An Anarchist Party

[In Bloom]

Monster Raving Looney Party could have been said to be anarchist

No.

 

[DaRealSpoon]

Always full of groovy guys who are arty-farty.

 

[danny la rouge]

But I don't know of any serious mainstream Anarchist who have ever stood in elections, except perhaps over a local issue.

Well, you know of at least one if you've read the thread.

 

[ViolentPanda]

Has there ever been an anarchist party that stood for election? Whats the closest anarchists have come to having a political party? I'm pretty sure there were some a hundred years ago - why not now? Has there ever been one in Britain?

Not a single party as far as I can recall.

I know many anarchists take the high-ground position that as they seek to overthrow the state, to take part within the parliamentary system is an anathema, but there have been anarchist candidates who have stood for some form of election before, at least on the local level, no?

Yes

Would it be so outrageous to have a unified nation-wide anarchist grouping, who would field candidates at elections etc.?

Difficult, given the number of variants of anarchism, but not, I suppose, impossible.
We'd need a platform...

Correct me if I'm wrong but there are a number of anarchists groupings out there, but there isn't really a single unified body for the country. Why is that?

Because while our principles are similar, different groups prioritise different ideas.

If there were an anarchist party would you be comfortable supporting it?

That'd depend on what their platform was.

I'd like to see the anarchist movement present itself in a more formal way, with policies and manifestos etc., and engaging in 'mainstream' politics. I for one would be for it in principle.

There isn't a movement.

 

[ViolentPanda]

Do you realise how transparently disingenuous you are or do you just completely lack any kind of self-awareness?

He doesn't and he does.

 

[ViolentPanda]

There are a number of punk influenced parties which do stand for election - Monster Raving Looney Party could have been said to be anarchist...

Anarchic.There's a difference.

 

[The39thStep]

Because of…

1.
The values of “normal” people.

2.
The way humans plan and act out behaviour based on their values and beliefs.

3.
The mathematics of collective action.

The 'can do ' culture has never really permeated you has it?

 

[PeterTCA]

a) Voting endorses the legitimacy of parliamentary democracy.

b) Democracy is simply another word for the way elites govern us.

c) Why would I want to support a system I consider to be self-serving and corrupt?

 

[scawenb]

Well, you know of at least one if you've read the thread.

Perhps I didn't think Class War counted as serious - why did they stand? How did they justify it? Never heard of the Bristolian or whether they were serious mainstream anarchists.

I meantioned the MRLP as it depended on how you do define anarchism. I could imagine an ananarchist trying to undermine the legitimacy of parliamentary democracy by making fun of the election campaign or getting the TV broadcast and publicity.

 

[danny la rouge]

Perhps I didn't think Class War counted as serious

Others have been mentioned.

 

[Barking_Mad]

The problem is that people outside anarchism would probably do nothing to get involved if an Anarchist candidate stood on their behalf with the pledge that all decisions would not be made by the candidate but by the local people themselves. Sadly people are lazy/too busy/uninterested and want someone to make decisions on their behalf.

 

[The39thStep]

The problem is that people outside anarchism would probably do nothing to get involved if an Anarchist candidate stood on their behalf with the pledge that all decisions would not be made by the candidate but by the local people themselves. Sadly people are lazy/too busy/uninterested and want someone to make decisions on their behalf.

which, if true, somewhat scuppers anarchism as having any relevance as a political ideology outside of the anarchist scene

 

[TremulousTetra]

Do you realise how transparently disingenuous you are or do you just completely lack any kind of self-awareness?

this doesn't make any sense, you need to expand.

 

[ViolentPanda]

The problem is that people outside anarchism would probably do nothing to get involved if an Anarchist candidate stood on their behalf...

Probably because they have some strange idea that anarchism equates to anarchy.

...with the pledge that all decisions would not be made by the candidate but by the local people themselves. Sadly people are lazy/too busy/uninterested and want someone to make decisions on their behalf.

Which illustrates two things:
1) You have a low opinion of people.
2) Politics has centralised power so successfully in the last 30 years that many people don't have any reference points for taking their futures into their own hands.

 

[ViolentPanda]

which, if true, somewhat scuppers anarchism as having any relevance as a political ideology outside of the anarchist scene

As you say, "if true".

 

[danny la rouge]

2) Politics has centralised power so successfully in the last 30 years that many people don't have any reference points for taking their futures into their own hands.

Indeed. And people look at even local councillors and say "we're too busy to make all those decisions; it's best we leave it to them", missing the point that the vast majority of decisions do not actually have to be taken at all. It's mainly existence-justifying stuff.

 

[el-ahrairah]

An Anarchist Party?

An Anarchist Party would not be Anarchist and still be able to operate as a political party.

 

[kyser_soze]

You could, possibly, create a legislative programme for systematic devolution of power away from state/centralised institutions - I've always thought public housing, local policing and road management could be good starting points to get people thinking again...

 

[JHE]

An Anarchist Party?

An Anarchist Party would not be Anarchist and still be able to operate as a political party.

