The Anarchist Federation (AF, AFed) is a federation of

anarcho-communists Anarchist communism is a Far-left politics, far-left political ideology and Anarchist schools of thought, anarchist school of thought that advocates communism. It calls for the abolition of private property, private real property but retention ...

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

. It is not a political party, but a

direct action Direct action is a term for economic and political behavior in which participants use agency—for example economic or physical power—to achieve their goals. The aim of direct action is to either obstruct a certain practice (such as a governm ...

, agitational and

propaganda Propaganda is communication that is primarily used to influence or persuade an audience to further an agenda, which may not be objective and may be selectively presenting facts to encourage a particular synthesis or perception, or using loaded l ...

organisation.

History

The British anarchist movement had been revitalized during the time of the miners' strike of 1984–1985, which had drawn many new people to anarchism and caused a number of anarchist organizations to spring up in the wake of

Class War Class War is an anarchist group and newspaper established by Ian Bone and others in 1983 in the United Kingdom. An incarnation of Class War was briefly registered as a political party for the purposes of fighting the 2015 United Kingdom gener ...

. In 1984, a number of former members of the Libertarian Communist Group established the Libertarian Communist Discussion Group (LCDG), drawing inspiration from texts such as the '' Platform'' by

Nestor Makhno Nestor Ivanovych Makhno (, ; 7 November 1888 – 25 July 1934), also known as Bat'ko Makhno ( , ), was a Ukrainians, Ukrainian anarchist revolutionary and the commander of the Revolutionary Insurgent Army of Ukraine during the Ukrainian War o ...

and the
Manifesto of Libertarian Communism
' by Georges Fontenis. The LCDG then began to collaborate with the editor of ''

Virus A virus is a submicroscopic infectious agent that replicates only inside the living Cell (biology), cells of an organism. Viruses infect all life forms, from animals and plants to microorganisms, including bacteria and archaea. Viruses are ...

'' magazine and started publishing their own texts about

anarcho-communism Anarchist communism is a far-left political ideology and anarchist school of thought that advocates communism. It calls for the abolition of private real property but retention of personal property and collectively-owned items, goods, and se ...

, changing their name again to the Anarchist Communist Discussion Group (ACDG). After the split of Syndicalist Fight (SyF) from the Direct Action Movement (DAM) in 1986, the ACDG merged together with SyF and established the Anarchist Communist Federation (ACF). Throughout the late-1980s, the ACF drew together many people that were new to anarchism, which effectively made it into an entirely new organization, almost completely disconnected from its roots. At the beginning of the 1990s, they participated in the poll tax riots, calling for "the abolition of all hierarchy" and "the creation of a worldwide classless society". According to a 1991 report by the Economic League an anti-socialist

blacklisting Blacklisting is the action of a group or authority compiling a blacklist of people, countries or other entities to be avoided or distrusted as being deemed unacceptable to those making the list; if people are on a blacklist, then they are considere ...

group, the ACF had quickly become "second only to Class War" in terms of its "militancy and commitment to violence". Although a small organization, much of the ACF's influence came from its "cordial relationships" with other

libertarian socialist Libertarian socialism is an anti-authoritarian and anti-capitalist political current that emphasises self-governance and workers' self-management. It is contrasted from other forms of socialism by its rejection of state ownership and from other ...

groups, cooperating particularly closely with the autonomous Marxists of

Subversion Subversion () refers to a process by which the values and principles of a system in place are contradicted or reversed in an attempt to sabotage the established social order and its structures of Power (philosophy), power, authority, tradition, h ...

. In 1999, the ACF changed its name one final time, becoming the Anarchist Federation (AF). According to an interview with founding members of the AF, this was in order to shorten the name and to clarify that it was not an alliance of anarchists with other forms of communists. By the turn of the 21st century, the AF were involved in the

anti-globalization movement The anti-globalization movement, or counter-globalization movement, is a social movement critical of economic globalization. The movement is also commonly referred to as the global justice movement, alter-globalization movement, anti-globalist m ...

and participated in protests against rising

third world debt The debt of developing countries usually refers to the external debt incurred by governments of developing countries. There have been several historical episodes of governments of developing countries borrowing in quantities beyond their abili ...

