Red & Anarchist Action Network
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The Red & Anarchist Action Network is a loose organization of autonomous individuals who subscribe to revolutionary anarchist and libertarian (that is, anti-state, anti-Leninist) communist ideals. The Network was initially formed in May 2002 by the joining of a communist and an anarchist website onto one internet forum, with the intention of creating a "Red & Anarchist News Network." Soon, participants in the online form decided as opposed to having another leftist newsite out there, they wanted to be united in action. In late 2002, RAAN's founding document, Principles & Direction, a cooperatively and openly written set of principles for the network, was released.[1] Since late 2002, the Red & Anarchist Action Network (RAAN) has been constructing an alternative model of revolutionary (dis)organization that has united anti-authoritarians from deep ecologists to anti-state Marxists in a horizontal network consisting entirely of autonomous affiliated action.[2]
[edit] Defining 'Communism'
RAAN has gathered notoriety within the traditionally established "communist" movement for its complete rejection of Leninism and all other forms of vanguardism. This stems from its attempt to unify both communists and anarchists in action, which RAAN argues the inclusion of authoritarians inherently threatens.
From the Principles & Direction:
If there have indeed been problems between communists and anarchists in the past, then Leninism has played no small part in fomenting them. True communists, who have always opposed hierarchies and the state, have long struggled to set the historical record straight in regards to the co- opting of Marx's "legacy" (and indeed, the very word communism!) by those who would wish to use it as a mask behind which to carry on with their statist and authoritarian schemes. As a result, we are committed to a full and uncompromising rejection of vanguardism.
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As spelled out above, RAAN does not recognize Leninists as being communists, or even Marxists; but the worst perverters of these tendencies. In attempting to create true red and black (that is, communist and anarchist) unity, it is necessary to clearly exclude sundry authoritarians who may otherwise pose a threat to the original direction of the organization. RAAN is also committed towards upholding what we see as the true and original tradition of communism.
Over the course of writing this platform, several Leninists and Trotskyists (who had mistakenly joined the project thinking that RAAN would be accepting to their ideologies) attempted to hijack the process by injecting their particular bourgeois dogmas and historical falsifications into it. As a result of the ensuing debate, it became clear to us that, in dealing with red and anarchist unity, we would at all times have to be very specific as to what we defined as "red"; and even more so as to what we did not define as red. Therefore, this section has been expanded on in order to reflect this and make clear our positions towards those in the authoritarian Left.
Although some members of RAAN may hold sympathy for some of Lenin's ideas, the network will always remain free of both hierarchy and elitist vanguardism. We believe this to be the best defense against Leninism. [3]
This rejection of Leninism as a central tenet of RAANismo has manifested itself in a variety of ways, ranging from the creation of simple propaganda, such as the flyer entitled Fuck Lenin; to the vandalization of the Maoist vanguard Revolutionary Communist Party's bookstores in New York City and Cambridge, Massachusetts, which, when reported to the Independent Media Center, garnered many comments of support.[4]
[edit] References
- Anonymous Worker "Principles & Direction of RAAN", A-Infos, July 2, 2003, retrieved October 17, 2006.
- Anonymous "Defining the Red & Anarchist Action Network", Free Mind Media, September 9, 2005, retrieved October 17, 2006.
- Revolution Books, Cambridge "Vandalism at Revolution Books", Boston Independent Media Center, September 3, 2005, retrieved October 17, 2006.
