What you should know about the International Socialist Organization

Why is anarchism different than authoritarian socialism? This page provides information on the ISO (International Socialist Organization), as well as some critical analysis of Trotskyism, Trotskyist organizations, and other authoritarian Left tendencies. The following articles are for those of you who want to know more about authoritarian leftist organizations around the world.

What is vanguardism and why do anarchists reject it?
Firstly, and most importantly, anarchists reject the underlying assumption of vanguardism. As we discuss in the next section, vanguardism is based on the argument that "socialist consciousness" has to be introduced into the working class from outside. We argue that not only is this position is empirically false, it is fundamentally anti-socialist in nature. This is because it logically denies that the emancipation of the working class is the task of the working class itself. Moreover, it serves to justify elite rule. Some Leninists, embarrassed by the obvious anti-socialist nature of this concept, try and argue that Lenin (and so Leninism) does not hold this position.

What are the myths of state socialism?
Ask most people what socialism means and they will point to the former Soviet Union, China, Cuba and a host of other authoritarian, centralised and oppressive party dictatorships. These regimes have in common two things. Firstly, the claim that their rulers are Marxists or socialists. Secondly, that they have successfully alienated millions of working class people from the very idea of socialism. Indeed, the supporters of capitalism simply had to describe the "socialist paradises" as they really were in order to put people off socialism. Moreover, the Stalinist regimes (and their various apologists and even "opponents", like the Trotskyists, who defended them as "degenerated workers' states") let the bourgeoisie have an easy time in dismissing all working-class demands and struggles as so many attempts to set up similar party dictatorships.

The Joy of Sects: Call for Submissions
Calling for submissions to "The Joy of Sects," an informational booklet about sectarian groups [in the left].

Leaked internal bulletin of SWP Ireland
The following information has been taken from two internal party bulletin's of the Socialist Workers Party which are for use in the party's coming conference which is taking place on Friday 7th June to Sunday 9th of June. We have acquired this information via a disgruntled source inside of the SWP. We believe that the information inside of the Discussion Bulletin's are of perticular interest to the activist community in Ireland. Considering the SWP has used its weight in recent years to try and control the movement in Ireland we believe that publishing this information via Indymedia is a justified act.

Vanguard: a song by David Rovics
Worker's World says that they have all the answers And Milosevic is a guy that they admire The ISO says Trotsky is the man And they'll debate it until they all expire The industrial workers will lead the revolution So claims the SWP No, the truth lies among the lumpen

UK, The "Authoritarians of the left" in action a Leaked SWP Internal Memo
The SWP's secret plans for the anti-war effort in the U.K.: sell more newspapers.

Through the Looking Glass: Anarchist adventures at Marxism 2001
Considering the attempts by the SWP to monopolise and colonise the anti-globalisation movement, I thought that it would be useful to attend Marxism 2001. After all, given the events of the past few years (J18, Seattle, May Day, etc.) I thought that it may draw some real people rather than a bunch of party hacks. Armed with two leaflets and some copies of Black Flag and Freedom, I headed off to the event.

Dead Dogma Sketch (apologies to Monty Python)
A revolutionary goes into Marxism 2001.

Australia: Socialist Alternative secret documents leaked for your amusement
One of the problems with authoritarian Left organizations is that in order to subvert the political participation by their members, they have to circulate secret internal documents. This leaked document from a socialist group in Australia is chock full of anger towards anarchists, plus admission of their agenda: to take over and lead the anti-hierarchical anti-globalization movement. It's time to run these discredited Left parties out of town.

U.K.: Leninist front group Globalise Resistance exposed
It seems that the authoritarian Left is up to its old tricks, this time starting an anti-globalization front group in the U.K. The folks at Anarchist Federation have produced a rather funny pamphlet exposing this latest attempt by the Leninists to sabotage the anti-capitalist movement. "Activists from Globalise Resistance were in the front line on Mayday and successfully lead hundreds into police pens over two hours before anyone else was trapped. This shows what can be achieved with the correct leadership."

A New Word in Our Hearts
After the shootings at the anti-EU demonstrations in Gothenburg, the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) decided to give its two pence's worth of "advice" to the anti-globalisation movement ("After Gothenburg: Where now for anti-capitalism?" by Mark Fischer, Weekly Worker 389 Thursday June 21 2001). This advice can be summarised up as follows.

Will the real Bakunin please stand up?
The SWP are at it again. Obviously trying to recruit from the anti-globalisation movement, they yet again try to rubbish anarchism. Since libertarian ideas are perceived to be dominant in that movement, what better why to try and gain a foothold than attacking those ideas? Sadly for the SWP, they cannot do that accuracy or honesty. Nor can they do so with showing the bankruptcy of their own ideology.

ISO: The Joy of Sects by John Lacny
A wit once remarked that of all the Jesuits, the worst are the Protestant ones. I have come to the conclusion that this cogent observation has a counterpart when it comes to the world of the sectarian left: of all the Stalinists, the worst are the Trotskyites.