. The

Special Branch Special Branch is a label customarily used to identify units responsible for matters of national security and Intelligence (information gathering), intelligence in Policing in the United Kingdom, British, Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth, ...

of the Metropolitan Police began investigating the AF, following 2000's

May Day May Day is a European festival of ancient origins marking the beginning of summer, usually celebrated on 1 May, around halfway between the Northern Hemisphere's March equinox, spring equinox and midsummer June solstice, solstice. Festivities ma ...

demonstration at Parliament Square, during which some activists had dug up the grass to plant vegetables. In 2014, following a series of acts of

vandalism Vandalism is the action involving deliberate destruction of or damage to public or private property. The term includes property damage, such as graffiti and defacement directed towards any property without permission of the owner. The t ...

and

arson Arson is the act of willfully and deliberately setting fire to or charring property. Although the act of arson typically involves buildings, the term can also refer to the intentional burning of other things, such as motor vehicles, watercr ...

green anarchists Green anarchism, also known as ecological anarchism or eco-anarchism, is an anarchist school of thought that focuses on ecology and environmental issues. It is an anti-capitalist and anti-authoritarian form of radical environmentalism, which e ...

, a large police investigation was launched into

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...

's anarchist community, to which the Bristol Anarchist Federation responded with a statement denouncing the

police The police are Law enforcement organization, a constituted body of Law enforcement officer, people empowered by a State (polity), state with the aim of Law enforcement, enforcing the law and protecting the Public order policing, public order ...

's "concerted effort to intimidate and divide" local anarchists. In 2018, a "class struggle" anarchist faction within the AF split to form the Anarchist Communist Group (ACG) due to alleged support of "

identity politics Identity politics is politics based on a particular identity, such as ethnicity, Race (human categorization), race, nationality, religion, Religious denomination, denomination, gender, sexual orientation, Socioeconomic status, social background ...

" within the AF. In February 2020, eco-socialist activists connected to the Anarchist Federation took part in the occupation of

Paddington Green Police Station Paddington Green Police Station was a Metropolitan Police Service station located in Paddington, Central London, England, active from 1971 to 2018. History The building was designed by John Innes Elliott and was completed in 1971. As well ...

, but they were swiftly evicted.

Publications

The Anarchist Federation and its predecessors were responsible for publishing ''Virus'' magazine between 1984 and 1989, which ran for 13 issues before being replaced with a new magazine, ''Organise!'', which has been published ever since.

Ideology

The Anarchist Federation propagates a theory of

anarchist communism Anarchist communism is a far-left political ideology and anarchist school of thought that advocates communism. It calls for the abolition of private real property but retention of personal property and collectively-owned items, goods, and ser ...

, distancing itself from

individualist anarchism Individualist anarchism or anarcho-individualism is a collection of anarchist Anarchism is a political philosophy and Political movement, movement that seeks to abolish all institutions that perpetuate authority, coercion, or Social hi ...

anarcho-pacifism Anarcho-pacifism, also referred to as anarchist pacifism and pacifist anarchism, is an anarchist school of thought that advocates for the use of peaceful, non-violent forms of resistance in the struggle for social change. Anarcho-pacifism reject ...

and

anarcho-syndicalism Anarcho-syndicalism is an anarchism, anarchist organisational model that centres trade unions as a vehicle for class conflict. Drawing from the theory of libertarian socialism and the practice of syndicalism, anarcho-syndicalism sees trade uni ...

. It had come to outright reject trade unionism during the suppression of the miners' strike of 1984–1985, which had caused it to question the role of the

trade unions A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

in a class conflict. It extends its skepticism of trade unions to any permanent workplace organizations, arguing they can become integrated into the functioning of

capitalism Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their use for the purpose of obtaining profit. This socioeconomic system has developed historically through several stages and is defined by ...

. The AF advocates for

prefigurative politics Prefigurative politics are modes of organization and social relationships that strive to reflect the future society being sought by a group. In practice, they involve building a new society "within the shell of the old" by living out the values an ...

, out of a belief in a "strong

correlation In statistics, correlation or dependence is any statistical relationship, whether causal or not, between two random variables or bivariate data. Although in the broadest sense, "correlation" may indicate any type of association, in statistics ...

between means and ends", which rejects all politicians and political parties. It considers participation in

representative democracy Representative democracy, also known as indirect democracy or electoral democracy, is a type of democracy where elected delegates represent a group of people, in contrast to direct democracy. Nearly all modern Western-style democracies func ...

to be "ceding political power to someone or some party", and thus favors

over electoralism. It further claims that Members of Parliament inevitably become corrupted by power and distant from their own communities.

References

Bibliography

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Anarchist Federation (Britain) 1986 establishments in the United Kingdom Anarchism in Scotland Anarchism in the United Kingdom Anarchist Federations Anarchist organisations in the United Kingdom

Anarchist communism Anarchist communism is a far-left political ideology and anarchist school of thought that advocates communism. It calls for the abolition of private real property but retention of personal property and collectively-owned items, goods, and ser ...

Anti-nationalism in Europe Far-left politics in Scotland Far-left politics in the United Kingdom International of Anarchist Federations Political organizations established in 1986 Platformist organizations