Written: 1917; Source: The Class Struggle Vol I., No. 1, May-June, 1917; Translated: Lily Lore; Transcription: Sally Ryan for marxists.org, June 2002.
While the war is in progress, the highest duty of the socialist
proletariat is the fight for its speedy conclusion. But even when peace has been
declared, his struggle is not finished. For the effects of the war remain. New
problems arise, and must be met.
When the soldiers return to their homes, new misery and new want are grinning
at them. Awful as have been the sufferings that war has brought, in one respect
the lot of the proletarians is still worse in times of peace. In war times the
workers are needed; the bourgeoisie needs their enthusiasm, their willingness to
sacrifice, t... (From: Marxists.org.) Source: Controversies: Forum for the Internationalist Communist Left First Published: Anthropogenesis A Study Of The Origin Of Man By Ant. Pannekoek Sc. D. Professor University of Amsterdam; 1953 North-Holland Publishing Company Amsterdam Written: 1944, under German Occupation of Holland; Markup, Editing, Formatting: Controversies: Forum for the Internationalist Communist Left and D. Walters for the Marxists Internet Archive.
Preface
The present study on Anthropogenesis was written during the war, in 1944, when through the German occupation of Holland ordinary scientific work was greatly impeded.
Since the German Military Government had forbidden all publication in English and French, the Amsterdam Academy of Sciences decided that a... (From: Marxists.org.) Source: ? Published: In Reichenberg, 1912, under the title "Klassenkampf und Nation". Transcriber: Collective Action Notes (CAN) HTML: Jonas Holmgren
Contents:
Introduction
The Nation and its Transformations
The Bourgeois Conception and the Socialist Conception
The Nation as Community of Fate
The Peasant Nation and the Modern Nation
Tradition and the Human Mind
Our Task
The Nation and the Proletariat
Class Antagonism
The Will to Form a Nation
The Community of Culture
The Community of Class Struggle
The Nation in the State of the Future
The Transformations of the Nation
Socialist Tactics
Nationalist Demands
Ideology and Class Struggle (From: Marxists.org.) Published: International Council Correspondence, vol. 2, no. 6. May 1936. Originally appeared in Dutch as "Communisme en godsdienst" in Persdienst van de groep van Internationale Communisten in April 1936. The article was published without attribution, but Pannekoek's personal notes make the authorship clear. For more information see the Association Archives Antonie Pannekoek. Note: The original text contains inconsistent capitalization and erroneous or unusual spellings. It has been noted that "Pannekoek strongly objected to correction of his somewhat peculiar English." Transcription/Markup: Micah Muer, 2017.
I.
The fierce struggle which Bolshevism has waged and is still waging against
religion in Russia is particularly well adap... (From: Marxists.org.) Source: Left, No 132, October 1947, p. 225-228.
The first world war and the ensuing Russian and German
revolutions raised new problems and brought about profound changes in the ideas
of workers and Socialists. The German Socialist Party, the apparently powerful
organization ready to conquer political dominance and thereby to establish
Socialism, when in power turned out a means for reestablishing capitalism. In
Russia the workers had beaten down Czarism and taken possession of the factories
and the land; now State Capitalism brought them into stricter slavery under a
new master class. And not reformism only was to be blamed; the most notable
spokesmen of uncompromising radicalism, renowned as Marxists, such as Kautsky
and Lenin... (From: Marxists.org.) Published: in Persdienst van de Groep van Internationale Communisten, no. 7, 1933.[1] Source: Endpage.com. Transcription/Markup: Einde O’Callaghan for the Marxists’ Internet Archive; reformatted by Micah Muer, 2019. Reformatting/Proofreading: Micah Muer, 2019.
The assessment of the burning of the Reichstag in the left
communist press once again leads us to raise other questions. Can destruction be
a means of struggle for workers?
