More lessons from Spain
Thank you for Ella Schulze-Willey’s article on “Lessons from the Spanish Civil War” with its analysis of the dire role of Stalinism and the lack of an insurrectionary vanguard party in allowing the fascist Franco to win. Anarchism also played a disastrous role by refusing to take power when it had the workers behind them and could have formed a revolutionary government. But they absolutely refused to recognise any state’s authority, whether capitalist or communist. Yet they formed an alliance with the bourgeois government, which disarmed the workers and betrayed them, resulting in Franco’s dictatorship. Rank-and-file anarchists were courageous, militant fighters, but class collaboration lies concealed in the heart of anarchist philosophy, when their anti-state position leads to reliance on “democratic” bourgeois leaders who betray the masses.
Put union muscle behind BDS
I found Kerry Guy’s article “Build the BDS movement: Resistance grows as Kiwis expose ties to Israel” in the last issue interesting. The Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement is fine, as far as it goes. But we need to consider how it can move from protest to resistance. Consumer pressure can affect sales of Israeli goods for the consumer market, but two-way military trade with Israel is a matter of government policy. The question is whether, given the way the capitalist class is thoroughly committed to Israel and its maximalist Zionism, pressure from community political campaigning will work. Those with a class analysis would say it won’t. What is necessary, therefore, is to build the labour boycott aspect of BDS — to mobilise the power of the working class. If a black ban on military exports to Israel is applied and it sticks, surviving the inevitable state and media blowback, the government will rapidly cave. Regardless of how much the capitalists support Israel, they know standing powerless before the working-class movement would jeopardise their very existence. Better, then, to cave quickly and trumpet their own responsiveness to “the community,” choosing select organisations to credit for their change of mind. Our task, then, is to push for labour boycotts and to build the sort of union movement than can make them happen.
Greedy boomer is a myth
I liked the editorial last issue, and agree that “inequality isn’t generational.” Having once bought into the rhetoric about ‘evil greedy boomers,’ I am now very concerned about it. I fear this rhetoric is used to avoid dealing with the deepening crisis of care for the elderly. One aspect of this is particularly confusing. This is the role of capital. Even relatively well off workers, who retire with superannuation and a house, may need to exchange that value for their own retirement care. In that sense, these capital investments are converted into essential use-values. I think this contradiction — which we are virtually forced into — is often missed in the rhetoric about ‘greedy boomers.’ That’s why I appreciate your practical calls. We need to ensure all people receive (at least) their basic human needs, and we should do this ourselves, independent of global capital markets.
