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<TITLE>Appendix : Anarchism and Marxism</TITLE>
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<H1>Appendix : Anarchism and Marxism</h1>
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This appendix exists to refute some of the many
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anti-anarchist diatribes produced by Marxists. While
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we have covered why anarchists oppose Marxism in
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<a href="secHcon.html">section H</a>, we thought it
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would be useful to reply to Marxist webpages and
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books whose content is not explicitly
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covered in that section. In this way we hope to
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indicate that Marxism is a flawed theory, flawed
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even to the extent of not being able to present a
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honest critique of anarchism. This consistent attempt
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to smear anarchism and distort its history and ideas
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is no co-incidence -- rather it is required in order
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to present Marxism as the only viable form of socialism
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and, more importantly, to hide the fact that much of
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the populist Marxist rhetoric was, in fact, said by
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anarchists first and latter stolen by Marxists to hide
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the authoritarian basis of their politics.
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One last point. We are aware that we repeat many of our
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arguments in these appendices. That, unfortunately, is
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avoidable for two reasons. Firstly, Marxists usually
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repeat the same false assertions against anarchism and
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so we have to answer them each time they appear. Marxists
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seem to subscribe to the point of view that repeating an
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error often enough makes it true. Secondly, we have tried
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to make each appendix as self-contained as possible and
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that meant repeating certain material and arguments to
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achieve this. We hope the reader understands.
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<li><a href="append3.html#app31">Reply to errors and distortions
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in David McNally's pamphlet <i>"Socialism from Below"</i></a></li></h2>
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<h2><li><a href="append3.html#app32">Marxists and Spanish Anarchism</i></a>
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<h2><li><a href="append3.html#app33">Reply to errors and distortions
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in Phil Mitchinson's <b><i>"Marxism and direct action"</b></i></a>
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<h2><li><a href="append3.html#app34">Reply to errors and distortions in the SWP's <b><i>"Marxism and Anarchism"</i></b></a>
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<h2><li><a href="append3.html#app35">Reply to errors and distortions in John Fisher's <i>"Why we must further Marxism and not Anarchism"</i></b></a>
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<hr align=center width=80% size=4 noshade>
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<a name="app31"><h2><li><a href="append31.html">Reply to errors and distortions
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in David McNally's pamphlet <i>"Socialism from Below"</i>
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<a href="append31.html#app1">1. Introduction</a><br>
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<a href="append31.html#app2">
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2. Is anarchism the politics of the <i>"small property owner"</i>?</a><br>
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<a href="append31.html#app3">
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3. Does anarchism <i>"glorify values from the past"</i>?</a><br>
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<a href="append31.html#app4">
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4. Why are McNally's comments on Proudhon a distortion
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<a href="append31.html#app5">
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5. Why are McNally's comments on Bakunin a distortion
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<a href="append31.html#app6">
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6. Are the <i>"quirks of personality"</i> of Proudhon and Bakunin listed
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by McNally actually rooted <i>"in the very nature of anarchist
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doctrine"</i>?</a><br>
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<a href="append31.html#app7">
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7. Are anarchists against democracy?</a><br>
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<a href="append31.html#app8">
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8. Are Leninists in favour of democracy?</a><br>
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<a href="append31.html#app9">
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9. Why is McNally wrong on the relation of syndicalism
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<a href="append31.html#app10">
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10. Do syndicalists reject working class political action?</a><br>
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<a href="append31.html#app11">
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11. Why is McNally's claim that Leninism supports the principle
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of working class self-emancipation is wrong?</a><br>
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<a href="append31.html#app12">
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12. Why is Marxist "class analysis" of anarchism contradictory? </a><br>
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<a href="append31.html#app13">
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13. If Marxism is <i>"socialism from below,"</i> why do anarchists reject
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<a href="append31.html#app14">
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14. Why is McNally's use of the term <i>"socialism from below"</i>
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<a href="append31.html#app15">
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15. Did Trotsky keep alive Leninism's <i>"democratic essence"</i>?</a><br>
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<a name="app32"><h2><li><a href="append32.html">Marxists and Spanish Anarchism
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<a href="append32.html#app1">1. Were the Spanish Anarchists <i>"Primitive Rebels"</i>?
