Authoritarians, Vanguards and Anti-Capitalist Movements An anarchist response to the Socialist Workers Party s criticisms of the anti-capitalist movement in the 2000s.
From Black Flag 220 (2001).
The Socialist Workers Party are targeting anti-capitalist demonstrators as the next `big thing and ideal recruiting fodder. Chris Bamberry, a leading member, puts it dearly enough: The test for the SWP will be how it shapes and directs the anti-capitalist movement. Another, Julie Waterson, knows precisely what they want out of it: A cadre of Bolsheviks, Again the SWP sees working class and radical movements purely as a means of increasing the size and influence of their party. Rather than their politics being informed by the class struggle they see the class struggle as a means of gaining members. Potential new members of the Party are urged to ignore their own experiences within their own movements and to follow instead a set of politics based on the lessons of experiences ga