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Platformism is a tendency within the wider anarchist movement which shares an affinity with organising in the tradition of Dielo Truda's Organizational Platform of the General Union of Anarchists (Draft)^[1]. The Platform came from the experiences of Russian anarchists in the 1917 October Revolution, which led eventually to the victory of Bolsheviks over the anarchists and other like-minded groups. The Platform attempted to explain and address the failure of the anarchist movement during the Russian Revolution. As a controversial pamphlet, the Platform drew both praise and criticism from anarchists worldwide.

[edit] History

The Organizational Platform of the General Union of Anarchists (Draft) was written in 1926 by Dielo Truda ("Workers' Cause"), a group of exiled Russian anarchists in France. The pamphlet is an analysis of the basic anarchist beliefs, a vision of an anarchist society, and recommendations as to how an anarchist organization should be structured. The four main principles by which an anarchist organization should operate, according to the Platform, are ideological unity, tactical unity, collective action, discipline, and federalism.

Until recently, the platform was known in English as the Organizational Platform of the Libertarian Communists, because the English translation was based on Voline's mis-translation of the original and not the Russian original^{[citation needed]}.

The platform argues that "We have vital need of an organization which, having attracted most of the participants in the anarchist movement, would establish a common tactical and political line for anarchism and thereby serve as a guide for the whole movement".

[edit] Principles

The Platform has 4 key organizational features which distinguish it from the rest of the anarchist movement. They are:

Tactical Unity - A common tactical line in the movement is of decisive importance for the existence of the organisation and the whole movement: it avoids the disastrous effect of several tactics opposing each other; it concentrates the forces of the movement; and gives them a common direction leading to a fixed objective.^[2]
Theoretical Unity - "Theory represents the force which directs the activity of persons and organisations along a defined path towards a determined goal. Naturally it should be common to all the persons and organisations adhering to the General Union. All activity by the General Union, both overall and in its details, should be in perfect concord with the theoretical principles professed by the union."^[3]
Collective Responsibility - "The practice of acting on one's personal responsibility should be decisively condemned and rejected in the ranks of the anarchist movement. The areas of revolutionary life, social and political, are above all profoundly collective by nature. Social revolutionary activity in these areas cannot be based on the personal responsibility of individual militants."^[4]
Federalism - "Against centralism, anarchism has always professed and defended the principle of federalism, which reconciles the independence and initiative of individuals and the organisation with service to the common cause."^[5]

[edit] The Platform today

Today there are platformist groups in many countries including the Workers Solidarity Movement in Ireland, North Eastern Federation of Anarchist Communists (NEFAC, or Fédération des Communistes Libertaires du Nord-Est) in the northeastern USA, the Communiste Libertaire in Quebec, Common Cause[1] in Ontario, the Organización Comunista Libertaria (OCL) in Chile, the Federation of Anarchists of Greece (OAE) in Greece, Anarchist Communist Initiative (AKI) in Turkey, Organizacion Socialista Libertaria (OSL) in Argentina, the Federazione dei Comunisti Anarchici (FdCA) in Italy, the Coletivo pró Organização Anarquista em Goiás in Brazil, Grupo Qhispikay Llaqta in Peru, the Libertarian Communist Organization (France) in France, the Alianza de los Comunistas Libertarios (ACL) in Mexico, Melbourne Anarchist Communist Group (MACG) and Sydney Anarchist Communist Trajectory (SACT) in Australia, Liberty and Solidarity in the UK, and the Zabalaza Anarchist Communist Federation (ZACF) in South Africa.

[edit] See also

Especifismo
Russian anarchism
"The Tyranny of Structurelessness", an essay critiquing anti-organisational structures that has influenced platformism^[6]

[edit] References

^ Dielo Trouda group (2006) [1926]. Organizational Platform of the General Union of Anarchists (Draft). Italy: FdCA. http://www.anarkismo.net/newswire.php?story_id=1000. Retrieved 2006-10-24.
^ From section on Tactical Unity in The Platform
^ From section on theoretical unity in The Platform
^ From section on Collective responsibility in The Platform
^ All sourced from the From section Federalism within the Organizational Section of the original document
^ McQuinn, Jason. "The Tyranny of Structurelessness: An organizationalist repudiation of anarchism". Anarchy: A Journal of Desire Armed 54. http://www.geocities.com/kk_abacus/ioaa/tyranny.html.

[edit] External links

Organizational Platform of the General Union of Anarchists (Draft) The most accurate translation of the platform in English
Manifesto of The Libertarian Communists Written in 1953 by Georges Fontenis for the Federation Communiste Libertaire of France. It is one of the key texts of this anarchist-communist current.
A Guide to the Platform based on the older translation
Towards a Fresh Revolution Written by the Friends of Durruti group following the Spanish Civil War, this text is arguably one of the most important Platformist texts ever written. It reaffirms the early calls from the Russian comrades for tactical and theoretical unity, and better organizational practices, and sheds light on the errors in organization during the Spanish Civil War.
Anarkismo.net - Multilingual anarchist news site run by over a dozen platformist organisations on five continents

[Platformtext-0] Dielo Trouda group (2006) [1926]. Organizational Platform of the General Union of Anarchists (Draft). Italy: FdCA. http://www.anarkismo.net/newswire.php?story_id=1000. Retrieved 2006-10-24.

[1] From section on Tactical Unity in The Platform

[2] From section on theoretical unity in The Platform

[3] From section on Collective responsibility in The Platform

[4] All sourced from the From section Federalism within the Organizational Section of the original document

[mcq-5] McQuinn, Jason. "The Tyranny of Structurelessness: An organizationalist repudiation of anarchism". Anarchy: A Journal of Desire Armed 54. http://www.geocities.com/kk_abacus/ioaa/tyranny.html.

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