From translation of an article by MPT Acharya in l'en dehors, 15-8-1932
Letter from Germany
Comrade
Styr-Nhair asks what readers of
l'en dehors think of the crisis - I answer that it's the crisis of all crises, of all the thinking of the past, including socialist and anarchist ideas, the supreme crisis of human civilissation, the birth of a new humanity and a new civilisation.
It is preferable to observe the crisis here in Germany, as a crisis of civilisation and of humanity, rather than that of any other country in the same financial or agricultural situation.
The workers are responsible for the crisis, however, because in the midst of capitalism they think in the capitalist way, as sellers of their labour power, their
merchandise.
Today those who hold power and those who hold merchandise are caught in the same crisis: the difficulty, I should say the impossibility, of selling. But like the capitalists, the workers think there must be a way of selling, whereas there is none, either for the workers or for the capitalists.
That is why I am firmly convinced that the birth of a new civilisation and of a new humanity is in the offing, in spite of the workers and capitalists and of the state socialists who are trying to prevent it and striving to have them aborted.
This civilisation will involve neither buying nor selling, nor employers, nor employees, which is clearly indicated by the tendency of the present crisis.
The only possible solution, as an inevitable consequence, is to bring about this transformation consciously; but the workers, including the anarchists, think that this state of affairs is not on the way and is not possible. And all of them clamour for wages for their labour - new masters (their "comrades") who won't be that any more (Russia is reckoned to have 16 1/2 million waged workers [
figures and exact meaning of statistic unclear]).
They demand insurance against unemployment, and higher wages - for some, the ones in unions - which they could only get by increased prices, when there was trade with other countries. In Germany, millions of workers who paid union dues all their lives are deprived of the expected benefits, such that only those who have worked continuously for a year can receive an allowance that lasts a few weeks and even that on condition that they will not refuse to work in whatever conditions.
The other day an old comrade told me that if he had kept all the dues paid over to the union he would have several thousand marks. Latterly, a leader of the metalworkers' union stated proudly that when business is going well, the union has plenty of money. If not, the coffers are empty. I pointed out to him in a public meeting that the interests of his union are inexorably tied to capitalist commerce (as is the case in Russia). He got angry and retorted that I was a Brahmin who exploited the Untouchables. I answered that he was the Brahmin of workers and exploited them by hiring out labourers to capitalism in the capacity of intermediary, and pocketing the surplus (i.e. the difference between the pay of unionised workers and those in the union), thanks to the combination of one set of workers against the interests of the working class as a whole. He couldn't answer me.
Unionised workers' wages are actually brought down to that of the non-unionised, once their contribution is paid. The dues are handed over to the union, in the way of an employment agency, monopolising jobs in factories and offices.
The employers use those "workers' leaders" to discipline the real workers, while the workers for their part think their interests are being served. The workers' leaders have no right or possibility of struggling to save the workers' jobs, even those of their members, since the employers have the right to put them out the door when they want to, under a pretext or for some reason or other.
The whole trade-union system is a corruption of the capitalist system, but in an idealised form. Unfortunately, the unions are being dissolved by the lack of disposability of products, work and money. At the present time German unemployed who can't pay their dues are pushed out of their old unions like outcasts - so much the better! That will make them think, and feel.
The situation in Germany is different from the description given of it by all political parties, and even by the anarchist papers, which still think in the capitalist political way. Fear of fascism and hope for Bolshevism are still held among us, even by the opponents of fascism and Bolshevism. Anarchists and syndicalists are themselves obsessed by those two fears, preferring the second as "the lesser evil". But clear-sighted observation shows that neither is possible in the situation of 1932, which is different from that of Russia in 1917 and Italy in 1922.
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KPD (Spartakusbund) Poster
against militarism, capitalism and the upper class |
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SPD (Social Democratic Party) poster 1932:
"The worker in the Reich of the Swastika" |
The spirit of the people is too realistic and too materialist for fascism and bolshevism to satisfy it, and the situation in Germany and the world is getting worse daily, without the fascists or Bolsheviks being able to do a thing. Just as in 1917, when everyone in Russia expected no solution but monarchy or a republic, it was a third thief that grabbed power - marxism - so in Germany where everyone is obsessed by the idea that history can have only two outcomes, fascism or bolshevism, they will find themselves side-by-side with anarchy, and that without the anarchists having even suspected or made preparation for the situation. All forms of the State will become impossible in the present crisis, which is not simply that of lack of money and commerce, but also the impossibility of getting any financial system to work in the world.
Naturally, even syndicalists and anarchists hope that capitalism can be revived by fascism or Bolshevism, via inflation and international money markets, with or without the gold standard. This shows that they have no faith in their own "isms", however certain of their realisation they were wont to appear.
With Germany in a state of impossibility of having a government, the whole of Europe will gradually fall into the crater, first eastern Europe, then Russia, then the West. There is no hope of struggling against the avalanche, however prepared all governments may be at present.
What will the anarchists do? They'll mutter against all governments and against the Marxists in particular for having led everyone into this impasse, as if the latter were responsible for the anarchists themselves refusing to prepare for the situation, refusing to make plans or to discuss what they would need to do, or to spread their ideas for fear of ridicule or of being with respectable people who can only shake their heads..!
I think the present government will be the last in Germany, the same in Britain, with or without accompanying civil war. It's not surprising that (Ramsay) Macdonald is afraid, even though he adopts an attitude of calm and certainty about the solution. - Perhaps Hitler will be thrown out? Perhaps the labour leaders will be hanged? Because neither can supply the work and cash they promise and they are sure to disappoint their supporters - when the latter ask them to fulfil their pledges.
It's a volcano with everyone putting on a dancing show on top of it; since they feel they can do nothing about the situation, they pile up crises - to divert their supporters' attention from their own inadequacies, for fear they'll be discovered to be mistaken or to promise more than they can deliver, or because they're madmen going for broke. Personally, I think all the parties are afraid that the burden will fall on them, and want to be defeated. There cannot be any union between the different workers' parties in the crisis of power, because each tries to establish its own authority over the others as is logical in the struggle to seize power.
As Marxists, they can't profess anarchism outright; even if they unite on some sort of "democratic" basis they could not by themselves supply work, or bread, or revitalise trade, or revive finances, the only condition on which their government would work. Therefore anarchy is very close to carrying the day in Germany. But what is the proletariat going to do?
- M. ACHARYA
Reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/July_1932_German_federal_election
