| Part of the Politics series on Left communism |
|
Concepts
Figures
Organizations
Related Subjects
|
| Communism Portal
|
Council communism is a radical left movement originating in Germany and the Netherlands in the 1920s. Gavril Ilyich Myasnikov (1889-1945 also transliterated as Gavriil Il'ich Miasnikov, was a Russian metalworker from the Urals, who participated in the Revolution Karl Korsch ( August 15, 1886 - October 21, 1961) was a German Marxist theorist Estelle Sylvia Pankhurst ( May 5, 1882 September 27, 1960) was a notable campaigner for the Suffragette movement in the United Jan Appel ( 1890 - 4 May 1985) was an German Left communist Revolutionary who participated in the German Revolution Marck Chirik (13May 1907 Russia – 1990 also known as Marc Laverne was a communist revolutionary and one of the founding militants of the International Communist Paul Mattick ( 13 March 1904 – 7 February 1981) was a Marxist political writer and activist Grandizo Munis (18 April 1912 - 4February 1989 was a Spanish politician ( August 13, 1871 - January 15, 1919) was a German Socialist and a co-founder of the Spartacist League and the Communist The Communist Workers International ( German: Kommunistische Arbeiter-Internationale, KAI or Fourth International was a Council communist The International Communist Party was a left communist international which was also described as a Bordigist party The International Communist Current is an international centralised left communist organisation which was formed in 1975 and which has sections in France Great Britain The International Bureau for the Revolutionary Party is an international tendency whose member organisations identify with the Italian Left communist tradition Luxemburgism (also written Luxembourgism) is a specific revolutionary theory within Communism, based on the writings of Rosa Luxemburg. Ultra-leftism has two overlapping uses It is used as a generally Pejorative term for certain types of positions on the left that are seen as extreme or intransigent Libertarian Marxism is a school of Marxism that describes itself as taking a less Authoritarian view of Marxist theory than conventional currents such as Stalinism Autonomism refers to a set of Left-wing political and social movements and theories close to the socialist movement. The Situationist International ( SI) was a small group of international political and artistic Agitators with roots in Marxism, Lettrism and the Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany ( ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant is a Country in Central Europe. The Netherlands ( Dutch:, ˈnedərlɑnt is the European part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, which consists of the Netherlands the Netherlands The 1920s is sometimes referred to as the " Jazz Age " or the " Roaring Twenties " when speaking about the United States and Canada Its primary organization was the Communist Workers Party of Germany (KAPD). The Communist Workers Party of Germany ( German: Kommunistische Arbeiter-Partei Deutschlands; KAPD was an anti-parliamentarian and Council communist party Council communism continues today as a theoretical and activist position within both left-wing Marxism and libertarian socialism. Marxism is the political philosophy and practice derived from the work of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. Libertarian socialism is a group of political philosophies that aim to create a society without political economic or social hierarchies – a society in which all violent
The central argument of council communism, in contrast to those of Social democracy and Leninist Communism, is that workers' councils arising in the factories and municipalities are the natural form of working class organisation and governmental power. Social democracy is a Political ideology of the left and centre-left Leninism refers to various related political and economic theories elaborated by Bolshevik revolutionary leader Vladimir Lenin. Communism is a Socioeconomic structure that promotes the establishment of an egalitarian, classless, stateless Society based A workers' council is a Deliberative assembly, composed of Working class members intended to institute Workers' self-management or Workers' control This view is opposed to both the reformist and the Bolshevik ideologies, with their stress on, respectively, parliaments and institutional government (i. Socialist Reformism is the belief that gradual democratic changes in a Society can ultimately change a society's fundamental economic relations and political structures The Bolsheviks, originally also Bolshevists ( Большевик Большевист (singular, derived from bolshe, "more" were a faction An ideology is a set of beliefs aims and Ideas especially in politics TalkParliament#Screen-size. -->A parliament is a Legislature, especially in those New institutionalism or neoinstitutionalism describes social theory that focuses on developing a sociological view of Institutions --the way they interact e. , by applying social reforms, on the one hand, and vanguard parties and participative democratic centralism on the other). A vanguard party is a Political party at the forefront of a mass action movement or revolution Democratic centralism is the name given to the principles of internal organization used by Leninist political parties and the term is sometimes used as a synonym for any Leninist
The core principle of council communism is that the government and the economy should be managed by workers' councils composed of delegates elected at workplaces and recallable at any moment. For the government of parliamentary systems see Executive (government. An economic system is a System that involves the production, distribution and consumption of goods and services between A workers' council is a Deliberative assembly, composed of Working class members intended to institute Workers' self-management or Workers' control As such, council communists oppose state-run "bureaucratic collectivism". Bureaucratic collectivism is a theory of class society It is used by some Trotskyists to describe the nature of the Soviet Union under Joseph Stalin They also oppose the idea of a "revolutionary party", since council communists believe that a revolution led by a party will necessarily produce a party dictatorship. Council communists support a worker's democracy, which they want to produce through a federation of workers' councils.
