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TOWARDS A FREE ORDER: Bart de Ligt and the anarchist anti-militarism of the deed.
Book I: Battle Plan against War and other texts – a practical guide.
Book II: Conquest of Violence in conTexts – from anarchist anti-militarism of the deed to social defense.
TABLE OF CONTENTS of CONQUEST in ConTexts: https://antimilitarism.org/admin/the-conquest-of-violence-in-contexts/
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In this age of increasing crisis and war, the anarchist movement can tap into a rich history of anti-war theory and action. A pivotal figure is Bart de Ligt, whose only publication in English, ‘The Conquest of Violence’ was long out of print and unavailable online.
For the new edition of ‘Conquest’, we have chosen to separate the practical and the theoretical, even though we are firmly convinced that the two should be combined in our organizing. We separated the ‘Battle Plan against war and war preparation’ (that was included in the earlier edition of ‘Conquest’) and translated a list of other practical texts to show the diversity and flexibility of the tools at our disposal.
For de Ligt and the anarchists in general, anti-militarism was never ‘pacifism’ in the sense that they condemned all violence categorically. Neither can their anti-militarism be separated from their anarchism: feminism, anti-capitalism, anti-statism, anti-colonialism, anti-racism, etc. Although there is a clear focus on anti-militarism in the selected texts, the other aspects of his anarchism are clearly present.
We hope you find our efforts useful and useable. Let’s organize!
———————————— (LONGER VERSION) ————————————————-
In this age of increasing crisis and war, the anarchist movement can tap into a rich history of anti-war theory and action. A pivotal figure is Bart de Ligt, whose only publication in English, ‘The Conquest of Violence’ was long out of print and unavailable online.
The tradition of anarchist anti-militarism is much older and goes back to Godwin, de la Boétie, Proudhon and so many others, from every possible hyphenated anarchism. The main weapons the anarchists developed were individual and collective refusal to serve on one hand, and syndicalism on the other hand. Both strategies were and are not beyond criticism and conditional effectivity. Bart de Ligt and his comrades (Ferdinand Domela Nieuwenhuis, Clara Wichmann, Albert de Jong, Arthur Lehning and many others) developed the anarchist strategy into a comprehensive practical plan based on thorough analysis that we would probably refer to as ‘social defense’ these days – a term that is used in academic circles today, something that de Ligt also laid the first stones for in his writing, his addressing intellectuals (and other target groups – even his ‘Battle Plan’ has long lists of specific people who can use their specific function in society for anti-militarist organizing) specifically in specific texts and speeches.
He also helped set up summer schools, symposia and an anti-militarist ‘International School for Philosophy’, while he stayed in contact with Maria Montessori and her action for an anti-militarist education. He was in close contact on the other hand with the IWA-AIT and Dutch anarcho-syndicalism, regularly speeched before workers, etc. But he was also critical of his audiences; after all war would be impossible without the population actively collaborating in war and war preparation, everyone in their own function in society.
For this new edition of ‘Conquest’, we have chosen to separate the practical from the theoretical, even though we are firmly convinced that the two should be combined in our organizing. But it’s simply more practical for organizing to carry around a brochure with practical proposals than a heavy book that combines the two aspects.
We separated the ‘Battle Plan against war and war preparation’ (that was included in the earlier edition of ‘Conquest’) and translated a list of other practical texts to show the diversity and flexibility of the tools at our disposal.
‘The Conquest of violence’ in its old form was written near the end of de Ligt’s life (who died basically of exhaustion after a life of intense and unrelenting social action), and was aimed at a large audience. The text was based on older texts both in Dutch (among others a shorter text with the same title, but the setup more similar to the 2-volume book ‘Vrede als Daad’: ‘Peace as Act’) and an edition in French (‘La paix créatrice’ or ‘The Creative/Constructive/Productive Peace’). It’s tone was different from other texts and represents de Ligt’s anarchist thought poorly, leading to misunderstandings and misinterpretations, especially in the context of debates on ‘pacifism’ where people seem to mainly talk besides eachother with words meaning different things to different people. de Ligt refused the label ‘pacifist’ even though he is (too) often presented as one. While the texts touch the contours of that debate, it is not central in any way.
For de Ligt and the anarchists in general, anti-militarism was never ‘pacifism’ in the sense that they condemned all violence categorically. Neither can their anti-militarism be separated from their anarchism: feminism, anti-capitalism, anti-statism, anti-colonialism, anti-racism, etc. Although there is a clear focus on anti-militarism in the selected texts, the other aspects of his anarchism are clearly present. This also led to a critical analysis of the relation of the anarchist movement and militarism, especially in the discussions within the IWA-AIT and the Dutch anarchist movement about the militarisation of the Spanish Revolution and the role of the CNT-FAI. We also provide a sketch of some positions, but we hope to come back to this subject in a volume of its own.
The anarchist attitude against war is also in stark contrast with Marx and Marxism, and the break-up of the 1864 International, founded mainly by anarchists, has been mirrored in the bloody repression and militarism of both social-democrats and bolsheviks. Bart de Ligt started his anti-militarist activism as a protestant pastor (he was ostracized from several Dutch provinces and spent time in jail for his writing) before he became schooled by Marxism, which he soon abandoned to become an anarchist. His relationship with Marx and Marxism has always remained very double. He erroneously separated Marx from Marxism: he always tried to find common ground with his audiences in order to build bridges while also being very clear in his criticisms. This is also clear in his relationship with Gandhi, about which some new translations are included as what is available online does not represent the whole picture.
We hope you find our efforts useful and useable. Let’s organize!