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<a href="append32.html#app2">2. How accurate is Felix Morrow's book on the Spanish Revolution? </a><br>
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<a href="append32.html#app3">3. Did a <i>"highly centralised"</i> FAI control the CNT?</a><br>
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<a href="append32.html#app4">4. What is the history of the CNT and the Communist International?</a><br>
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<a href="append32.html#app5">5. Why did the CNT not join the Workers' Alliance?</a><br>
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<a href="append32.html#app6">6. Was the October 1934 revolt sabotaged by the CNT?</a><br>
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<a href="append32.html#app7">7. Were the Friends of Durruti Marxists?</a><br>
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<a href="append32.html#app8">8. Did the Friends of Durruti <i>"break with"</i> anarchism?</a><br>
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<a href="append32.html#app9">9. Were the Friends of Durruti influenced by Trotskyists?</a><br>
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<a href="append32.html#app10">10. What does the Friends of Durruti's programme tell us about Trotskyism?</a><br>
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<a href="append32.html#app11">11. Why is Morrow's comments against the militarisation of the Militias ironic?</a><br>
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<a href="append32.html#app12">12. What is ironic about Morrow's vision of revolution?</a><br>
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<a href="append32.html#app13">13. Why do anarchists reject the Marxist "workers' state"?</a><br>
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<a href="append32.html#app14">14. What is wrong with Morrow's <i>"fundamental tenet"</i> of anarchism?</a><br>
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<a href="append32.html#app15">15. Did Spanish Anarchism aim for the creation of "collectives" before the revolution?</a><br>
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<a href="append32.html#app16">16. How does the development of the collectives indicate the differences between Bolshevism and anarchism?</a><br>
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<a href="append32.html#app17">17. Why is Morrow's support for <i>"proletarian methods of production"</i> ironic?</a><br>
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<a href="append32.html#app18">18. Were the federations of collectives an <i>"abandonment"</i> of anarchist ideas?</a><br>
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<a href="append32.html#app19">19. Did the experience of the rural collectives refute anarchism?</a><br>
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<a href="append32.html#app20">20. Does the experience of the Spanish Revolution indicate the failure of anarchism or the failure of anarchists?</a><br>
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<a name="app33"><h2><li><a href="append33.html">Reply to errors and distortions in Phil Mitchinson's <b><i>"Marxism and direct action"</b></i></h2></a>
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<a href="append33.html#app1">1. How does Mitchinson impoverish the politics of the direct action
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<a href="append33.html#app2">2. Does anarchism <i>"juxtapose"</i> theory and action?</a><br>
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<a href="append33.html#app3">3. How does Mitchinson distort the London May Day demo?</a><br>
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<a href="append33.html#app4">4. Do anarchists really think <i>"the bosses will do nothing to defend their system"</i>?</a><br>
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<a href="append33.html#app5">5. How does Mitchinson misrepresent anarchist organisation?</a><br>
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<a href="append33.html#app6">6. How does Mitchinson define anarchism wrongly? </a><br>
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<a href="append33.html#app7">7. Does anarchism reject fighting for reforms? </a><br>
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<a href="append33.html#app8">8. Does anarchism see the state as the root of all problems?</a><br>
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<a href="append33.html#app9">9. Why is Mitchinson wrong about the <i>"Abolishion [i.e. Abolition] of the state"</i>?</a><br>
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<a href="append33.html#app10">10. Why is Mitchinson's comment that we face either <i>"socialism or barbarism"</i> actually undermine his case?</a><br>
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<a href="append33.html#app11">11. Why is Mitchinson wrong to assert anarchists do not believe in defending a revolution?</a><br>
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<a href="append33.html#app12">12. Would the "workers' state" really be different, as Mitchinson claims?</a><br>
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<a href="append33.html#app13">13. Is the Marxist "worker's state" really the rule of one class over another?</a><br>
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<a href="append33.html#app14">14. Why do anarchists reject the Marxist notion of "conquest of power"?</a><br>
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<a href="append33.html#app15">15. What caused the degeneration of the Russian Revolution? </a><br>
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<a href="append33.html#app16">16. Did anarchists reject <i>"the need for organisation in the shape of trade unions"</i>?</a><br>
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<a href="append33.html#app17">17. Why do anarchists reject political activity? </a><br>
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<a href="append33.html#app18">18. How do anarchists struggle for reforms under capitalism?</a><br>
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<a href="append33.html#app19">19. How does Mitchinson distorts the use of the term <i>"Self-reliance"</i>?</a><br>
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<a href="append33.html#app20">20. Is anarchism an example of <i>"Philosophical idealism"</i>?</a><br>
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<a href="append33.html#app21">21. How is Mitchinson's critique self-contradictory? </a><br>
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<a href="append33.html#app22">22. How did Trotsky make the trains run on time? </a><br>
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<a href="append33.html#app23">23. Can centralised planning meet the needs of the whole of society?</a><br>
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<a href="append33.html#app24">24. Is technology neutral?</a><br>
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<a href="append33.html#app25">25. Do anarchists ignore the <i>"strength of the working class"</i>?</a><br>
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<a href="append33.html#app26">26. What does Mitchinson's article tell about the nature of Trotskyism?</a><br>
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<a name="app34"><h2><li><a href="append34.html">
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Reply to errors and distortions in the SWP's <i>"Marxism and
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Anarchism"</i></h2></a>
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<a href="append34.html#app1">1. What does the anti-globalisation movement tell us about the effectiveness of the "vanguard" parties like the SWP?</a><br>
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<a href="append34.html#app2">2. What does the SWP miss out in its definition of anarchism?</a><br>
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<a href="append34.html#app3">3. Why does mentioning the history of anarchism weaken the SWP's argument?</a><br>
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<a href="append34.html#app4">4. How is the SWP wrong about centralisation?