Contents |
History of Council Communism
As the Second International decayed at the beginning of World War I, socialists who opposed nationalism and supported proletarian internationalism regrouped. The Second International (1889-1916 was an organization of socialist and labour parties formed in Paris on July 14, 1889. World War I (abbreviated WWI; also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All Socialism refers to a broad set of economic theories of social organization advocating state or collective ownership and administration of the Means of production and distribution The term nationalism can refer to an Ideology, a sentiment, a form of Culture, or a Social movement that focuses on the Nation International Socialism redirects here For the journal of the same name see International Socialism (journal Proletarian internationalism is a In Germany, two major communist trends emerged. Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany ( ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant is a Country in Central Europe. Communism is a Socioeconomic structure that promotes the establishment of an egalitarian, classless, stateless Society based First, the Spartacist League was created by the radical socialist Rosa Luxemburg. The Spartacist League ( Spartakusbund in German) was a left-wing Marxist revolutionary movement organized in Germany Rosa Luxemburg (Róża Luksemburg 5 March 1870 or 1871 15 January 1919 was a Polish-born Jewish German Marxist theorist, socialist The second trend emerged amongst the German rank-and-file unionists who opposed their unions and organized increasingly radical strikes towards the end of 1917 and the beginning of 1918. This second trend created the German Left Communist movement that would become the KAPD after the abortive German revolution of 1918-1919. Left communism is the range of communist viewpoints held by the Communist Left, which opposes the political ideas of the Bolsheviks The Communist Workers Party of Germany ( German: Kommunistische Arbeiter-Partei Deutschlands; KAPD was an anti-parliamentarian and Council communist party
As the Communist International inspired by the Bolshevik revolution in Russia formed, a Left Communist tendency developed in the Comintern's German, Dutch and Bulgarian sections. The Comintern ( Com munist Intern ational also known as the Third International) was an international Communist organisation founded in Moscow The October Revolution (Октябрьская революция Oktyabrskaya revolyutsiya) also known as the Soviet Revolution Russia (Россия Rossiya) or the Russian Federation ( Rossiyskaya Federatsiya) is a transcontinental Country extending Key figures in this milieu were Anton Pannekoek, Otto Rühle and Herman Gorter. Otto Rühle (23October 1874 - 24 June 1943 was a German Left Communist active in opposition to both the First and Second World Wars and a founder with along with Herman Gorter ( Nov 26 1864, Wormerveer - Sep 15 1927, Brussels) was a Dutch poet and Socialist. In the United Kingdom, Sylvia Pankhurst's group, the Communist Party (British Section of the Third International), also identified with the Left Communist tendency. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located Estelle Sylvia Pankhurst ( May 5, 1882 September 27, 1960) was a notable campaigner for the Suffragette movement in the United The Communist Party (British Section of the Third International was a Left Communist organisation established at an emergency conference held on 19 - 20 June 1920
Alongside these formal Left Communist tendencies, the Italian group led by Amadeo Bordiga is often commonly recognised as a Left Communist party, although both Bordiga and the Italian Communist Left disputed this and qualified their politics as separate, distinct and more in line with the Third International's positions than the politics of Left Communism. Amadeo Bordiga (also misspelt "Amedeo" 13 June 1889 &ndash 23 July 1970) was an Italian Marxist, a contributor The Comintern ( Com munist Intern ational also known as the Third International) was an international Communist organisation founded in Moscow Bordiga himself did not advocate abstention from the unions, although later Italian Left currents developed a critique of the "regime unions", positing that most or all unions had become tools of capitalism by submitting themselves to bourgeois interests and were no longer viable as organs of class struggle. Nevertheless, those "Bordigists" who put forward this critique still held out the necessity of "red unions" or "class unions" re-emerging, outside and against the regime unions, which would openly advocate class struggle and allow the participation of communist militants.
