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| Call this Choice national | miscellaneous | news report  Thursday April 11, 2002 11:54 by Workers Solidarity Movement - WSM wsm_ireland at yahoo dot com Anarchist anti electoral politics meeting As we get near to the general elections a discussion of the anarchist arguments against electoral politics and what sort of campaign we can mount during the elections. The Teachers club, 36 Parnell Square, 8pm Monday April 15th The general election looms and over the next few weeks we will be assailed with a barrage of promises and pledges from all of the political parties. Yet somehow it seems that these elections come and go, the promises are rolled out, the election passes and things go on the same as ever. So what is wrong with these elections? Anarchists are the only political movement which reject participation in elections completely, so come along to the meeting and hear the anarchist case against elections - why they don?t give people any power over their lives. This meeting will also host the launch of the Workers Solidarity Movement?s anti-election campaign. Our campaign is based around the theme, ?don?t vote, get active?. And we plan to distrubute thousands of leaflets during the campaign arguing that the only real way to have a meaningful participation in the running of our society is to take the power back into your own hands and get active around the issues that affect you, instead of voting and waiting for a politician to sort it out. As part of our campaign we will be promoting several of the campaigns and movements that our memebers are involved in and which we support, including indydmedia, reclaim the streets, the bin charges campaign and residents against racism. We hope that other libertarians will be interested in working alongside us in this campaign, and that we will be able to construct a broad alliance to argue the case against the election. So come along to the Teachers club on Monday and bring your ideas and suggestions as to how anarchists can make their presence felt in this campaign and get our message across. We are hoping that other anarchists will co-operate with us in this campaign and that if there are any other plans for opposition to the election campaign that we can join together and co-ordinate our activities for greater impact. The Teachers club, 36 Parnell Square, 8pm Monday April 15th _______________________________________________ ainriail mailing list [email protected] http://www.struggle.ws/mailman/listinfo/ainriail
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Comments (14 of 14)
Jump To Comment: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14oh yes
If Parliament, elected to carry out the wishes of the electors on one question, chooses to act in a manner contrary to the wishes of the electors in a dozen other questions, the electors have no redress except to wait for another general election to give them the opportunity to return other gentlemen under similar conditions and with similar opportunities of evil-doing.
The democracy of Parliament is in short the democracy of Capitalism. Capitalism gives to the worker the right to choose his master, but insists that the fact of mastership shall remain unquestioned; Parliamentary Democracy gives to the worker the right to a voice in the selection of his rulers but insists that he shall bend as a subject to be ruled. The fundamental feature of both in their relation to the worker is that they imply his continued subjection to a ruling class once his choice of the personnel of the rulers is made.
But the freedom of the revolutionist will change the choice of rulers which we have to-day into the choice of administrators of laws voted upon directly by the people; and will also substitute for the choice of masters (capitalists) the appointment of reliable public servants under direct public control. That will mean true democracy – the industrial democracy of the Socialist Republic.
James Connolly
Campaign in Wood Quay Ward
The Connolly quote is interesting but dates from a period when the left had never managed to form a government. With the benefit of historical hindsight we can see that the parliamentary system was well desinged by our rulers to corrupt individuals or otherwise marginalise them.
Anarchists oppose standing for parliamentary elections though for an additional and more fundamental reason. We want a society without rulers, we cannot reach that society by becoming rulers oursleves, no matter how critical we may be of the process by which we do so.
Do you honestly believe that Joe Higgins is a 'ruler'? Just interested.
Only when the working class smashes Capitalism will it be gotten rid of i agree but does that mean we cannot vote if we want?
Why not vote AND get active?
BTW, where can i get copies of the WSM paper in Galway?
Hi Anglea,
I don't belive we mentioned Joe Higgins anywhere but as you ask.
Joe is now a TD. This means he gets to spend time sitting in the Dail and to speak and vote on certain issues. The Dail, amongst other things, passes the laws by which the rest of us live (or get locked up, fined etc). This is by any definition ruling over us.
