A common Marxist claim is that anarchists and syndicalists ignore or dismiss the importance of "political" struggles or action. This is not true. Rather, as we discuss in section J.2.10, we think that "political" struggles should be conducted by the same means as social and economic struggles, namely by direct action, solidarity and working class self-organisation.
As this is a common assertion, it is useful to provide a quick summary of why anarchists do not, in fact, reject "political" struggles and action as such. Rather, to quote Bakunin, anarchism "does not reject politics generally. It will certainly be forced to involve itself insofar as it will be forced to struggle against the bourgeois class. It only rejects bourgeois politics . . . [as it] establishes the predatory domination of the bourgeoisie." [The Political Philosophy of Bakunin, p. 313] For Kropotkin, it was a truism that it was "absolutely impossible . . . to confine the ideas of the working mass within the narrow circle of reductions in working hours and wage increases . . . The social question compels attention." This fact implied two responses: "the workers' organisation propels itself either into the sterile path of parliamentary politics as in Germany, or into the path of revolution." [quoted by Caroline Cahm, Kropotkin and the rise of Revolutionary Anarchism, 1872-1886, p. 241]
So while Marxists often argue that anarchists exclusively interested in economic struggle and reject "politics" or "political action," the truth of the matter is different. We are well aware of the importance of political issues, although anarchists reject using bourgeois methods in favour of direct action. Moreover, we are aware that any social or economic struggle has its political aspects and that such struggles bring the role of the state as defender of capitalism and the need to struggle against it into focus:
"There is no serious strike that occurs today without the appearance of troops, the exchange of blows and some acts of revolt. Here they fight with the troops; there they march on the factories; . . . in Pittsburgh in the United States, the strikers found themselves masters of a territory as large as France, and the strike became the signal for a general revolt against the State; in Ireland the peasants on strike found themselves in open revolt against the State. Thanks to government intervention the rebel against the factory becomes the rebel against the State." [quoted by Caroline Cahm, Op. Cit., p. 256]
As Malatesta argued, from "the economic struggle one must pass to the political struggle, that is to struggle against government; and instead of opposing the capitalist millions with the workers' few pennies scraped together with difficulty, one must oppose the rifles and guns which defend property with the more effective means that the people will be able to defeat force by force." [Life and Ideas, pp. 193-4] So anarchists are well aware of the need to fight for political issues and reforms, and so are "not in any way opposed to the political struggle, but in their opinion this struggle, too, must take the form of direct action, in which the instruments of economic [and social] power which the working class has at its command are the most effective. The most trivial wage-fight shows clearly that, whenever the employers find themselves in difficulties, the state stops in with the police, and even in some cases with the militia, to protect the threatened interests of the possessing classes. It would, therefore, be absurd for them to overlook the importance of the political struggle." [Rudolf Rocker, Anarcho-Syndicalism, p. 65]
This means that the question of whether to conduct political struggles is not the one which divides anarchists from Marxists. Rather, it is a question of how this struggle is fought. For anarchists, this struggle is best fought using direct action (see section J.2) and fighting working class organisations based in our workplaces and communities. For Marxists, the political struggle is seen as being based on standing candidates in bourgeois elections. This can be seen from the resolution passed by the socialist ("Second") International in 1893. This resolution was designed to exclude anarchists and stated that only "those Socialist Parties and Organisations which recognise the organisation of workers and of political action." By "political action" it mean "that the working-class organisations seek, in as far as possible, to use or conquer political rights and the machinery of legislation for the furthering of the interests of the proletariat and the conquest of political power." [quoted by Susan Milner, The Dilemmas of Internationalism, p. 49] Significantly, while this International and its member parties (particular the German Social Democrats) were happy to expel anarchists, they never expelled the leading reformists from their ranks.
So, in general, anarchists use the word "political action" to refer exclusively to the taking part of revolutionaries in bourgeois elections (i.e. electioneering or parliamentarianism). It does not mean a rejection of fighting for political reforms or a lack of interest in political issues, quite the reverse in fact. The reason why anarchists reject this tactic is discussed in section J.2.6 ("What are the effects of radicals using electioneering?"), which means we will give a short summary here.
