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I now call myself a revolutionary socialist (a Marxist heavily influenced by anarchism) since my greatest collaborator since I left the Socialist Party (formerly the Militant Tendency) was somebody with vaguely anarchist views called Cath Bann. [She once used the term “autonomous” and doesn't want to be called anything with "ist" on the end, and our political views converged a great deal due to collaborating and discussing with each other.]
The main contribution of anarchists to the struggle for socialism is their advocacy of and dedication to direct action techniques as a method of achieving change. Although they are generally not interested in standing in elections themselves, genuine anarchists are pleased when socialists do well – although at the time when anarchist organisations have been strongest in history, during the Spanish Civil War (which was a failed revolution), their leaders betrayed the working class by entering a coalition government with the capitalist Republicans which ultimately led to the fascist Franco coming to power. See my page on racism and fascism for more information. Anarchists theoretically oppose the idea of a state after a revolution takes place, but they cannot properly deal with the issue of how to deal with criminals and very importantly how to stop attempted counter-revolutions.
I am a strong believer in collaboration between revolutionary socialists from a Marxist background and those from an anarchist background (those from an anarchist background don’t usually use the word “socialist” but that is what they are). I therefore used to attend “Riotous Assemblies” in the Hulme area of Manchester (which were monthly meetings of mainly anarchists but which welcomed people who regarded themselves as socialists, that Cath played a key role in organising) and attended an “Earth First! Gathering” in the summer of 2004. Cath once told me that Earth First! is not an organisation as such but a label that environmentalists who carry out direct action use from time to time; the lack of a membership makes them less vulnerable to repression by the state, which is particularly important for such an organisation since sometimes direct action involves breaking the law (and the catch-all law “breach of the peace” can be used even if there is no specific law that is being broken).
In Britain nowadays, hardly any anarchists advocate violence. In a discussion on the subject at the Earth First! Gathering, only one person said he was in favour of it. This is undoubtedly partly due to the failure of that strategy in the anti-poll tax movement. It was not the riot in Trafalgar Square at the end of the 200,000-strong demonstration on the 31st of March 1990 that defeated the poll tax, but mass non-payment including the non-violent direct action strategy of mobilising people outside the homes of those threatened with the bailiffs (or sheriff’s officers in Scotland) as advocated and carried out by the Militant-led anti-poll tax unions.
In fact, the actions of the police in starting the riot (as revealed in a TV documentary too late to rescue Militant from the disaster caused by All Britain Anti-Poll Tax Federation Secretary Steve Nally saying on national TV that the Federation would name names) proved that the forces of big business wanted that to happen, to try to smear anti-poll tax protestors as violent and put ordinary people off getting involved. The actions of an anarchist organisation called Class War, that had been known for jokey headlines and didn’t have the capacity for starting a riot but that had advocated that on the front page of their newspaper on sale at the demonstration, in claiming responsibility for the riot, undermined Militant. After it was shown that Class War were lying, violence died out as a method adopted by anarchists in this country. [For more information on the anti-poll tax movement, visit my autobiography “Transition”.] However, when I attended mass anti-capitalist protests in Genoa, in which Carlo Guiliani died, violent anarchists from the Black Bloc clashed with police. It was later revealed that 50 fascists infiltrated the Black Bloc.
I met two really important collaborators at the Earth First! Gathering, who like me advocate unity between Marxists and anarchists. One was a former Respect candidate from Preston called Dave Eaton, who often carries out campaigning in favour of freedom for Palestine outside Marks & Spencer in Manchester – an activity that I have also participated in.
The other collaborator is a young Canadian woman living in Glasgow called Gwen Noel. I promoted the Scottish Socialist Party (SSP) at many meetings at that Gathering, and after one we had a discussion in which she expressed disappointment that the SSP had failed to take direct action particularly seriously, which was very disappointing considering the history of that organisation – with the Militant Tendency, and Scottish Militant Labour (SML) as it became when it left the Labour Party, carrying out serious and very effective direct action during the anti-poll tax movement, and with its precursor the Scottish Socialist Alliance (SSA) also carrying out serious direct action supporting environmental protestors in trees trying (unsuccessfully) to stop the extension of a motorway through Glasgow Pollok.
The SSA recruited Rosie Kane, who along with Tommy Sheridan is now an SSP MSP for Glasgow, during that direct action activity. Rosie showed that she was very good politically in her defiance when she was forced to swear an oath of allegiance to the Queen – see my page on abolishing the monarchy for details, and of my plans for an even better stunt if (or when) I become an MP after the next general election. The SSP does mobilise large numbers of activists for the blockades of the Faslane nuclear base that occur from time to time, but they don’t seem to do anything else of that sort.
Nevertheless, Gwen showed she was serious by travelling from Glasgow to Edinburgh for a protest in the centre of the Scottish capital organised by the SSP while members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs) from all other parties were meeting the Queen. [One Scottish National Party MSP was expelled from that party for opposing the monarchy and he spoke at the protest too.] Over 1,000 people there signed the Declaration of Calton Hill calling for an independent Scottish republic based on the principles of liberty, equality, diversity and solidarity.
I watched an IndyMedia video in the Autumn which showed anarchists locking their arms together with metal bars and getting in front of Sainsbury’s lorries, with police being physically incapable of separating them – at the end, it was announced that all depots in the country had been similarly blockaded preventing fresh Sainsbury’s milk from arriving anywhere. This was a protest against the fact that that store’s own brand dairy products (along with those of every other supermarket apart from the Co-op and M&S) came from cows fed partially genetically modified (GM) feed; as a result there is Cravendale milk in Sainsbury’s and other supermarkets which is advertised as natural, tastes nicer, lasts seven days once opened, and costs about the same price for four pints. I found out about the scandal of GM products being introduced behind the public’s backs at the Earth First! Gathering, where I saw some leaflets produced and handed out outside Sainsbury’s stores calling for a boycott of that store’s dairy products, by anarchists along with farmers’ groups (including Farmers for Action who led the fuel blockades that forced the New Labour government to back down over petrol prices). It was pointed out that Sainsbury’s had been targeted because they had come out publicly against GM products in the past, but the fact that Lord Sainsbury is a New Labour Minister is perhaps another factor. Incidentally, it is a travesty of democracy that a lord, who has never been elected to any position, can be in the Cabinet.
