Table of Contents of ‘THE CONQUEST OF VIOLENCE’

– New and Enlarged edition – 

with new translations of previously unpublished texts . Bart de Ligt, anarchist, syndicalist, anti-militarist, activist, organizer – and his context.

 

1. Introduction (20p) 7

Place of ‘Conquest’ in the life and thinking of BdL 9

Root causes not just MRXian reductionism. 10

some of his analysis wrong (Hitler Germany and war) or outdated now (Japanese question) but PARALLELS (Abessinia=Syria, Algeria=Palestine, Rojava/Chiapas=Spain ’36, Russia=Germany, Ukraine=Poland, EU&US=EU&US ‘democracies’ of his day) 10

Non/violence, Anti/militarism, pacifism 10

ABOUT THE CHOICE OF TEXTS: 11

A. Some of Bart’s comrades speaking: 12

1. Arthur Lehning – By means of introduction (1939) 12

2. Albert de Jong – Bart de Ligt and his importance for the IAMV and IAMB (1939) 14

3. C.L. Van Rossem – On Bart de Ligt (1951) 18

4.Gé Nabrink – Bart de Ligt about woman and education (1958). 30

5. Arthur Lehning: ‘Bart de Ligt’ (1980) 35

6. Arthur Lehning – Peace as Act. On the relevance of Bart de Ligt. An interview by Toke van Helmond (1983). 38

B. Albert de Jong – Revolutionary anti-militarism in the Netherlands (1954) 43

1. Revolutionary anti-militarism in the Netherlands 43

1.1 Anarchism and anti-militarism 43

1.2 Anarchists and soldiers 43

1.3 Founding the IAMV 44

1.4 The IAMV in the Netherlands 46

1.5 The activity of the Dutch IAMV section 46

1.6 Legal Persecutions 47

1.7 The principles of the IAMV. 50

1.8 Indonesia free from Holland 50

1.9 The IAMV and violence. 50

1.10 Non-violent people become members of the IAMV 51

1.11 Activity during and after the first World War 52

1.12 The ‘Groenendaal’ action 52

1.13 The IAMB and the IAK 53

2. The Spanish revolution and violence 54

3. Conclusion 55

C. What the red international wants (second edition, 1917?) 56

IAMV Declaration of Principles 56

The I.A.M.V. 56

A word in advance. 56

The Creation. 56

The Founding. 56

Neither a people’s army[…] 58

[…nor ] any army at all 58

Non-violence 59

About the labor movement 59

The attitude of the anti-militarists in case of war 60

An objection 61

No patriotism. 61

Conclusion. 62

APPENDIX for the second edition 62

RESOLUTION (Congress May 25, 1917) 62

RESOLUTION (Congress December 26, 1917) 62

STATUTES OF THE IAMV 62

2. ConTEXTS 65

A) How and why de Ligt incites. (1921) 65

B) Anarchism and revolution, Reflections in light of the anarchist congres in Berlin December 25 to 31, 1921 67

Introduction. 67

1. Marxism and Anarchism 72

2. Anarchism since 1914 74

3. The anarchists at the Berlin congress. 75

4. Anarchism and Organisation. 76

5. The task of anarchists in the economic struggle organisations of the workers. 77

6. Anarchism and Anti-militarism. 79

7. Anarchism and dictatorship. 81

8. Anarchism and Revolution. 83

C) Direct Action! The anti-militarists of the deed at the IFTU peace congress 10 – 15 December 1922, A voice in the desert.(1922) 86

D) Revolution, anarchism and antimilitarism (1924) 99

E) Tolstoy and Gandhi (1930) 104

F) Clara-Meijer-Wichmann as defender of humanity (1931) 110

G) Proudhon Revives (1932) 116

H) Societal democracy (1933) 122

I) What stops fascism (1934) 126

different forms 126

In Italy 127

messianinsm. 128

In Germany 129

democracy 130

feudal means of power. 131

worship of the state. 131

essential element of fascism, 132

in the Netherlands. 132

a normal phenomenon 134

Führerprinzip 135

Parteiprinzip: 135

nationalize 136

ideological resistance 136

the practice of christian parties. 137

freethinking democrats, 137

social-democrats, 138

Colijn trying? 138

fascism can never internationalise: 139

the realm of economy. 139

capital and labor 140

human nature. 141

direct action, 141

its second utopia. 142

DEBATE. 143

a new kind of romanticism 143

our own world view, 144

other currents in the labor movement. 144

leader worship 144

spirit of unity 144

worship of France 144

the economic factor. 144

what fascism wants. 145

internationalization 145

peoples of the East 145

what needs to be done, 145

fascism in your own circles, 145

marxism 146

REPLIES. 146

romantic reaction 146

unhappy awareness, 146

a guiding principle 146

the experience, 147

reorientation 147

other currents 148

Every leader is fallible, 148

direct action, 149

revered 149

economic ideas of fascism. 149

What fascism wants 149

Can fascism internationalize? 149

the colored races 150

shoulder to shoulder 150

Marxism 151

the national tradition 151

J) National socialism or free socialism (1935) 153

main causes, 154

feudal and pre-feudal means of violence and seduction, 154

by virtue of their positions [functions], 155

romantic reaction 155

liberal-democracy 156

the social-democrats 156

the 3rd International, 157

inferiority complexes everywhere: 158

autarchy, 159

national solidarity 159

national capitalism. 160

cannot internationalise. 160

cultural competition. 161

economically. 162

June 30, 1934, 163

bolshevism. 164

serve a different purpose. 164

deepest tendency of social life, 165

state-capitalism, 165

state-capitalism is the biggest enemy 166

not just the means of production but the products as well, 167

salaried people. 168

by the masses themselves rising up, 169

here in the West, 170

Principles of the communist production and distribution. 170

a new education 171

only revolutionaries 171

before a decision. 172

national-capitalism 173

DEBATE. 173

strive for simplicity, 173

the syndicalists and the international communists. 174

psychology 174

national-boshevism 174

the State will wither away. 174

violence was wrong 175

bad methods for a good cause, 175

unemployed youngsters 175

REPLIES. 176

abolishing the wage system, 176

simplicity, 176

the syndicalists 177

the international communists 177

the free council system. 177

psychology, 177

in Russia 179

the revolution of the revolution. 179

that this state would wither away all by itself. 179

direct action 180

violence 180

revolutionary anti-militarists as well, 180

the good means and the good goals? 181

on a different level, 181

unemployed youth 182

more contact with the mass than ever before. 182

K) The problem of the civil war (Bevrijding 1938) 183

POSTSCRIPT Bart de Ligt (in ‘Le problème de la guerre civile’, Pensée et Action, Hem DAY, Bruxelles, October 1937) 189

3. Bart de Ligt – THE CONQUEST OF VIOLENCE (250p) 191

4. From anti-militarism of the deed to social defence (Bibliographic essay). 192

5. Further Reading: 207

Anarchism 207

Social Defence 208

SOURCES FOR PERSPECTIVES ON NONVIOLENT REVOLUTIONS TODAY AND TOMORROW; concrete cases. 209

OCCUPY: 209

CHIAPAS: 209

ROJAVA, and SYRIA 209

GAZA/PALESTINE/etc, 210

UKRAINE 211