Reading recommendations: left / council communism

[chilango]

Very cool.

I have some things I've found how can I send them to you in case you've not got them?

Yeah that'd' be cool, ta. pm me.

I've got a big backlog of stuff to convert via calibre, and am keeping the politics pretty narrow mind.

 

[Red Storm]

Over 4GB of leftist books can be downloaded here.

 

[chilango]

Just a quick bump to say that my blog with "ultra-left" ebooks is slowly being updated and although I'm happy enough just adding my favourites please let me have any suggestions/requests/submissions.

Ta.

http://karlandfreddiesbookclub.wordpress.com/

 

[butchersapron]

I want to see a book bloc with jeffrey archer, ludlum, da vinci code etc

 

[chilango]

I want to see a book bloc with jeffrey archer, ludlum, da vinci code etc

Tom Clancy. Lee Child. Even the paperbacks are hefty and disposable.

 

[caleb]

You got 'Punching Out' by Marty Glaberman to put up there? What about some Antagonism stuff?

 

[chilango]

You got 'Punching Out' by Marty Glaberman to put up there? What about some Antagonism stuff?

Don't know "punching out"... Tell me more?

Antagonism. Good shout. Will add to the queue!

 

[frogwoman]

just read this, i thought it was really good and agreed with a lot of it.

http://www.klassenlos.tk/data/pdf/28_theses_on_class_society.pdf

thoughts anyone?

 

[caleb]

There is a new archive of communist stuff (deliberate small c) opening up in london quite soon - loads of autonomist, council communist, left-communist type stuff - and i don't mean a social centre, i mean a funded and curated thing. Last i heard it had the terrible name PRAXIS though.

Any more information on this?

 

[eoin_k]

I think this is what BA was referring to:

http://maydayrooms.org/

 

[butchersapron]

I think this is what BA was referring to:

http://maydayrooms.org/

Yep, that's it, so glad they changed the proposed name. Wary about it being Stevphen Shukaitisised - it may already be too late. When i was invited to be involved it was just supposed to be a working from-below archive, not a jargon and buzz phrase filled academics trendy hang out.

 

[caleb]

Yep, that's it, so glad they changed the proposed name. Wary about it being Stevphen Shukaitisised - it may already be too late. When i was invited to be involved it was just supposed to be a working from-below archive, not a jargon and buzz phrase filled academics trendy hang out.

Sorta screams 'academics into 1970s Italy' to me (and I have to ask - why are there so many of them?), disappointed it seems to only be autonomist related stuff and nothing council communist / left communist. Looks alright though.

What, if any relation do you reckon can be drawn between operaismo / autonomism and the historical ultraleft and groups in that tradtion. I think groups like KpK and Mouvement Communiste draw from both the German /Dutch Left, but groups in the tradition of the Italian Left see operaismo etc. as reformist, social-democratic.

 

[chilango]

Yep, that's it, so glad they changed the proposed name. Wary about it being Stevphen Shukaitisised - it may already be too late. When i was invited to be involved it was just supposed to be a working from-below archive, not a jargon and buzz phrase filled academics trendy hang out.

Well...I guess I'm glad it exists.

But the quickest of glances at that website confirms that

it says nothing to me about my life

.

Real life, as always, is elsewhere.

Oh well.

 

[eoin_k]

Sorta screams 'academics into 1970s Italy' to me (and I have to ask - why are there so many of them?), disappointed it seems to only be autonomist related stuff and nothing council communist / left communist. Looks alright though.

What, if any relation do you reckon can be drawn between operaismo / autonomism and the historical ultraleft and groups in that tradtion. I think groups like KpK and Mouvement Communiste draw from both the German /Dutch Left, but groups in the tradition of the Italian Left see operaismo etc. as reformist, social-democratic.

...
What, if any relation do you reckon can be drawn between operaismo / autonomism and the historical ultraleft and groups in that tradtion. I think groups like KpK and Mouvement Communiste draw from both the German /Dutch Left, but groups in the tradition of the Italian Left see operaismo etc. as reformist, social-democratic.

A lot of the material archived overlaps quite closely, so I wouldn't draw too many conclusions. Midnight Notes/Wages For Housework/Zerowork archives probably all found their way there through the same networks I'd assume. Presumably Dutch/German/French left communist stuff is unlikey to find its way into an English archive as the material will probably be located elsewhere. King mob had a Situationist connection.

Don't understood the bit you have put in bold. Do you mean that left commies would critique autonomism/workerism as reformist? I don't know of a link between workerists/autonomists and left commies. Ex-Trots like Socialisme ou Barbarie and Corrrespondence/Johnson Forrest are the international links they drew on most obviously. Bordigists seem to have been on decline before workerism emerges after 1956

 

[butchersapron]

A lot of the material archived overlaps quite closely, so I wouldn't draw too many conclusions. Midnight Notes/Wages For Housework/Zerowork archives probably all found their way there through the same networks I'd assume. Presumably Dutch/German/French left communist stuff is unlikey to find its way into an English archive as the material will probably be located elsewhere. King mob had a Situationist connection.