These various assorted groups were all criticized by Lenin in his booklet Left-Wing Communism: An Infantile Disorder. "Left-Wing" Communism An Infantile Disorder ( Russian: Детская болезнь "левизны" в коммунизме is a work by [1]
Despite a common general direction, and despite sharing the criticism of Lenin, there were few politics held in common between these movements. An example of this divergence is that the Italians supported the Right of Nations to Self Determination, while the Dutch and Germans rejected this policy (seeing it as a form of bourgeois nationalism). Bourgeois nationalism is a term from Marxist phraseology It refers to the practice of dividing people by Nationality, race, Ethnicity, or However, all of the Left Communist tendencies opposed what they called "Frontism". In Politics a common front is an alliance between different groups forces or interests in pursuit of a common goal or in opposition to a common enemy Frontism was a tactic endorsed by Lenin, where Communists sought tactical agreements with reformist (social democratic) parties in pursuit of a definite, usually defensive, goal. Social democracy is a Political ideology of the left and centre-left In addition to opposing "Frontism", the Dutch-German tendency, the Bulgarians and British also refused to participate in bourgeois elections, which they denounced as parliamentarism.
In Germany, the Left Communists were expelled from the Communist Party of Germany, and they formed the Communist Workers Party (KAPD). The Communist Party of Germany ( German Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands &ndash KPD) was a major political party in Germany between 1918 The Communist Workers Party of Germany ( German: Kommunistische Arbeiter-Partei Deutschlands; KAPD was an anti-parliamentarian and Council communist party Similar parties were formed in the Netherlands, Bulgaria and Britain. The KAPD rapidly lost most of its members and it eventually dissolved. However, some of its militants had been instrumental in organising factory-based unions like the AAUD and AAUD-E, the latter being opposed to separate party organisation (see: Syndicalism). Syndicalism is a type of movement which aims to degrade capitalist societies through action by the Working class on the industrial front
The leading theoreticians of the KAPD had developed a new series of ideas based on their opposition to party organisation, and their conception of the Bolshevik revolution in Russia as having been a bourgeois revolution. Their leading figures were Anton Pannekoek and Herman Gorter, as well as Otto Rühle. Herman Gorter ( Nov 26 1864, Wormerveer - Sep 15 1927, Brussels) was a Dutch poet and Socialist. Otto Rühle (23October 1874 - 24 June 1943 was a German Left Communist active in opposition to both the First and Second World Wars and a founder with along with Rühle later left the KAPD, and was one of the founders of the AAUD-E. Another leading theoretician of Council Communism was Paul Mattick, who later emigrated to the USA. Paul Mattick ( 13 March 1904 – 7 February 1981) was a Marxist political writer and activist A minor figure in the Council Communist movement in the Netherlands was Marinus van der Lubbe, whose name is attached to the burning of the Reichstag in 1933. Marinus (Rinus van der Lubbe ( 13 January, 1909 – 10 January, 1934) was a Dutch council communist accused of and eventually
The early councilists are followed later by the Group of Internationalist Communists, Henk Meijer, Cajo Brendel and Paul Mattick, Sr. Paul Mattick ( 13 March 1904 – 7 February 1981) was a Marxist political writer and activist There was a resurgence of councilist groups and ideas in the New Left of the 1960s, through the Situationist International, Root and Branch in the United States, Socialisme ou Barbarie in France, and Solidarity in the UK. The New Left were the Left-wing movements in different countries in the 1960s and 1970s that unlike the earlier leftist focus on union activism instead adopted a The Situationist International ( SI) was a small group of international political and artistic Agitators with roots in Marxism, Lettrism and the Socialisme ou Barbarie (Socialism or Barbarism was a French-based radical Libertarian socialist group of the post- World War II period (the name comes from Solidarity was a small Libertarian socialist Organisation and Magazine of the same name in the United Kingdom. [1]