First of all, it must be said that no one will cry over the disappearance of
the Reichstag. It was one of the ugliest buildings in modern Germany, a pompous
image of the Empire of 1871. But there are other more beautiful buildings, and
museums filled with artistic treasures. When a desperat... (From: Marxists.org.) There are numerous complaints in the scientific literature about the
increasing destruction of forests. But it is not only the joy that every
nature-lover feels for forests that should be taken into account. There
are also important material interests, indeed the vital interests of
humanity. With the disappearance of abundant forests, countries known in
Antiquity for their fertility, which were densely populated and famous
as granaries for the great cities, have become stony deserts. Rain
seldom falls there except as devastating diluvian downpours that carry
away the layers of hummus which the rain should fertilize. Where the
mountain forests have been destroyed, torrents fed by summer rains cause
enormous masses of stones and san... (From: Marxists.org.) Published: Bulletin of the Provisional Bureau in Amsterdam of the Communist International, vol. 1, no. ?. February 1920. Transcription/Markup: Micah Muer, 2017.
These differences can partly be traced back to the days of the rise of
Communism. The opposition in Germany during the war, against the government and
social democracy, had its origin in various centers and in various ways. K.
Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg (with Fr. Mehring) maintained an unflinching and
inexorable opposition against the war-policy, by means often of illegal
writings, and were therefore kept in prison most of the time. The "Spartacus"
group which they created constituted the extreme left wing of the "Unabhängige
Sozialistische Partei" (the U.S.P., w... (From: Marxists.org.) Published: The New Review, vol. 2, no. 11. November 1914. Transcription/Markup: Micah Muer, 2017.
I.
Exactly half a century has passed since the International Workingmen's
Association was founded in London under the leadership of Karl Marx. It went to
pieces after the Franco-Prussian War of 1870 and the Paris Commune. Exactly a
quarter of a century ago, at the Congress of 1889 in Paris, the new
International was founded. This year the Congress at Vienna was to celebrate the
double anniversary. But just a month before it was to take place the firebrand
of international war was tossed into Europe from Vienna. With the outbreak of
the European War, the new International, too, is disrupted.
When the old International was found... (From: Marxists.org.) Published: International Socialist Review, vol. 12, no. 9, March 1912. Translation: William E. Bohn. Transcription/Markup: Micah Muer, 2017. The elections to the German Reichstag have resulted in a great victory for
the Social Democratic Party. In 1907 the Socialists entered the national
assembly with 43 members, and by means of victories at by-elections this number
was raised to 53. The great electoral battle of 1912, however, gives us quite a
different story to tell. The first ballot, on January 12, gave the Socialists 67
seats, of which 25 represent newly conquered districts. The party of the
working-class was, moreover, left as contestant in 121 reballotings. The second
elections have netted 43 seats. Thus the Social Democratic ... (From: Marxists.org.) Publication: Politics, Vol. III, No 8, September 1946, p. 270-272; Transcribed: by David Walters/Greg Adargo, December, 2001; Source: Kurasje Council Communist Archives.
In former issues of Politics the problem has been posed: Why did the
working class fail in its historical task? Why did it not offer resistance
to national socialism in Germany? Why is there no trace of any revolutionary
movement among the workers of America? What has happened to the social
vitality of the world working class? Why do the masses all over the globe
no longer seem capable of initiating anything new aimed at their own self-liberation?
Some light may be thrown upon this problem by the following considerations.
It is easy to ask: why did not the worker... (From: Marxists.org.) Source: ? Published: 1927 Transcriber: Collective Action Notes (CAN) HTML: Jonas Holmgren
In the person of Hermann Gorter, the revolutionary proletariat
has just lost one of its most faithful friends and one of its most notable
comrades in arms. He figured among the greatest experts in Marxist theory and
was one of the very few who, through conflicts and splits, remained invariably
devoted to revolutionary communism.