Coming soon:

• A pacifist army
• A vegetarian slaughter house
• A church of atheism
• A bookless library

In fact, I don't think it is silly to talk about an anarchist party, though I'd expect anarchists to object. I think the FAI was a party, though of course it didn't call itself that.

However, I would expect an anarchist party to be abstentionist. Standing in 'bourgeois' elections may be sensible, but it's not anarchist. Once an anarchist drops abstentionism, he/she has stopped being an anarchist in the traditional sense of the term.

 

[In Bloom]

this doesn't make any sense, you need to expand.

You have an obvious agenda, yet you claim to be simply "questioning" from a "politically unattached" point of view, this indicates either that you are being disingenuous (and transparently so) or that you lack the self awareness to see the relationship between your own agenda and the things that you do and say.

It's not exactly complicated, is it?

 

[ViolentPanda]

Indeed. And people look at even local councillors and say "we're too busy to make all those decisions; it's best we leave it to them", missing the point that the vast majority of decisions do not actually have to be taken at all. It's mainly existence-justifying stuff.

Yep.
When I was growing up, mostly in local authority housing, every estate I lived on (and they ran the gamut from the nice to the grim) had a thriving tenants' association. The double impacts of "Right to Buy" (which caused a fracture into separate associations for residents and tenants in many cases, and a "class divide" that can be hard to bridge) and the centralisation of spending away from local authorities put paid to what was, IMHO, one of the clearest examples of "people power".

 

[ViolentPanda]

You could, possibly, create a legislative programme for systematic devolution of power away from state/centralised institutions - I've always thought public housing, local policing and road management could be good starting points to get people thinking again...

All the examples you mention were originally in the remit of local authorities and should never have been centralised in the first place, especially not the spending aspects.

 

[kyser_soze]

This doesn't surprise me in the slightest...

 

[Barking_Mad]

Probably because they have some strange idea that anarchism equates to anarchy.

Which illustrates two things:
1) You have a low opinion of people.

2) Politics has centralised power so successfully in the last 30 years that many people don't have any reference points for taking their futures into their own hands.

I agree - I was making an observation, not a judgement on people.

 

[ska invita]

Interested to see Ian Bone proposing the creation of a 'Radical Organisation' - anarchist in principle, but that drops the use of the term from all its literature. I wont say more, its only short, so read for yourself here:
WHAT WOULD A NEW RADICAL ORGANISATION LOOK LIKE?

THE RADICAL ORGANISATION: POINT ONE

THE RADICAL ORGANISATION – POINT 2

Details aside this is exactly the kind of thing i would like to see - disparate groups able to unite under a general banner, agreeing on some fundamentals (all parties are coalitions of a spectrum of political views - apart from the 5 UK Communist parties!), leaving behind the baggage of words like ANARCHISM and COMMUNISM and getting down to work. This is realistic - realpolitik if you like. Strategically it would be in the Respect model - pick a community where the position has some resonance and build.

*BNP have done something worth noting over the last 15 years - they recognised that they had to make themselves more palatable to the public, so they got a hair cut, tried to round off the liabilities and got to work in local communities. Theyve had a fair amount of success with that approach.

 

[Nigel]

Has there ever been an anarchist party that stood for election? Whats the closest anarchists have come to having a political party? I'm pretty sure there were some a hundred years ago - why not now? Has there ever been one in Britain?

I know many anarchists take the high-ground position that as they seek to overthrow the state, to take part within the parliamentary system is an anathema, but there have been anarchist candidates who have stood for some form of election before, at least on the local level, no?

Would it be so outrageous to have a unified nation-wide anarchist grouping, who would field candidates at elections etc.?

Correct me if I'm wrong but there are a number of anarchists groupings out there, but there isn't really a single unified body for the country. Why is that?

If there were an anarchist party would you be comfortable supporting it?

I'd like to see the anarchist movement present itself in a more formal way, with policies and manifestos etc., and engaging in 'mainstream' politics. I for one would be for it in principle.

There was some guy who was a building labourer who stood for class war, a group that I was involved in called Class War Organisation/National Communities Alliance came close to standing candidates against BNP.

Historically Malatesta was involved in setting up an Anarchist Party which breifly co-existed with other political denominations until the Anarchists were thrown out.
http://flag.blackened.net/revolt/platform/malatesta_project.html
http://wapedia.mobi/en/Socialist_Revolutionary_Anarchist_Party

Think there have been Anarchist mayors in Italy & Spain, but cannot find anything on this. But there are articles on some who have stood.
http://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2006/02/anarchist-mayor-of-milan.html
http://videosift.com/video/Jello-Biafra-Runs-for-Mayor-of-San-Francisco

Rumours that Organisation Revolutionay Anarchists in the late 1970's/early 1980's toyed with the idea of standing candidates before the majority joined other leftist groups apparentely.
http://libcom.org/forums/organise/organisation-revolutionary-anarchists-23042008?page=1

 

[thegonzokid]

Has anyone mentioned Guy Aldred? He stood on an abstentionist ticket for parliament and Glasgow city council.