Social Anarchism and Organisation by the FARJ

by Federação Anarquista do Rio de Janeiro

English translation of “Anarquismo Social e Organização”, by the Anarchist Federation of Rio de Janeiro (Federação Anarquista do Rio de Janeiro – FARJ)

This document, first published in Portuguese under the title Anarquismo Social e Organização and adopted at the first Congress of the Federação Anarquista do Rio de Janeiro in August 2008, seeks to map out the FARJ’s theoretical conception of an organised, class struggle anarchism and, “More than a purely theoretical document, […] reflects the conclusions realised after five years of practical application of anarchism in the social struggles of our people”.

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Declaration of the Aims and Principles of the Fórum do Anarquismo Organizado (FAO)

The Forum of Organized Anarchism: a Process in the Making. Statement of the Aims and Principles of the Fórum do Anarquismo Organizado (FAO), approved at the 2010 National Meeting, held recently in Porto Alegre. The Fórum do Anarquismo Organizado (Forum of Organized Anarchism – FAO) has existed since 2002 and up to 2010 was a space for networking among individuals, groups and anarchist organizations who agree with two main themes: organization and “social insertion” (work within mass movements). These two bases provided us with theoretical and practical foundations over these past eight years; struggling to organize and organizing to struggle were the slogans used to gather together militants and guide our groups and organizations.

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Struggle to Organize!

“We repeat: without organization, free or imposed, there can be no society, no conscious and desired organization, there can be no freedom nor guarantee that the interests of those in society are respected. And whoever is not organized, whoever does not seek the cooperation of others and does not offer his own, in conditions of reciprocity and solidarity, puts themselves necessarily in a state of inferiority and remains an unconscious cog in the social mechanism that others establish in their own way, and to their advantage.”

Errico Malatesta

The question of organization is very old in the anarchist milieu. Over one hundred years ago Malatesta was already addressing the issue. However much it may seem to us to be a simple matter, there is still much confusion about it and many people who sincerely think that anarchism is against any form of organization, that organization would mean bureaucracy, authoritarianism, etc. This is understandable, after all, as the concrete examples of organization that people know (like authoritarian, centralized, electoral parties) do not encourage anyone to think about it. But it is necessary to break with this, to realize that this is just “a” form of organization and not “the” form.

Theory, Ideology and Historical Materialism

by Internal Education Secretary – Organização Socialista Libertária
São Paulo, Brazil

This is a quick English translation of a text which was produced as a result of theoretical debate by the OSL-SP together with other organizations in the Forum of Organized Anarchism (FAO). It deals with what theory and ideology are and what we understand as materialism.

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Theory and Ideology

1. “Theory aims at the elaboration of conceptual instruments that enable us to think rigorously about and obtain profound knowledge of the concrete reality. It is in this sense that we can speak of theory as being a science.” (Huerta Grande)

2. “Theory is an instrument, a tool, it serves a purpose, it is required if we are to produce the knowledge that we must produce.” (Huerta Grande)

3. Praxis, understood as an objective transformation of the social process, that is to say a transformation of the relations between man and nature (productive praxis) and man and man (revolutionary praxis), is the basis of knowledge, the criterion of the truth and the final goal of theory. This does not mean to say that theory only serves for practice, as it believed by pragmatism with its utilitarian conception, because the relationship between theory and practice is a relationship of dialectic unity where theory is not reduced to practice, but complements it and also allows it to advance, limited only in its accomplishment by human action. (Filosofia da Práxis)

Our Conception of Anarchist Organisation

by Federação Anarquista do Rio de Janeiro – FARJ

We opted for the specific model of organisation – known by other names as “especifismo” or organisationalist anarchism – largely inspired by the Uruguayan Anarchist Federation (FAU). Through the discussions that we had, we came to the conclusion that it would be essential to work with popular social movements, and that, for this, we should create an organisation with an emphasis on militant commitment. An organisation in this model defends some clear positions: the organisation as active minority, the emphasis on the need for organisation, theoretical unity and unity of action, the production of theory, the need for social work and social insertion; an understanding of anarchism as a tool for the class struggle in pursuit of a libertarian socialist project, the differentiation between the levels of political action (the anarchist organisation) and social action (the popular movements), and the defense of a strategically made militancy. Obviously, the organisation was not born functioning with all these concepts, but we have improved our work in this direction, over the years.

Presentation Letter of the Pró-Coletivo Anarquista Organizado de Joinville

(Pro – Organized Anarchist Collective of Joinville)

“… true anarchy cannot exist outside of solidarity, outside of socialism.”
Errico Malatesta

“Idea and action are inseparable, if the idea has ascendancy over the individual; and without action the very idea atrophies.”
Piotr Kropotkin

“Sometimes it is better to fight and get beat up than to run away.”
George Orwell

“Equality before the law is a farce without social equality. We want opportunity for all, not to accumulate millions, but to have a perfectly human life, without inquietudes or freights concerning the future.”
Ricardo Flores Magón

The present document is the first public document of Pró-CAO (Pró – Coletivo Anarquista Organizado / Pro – Organized Anarchist Collective) of Joinville, Santa Catarina, in which we will try to present our project for the construction of an organized anarchist policy with an ideologically revolutionary program.

Interview with the Rio de Janeiro Anarchist Federation

Thierry Libertad / FARJ

An interview with the Rio de Janeiro Anarchist Federation (FARJ), carried out by Thierry Libertad for the virtual journal Divergences, between December 2007 and February 2008.

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Thierry Libertad: What is the FARJ and since when has it existed?

Rio de Janeiro Anarchist Federation (FARJ): The FARJ is a specific anarchist organisation, which was founded on the 30th of August 2003 as the result of a process of organisation and struggle in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, that was initiated decades earlier. The objective, at the time of founding, was to consolidate an anarchist organisation that was seeking to contribute towards the resumption of the social vector, lost in Brazilian anarchism in the decade of the 1930s. At the time of founding we published our “Founding Manifesto” that already affirmed our will to struggle for organised anarchism, inspired by the history of anarchist resistance in Rio de Janeiro. We also published our “Statement of Principles”, in which we define the principles which orientate all of our actions: freedom; ethics and values; federalism; internationalism; self-management; direct action; classism; political practice and social insertion; and mutual aid.

Who we are, what we want, the path we follow

Coletivo Comunista Anarquista (CCA)

Brazilian Anarcho-Communist Group’s Statement of Purpose

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The Coletivo Comunista Anarquista (CCA – Anarchist Communist Collective) is an organizationalist especifist and federalist anarchist political grouping with a horizontal structure that seeks to act as an active minority inside the social movements – without transforming them into “puppet fronts” under the pretext of efficiency, but always seeking to instill into them a combative and revolutionary character.

We are faithful to the principles of direct democracy, self-management, federalism, mutual aid, direct action, revolutionary solidarity, class struggle and self-defence. Our objective is an anarchist communist society, in other words social and economic self-management and political federalism; anarchism therefore has the duty to interfere in the current reality, so as to alter people’s material lives and not only to limit itself to the level of ideas. In order to bring about change within the society in which we live, it is necessary for us to work as an integral part of the various popular struggles, in the neighborhoods, in the factories, in the fields, in the universities, and so on. Because for us “anarchism does not originate in abstract reflections of an intellectual or a philosopher, but in the workers’ direct struggle against capitalism, in the needs of the workers, in their aspirations of freedom and equality, aspirations that become particularly alive in the best heroic period of the life and struggles of the working masses” (the Platform).