Don't understood the bit you have put in bold. Do you mean that left commies would critique autonomism/workerism as reformist? I don't know of a link between workerists/autonomists and left commies. Ex-Trots like Socialisme ou Barbarie and Corrrespondence/Johnson Forrest are the international links they drew on most obviously. Bordigists seem to have been on decline before workerism emerges after 1956

The council commnist tradition had some of their most important people and journals in english - Paul Mattick and Living Marxism and International Council Correspondence for a few exmples. They clearly fit under the rubric.

What do you mean by left-commies? There were always links between the italian-left/bordiguists and autonomists. Socialism or barbarism has bordiguists among it's orginal members. The italian-left did criticise operaisomo and autonomism for various things - reformism wasn't really key amongst them. And the ICP the itlaian left group formed in the death of ww2 had many more members than any operaist groups ever did.

 

[butchersapron]

Sorta screams 'academics into 1970s Italy' to me (and I have to ask - why are there so many of them?), disappointed it seems to only be autonomist related stuff and nothing council communist / left communist. Looks alright though.

What, if any relation do you reckon can be drawn between operaismo / autonomism and the historical ultraleft and groups in that tradtion. I think groups like KpK and Mouvement Communiste draw from both the German /Dutch Left, but groups in the tradition of the Italian Left see operaismo etc. as reformist, social-democratic.

Sorry that i missed this post caleb. Will get back later.

 

[butchersapron]

Sorry forgot again, will try to reply tonight instead. Mayday rooms opening to public Oct 3rd - for two afternoons a week. From the site it's hard to tell what they already have, if you need to book a place or what.

 

[butchersapron]

Sorta screams 'academics into 1970s Italy' to me (and I have to ask - why are there so many of them?), disappointed it seems to only be autonomist related stuff and nothing council communist / left communist. Looks alright though.

What, if any relation do you reckon can be drawn between operaismo / autonomism and the historical ultraleft and groups in that tradtion. I think groups like KpK and Mouvement Communiste draw from both the German /Dutch Left, but groups in the tradition of the Italian Left see operaismo etc. as reformist, social-democratic.

The people who openly place themselves in the italian-left tradition ( So basically the ICT and the ICC) see the operaismo/autonomism current as an example of 'modernism' (in fact, they pretty much call all revolutionary currents still in 'the swamp' as they see it modernists nowadays) that is people they think have abandoned the classic tenets of revolutionary theory/behaviour (central role of working class and their political party etc) under the pressure of modern developments. It's just the old term revisionist re-badged i suppose.This runs right through from their analysis of the hot autumn of ''69 to the late 70s stuff - all about how it (and by extension everyone else, including classical councilists) effectively abandon class (whilst recognising that it is a return od class struggle that produced the ideas/people/groups/etc) and allow the state and the unions and provocatuers to undermine and recuperate class movement. It's very much an external critique and one from holy writ.

 

[love detective]

Mayday rooms opening to public Oct 3rd - for two afternoons a week. From the site it's hard to tell what they already have, if you need to book a place or what.

hosting Libcom's 10th birthday party as well

 

[butchersapron]

Amazing that this went on all that time with so few people even knowing about it, never mind being involved. (and the new place as well etc).

The libcom library new entries are shocking btw

 

[chilango]

Heh.

Just read their "history". Seem to over-inflate people being dicks arguing on the internet to pass the tine into some kind of important debate .

I remember "enrager", must have been a very early poster on it too. Oh well.

Still good on 'em for lasting so long.

 

[butchersapron]

Heh.

Just read their "history". Seem to over-inflate people being dicks arguing on the internet to pass the tine into some kind of important debate .

I remember "enrager", must have been a very early poster on it too. Oh well.

Still good on 'em for lasting so long.

Unfortunate choice of title for that piece too.

http://libcom.org/blog/libcomorg-10-years-class-struggle-online-26092013

No mention of the role this place or the debates here 10 years ago played in the formation either. Like an old untrendy friend you now pretend you never went drinking with.

 

[chilango]

This is an example of serious over-statement IMO.

Around 2003-4, the AYN was deeply divided along red/green lines: between us class struggle anarchists and primitivists, who are opposed to technology. This debate in the AYN and the anarchist movement as a whole played itself out on enrager for some time, and indeed almost defined the forums for a couple of years.

