We call for the setting-up in Britain of an anarchist group based on organisational principles of unity of theory, unity of tactics, collective responsibility, and federalism. As such, we identify ourselves with the ‘Platformist’ tradition within anarchism, outlined by the texts Organisational Platform of the Libertarian Communists (Workers’ Cause, 1926) and Towards a Fresh Revolution (Friends of Durruti, 1938). We broadly identify with the organisational practise argued for by this tradition but not necessarily everything else they did or said. This is a starting point for our politics and not an end point.

Our initiative is inspired by the example of the Workers Solidarity Movement in Ireland and despair of the ‘anything goes’ model of organisation, where individual members and groups within the same organisation can hold contradictory political opinions (or none at all). We need an organisation that is not constantly crippled by the fear of discussing politics in case members disagree. One that, in contrast, is founded on political debate and the need to develop our politics and work towards a degree of coherency in thought and action.

Group positions will be democratically arrived at through open and informed debate within the group, and once agreed upon will be group policy and therefore collectively binding. We have not yet started working on position papers, but our fundamental politics are clearly anarchist/libertarian communist (i.e. we aim for a stateless, frontier-less society, without money or any other form of exchange, where the workers control the means and the fruits of production, and have disposed of politicians and bosses once and for all). We believe a useful starting point is an examination of previous ‘Platformist’ anarchist groups in Britain, i.e. the Organisation of Revolutionary Anarchists (70s), Anarchist Workers Group (90s), and Anarchist Communist Federation (early days) (80s?). We also see an examination of Solidarity’s As We Don’t See It, and the position papers of the WSM for areas of agreement and difference as useful starting points in theoretical development.

The Dielo Trouda (Workers’ Cause) group published the pamphlet the Organisational Platform of the Libertarian Communists in 1926 as a result of their experiences in the 1917 Russian Revolution. Similarly, the Friends of Durruti group published the pamphlet Towards a Fresh Revolution in 1938 as a result of their experiences in the 1936 Spanish Revolution. The anarchist movement must learn from its past mistakes or shortcomings if it is to avoid repeating them. For this reason we urge all anarchist comrades to read these documents.