Now I don't know Joe's voting record but I'm pretty sure he votes in a way that he seeks to protect workers rights etc. So yes he's part of the system ruling over us but perhaps a part that casts 'nice' votes about how we should be ruled rather then 'nasty' votes. If you see being ruled as inevitable then of course this is a good thing, after all better a nice boss then a nasty boss. But if you don't want to be ruled then the question of which way Joe votes is not so relevant compared to the fact that he is there.
Anarchists don't want nice bosses, they want to abolish the boss system. This applies to the workplace and the current system of political representation. In our opinon any version of socialism that maintains a boss system (eg Bolshevik Russia) just leads back to class society. Also of course we belive the ends you acheive in the fight for a free society are intimately connected to the means you use.
BTW the above is a gross simplification of the anarchist argument, for a long and detailed versions see
Parliament or Democracy
http://struggle.ws/once/pd_intro.html
I'm not aware of any shops that distribute Workers Solidarity in Galway although I think there may be some individuals that do. If you want to take out a sub or take copies to distribute let us know at [email protected]
Not sure I'd agree with you there, Andrew
Joe Higgins sits in the Dail, a place from where the rules come. Maybe Joe and the SP genuinely beleive that if they could gain power through the dail they would hand it back over to the people and become our loyal and subservient servants. I don't. I'd say that a cursory look at human history would suggest that when groups achieve power they never just hand it over. Power corrupts and this stands as true for anarchists as for anyone else. Anarchists aim for a world where nobody has the right to make decisions on anybody else's behalf. By voting for a better ruler we just dig ourselves deeper into the culture of dependancy and powerlessness.
Monbiot, on the other hand, is just a wally who really doesn't have a clue when it comes to politics.
Badman
Just a quick correction to an interesting debate.
The Socialist Party does not think that we can gain power through the Dail and then hand it back. We don't think that either we or the working class can gain power through the Dail at all.
The Dail is a useful platform for us to spread our ideas from. That's all.
To gOLDEN aUTONOME
I'm posting my opinons here, others in the WSM might agree or disagree. We are not a leninist party where evey word uttered must be in accorance with the leaders line.
On the issue itself it all depends what you mean by ruling class. As I said if your definition is based on being part of the process by which decisions are made which effect how everyone elses lives are conducted then Higgins obviously takes part in this process. And my comment on Monbiot was more motivated by this tiresome 'so and so I don't agree with is middle class'. In family terms Monbiot is the son of a rather obvious members of the ruling class, the chairman of the Tory party. His job is also the production of ideology on a mass basis. As I posted previously the fact he is a dissident of sorts doesn't really change this.
To an extent I am just taking the piss here, the real core of the ruling class isn't in the Dail or academia but in the boardroom. But it is important for socialists to realise then when you take a step into making decisions for tens of thousands or even millions of others you are stepping away from the working class and into the ruling class. Of course your ideas can still be right on or at least all right. Sure some of the founders of anarchism were minor nobles in Russia!
FELLOW WORKERS,
Having been asked by the United Labourers of Dublin Trade Union to stand as Labour Candidate for this Ward, and as the majority of the members of that body live in this Ward, and their request has since been endorsed by a large number of other electors I have consented to allow my name to go forward for your suffrages.
As a member of the Irish Socialist Republican Party I endorse the national and municipal programme and policy of that body; that is to say I believe that in Ireland, as in the remainder of the world to-day, there are but two classes,
THE MASTER CLASS AND THE WORKING CLASS,
and that the Master Class live upon the labour of the Working Class, and use all the powers of government, nationally and municipally, in their own interest and against those who labour.
It is therefore, I believe, the duty of the workers to organise as a distinct party to put an end to this oppression by electing men drawn from their own ranks, conscious of their own interests and determined to defend them, on all bodies having the power either to make or to administer laws; the power of such bodies to be used consistently towards putting an end to the capitalist system of society, and making the Irish people really and fully the owners of Ireland, which is what is meant by an
IRISH SOCIALIST REPUBLIC.
