En este trabajo hemos reconstruido el proceso de gestación y constitución de la Unión General de Trabajadores (UGT). Esta central obrera ha quedado relegada en los estudios historiográficos. Son tres ...los objetivos del presente artículo. En primer lugar, examinamos las razones que llevaron a la formación de la UGT, rescatando la importancia del periódico La Organización en este proceso. En segundo lugar, establecemos que la UGT no fue una central obrera diseñada y controlada por el Partido Socialista (PS), corrigiendo un equívoco habitual. En tercer lugar, señalamos la existencia de una corriente obrerista y antipolítica en el seno del movimiento obrero y su incidencia en el proceso de formación de la UGT. Para realizar esta investigación hemos relevado fuentes partidarias, gremiales, barriales y comerciales. Además, accedimos a documentos inéditos que nos han permito adentrarnos en los principales debates que tuvieron lugar en el congreso fundacional de la UGT. Con este trabajo, pretendemos aportar al conocimiento general de la clase obrera del período y contribuir al estudio de la UGT, institución poco conocida pero clave en las luchas sociales de la primera década del siglo XX. Por último, sugerimos que la presencia de esta corriente obrerista y antipolítica, en la conformación de la UGT, puede explicar las facilidades que tuvieron los sindicalistas revolucionarios, los que rápidamente conquistaron la conducción de la central obrera.
A review essay covering books by 1) Uri Gordon and Ohal Grietzer (Eds.), Anarchists against the wall (2013) and 2) Harsha Walia, Undoing border imperialism (2013).
This paper contributes to recent discussions on ideal anarchism vs. ideal statism. I argue, contra ideal anarchists, that coercive state institutions would be justified even in a society populated by ...morally perfect individuals. My defense of ideal statism is novel in that it highlights the moral benefits of state coercion. Rather than the practical effects on individual compliance or the distributive outcomes that follow therefrom, coercive state institutions are justified through the moral benefits they provide. The state is morally beneficial because it a) lessens the demands on the will that fall on agents under ideal anarchism, and b) counters the structural domination that follows from differences in natural endowments. By shifting the focus of the debate from feasibility to desirability, the paper exposes the flaws of ideal anarchism and provides new insights into the moral value of the state.
This article presents and discusses 'Stepmother Earth', a novel written by the Frisian author Theun de Vries and published, for the first time, in 1936. This novel is a classic work in the tradition ...of agrarian studies. It stands out in linking critical theory with people's everyday experiences and language. The text also reflects the political struggles that reigned the countryside at the time of writing. The book still is remarkably relevant and, in a way, up to date.
The concept of ‘the violence inherent in the system’ was famously satirized by Monty Python in their movie The Holy Grail. In order to avoid ridicule, left-wing theorists and activists for a long ...time stopped using the expression. The underlying social critique, which had given rise to the expression, was also widely dismissed from serious consideration, merely through invocation of the phrase. Because of this, there has been little explicit discussion of the actual political theory that was being satirized in this scene. And yet the theory has continued to exercise considerable influence on the practice of many left-wing groups, particularly in the way that protest is conceptualized and carried out. The central objective in this paper will be to provide an explicit articulation of the theory, in order to show how it falls short of providing a meaningful critique of any aspect of our social practices.
Theodore Kaczynski, better known as the Unabomber, is one of America's most infamous domestic terrorists. His 1995 Manifesto, 'Industrial Society and Its Future', is well known and influential among ...radicals of many stripes, yet surprisingly little has been written about it. This article uncovers the origins of Kaczynski's ideas and examines his influence on contemporary anti-tech radicalism. Using newly discovered archival material, I reveal the sources that Kaczynski deliberately concealed in the 1995 Washington Post version of his Manifesto. My excavation of his sources shows that his ideology is more novel than the common 'eco-terrorist', 'green anarchist', and 'neo-Luddite' labels suggest. His Manifesto is a synthesis of ideas from three well known academics: French philosopher Jacques Ellul, British zoologist Desmond Morris, and American psychologist Martin Seligman. Further, I show that it is necessary to understand Kaczynski's distinct combination of ideas in order to understand the anti-tech radical groups that he has inspired, such as the Mexican terrorist group Individualidades Tendiendo a lo Salvaje (ITS). The ideological novelty of anti-tech radicalism has been overlooked because, like Kaczynski himself, it has been mistaken for radical environmentalism or green anarchism.
This article discusses the foundation of ideas for Vyacheslav Ivanov's interpretation of Pushkin's poem. In The Gypsies, Ivanov sees a conflict between personal freedom and sobornost' as revealed by ...Pushkin, a conflict whose resolution marks the poet's turn toward religious metaphysics. Ivanov's conception of sobornost' as the result of seeking the supra-personal in the personal echoes Pushkin's overcoming of Byronism. Ivanov also sees in the poetics of The Gypsies and in the figure of Ovid an understanding of the poet's special mission similar to his own, one that creates an image of the universe as an internally harmonic, open-ended, chaotic, and living system. In 1924, the motifs central to this article allow Ivanov to turn it into a protest against and challenge to Bolshevik attempts at demonic mastery of the elements of history and people.
This paper examines Gustav Landauer’s mystical anarchism, focusing on the concept of overcoming death as a core element of his thought. It explores Landauer’s rejection of death as both a linguistic ...superstition and a limited worldview, emphasizing the collective whole over individualism. The essay suggests that Landauer’s representation of revolution moving from space to time includes his account of mystical anarchy, which fosters a deep connection with the past and a sense of unity with the world and humanity. This shift in perspective promotes a more fulfilling and meaningful existence within a larger, authentic community that is an antidote to the constraints of death.
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