Manifesto of the Anti-parliamentary Committee by French Anarchism 1910

French Anarchism 1910

Manifesto of the Anti-parliamentary Committee

Source: Guillaume Davranche, Trop Jeunes pour Mourir. Paris, l'Insomniaque/Libertalia, 2014;
Translated: for marxists.org by Mitchell Abidor;
In 1910 the anarchist and syndicalist movements in France launched a major anti-parliamentary campaign. The following declaration received the assent of virtually the entire far left.

The anti-parliamentary revolutionaries, considering

That parliamentary action, even when it seems to strike at the current social organization, instead consolidates it;
That if partial reforms are dictated by a parliament they are in reality only ever obtained by direct and extra-parliamentary action;
That parliamentary action is, in its essence, in contradiction with and fatal to direct action, from which it inevitably diverts attention and energy;

Reminds workers that they should only expect their total emancipation and any improvements in their lot from themselves, from their own efforts and initiative, and not from the miraculous intervention of a third party, their elected representative, whoever he might be, whatever party he might belong to, and whatever principles he might hold:

Calls on them to withdraw their confidence from parliamentary parties and the government, to take no interest whatsoever in vain and sterile electoral battles, to direct their activities towards economic struggles, to take their place in unions, and to propagate within them revolutionary sprit and methods.

In addition, the revolutionary anti-parliamentarians proclaim the need for everyone to enter already existing revolutionary action and education groups and to create these groups when they don’t already exist.