This pamphlet was originally published by Wildcat in 1986. It comprises articles from the pages of Solidarity, the paper of the Anti-Parliamentary Communist Federation, and commentaries by Wildcat. The articles cover the period 1936 to 1945. In the process they cover the Spanish Civil War and World War Two.

In the words of Wildcat, "This pamphlet chronicles the hidden history of revolutionary opposition to the Second World War through a collection of articles which originally appeared in the APCF's newspaper, Solidarity, between 1939 and 1944. Other articles include contributions from Paul Mattick and Anton Pannekoek.

"The powerful arguments put forward by the APCF to support their case that all out struggle against capitalism is the ONLY meaningful opposition to war are as true and as relevant today as ever before. Their call for the 'destruction of ALL Imperialism by the Proletarian World Revolution' must be taken up to prevent the horrors of the last war being repeated again."

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The following extract, written by Wildcat, provides some background to the APCF:

A Brief History of the APCF

When the Anti-Parliamentary Communist Federation (APCF) was formed in 1921 it was hardly the most auspicious moment to launch a new revolutionary organisation. The defeat of the Italian factory occupation movement in September 1920, the introduction of the New Economic Policy in Russia, and the failure of the 1921 March Action in Germany, were all regarded at the time as signs that the post-war revolutionary wave had begun to ebb. In Britain, unemployment leapt from 1.5% in the autumn of 1920 to 18% by the end of 1921, providing ideal conditions for an "employers offensive": militant shopfloor activists were sacked, and there was a general attack on wages, hours, and working conditions. The miners, in 1921, and the engineers, in 1922, both fought three-months-long struggles to resist attacks on their living standards, but both of these previously most-combative sections of the working class were defeated. At the same time, the state arrested and imprisoned over 100 revolutionaries of one persuasion or another (including Sylvia Pankhurst, Guy Aldred and John MacLean) on various charges of sedition.

Despite this, the APCF was not a stillborn organisation. Formed at the end of one World War, it enjoyed a vigorous if turbulent existence until the end of the next) and deserves to be regarded as just as important a part of our communist heritage as many better-known parties or individuals. Some of the theoretical influences which helped to shape the APCF's ideas, and the activities and politics of the group during the period of the civil war in Spain and the Second World War, are discussed in detail in the Introductions which precede each of the four sections of this pamphlet. In this part we will concentrate on giving a brief outline of the APCF's history in the period prior to that covered by the rest of the pamphlet.

The main strength of the APCF was always on Clydeside, where it united two previously distinct revolutionary currents: the Glasgow Anarchist Group, which had emerged following the break-up of the Socialist League in the mid-1890s, and the Glasgow Communist Group, which had been formed at the beginning of 1913 after Guy Aldred's first visit to the city on a speaking tour. These two groups joined forces under the Anarchist label at the end of 1916. In May 1920 they renamed themselves the Glasgow Communist Group to express their affinity with the Bolshevik revolution and their desire for unity between communists in Britain. The Glasgow Communist Group in turn became the Central Group of the APCF when it was formed the following year. 

From 1923-1929 the APCF published the monthly journal, Commune, supplemented on occasions (such as the 1926 General Strike) by a Special Anti-Parliamentary Communist Gazette. These journals expressed opposition to parliamentary social democracy (that is, in Britain, the Labour Party) and reformist trade unionism, and stressed the need for self-organised working-class activity, direct action, and the formation of workers councils or soviets at moments of revolutionary crisis. 
In 1927 the APCF made renewed contact with the remnants of the Leftor Council communists in Germany and Holland, but the British group, as well as being federalist in its outlook, was never keen to precipitate events by developing these links in any serious, organised form.

In the early 1930s there was & split in the APCF when Guy Aldred a and his followers broke away. Aldred had been strongly impressed by the 'Free Speech' struggle on Glasgow Green in the early thirties, when the APCF, Independent Labour Party, Scottish Workers' Republican Party and others had joined in a successful fight for the right to hold open-air public meetings on the Green without permits from the authorities. From the Free Speech Committee there emerged the Glasgow workers Council of Action, which sought to unite, for revolutionary action, the entire working class through the medium of its various organisations (trade unions, political parties, unemployed group etc.). Aldred promoted the Council of Action idea in his paper, the Council (1931-1933). Other APCF members, such as William McGurn of the Paisley groups were sceptical about it, arguing that in the absence a revolutionary situation the Council of Action would either end - as a purely propagandist group or else be sucked into agitation for partial reformist demands.

Aldred, however, fired with enthusiasm for socialist unity (which his mind was made even more urgent by the rise of fascism on the continent of Europe), continued to advocate the Council of Action. In his Socialist May Special (1934) he announced a departure from the anti-parliamentarian position: not all anti-parliamentarians were socialists (since the fascists were also opposed to parliamentary democracy) and not all socialists were anti-parliamentarians (the ranks of the parliamentary social democrats might well contain genuine socialists). After a short spell in the Independent Labour Party Aldred and his supporters formed the United Socialist Movement in 1934 which, publishing the Word from 1938 onwards, survived into the 1960s.

Although Guy Aldred claimed, somewhat egotistically, that the APCF had "ceased to be a virile organisation" after he had left it, this is not true. For example, in 1935 the group published two pamphlets: The Bourgeois Role of Bolshevism (originally written by the Group International Communists in Holland), and two texts by Rosa Luxemburg which the APCF titled Leninism or Marxism. Both of these were reprinted from the council communist journal International Council Correspondence, which was edited in Chicago by Paul Mattick. This marked the start of several years intermittent debate between the APCF and the United States group, some of the fruits of which are included in the final section of this pamphlet, on PARTY AND CLASS. In 1938 the APCF began publication of the paper Solidarity, which continued to appear throughout the war. With one exception, all the texts in this collection are taken from Solidarity, and thus date from the years after Aldred had left the APCF. As readers will be able to judge for themselves, the immense contribution which these texts made to the communist movement in Britain is a further refutation of Aldred's claim concerning the APCF's lack of "virility".

The full text has been reprinted by Manchester AF. It has been divided into three volumes. The first deals with the APCF's discussions on Principles and Tactics as well as articles related to the Spanish Civil War. The second volume comprises articles written during the Second World war. Finally, Volume Three discusses issues of revolutionary organisation, with articles by Anton Pannekoek, Paul Mattick, Frank Maitland and others.

Each volume costs £2.00 (plus postage), however if all three are ordered together the cost is £4.00 (plus postage).

The pamphlet can be ordered from the page More AF Pamphlets

Alternatively it can be read online here