Gorter was born on November 26, 1864, the son of a well-known
writer; upon completing his studies in the humanities, he was appointed
institute professor of secondary education. While still young he composed Mei
("May"), a work of poetry which had an explosive impact on the world of letters
in Holland and was i... (From: Marxists.org.) Published: Living Marxism, vol. 4, no. 5. November 1938. Transcribed David Walters/Greg Adargo, December, 2001.
Organization is the chief principle in the working class fight for
emancipation. Hence the forms of this organization constitute the most important
problem in the practice of the working class movement. It is clear that these
forms depend on the conditions of society and the aims of the fight. They cannot
be the invention of theory, but have to be built up spontaneously by the working
class itself, guided by its immediate necessities.
With expanding capitalism the workers first built their trade unions. The
isolated worker was powerless against the capitalist; so he had to unite with
his fellows in bargaining and fi... (From: Marxists.org.) Written: February 1919 Transcribed: Adam Buick.
In the December 1918 Socialist Standard we stated
that if a General Election were held in Germany the working class there, having
the vast majority of the votes, could place a Socialist Government in power
should they desire to work for the establishment of Socialism. An Election has
now been held, and its results must be exceedingly disappointing to those who
claim that the riots in Berlin and other towns showed that the German working
class were ready — nay, eager — to see Socialism brought into
existence.
The Press reports give the following as the result of the Election:
Majority Socialists164 seatsIndependent Socialists24 seatsGerman Democratic Party77 seatsNati... (From: Marxists.org.) Written: 1918; Source: Workers Dreadnought, 24 May 1919, reprinted from The Revolutionary Age; Transcribed: by Adam Buick.
The logical result of the collapse of German Imperialism following the
military defeat, was the revolution.
On November 4th the revolt in Kiel occurred. The ferment manifested itself
first among the sailors. Rumors of revolt among the sailors were heard during
the past year, and the Independent Social Democrats defended themselves against
the accusations of complicity. Now it broke out anew, stronger and more general,
“by mistake” as the Vossiche Zeitung said. Revolutions
often occur through such mistakes - the conviction among the sailors that the
fleet was ordered out to hopeless combat.
The... (From: Marxists.org.) Published: International Socialist Review, vol. 15, no. 8. February 1915. Translation: Alfred D. Schoch. Transcription/Markup: Micah Muer, 2017.
A terrible breakdown of the German social democracy — and of the
Socialist movement in the other countries — came when the European war
broke out. Before that German socialism seemed full size and full strength,
admired by the Socialists of the world as an example no other country had been
able to equal; those who knew how things were on the inside, however, were aware
that not everything was as good and strong as it seemed. Now all socialism seems
suddenly to have disappeared; now it is commonly believed in foreign countries
that the entire party, filled with enthusiasm for... (From: Marxists.org.) Suddenly, like a meteor from the sky or an earthquake, the world-war has
broken out over the unsuspecting and terrified nations of Europe. No one thought
of war, no one really wanted it, princes and cabinet members were traveling or
at bathing places — out came the ultimatum of Austria to the Servian
government, and after a week of strenuous efforts to preserve peace the nations
one after the other slid down into the abyss as if drawn by an irresistible
fate.
Never before was it made so plain that mankind does not make history
according to its own will but is driven by external social forces more powerful
than itself. Superficial newspaper writers seek to lay the blame on individual
persons. One alleges as the cause of the... (From: Marxists.org.) If it were necessary to believe the words of the spokesmen of the
bourgeoisie, the working class has no worse enemies than the socialists.
“For they speak out against the vices of current society,” they say,
“ and lament the unhappy lot of the workers, but instead of thinking to
bringing them immediate assistance they show the proletarian, in the future, a
socialist society that, incidentally, will never be realized. Only those who,
like us, place themselves on the terrain of the current order and who hold it to
be eternal can dedicate themselves with ardor to the improvement, through means
of reforms, of the conditions that exist today. And this is why all of us,
liberals and anti-Semites, progressives and Cathol... (From: Marxists.org.) Published: Unsigned in "Persdienst van de Groep van Internationale Communisten", 1933, no. 7, at the same time as the article Destruction As A Means Of Struggle. This translation was published in the International Communist Current journal Internationalism, No. 20, Summer 1979. Transcriber: John Gray Proofread: Andy Carloff HTML: Jonas Holmgren
Many divergent positions have been taken up on the burning of the Reichstag
by Van Der Lubbe. In the organs of the communist left (Spartacus,
Radencommunist) it was approved as the act of a revolutionary communist. To
approve and applaud such an act means calling for it to be repeated. That's why
it's important to understand what use it had.