The United Irish Leaguers have supported the Socialist candidate at North East Lanark in Scotland, and are supporting the Socialist candidate at Dewsbury, England; in opposing Socialist candidates in Dublin they are only acting in the inconsistent and treacherous manner that has marked their history from the beginning.
If elected I will consider it my duty to act in the interest of the class to which I belong – the Working Class; the interest of the other classes are too well looked after already. The Corporation of Dublin is at present ruled exclusively in the interest of the middle class, and it is the rule of the middle class in the towns, as of the aristocracy in the country, which has made life so miserable for the Irish worker. The landed aristocracy are the oppressors in the rural districts, and in the towns the Middle Class take advantage of our necessities to drive down wages and force up rents that they may profit whilst the people starve. Labour, first, last and always shall therefore be my especial care.
As a Republican in politics I consider that all bodies in the elective power of the democracy should be used for the organising of the sentiment of the Irish people against all forms of foreign rule – from the monarch to the capitalist.
I am a member of the Dublin Trades’ and Labour Council, and my candidature has received the hearty endorsement of the most trusted representatives of Labour in the city.
I append herewith the programme of reforms for which I shall agitate if returned.
Trusting to receive your hearty support at the polls on January next,
I remain, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Yours in the cause of Labour,
JAMES CONNOLLY
I think you are right that if you don't like the system or the candidates you shouldn't vote for them.
But I think that you should still register to vote and then turn up on the day and spoil your vote by writing your opinion on the ballot paper.
If all the people who dislike the system simply sit at home and allow a regular low turn out, then the media will just call it apathy, and the results will still be seen as legitimate.
"Other people have no right to complain if they didn't participate in the democratic process".
In some constituencies, less than half the people vote. (of course some of this is due to midweek voting)
But imagine if all the anarchists, cycnics, etc came out and spoiled the ballot paper, and wrote "no one good enough to elect" on the paper.
Instead of 50% voting and candidates winning 10% -20% of the vote each, and calling themselves 'representatives'.
Just think of the message if 90% of registered voters came out and 40% of them gave that message in the ballot paper! Surely that do a lot to erode the claim of any politcian that they have a 'popular mandate' from the people.
So I urge you all, if you don't want to vote the b@stards in, use your ballot paper to let them know you don't want them. Don't let it be any way unclear.
Regards,
Tim.
Angela:
"Only when the working class smashes Capitalism will it be gotten rid of i agree but does that mean we cannot vote if we want?"
I think the point is not so much "Don't Vote", but using the election as an opportunity to put forward a critical view of "representative democracy" and authority politics in general and holding up direct action as the real alternative to follow.
There is a contradiction between direct action (under the control of the people) and electing somebody (giving them control), but at the end of the day whether you personally vote or not is not a major issue, IMHO.
That said I do like to see nobody voting, nobody getting a lot of votes and nobody winning elections.
Radical parties, independants, etc..
just add credibilty to a political system which ought to be, and increasingly is, viewed as a total farce.
I'll be moving to Galway shortly so if your into anarchy get in touch as I'd like to find out what there is over there and maybe start something up if there isn't anything.
P.S. MR. Golden Autonome I find it very amusing the way Leninists, having a totally bogus view of what anarchism is, deal with the contradication between what they can see anarchists are and what 'Socialist Review' et al tell them anarchists are, by claiming anarchists are in fact Leninists!
Tim's point has maybe a certain amount of validity, all spoilt votes are retained and messages recorded later. ( famous 'Dustin' vote thing here)
However the new electronic voting system which is being run in three constituencies this year promises to rule out completely the possibility of a spoilt vote.
So if you are going to spoil make it this time because you will now have an opportunity to do so next time.
Just to say I agree with those who say it is important to spoil your vote rather then to just stay at home. That said I'm more interested in using the elections to get the anarchist argument out rather then builidng a big spolit vote for its own sake.