be as free as possible to determine their own destinies and activities within the limits required by a respect for the equal rights of others. This freedom should actual and practical, unhindered by unnecessary legal prohibitions or material constraints.
Anarchists are opposed to authority and hierarchy. All persons must be considered as equals. No-one has the right to coerce or expect obedience from others except where necessary to protect the equal rights of others.
Anarchists are opposed to patriarchy. As a coercive set of social relations based on gender hierarchy, patriarchy oppresses and silences women in ways that we are as yet not even fully conscious. Patriarchal structures must be destroyed wherever they are recognised.
Anarchists are not opposed to organisation. Anarchy is about organisation. It is about co-operation amongst equals, free of oppressive power relations. Often a lack of organisation allows oppression to go unnoticed and merely offers the "liberty" of the strong to take advantage of the weaker. We must organise to prevent this. We are opposed, however, to types of organisation which are based on authority and hierarchy or which involve the unnecessary regimentation and subordination of individuals or which strangle individual creativity. We are implacably opposed to the centralisation of power.
Anarchists believe in the necessity of *direct democracy*. Where disagreements exist amongst persons which cannot be resolved co-operatively, the will of the majority must be respected. Consensus decisions are always the ideal but when a consensus cannot be reached then democratic procedures must be employed. Considering peoples as equals requires this. Representative and Parliamentary democracy are frauds which separate the government from the people, deny us control over our own lives and encourage apathy amongst the citizenry. Real democracy places power in the hands of the people by making all decisions at the lowest possible level by voting in workplace and community councils.
Anarchists seek the destruction of the State. The State, a government which holds itself to be separate from and above the people, is always an oppressor. It has its own interests: its natural form is a bureaucracy and the military, the police and the security forces are its weapons. "Control" of the state is an illusion which corrupts all revolutionaries. We will not be free while the State exists.
Anarchists seek an end to private property. Our needs chain us as much as our enemies. "Liberty" without the means to exercise it is a hollow fraud. We are not free to do that which we cannot do because others deny us the resources. The capitalists' monopoly of the means of production, their control of society's wealth, enslaves us to them as surely as would a gun held to our heads. The division of the political from the economic is a bourgeois myth. True social equality requires equal access to the means of production. For this reason all anarchists are socialists (though not all socialists are anarchists).
Anarchists believe in the need for a total Revolution. There is no aspect of the existing evils, Capitalism, Patriarchy and the State, that we can afford to leave intact if we seek to build a world free of oppression. Like cancers these structures will reappear and destroy freedom if they are not sought out where- ever they are manifest and destroyed utterly and simultaneously. Because our goals are radical, involving the total overthrow of the existing order, we cannot hope to accomplish them by reformist means within that order.
Anarchists deny the distinction between ends and means. Liberation and revolution are our activities not our ends. For this reason we will never be able to achieve freedom through authoritarian methods or destroy the State by seizing control of it.
Anarchists follow no leaders. No-one can lead us to take responsibility for our own lives. Only we can liberate ourselves. The only "leadership" we recognise is by example.
Anarchists believe in a brighter future. We envisage a future free of oppression, of people living in community and in control of their own lives. We see a society governing itself though workplace and community councils, making decisions at the lowest possible level and cooperating and organising together. We believe in a society where "economic" decisions about production and distribution which affect all of us are made democratically rather than left in the hands of a privileged and unelected few. Free of the destructive imperatives of capitalism, we will be able to live in harmony with the environment, use technology to our own advantage rather than our bosses and escape from the threat of war derived by the needs of Capital and State to extend their influence. We will build our own future.
Anarchists know that it can work. We gain strength from the examples of anarchist revolutionaries at the forefront of progressive movements throughout history. We learn from the Spanish Civil War where peasants and workers seized control of large areas of Spain and organised them according to anarchist principles. We learn from other existing anarchist organisations and from our own experiences as we attempt to put anarchist theory into practice in our own lives.
