A-Infos (en) Britain, *Organise! #62 - ORGANISING FOR INTERNATIONAL RESISTANCE

IFA
International of Anarchist Federations  L'internationale des Federations Anarchistes
Internacional de las Federaciones Anarquistas  Internazionale delle Federazioni

The Seventh Congress of the International of Anarchist Federations was held
over the Easter week-end, 2004, in Proudhon's birthplace, Besancon in France.
The IAF was founded in 1968 in Carrarra, Italy
by the Iberian (Spain and Portugal), Italian and
French Federations. These federations
combined several generations of anarchists from
those who fought in the Spanish Revolution to
young people active in the new struggles of the
sixties. In subsequence years, the original three
were joined by Bulgaria (in exile), Argentina and
Germany. This year the IAF has been
significantly expanded with the affiliation of the
Czech and Slovak Federations, the Russian
federation (the Association of Anarchist
Movements- ADA) and ourselves, the Anarchist
Federation of Great Britain.
The collapse of state capitalism in Eastern
Europe has resulted in an upsurge of interest in
anarchism amongst a new generation of militants
looking for an alternative to both capitalism and
Bolshevism. There has been an increase in
anarchist organisations and many of these look
towards the IAF for links with anarchists in
other countries where the tradition of anarchism
has a long history. In addition to the affiliation o
the Czech, Slovaks and Russians, close links
have been established with Belarus, Poland,
Slovenia and Serbia.
The experience of the AF in Britain is in many
ways similar to that of our Czech and Slovak
comrades. Our movement lacks a continual
tradition, embedded in the working class.
Instead, the anarchist movement is small and
fragile, often taking the form of ghettoised
lifestylism with no serious orientation to the
working class. Our contact with the historic
anarchist federations has been an inspiration,
encouraging us in our aim of building a
movement based on the working class in the
community and in the workplace.
However, there are some key differences with
the experience of the federations in Eastern
Europe who have lived through the oppression
of state capitalism and Bolshevism.
Unlike in Britain, where Leninism and
Trotskyism is still influential, the natural home
for anti-capitalist activity in Eastern Europe is
with anarchism, which rejects both capitalism
and any attempt to recreate the state. This
strengthens us in our own analysis of
Bolshevism, in all its guises, as a bankrupt and
dangerous movement which has no place in the
revolutionary transformation of society.

The Congress was very productive and was a
model of libertarian decision-making in action.
Work was done in commissions which allowed
for maximum participation of delegates and then
overall decisions were reached through
discussion, debate and consensus. It resulted in
a number of initiatives to improve the co-
ordination and effectiveness of international
work. Expanding links with Latin America will
be a priority as well as supporting the growing
anarchist movement in Eastern Europe. There
will be a new website, annual magazine and
regular international day of action. The
Anarchist Federation will be contributing to the
work of co-ordinating international activity and
enhancing communication, through its new role
as the Secretariat of the IAF. We look forward
to the opportunity of putting into practice one of
our basic principles- that anarchism can only be
achieved through international struggle and co-
operation.
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