Alongside and sometimes connected to the councilists were the early Hegelian Marxists, Gyorgy Lukacs (a council communist himself from 1918-21 or 22), Karl Korsch (who turned to council communism in the 1930s), Evgeny Pashukanis and I. György Lukács (pronounced in IPA dyɶrdyə ˈlukɑtʃ) ( April 13, 1885 – June 4, 1971) was a Hungarian Karl Korsch ( August 15, 1886 - October 21, 1961) was a German Marxist theorist Evgeny Bronislavovich Pashukanis ( February 23, 1891 – 1937 was a Soviet legal scholar best known for his work The General Theory of Law and Marxism I. Rubin. [2]
Council Communism within the Soviet Union
The Russian word for council is "soviet," and during the early years of Bolshevist Russia workers' councils were politically significant. Bolshevist Russia or Bolshevik Russia is a common term for the Bolshevik side in the Russian Civil War, or more specifically the Russian Indeed, the name "Supreme Soviet," by which the national parliament of the Soviet Union was later called, as well as the name of the Soviet Union itself, imply that the country was meant to be ruled by workers' councils. The Supreme Soviet of the USSR (Верхо́вный Сове́т СССР Verkhóvnyj Sovét SSSR) was the highest legislative body in the Soviet Union in The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR was a constitutionally Socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991 This was largely the case in the beginning, but the workers' councils soon lost their power and significance. As the new regime was turning into a single-party system, the Supreme Soviet was soon relegated to the role of a rubber-stamp parliament, and real power was concentrated in the hands of the Communist Party. A single-party state, one-party system or single-party system is a type of Party system Government in which a single Political party Rubber stamping, also called stamping, is a Craft in which some type of Ink made of Dye or Pigment is applied to an Image
For these reasons, Council Communists described the Soviet Union as a capitalist state, believing that the Bolshevik revolution in Russia became a "bourgeois revolution" when a party bureaucracy replaced the old feudal aristocracy. Capitalism is the Economic system in which the Means of production are owned by private Persons and operated for Profit and where The Bolsheviks, originally also Bolshevists ( Большевик Большевист (singular, derived from bolshe, "more" were a faction Although most Council Communists felt the Russian Revolution was working class in character, they believed that the Soviet Union was a state capitalist country, with the state replacing the individual capitalist (an additional argument in favour of that was the continued existence of capitalist relations, as manifested e. Working class is a term used in academic Sociology and in ordinary conversation to describe depending on context and speaker those employed in specific fields or types State capitalism, in its classic meaning is a private capitalist economy under State control g. in the New Economic Policy). For the Malaysian New Economic Policy see Malaysian New Economic Policy.
References
Literature
- Anton Pannekoek, Workers’ Councils, AK Press, 2003
- Anton Pannekoek, Anton Pannekoek Archive
- Anton Pannekoek, Herman Gorter, Sylvia Pankhurts, Otto Ruhl, 'Non-Leninist Marxism: Writings on the Workers Councils'. St Petersburg, Florida: Red and Black Publishers, 2007. ISBN 978-1-979-1813-6-8.
- Collective Action Notes A collection of Council Communist and other anti-authoritarian marxist literature
- Communism or Reforms two articles by Sylvia Pankhurst and Anton Pannekoek, first published in the Workers Dreadnought in 1922. First published as a pamphlet in 1974 by Workers Voice, a Communist group based in Liverpool.
- Kurasje ”The Council Communist Archive”
- Lenny Flank, 'Philosophy of Revolution: Towards a Non-Leninist Marxism'. St Petersburg, Florida: Red and Black Publishers, 2007. ISBN 978-1-979-1813-8-2.
- The communist tendency in history
- Libertarian Communist Library Largest online archive of Council Communist texts.
- Paul Mattick, Paul Mattick Archive
See also
Paul Mattick ( 13 March 1904 – 7 February 1981) was a Marxist political writer and activist Left communism is the range of communist viewpoints held by the Communist Left, which opposes the political ideas of the Bolsheviks Luxemburgism (also written Luxembourgism) is a specific revolutionary theory within Communism, based on the writings of Rosa Luxemburg. This is a list of Socialist, Communist, and Anarchist internationals De Leonism, occasionally known as Marxism-Deleonism, is a form of Marxism developed by Daniel De Leon. Social criticism analyzes Social structures which are seen as flawed and aims at practical solutions by specific measures radical Reform or even RevolutionaryDapyx Software network: MP3 Explorer | Ebook Manager | Zenithic