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Section H - Why do anarchists oppose state socialism?

While this section of the FAQ is being worked upon, we recommend the following texts as good introductions on why anarchists oppose state socialism:

  • The Bolsheviks and Workers Control
  • Freedom and Revolution in the Russian Revolution by Aileen O'Carroll
  • 'The Kronstadt Commune' by Ida Mett
  • Lenin's Ideas by Alan MacSimion
  • Lenin and Stalin by Andrew Flood
  • Defending October or Defending the truth? by Andrew Flood

  • Marxism, Freedom and the State by Micheal Bakunin
  • Marxism and Anarchism by Conor McLoughlin
  • Marx and the state by Conor McLoughlin

    Introduction

    H.1 Have anarchists always opposed state socialism?

    H.2 What are the myths of state socialism?

      H.2.1 Is economic power the root of all class oppression?
      H.2.2 Is Big Business the precondition for socialism?
      H.2.3 Will capitalist economic crisis help create socialism?
      H.2.4 Why state socialism is not socialism?
      H.2.5 Why are vanguard parties anti-socialist?
      H.2.6 Why will the state not "wither away?
      H.2.7 Why is state ownership is capitalistic?
      H.2.8 Why does central planning fail?

    H.3 What actually happened in Russia?

      H.3.1 What is "The Bolshevik myth"?
      H.3.2 What was the Bolshevik attitude to workers control?
      H.3.3 Why did the soviets become powerless in the USSR?
      H.3.4 Did the Bolsheviks become authoritarian because of the Russia Civil War?
      H.3.5 Why is the Kronstadt rebellion important to understanding the true nature of Bolshevism?
      H.3.6 Why does the Makhnovist movement show there is an alternative to Bolshevism


    H.4 What is market socialism?

      H.4.1 What's wrong with market socialism from a libertarian perspective?
      H.4.2 Is there any form of market socialism that is compatible with libertarian socialism?