Engles on Authority

by: Gary Hicks Monday 9 January 2012

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At a certain point...and some comrades and friends would argue that we've passed this point...the Occupy Movement is going to have to come to terms with the  fact that higher forms of organization are needed. Others will say that the current level of organization is just fine. Some wll argue against even keeping what little organization exists.
 
Read this [below], then put it in your files or in your backpack for future reference. I promise you it'll prove useful......Gary Hicks 
 
 
Frederick Engels, 1872: On Authority

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  • We have to agree with brother Hicks on this usefulness in ESSENCE.
    Mindful that a whole host of revolutions with arms have taken place, since this gem from the great Engels, and that in the age of the splitting of the atom and the advent of the binary chip, we have a whole new set of circumstances, we digest this work much more completely.
    With the unanimity unthought and unheard of in Engels/Marx's time, of the concerted direct action humankind today, we strive for the peaceful authority, asserted by humanity as one, replacing bayonets and rifles with massive nonviolent acts of resistance and the massive dissemination of information on the necessary peaceful steps for human survival.
    This symphony of human action for peace, jobs, and freedom, which entails humanity becoming one with the earth's ecology, embraced by revolutionaries, ranging from MLK to Fidel Castro Ruz, the fallen and not, for love with no hate.
    What would revolutionaries like Marti', Marx, and Engels do today to make proletariat authority carry?
    What would the Master Jesus do?

    Posted by E.E.W. Clay, 01/10/2012 12:40pm (13 years ago)

  • First of all...absolutely wonderful excerpt.

    Secondly, I guess I have some questions.

    Could this article be suggesting that the 'Occupy' movement could or is even likely to evolve into some type of authority for society?

    "...as a result of the coming social revolution, that is, that public functions will lose their political character and will be transformed into the simple administrative functions of watching over the true interests of society."

    Thirdly, as Engels continues he proposes and even demands that without the usage of weapons, violence, and class warfare revolution creases to progress.

    "...Would the Paris Commune have lasted a single day if it had not made use of this authority of the armed people against the bourgeois? Should we not, on the contrary, reproach it for not having used it freely enough?"

    As we further progress into the struggles and the continuation of the 'Occupy' movement moves forward, how, as a movement and an organization can we look for alternative, non-violent, solutions to our plight?

    Posted by Nolan Converse, 01/10/2012 12:31am (13 years ago)

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