Simply put, for anarchists, the net effect of socialists using bourgeois elections would be to put them (and the movements they represent) into the quagmire of bourgeois politics and influences. In other words, the parties involved will be shaped by the environment they are working within and not vice versa. As Bakunin argued, the "inevitable result" of electing workers into bourgeois state would be to see them "become middle class in their outlook" due to them being "transferred to a purely bourgeois environment and into an atmosphere of purely bourgeois political ideas." This meant that as "long as universal suffrage is exercised in a society where the people, the mass of workers, are economically dominated by a minority holding exclusive possession the property and capital of the country . . . elections . . . . can only be illusory, anti-democratic in their results." [Op. Cit., p. 216 and p. 213] This meant that "the election to the German parliament of one or two workers . . . from the Social Democratic Party" was "not dangerous" and, in fact, was "highly useful to the German state as a lightning-rod, or a safety-valve." Unlike the "political and social theory" of the anarchists, which "leads them directly and inexorably to a complete break with all governments and all forms of bourgeois politics, leaving no alternative but social revolution," Marxism, he argued, "inexorably enmeshes and entangles its adherents, under the pretext of political tactics, in endless accommodation with governments and the various bourgeois political parties — that is, it thrusts them directly into reaction." [Bakunin, Statism and Anarchy, p. 193 and pp. 179-80] In the case of the German Social Democrats, this became obvious in 1914, when they supported their state in the First World war, and after 1918, when they crushed the German Revolution.
For Kropotkin, the idea that you could somehow "prepare" for a revolution by electioneering was simply a joke. "As if the bourgeoisie," he argued, "still holding on to its capital, could allow them [the socialists] to experiment with socialism even if they succeeded in gaining control of power! As if the conquest of the municipalities were possible without the conquest of the factories." He saw that "those who yesterday were considered socialists are today letting go of socialism, by renouncing its mother idea ["the need to replace the wage system and to abolish individual ownership of . . . social capital"] and passing over into the camp of the bourgeoisie, while retaining, so as to hide their turnabout, the label of socialism." [Words of a Rebel, p. 181 and p. 180]
Ultimately, the bourgeois tactics used ended up with bourgeois results. As Emma Goldman argued, socialism "was led astray by the evil spirit of politics" and "landed in the [political] trap and has now but one desire — to adjust itself to the narrow confines of its cage, to become part of the authority, part of the very power that has slain the beautiful child Socialism and left begin a hideous monster." [Red Emma Speaks, p. 80] The net effect of "political action" was the corruption of the socialist movement into a reformist party which betrayed the promise of socialism in favour of making existing society better (so it can last longer). This process confirmed Bakunin's predictions as well as Kropotkin's comments:
"The middle class will not give up its power without a struggle. It will resist. And in proportion as Socialists will become part of the Government and share power with the middle class, their Socialism will grow paler and paler. This is, indeed, what Socialism is rapidly doing. Were this no so, the middle classes . . . would not share their power with the Socialists." [Evolution and Environment, p. 102]
In addition, as we argue in sections H.1.5 and J.2.5, direct action is either based on (or creates) forms of self-managed working class organisations. The process of collective struggle, in other words, necessitates collective forms of organisation and decision making. These combative organisations, as well as conducting the class struggle under capitalism, can also be the framework of a free society (see section H.1.4). However, standing in elections does not produce such alternative social structures and, indeed, hinders them as the focus for social changes becomes a few leaders working in existing (i.e. bourgeois) structures and bodies.
As can be seen, anarchists reject "political" struggle (i.e. electioneering) for good (and historically vindicated) reasons. This makes a mockery of Marxists assertions (beginning with Marx) that anarchists like Bakunin "opposed all political action by the working class since this would imply 'recognition' of the existing state." [Derek Howl, "The Legacy of Hal Draper," International Socialism, no. 52, p. 147] This, in fact, is a common Marxist claim, namely that anarchists reject "political struggle" on principle (i.e. for idealistic purposes). In the words of Engels, Bakunin was "opposed to all political action by the working class, since this would in fact involve recognition of the existing state." [Marx, Engels and Lenin, Anarchism and Anarcho-Syndicalism, p. 49] Sadly, like all Marxists, he failed to indicate where, in fact, Bakunin actually said that. As can be seen, this was not the case. Bakunin, like all revolutionary anarchists, reject "political action" (in the sense of electioneering) simply because they feared that such tactics would be counterproductive and undermine the revolutionary nature of the labour movement. As the experience of Marxist Social Democracy showed, he was proved correct.
In summary, while anarchists reject standing of socialists in elections ("political action," narrowly defined), we do not reject the need to fight for political reforms or specific political issues. However, we see such action as being based on collective working class direct action organised around combative organs of working class self-management and power rather than the individualistic act of placing a cross on a piece of power once every few years and letting leaders fight your struggles for you.