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<a href="append34.html#app5">5. Why does the SWP's <i>"picket line is 'authoritarian'"</i> argument totally miss the point?</a><br>
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<a href="append34.html#app6">6. Why are the SWP's examples of <i>"state functions"</i> wrong?</a><br>
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<a href="append34.html#app7">7. What is ironic about the SWP's comment that workers' councils must <i>"break up"</i> the capitalist state?</a><br>
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<a href="append34.html#app8">8. How do the SWP re-write the history of the Russian Revolution?</a><br>
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<a href="append34.html#app9">9. How do the SWP re-write the history of the Spanish Revolution?</a><br>
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<a href="append34.html#app10">10. Do anarchists ignore the fact that ideas change through struggle?</a><br>
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<a href="append34.html#app11">11. Why do anarchists oppose the Leninist <i>"revolutionary party"</i>?</a><br>
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<a href="append34.html#app12">12. Why do the SWP make a polemical fetish of <i>"unity"</i> and <i>"democracy"</i> to the expense of common sense and freedom?</a><br>
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<a href="append34.html#app13">13. How does the Battle of Prague expose the SWP as hypocrites?</a><br>
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<a href="append34.html#app14">14. Is the Leninist tradition actually as democratic as the SWP like to claim?</a><br>
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<a href="append34.html#app15">15. Why is the SWP's support for centralisation anti-socialist?</a><br>
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<a href="append34.html#app16">16. Why is the SWP wrong about the A16 Washington D.C. demo?</a><br>
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<a href="append34.html#app17">17. Why does the SWP's Washington example refute the SWP's own argument and not anarchism?</a><br>
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<a href="append34.html#app18">18. Why is a "revolutionary party" a contradiction in terms?</a><br>
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<a href="append34.html#app19">19. Do anarchists operate <i>"in secret"</i>?</a><br>
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<a href="append34.html#app20">20. Why is the SWP wrong about Bakunin's organisation?</a><br>
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<a href="append34.html#app21">21. Why is the SWP's attack on Bakunin's organisation ironic?</a><br>
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<a href="append34.html#app22">22. Was the F.A.I. a <i>"centralised and secret"</i> organisation that shunned <i>"open debate and common struggle"</i>?</a><br>
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<a href="append34.html#app23">23. Do anarchists wait for <i>"spontaneous upsurges by workers"</i>?</a><br>
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<a href="append34.html#app24">24. Do anarchists blame workers <i>"for being insufficiently revolutionary"</i>?</a><br>
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<a href="append34.html#app25">
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25. Why does the history of centralised parties refute the SWP's
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<a name="app35"><h2><li><a href="append35.html">
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Reply to errors and distortions in John Fisher's
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<i>"Why we must further Marxism and not Anarchism"</i></h2></a>
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<a href="append35.html#app1">
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1. Why should <i>"the so-called Anarchistic youth of today"</i>
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be concerned that Trotskyists consider them allies? </a><br>
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<a href="append35.html#app2">
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2. What else do people learn about when they discover anarchism
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is more than <i>"utter rebellion"</i>?</a><br>
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<a href="append35.html#app3">
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3. What do anarchists think will <i>"replace the smashed state machine"</i>?</a><br>
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<a href="append35.html#app4">
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4. What did Trotsky and Lenin think must replace the bourgeois state?</a><br>
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<a href="append35.html#app5">
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5. Is the <i>"proletarian 'state'"</i> really a new kind of state?</a><br>
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<a href="append35.html#app6">
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6. Do anarchists <i>"hope the capitalists do not make any attempts
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of counterrevolution"</i>?</a><br>
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<a href="append35.html#app7">
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7. Are Anarchists simply <i>"potential Marxists"</i>?</a><br>
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<a href="append35.html#app8">
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8. Is Marxism a scientific?</a><br>
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<a href="append35.html#app9">
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9. What does the Russian Revolution tell us about Trotskyism?</a><br>
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<a href="append35.html#app10">
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10. Do anarchists reject "leadership"?</a><br>
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<a href="append35.html#app11">
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11. Does the Spanish Revolution show anarchism is flawed?</a><br>
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<a href="append35.html#app12">
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12. Does anarchism believe in spontaneous revolution?</a><br>