Date: Fri, 3 Aug 2001 17:56:04 -0700 (PDT)
From: Jamal Hannah <jah-AT-iww.org>
Subject: Re: AUT: Re: Marxist-Leninist Autonomists?


On Fri, 3 Aug 2001, Another Brick at the Gap wrote:

> greetings matteo,
> well negri still holds onto to the idea of the party,
> but the party for him seems to me to be a
> decentralized loosely affiliated grouping of
> autonomous struggles... i'm getting this from
> "autonomy, from clandestinity to the party" in
> politics of subversion also in "letter to felix
> guattari on social practice" i can't find the exact
> quote i was looking for but p. 163 he says "within the
> new perspective of organization and struggle, Leninism
> is certainly an element to be overcome, and yet it
> will always be present in the agencement that we are
> going to prepare" here i think he means that we can
> reclassify notions such as party and vanguard in a
> libertarian way and still make them useful ideas to
> us... definetly some residual leninism in negri...
> although i fear the guy who jamal cited is just trying
> to foment divisions amongst ppl who should otherwise
> be comrades in struggle... not surprising of
> anarchists who are often extermely hostile to any kind
> of quasi-intellectual theorizing, and i'm not trying
> to disrespect anyone here myself just respond to what
> i see...
> -Sean

The anarchist from Spain who made the comment about autonomists being
"authoritarians" (Leninists and Negri-ists) was also attacking
anarcho-syndicalism as "bureaucratic", without offering any real analysis.
So I suspect he would view any practical form of organization, weather it
was anarchist or autonomist, to be authoritarian or bureaucratic in some
way. I have seen this from all over.. from primitivists, chaosists,
nihilists, etc... anarchists and autonomists too.  You always have
the person who believes in all principles but no organization.

The email message from the leftist list, however, came from a leftist who
was trying to show examples of autonomist organizations that were
Marxist-Leninist.  I dont really know what this means.  Perhaps it was
some smug way for them to feel better about themselves.  Often, leftists
these days try to include "anarchists" in their coalitions, perhaps to
seem more open and pluralistic... but watch out if you get into
arguments with them!  I was recently kicked off the list
Peoples_War-AT-yahoogroups.com for criticising Stalin, of all
people, even though they claim the list is open to anarchists.

I see little reason for anarchists and autonomists to be at odds, and
certainly there are anarchists and autonomists, or people calling
themselves those things, who are actualy authoritarians (into Lenin,
etc). But it should be possible to discuss and expose these individuals or
groups, rather than using them as attacks to brand the other side as being
"authoritarian" in some intrinsic way.

 - Jamal




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