Online public meeting convened by Anarchist Communist Group
7pm, April 15th
“Paris is a true paradise! No police, no nonsense,
no exaction of any kind, no arguments! Everything in Paris rolls along like
clockwork. If only it could stay like this forever. In short, it is a beautiful
dream. All social groups are organised federally and are masters of their own
fate”.
Gustav Courbet- artist and revolutionary, April
the 30th, 1871.
Anarchist communists see in the commune a sketch
of how society could be organised. The commune model provides an organisational
basis for creating self-directing, integrated units which when federated with
similar bodies could have a national and even international character. The
Paris and Kronstadt Communes were both brought about under extremely difficult
circumstances and lasted only for a matter of weeks. Despite their
preoccupation of survival, they demonstrated the practicability of the commune
as an organisational form which generated the maximum level of freedom,
solidarity and equality. The commune as a geographical entity can accommodate
both community and workplace anarchy.
This meeting will start with the Paris Commune,
commemorating its 150th anniversary. The grass roots clubs and associations
that sprung up in the neighbourhoods show the perennial capacity of the working
class to create its own organisations.
Then we will consider how the idea of the commune
could inspire our activities today as we struggle to create resilient working
class communities in localities which have been torn apart by divisions created
by capitalism and racism: between work and home, waged and unwaged, old and
young.
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