Its only meaning could be to hit, to weaken, t... (From: Marxists.org.) Published: International Council Correspondence, vol. 1, no. 12. October 1935. Transcription/Markup: Micah Muer, 2017.
The intellectual middle class, the engineers, scientists, technical
employes, etc. are a necessary part of industrial production, quite as
indispensable as the workers themselves. Technical progress, in replacing
workers by machines, tends to increase their number. Therefore their class
interests and their class character must be of increasing importance in the
social struggles.
Their growing numbers reflect the growing importance of science and theory in
the production of life necessities. In a communist society all will partake of
scientific knowledge. In capitalist society it is the privilege and the
spec... (From: Marxists.org.) Source: Letter to Sylvia Pankhurst in Workers’ Dreadnought, 30 September 1922. Transcribed: by Adam Buick.
Dear Comrade
I have read with much satisfaction your article on the program
of the Irish Communist Party, and I think you are perfectly right in calling it
a non-Communist program. Indeed, the essence of Communist thought is that the
great transformation of society from Capitalism to Communism can only be
accomplished by the common efforts of the workers themselves, all of them acting
where they stand in the process of production.
The belief that some foreign power, the State, may accomplish it for the
workers by decrees and laws is a social-democratic belief — nay, only the
most narrow-minded social democrat... (From: Marxists.org.) The relation of labor unions to the Socialist movement is in many
countries the subject of sharp differences of opinion, even of bitter strife.
The situation is by no means everywhere the same. In England, for example, after
the breakup of the Chartist political movement in 1848 the union movement
increased greatly and became a mighty organization of the workingmen. But this
great body of workers remained indifferent to Socialism, or even inimical to it,
and the Socialist party remained a small sect. In America the labor movement
developed according to the English pattern. In Germany and Belgium, on the
contrary, the situation is exactly reversed. There the Socialist party grew
mightily in the first place; then the workers, who had... (From: Marxists.org.) The concordance of Lenin and Plechanov in their basic philosophical views and their common divergence from Marxism points to their common origin out of the Russian social conditions. The name and garb of a doctrine or theory depend on its spiritual descent; they indicate the earlier thinker to whom we feel most indebted and whom we think we follow. The real content, however, depends on its material origin and is determined by the social conditions under which it developed and has to work. Marxism itself says that the main social ideas and spiritual trends express the aims of the classes, i.e. the needs of social development, and change with the class struggles themselves. So they cannot be understood isolated from society and class struggle... (From: Marxists.org.) Written: 1952; Transcribed: by David Walters/Greg Adargo, December, 2001; Source: Kurasje Council Communist Archives.
I would like to make some critical and complementary remarks about Comrade
Kondor's observations on "Bourgeois or Socialist Organization" in the issue of
"Funken" for December 1951. When firstly he criticizes the present-day role of
the trade unions (and parties), he is completely right. With the changes in the
economic structure the function of the different social structures must also
change. The trade unions were and are indispensable as organs of struggle for
the working-class under private capitalism. Under monopoly and state-capitalism,
towards which capitalism increasingly develops, they turn into a part of t... (From: Marxists.org.) Autumn 1946
Amsterdam
Dear Comrade.
My friend, Paul Mattick, advised me to get into communication with you in order to investigate the possibility of publishing a book on the new aspect of working class movement.