ISO and SWP Split! Major Trotskyist Divorce
As some comrades will have already heard, the SWP Central Committee has severed all ties with the ISO and is encouraging other groups in the International Socialist Tendency (IST) to do likewise. On Monday, March 5, the ISO received a letter (attached) signed by Alex Callinicos and Panos Garganas (of SEK in Greece) announcing that they no longer considered us part of the IST.

What was the Kronstadt Rebellion?
The Kronstadt rebellion took place in the first weeks of March, 1921. Kronstadt was (and is) a naval fortress on an island in the Gulf of Finland. Traditionally, it has served as the base of the Russian Baltic Fleet and to guard the approaches to the city of St. Petersburg (which during the first world war was re-named Petrograd, then later Leningrad, and is now St. Petersburg again) thirty-five miles away.

Beware Authoritarian Left Parasites!
Occasionally somebody asks us why we bother to speak out against authoritarian Left groups like the ISO and SWP. They often point out that these groups are rather small and that we are wasting our time exposing these movement opportunists. As anarchists, we know from recent history and 20th century history that disciples of the authoritarian Left will smile at you one minute and stab you in the back the next. We feel it is important to expose these groups to the wider community of activists, because they lie and misrepresent themselves in order to further their agendas. Currently, they are undertaking an effort to rewrite the recent history of the anti-globalization movement. They want activists to believe that centralist, hierarchical Left parties were the ones that made the various anti-globalization protest successful. The fact is, these groups are latecomers to the "globalization from below" resistance network. The reason why J18 and N30 and A16 were successful was because they relied on democratic, anarchist methods, not "protest from above" activist management that is promoted by these obsolete Left parties.

Dear Socialist Review
I must admit to being bemused by Howard Miles reply to my letter (Socialist Review no. 249). He states that the "nub of the issue in this debate seems to consist of disagreement over two fundamental notions," namely that "democratic centralist revolutionary party is necessary for a successful socialist revolution" and, secondly, "the necessity of a workers' state arising from a socialist revolution." Nothing could be further from the truth. While these are two fundamental disagreements between anarchism and Marxism, they had absolutely nothing to do with my letter, which indicated how Pat Stack had misrepresented anarchist thought in his article. That Mr. Miles fails to acknowledge this is sad, if not unsurprising. It seems that Stack is not the only SWP member who considers accuracy as an irrelevance when discussing other points of view.

Stalinism's Loyal Opposition: The Counter-Revolutionary Politics of Trotsky
This article was originally written to refute lies about the history of 20th century revolutionary movements peddled by the comically obnoxious Trotskyoids of the Spartacus League, in their newspaper Workers Vanguard (sic). Fearing that they may be losing ground to an admittedly incoherent contemporary anarchism, and hungry for fresh cannon fodder, the Sparts ran an occasionally informative series of articles by Joseph Seymour, titled "Marxism vs. Anarchism", tracing the historic differences between anarchism and the Sparts' version of "Marxism".

Reply to Socialist Review on Anarchism

Marxism and "Anarchism": A reply to the SWP
The Italian Marxist Antonio Gramsci once wrote that "to tell the truth is a communist and revolutionary act." Sadly, when it comes to anarchism, Marxists rarely tell the truth. Instead, they usually produce a series of slanders and lies. In issue no. 1714 of Socialist Worker (dated 16th September 2000) the British SWP decided to “expose” anarchism in an article entitled “Marxism and Anarchism.” However, their article is little more than a series of errors and distortions. We shall indicate how the SWP lies about anarchist ideas and discuss the real differences between anarchism and Marxism.

The Anarchist FAQ: Anarchism and Marxism

The Anarchist FAQ: Reply to errors and distortions in David McNally's pamphlet Socialism from Below

Authoritarian Leftists: KILL THE COP IN YOUR HEAD!

Anarchist vs. Marxist-Leninist Thought on the Organization of Society
Historically, there have been three major forms of socialism -- Libertarian Socialism (Anarchism), Authoritarian Socialism (Marxist Communism), and Democratic Socialism (electoral social democracy). The non-Anarchist Left has echoed the bourgeoisie's portrayal of Anarchism as an ideology of chaos and lunacy. But Anarchism, and especially Anarchist-Communism, has nothing in common with this image. It is false and made up by it's ideological opponents, the Marxist-Leninists.

Personal account of being a member of Resistance (Australia)
Resistance and the Democratic socialist party are very similar to the Socialist Workers Party of the USA. These groups are very uncritical of castro's regime and like all trotskyist groups, they assert that their brand of marxist-leninist theory is right. Resistance and the DSP claim to have large memberships, though when I was a member, it didn't seem so large. They assert that the Bolsheviks wanted free speech. And that Karl Marx really intended that dictatorship of the proletariat to be democracy. Like the ISO
they don't look outwardly objectionable like the spartacists and others.

