Chapter 4 preface three

(Preface to reprint in Russian version) This book was written twenty-five years ago for the social transformation of France.At that time, a group of revolutionaries who participated in the First International and the Paris Commune fled to foreign countries after their failures. They witnessed the victory of the reactionary forces and even doubted the possibility of a socialist revolution. At that time there were only two factions that firmly believed in social revolution: the Blanquists, believers in centralism and state communism, and the minority of anarchists in the First International, who insisted on anarchism Communism, (or also called collectivism.) Its purpose is to abolish capital and the state, which I want to explain in this book.

① Followers of Auguste Blanqui (1805—1881), see Note ③ on page 52 of the main text. - translator Of course, I also don't want to describe the correct pattern of social transformation.But I think it is necessary to write out its outline so that ordinary revolutionaries can think ahead about the problems that arise during the social revolution. The ideas explained in this book immediately resonated with working people after the Spanish version of this book was published. "Bread and bread" (this was the title of the book at the time) became the watchword among working people, and especially among anarchists.Moreover, some countries believe that centralization is the greatest evil, so the idea of ​​organizing free communes to carry out social revolution has won the sympathy of most people.

However, the reaction in Europe is inexhaustible, so the social democrats in various countries even tell the laborers that the development of state power is now extremely high, so revolution is impossible, and "capital concentration" has not yet eliminated many capitalists and eliminated small industries and small businesses. Business.Since the rise of this doctrine, the belief in the imminent period of social revolution has gradually died out.Some even among our comrades said that there is no need to discuss the form of the social revolution, and some even said: "I don't know when it will be realized, maybe two hundred years later!"

In fact, the results of the European War in the past five years have proved the error of this thinking.One of the Allied Powers and Germany implemented National Socialism in the midst of the Great War without revolution.During the years of England's war, the state was the supplier of bread, meat, sugar, and other small and large businesses, it managed the railways and coal mines, and it was the main trader in grain.On the other hand, urban self-governing groups in France and Italy began to produce and control food by themselves. Therefore, when the panic struck, European society implemented communism and everyone took what they needed. The speculations in this book have been confirmed one by one.

In addition, the demands of the laborers have also been confirmed. This is an organization in which the workers themselves manage factories and factories and participate in production. This idea was considered utopian before the war, but it has now been recognized by the United Kingdom, that is, the government committee also believes that it is necessary to organize " Labor Council" in order to represent the interests of all industrial workers. Finally, Russia has been trying for more than two years to transform the lives of 150 million people into communism.The biggest mistake in this experiment was produced by the centralization of power and bureaucracy in the country. Therefore, this experiment can prove that the living conditions of the people must be separated from capitalist production and consumption and transitioned to social communism. system.

Human life does not stop because of the first failure. Now all countries are walking in the same direction. (Many countries have already started.) Therefore, the responsibility of every socialist is to do his best for human beings and himself , to seek better social conditions, to achieve a non-capital system, and to avoid the sufferings we now suffer, such as destruction, misery, disease, waste, and the development of bad speculative instincts. In 1864, the First International organized by French and British laborers aimed to break away from the shackles of capitalism and achieve the conditions of communism.

But the bourgeoisie and internal strife caused this International to collapse, and the "Second International" organized later was no longer an organization of working people, but an organ of Social Democratic Party. Its purpose was to "seize power" in the first place. So the social revolution must be aided by the regime.As for the bottom-up transformation we advocate, it is not dependent on the central government, but built by the people themselves, which has been regarded as fantasy. ① The date of the Paris Conference of 1879 is usually regarded as the beginning of the second International Labor Association.However, the Central Organ of the Second International was established in 1800.This is an international group of moderate socialists.The secretariat is located in the Netherlands. - translator

We have never been in power, so do not want to discuss these unresolved issues, just to draw your attention to the following point.That is, since we value the future and want to witness the realization of a real social revolution, we must sincerely study this condition so that the revolution can succeed.What science offers us is the study of the actual forces and possible transformations of society.However, when we study living conditions, we should not learn from books and pamphlets. Instead, we should actually experience them, such as going to villages, factories, factories, railways and mines. We should know the resistance of the old society and understand its firmness. nature, and stimulate the creativity of the new society.

What is pointed out in this book is a possible direction of transformation, and the coordinated production and consumption of the Latin countries must be applied more widely, and the association of communes can solve the problems of the provinces and the whole nation. Another possible tendency, which is also anarchist, is that our syndicalist Comrade Boure ① described in his "How We Carry Out the Revolution" ② to carry out reforms by trade unions organized by workers. The opinion of many syndicalists, I hope that the Russian translation of the book will be published as soon as possible.

At the same time I hope that the conception of social revolution of Proudhon and his American follower Bellamy, as described in the book "Equality", will soon be published in Russian translation (and Greene's brief account of Proudhon A book on his doctrine would also be good).And because Russia now blindly worships the German Social Democratic Party, it is hoped that ordinary people will pay attention to the trend of municipal self-government and Guild socialism in the United Kingdom. ⑦ In addition, the corporatism in Latin countries, that is, the socialization of consumption, must also be paid attention to.

① Emile Pouget (1860-1931) French syndicalist fighter, one of the leaders of the revolutionary syndicalist movement. - translator ②Commentnousferonsla Revolution, this is an ideal novel co-authored by Burre and his comrade E. Pa-taud, with a preface written by Kropotkin on February 27, 1911 at the beginning of the volume. - translator ③The Russian translation was published by Golos Truda in Petrograd and Moscow in 1920, with a new preface written by Kropotkin in April 1920. - translator ④Edward Bellamy (1850-1898), American writer.His most famous work is a novel about an ideal society called Looking Backward (2000-1881). - translator ⑤ Equality is a sequel to "Review", published in June 1897. - translator ⑥I didn't see the original preface of the Russian text, and the old translation of Jarvie was "Kilium", which I suspect refers to William B. The small book Mutual Banking (1850) by Greene (1819-1878), Greene was an American social reformer and author. The author of Native American Anarchism E. M． Schuster says that Greene expresses Proudhonist interdependence in its purest and most systematic form. - translator ⑦Guild Socialism is a kind of socialism that was popular in Britain for a while, and its principle is the so-called "industrial democracy". "Guilt" is the medieval trade guild.But the guilt of the guild socialists implies a new national organization (in terms of branches of industry) adapted to the conditions of modern industry.Production enterprises are managed by workers engaged in the production.But "guilt" coexists and cooperates with the state (the state practicing industrial democracy). - translator A little understanding of the above-mentioned problems is not enough to take land, industry and commerce into public ownership, because life now has to undergo a great change, so if we are still as before, without knowledge of life, all new attempts It is bound to fail. You must know how I feel when I reread this book, that it will be one of the many cornerstones on which the solid house of the new society will be built, an edifice based not on blind obedience to the regime, but on the free cooperation of the masses. author Dmitroff village, June 1919