Platformism

Platformism is an anarchist organizational theory that aims to create a tightly coordinated anarchist federation. Its main features include a common tactical line, federalism, a unified political policy and a commitment to collective responsibility.

First developed by Peter Arshinov in response to the perceived disorganization of the Russian anarchist movement, platformism proposes that a "general union of anarchists" be established to agitate, educate and organize the working classes. It advocates working within existing mass organizations, such as trade unions, in order to transform them into vehicles for a social revolution. In the course of revolution, platformists emphasize the creation of workers' councils, such as the free soviets, to serve as institutions of self-management in a stateless society.

History

Precursors

The roots of platformism go back as far as the organizational principles of Mikhail Bakunin, particularly in his theory of "organisational dualism". Bakunin proposed that anarchists form their own revolutionary organisations that would encourage and agitate workers to rebel against the state and capitalism, and once a social revolution had replaced the state with a federation of voluntary associations, it would then further agitate against any attempted reconstitution of the state by political parties.

The Platform's most direct predecessor was the Draft Declaration of the Revolutionary Insurgent Army of Ukraine, adopted in 1919 by the Military Revolutionary Council of the Makhnovshchina. The Draft Declaration called for a "Third Revolution" against the Bolshevik government, in order to establish a regime of free soviets. It centred the Revolutionary Insurgent Army of Ukraine as the nucleus of this revolution, where the organization's entire membership would carry out the decision-making process.