I can't speak for the AYN having never been involved, but in the wider movement the Primmos never constituted a significant pole. Around 94-95 was probably their higher point, with another little wave around 99 cos of Zerzan and the Eugene anarchists. By the time of Enrager it was a handful of individuals, many of whom were no doubt just posturing dicks like myself looking to provoke a row.

It'd be like claiming in a decade's time that the Informalists were a major pole for debate.

 

[Fozzie Bear]

The supposed argument with Class War about the smoking ban was just one member of the group being a bit of an idiot too.

 

[butchersapron]

Sort of related, viewpoint magazine have brought a really good issue on workers inquiry - an approach which formed the basis of much of the practical work of operaismo then autonomism. They've translated a load of really hard to find stuff, including a key text from Lefort that i remember struggling to translate about 20 years ago and failing. One noticable thing as the conceot develops over time is the move from actual workers inquiry to the idea almost becoming focused on educational professionals (i,e profs and what they see as proletarianisation of their experiences) and cultural activists - crabapples and the like with a few call worker or trad process work inquires thrown in (such as the kolinko/brighton one etc that i was involved in years ago). From workers talking for themselves and reflecting on their experiences to Notes for Political Investigation in the Heart of the Paradoxes of Post-Neoliberalism today.

 

[love detective]

a good antidote to that may be this recent offering from recomposition

Half our waking hours are spent on the job, consuming the lion’s share of our time. Our years are woven with stories of work told around the dinner table, breakroom, and bars. Yet these stories are rarely put into print, investigated, or seen as they should be; as part of workers activity to understand and change their lot under capitalism.

Lines of Work offers a rare look at life and social relationships viewed from the cubicle, cash register, hospital, factory, and job site. Drawn from the writings of Recomposition, an online project of worker radicals, the text brings together organizers from a handful of countries sharing their experiences with the trouble of working and fighting back. Rather than professional writers or activists, the authors are workers reflecting on their experiences, aspirations, and how to improve our situation. Through storytelling, they draw out the lessons of workplace woes, offering new paths and perspectives for social change and a new world.

The book will include stories from anonymous workers, Pablo Barbanegra, Juan Conatz, Madeline Dreyfus, Frank Edgewick, Erik Forman, Phinneas Gage, Nate Hawthorne, Invisible Man, JOMO, Dan Knutson, Liberte Locke, Monica Kostas, Nat Kelly, Scott Nikolas Nappalos, Gayge Operaista, Grace Parker, Lou Rinaldi, Al Tucker, and Abbey Volcano.

(a few libcom US posters involved in that)

 

[butchersapron]

Yes, looking forward to reading that. There was a long interesting but flawed piece on their blog sometime last year that i meant to bring up here to see what people thought, but can't seem to find it now.

 

[butchersapron]

The ICT (better known as the CWO over here) have put this handy pamphlet together for frogwoman :

For Communism: An introduction to the politics of the Internationalist Communist Tendency

 

[Delroy Booth]

just read this, i thought it was really good and agreed with a lot of it.

http://www.klassenlos.tk/data/pdf/28_theses_on_class_society.pdf

thoughts anyone?

That's a really interesting read. It's especially important I think because the two main strands of socialist thinking in the last 100 years, social democracy and marxism-leninism/Stalinism, have both replaced the notion of a "indepedent society within bourgeois society" with nationalisation and state control in one form or another. As if politics were on a sliding scale with "Captialism" down one end with 0% of GDP the stat and "Communism" on the other with 100% of GDP public sector, and all we have to do to achieve communism is get that number to 100% either quickly (by revolution invariably led by a vanguard) or gradually (with constitutional reform and Fabians and stuff)

Nationalisation and welfare is within a state-led liberal framework and replicates capitalist property relations, whether that be the welfare state or state capitalism. It does nothing to undermine wage slavery, alienation, commodifcation of soceity, the class system and all the things socialists were historically concerned with. Getting away from that consensus is really something that strikes me as being really important now that those two political tendencies have come to an end.

What I think is worth exploring though is how come the workers movement seemed to move in this direction? Was it all down to WW2, and the relaunching of global capitalism on American lines? What were the historical pressures that led to that change in tactics and the marginalisation of the non-state left? And then the other thing to think about is to be a bit critical of the notion of how autonomous or classless these working-class DIY grassroots mutualism actually where in practice. What were the kinds of power relations within that independent society within a society? And also these things really threaten capitalism and in some cases acted as an adjunct to it, even playing a functional role within it in the same way the black market played a functional role in the soviet bloc in keeping the economic system from imploding. Co-ops and mutals and working mens' clubs aren't something inherently leftist I don't think they're a bit more ambiguous than that, which is I think the source of their appeal to Red Tory/Blue Labour types (like Glasman, Blond and Cruddas)

 

[butchersapron]