Under the influence of the depression and confusion in the 1920’ies among the socialist and labor groups, there arose in a group of leftist militants in Holland (connected with friends in Germany, England and France) the opinion that this crisis and apparent decline was in reality a transition and preliminary to the real coming fight for worker’s freedom.
Whereas all socialist writers proclaim as their goal State-socialism, where the workers are dominated and commanded by managers in the shops, by a bure... (From: Marxists.org.) Anton Pannekoek
Letter to J.A. Dawson
October 12, 1947
Holland
October 12, 1947
Dear Comrade Dawson,
I thank you very much for your letter of Sept. 16th, wherein you consent to my proposal to publish The Workers’ Councils, eventually; in parts as part of your monthly. So I send to-morrow the first part of the MSS. by sea-mail. It will take probably some months to reach you. ...
When you publish it, I must make one very strict condition: That proof-reading is made with utmost care. Because of the distance I, of course, cannot make the proofreading myself; so I cannot take care that everything is correct. So I have carefully scrutinized the manuscript, that every letter and every comma is correct; you know that in Engli... (From: Marxists.org.) [The following text is that of J.A. Dawson's containing extracts from Pannekoek's letter in citation marks]
A recent letter from Dr. Anton Pannekoek contains such sound logic that I feel it should be passed along to all workers seeking the way to emancipation.
Dr. Pannekoek writes me that he and his fellow Dutch workers have now hopes that their book (See S.S.R. December issue) will be published by a leading publishing house in London. Inter alia, he mentions that comrade Harris, of Newport, Socialist Party of Great Britain, has contacted him and offered an assurance of help by the Party in furthering the matter if negotiations with the particular publishing house fall through.
Comrades in Australia will be heartened in our fight t... (From: Marxists.org.) Source: Socialisme ou Barbarie, No 14, April-June 1954; Written: November 8, 1953; Translated: for Marxists.org by Mitch Abidor.
Dear Comrade Chaulieu,
I offer you many thanks for the series of eleven issues of Socialisme
ou Barbarie that you gave to comrade B.... to give to me. I read them
(though I haven’t yet finished) with great interest, because of the great
agreement between us that they reveal. You probably remarked the same thing when
reading my book Les Conseils ouvriers. For many years it seemed to
me that the small number of socialists who expounded these ideas hadn’t
grown; the book was ignored and was met with silence by almost the entire
socialist press (except, recently, in the Socialist Leader of the
... (From: Marxists.org.) Source: Neubestimmung des Marxismus 1: Diskussion über Arbeiterräte, Berlin (West): Karin Kramer Verlag, 1974, pp. 27-30. Published: ‘Liberaler und imperialistischer Marxismus,’ Lichtstrahlen, nr. 7, 1915 Transcriber: Daniel Gaido Translation: Daniel Gaido, 2009
In this essay Pannekoek takes issue with the so-called ‘radical
imperialist’ wing of the SPD—a group of extreme social-patriots that
developed during the First World War and included some prominent former
defenders of ‘orthodoxy’ and left-wingers such as Paul Lensch,
Heinrich Cunow, Max Cohen and Konrad Haenisch.[2] It draws an interesting
analogy with the so-called ‘Legal Marxists’ in Russia who ultimately
b... (From: Marxists.org.) Written: 1909 Translated: 1912, Nathan Weiser. Transcribed: Jon Muller HTML Markup: Abu Nicole, proofed and corrected by Bas Streef; Source: Charles H. Kerr & Company, Chicago, USA Original Copyright, 1912.
CONTENTS
Darwinism Marxism Marxism and the Class Struggle Darwinism and the Class Struggle Darwinism versus Socialism Natural Law and Social Theory The Sociability of Man Tools, Thought and Language Animal Organs and Human Tools Capitalism and Socialism
I. Darwinism
Two scientists can hardly be named who have, in the second half
of the 19th century, dominated the human mind to a greater degree than Darwin
and Marx. Their teachings revolutionized the conception that the great masses
had about the world. For decades t... (From: Marxists.org.)