Open Letter to the Seattle Chapter of the ISO from a Wobbly
To the Seattle ISO; Recently, your organization held a public forum (May 24th) about the union of which I am a member, entitled "Who Were the Wobblies". After attending this forum, many things became clear to me about the nature of your organization, and reaffirmed everything I have seen in the years I've been active in Seattle, as well as accounts from fellow activists in Seattle; that your organization does nothing but to further deface the term "socialism" and alienate working people from learning about the class struggle. Your forum has also exposed your agenda of misinformation, as it is obvious to many people that the IWW is in fact alive and well; in other words, you are lying.

What is Socialism from Below: an anarchist perspective
It may seem dead obvious but it is impossible to go anywhere without first knowing where you are headed for. Without a clear view of the objective and the forces impeding or aiding your advance towards it one can become "all movement and no direction." One question which a socialist must always have on the tip of her tongue is where am I going and how can I get there? If you are heading for socialism then you must have a clear idea of what, exactly, it is.

The S.W.P. and Socialism from Below
Anarchism stands for 'Socialism from below'. This means a future society where ordinary working men and women control all aspects of that society. It also means that struggle for that society must be conducted with that goal in mind. That is, that our organisations must have an internal structure that puts all of the members in direct
control of all decisions taken.

Ongoing Dispute Between ISO (U.S.) and SWP (U.K.)
The most interesting document here is their March 2000 Internal Discussion Bulletin, which discusses their entryism into various student movements, like the students against sweatshops movement. Recruitment, recruitment, recruitment!

ISO Nightmares
I just finished reading your informational page on the International Socialist Organization and I must tell you that it made my day. I agree completely with the writer's analysis of their goals and tactics--they are a completely self-serving, insulated clique, with many "leaders" who border on tyrannical.

The Marxist Theory of the State
Although Marx and Engels never put forward a unified presentation of the theory of the state, their conception of the state is a fundamental aspect of their outlook, and of what has since come to be called Marxism. In fact, theories of the state constitute critical facets of all totalitarian credos, not just the Marxian. After all, a given ideology may be overwhelmingly totalitarian in underlying logic, but if it lacks a focus on using the state as the means of transforming society—that is, of imposing its ideas—its totalitarianism will remain implicit. It is the same with Marxism. While Marxism contains many propositions that imply totalitarianism, it is Marx and Engels' view of the state that renders their theory totalitarian in practice. This is most evident in their argument that the state, in the form of the dictatorship of the proletariat, is the chief weapon in the struggle to establish communism.

Vampire Alert!
The Socialist Workers Party (SWP) is once again sniffing around what could loosly be called the direct action movement - the lively culture of resistance that has grown out of the anti-roads protests, reclaim the streets parties and so on. Seeing the growing awareness in this scene of capitalism as our enemy, and gutted that an event of the scale and militancy of June 18th could pass with not an SWP paper seller in sight, the party leadership has obviously decided that we're a prime target for recruitment.

'International Socialist' betrayal of Prague protest
We've just had a suspicion confirmed by the 'Weekly Worker' about the behaviour of the International Socialists in Prague. From talking to individual members it has seemed that for some reason instead of ending up in the Pink sector (for which they had put themselves down) they somehow ended up behind 'Ya Basta' in the yellow sector. As they were at the front of the march this should have been impossible. It turns out they deliberately entered the wrong sector because they refused to accept the agreed plan to split the march in three. The article revealing this (from a rival Leninist group that agreed with their decision) is at http://www.cpgb.org.uk/worker/353/pragues26.html

If you are an ex-member of the ISO, SWP or other authoritarian Left organizations, we'd like to hear your story!

Click here for the latest critiques of the Left

Students Speak Out About ISO Intervention in Anti-War Movement

Comments on the Berkeley Conference

Why did ISO hijack Berkley CA Schools Conference?

Why did ISO hijack Berkley CA Schools Conference? (2)

Feast your eyes. PROOF about ISO plans to silence people this weekend

This Campaign is not to Destroy or hate the ISO

About last weekend's UC Berkeley student antiwar conference

I'm middle eastern student and was at the Crazy Berkeley Conference

Sick of your conferences being hijacked? Progressive/Anti-War YOUTH plug in

ISO Hijacks BOSTON and SAN FRANCISCO Campus Anti-War Conferences

Students speak out about ISO in student anti-war movement

ISO Should Be Marginalized

Tired of Vanguards? Radical/progressive Youth Anti-War Organizing Starting here!

Are There Any Cool Marxists?

Yes! There are a wide variety of Marxist groups and individuals who are anti-capitalist AND anti-authoritarian. These folks calls themselves left-libertarians, council communists, and sometimes they prefer no label. If giving yourself the anarchist label doesn't suit you, then check out one of these groups, individuals or tendencies:

• AUT-OP-SY
• The Bad Days Will End
• Break Their Haughty Power
• commie zero zero
• Council Communism
• Harry M. Cleaver, Jr.
• Collective Action Notes
• Midnight Notes
• Radical Chains
• Subversion
• Texas Archives of Autonomist Marxism

More on the authoritarian Left

• ANSWER - ANSWER coalition
• IAC - International Action Center
• WWP - Workers World Party

What do you do when your organization is infiltrated by vanguardists?

Field Guide to the American Left