Libertarian Labor Review #14 Winter 1992-93, pages 29-30 The Syndicalist Ecology of Graham Purchase Review by Jeff Stein Anarchist Society & Its Practical Realization by Graham Purchase, 1990. See Sharp Press (Box 6118, San Francisco CA 94101), 15 pp., $1.50. Anarchist Organisation: Suggestions and Possiblities by Graham Purchase, 1991. Black Swan Press (c/o Jura Books, 110 Crystal St., Petersham 2049, Sydney Australia), 31 pp. Social Ecology, Anarchism, & Trades Unionism by Graham Purchase, 1991. Monty Miller Press (Box 92 Broadway, Sydney 2007, Australia), 12 pp. Graham Purchase is one of the most prolific writers in the Australian anarchist movement, having been a frequent contributor to the Rebel Worker and other journals for many years. These three pamphlets represent his attempt to update anarchism by combining it with radical ecology. Since Purchase is also an anarcho- syndicalist, these pamphlets will no doubt interest many LLR readers. The first, Anarchist Society, is a fairly good summary of the classical anarchist position: the state as an obstacle to liberty and equality, voluntary association as a superior form of social organization, the free commune and workers' self-management as alternatives to the state, etc. To these standard themes, however, Purchase adds an ecological argument, pointing out the disruption of the ecosystem by imperialist expansion promoted by the state. As a solution to this environmental destruction, he suggests that "people will begin to organize themselves not according to electoral and state boundaries but rather according to natural geographical or ecological ones....[in order]....to persuade people to deeply identify with the natural ecology of their local place - and protect that place whilst devloping industrial and ecological practices that are specifically adapted to its ecological characteristics." (p.9) In Anarchist Organisation, Purchase makes an even more emphatic case for the addition of "ecological regionalism" as a component of any future society. While suggesting that there would still be a possiblity for communities and workplaces to federate for cultural and economic reasons, Purchase insists that "political space" should also be demarcated by "Changes in (a) species distribution, (b) climate, (c) drainage and rainfall and (d) physiography [and] the empirical data needed to produce a more or less scientifically arrived at picture of natural or bio-regional boundary." (p.20) "Bio-regionalism" has a nice ring to it. It implies not only decentralism, but a concern for the ecology of an area as well. Yet, contrary to Purchase, one suspects that "bio-regionalism" would deliver neither in practice. To divide up human society into political units based upon the prevailing flora and fauna in the area makes no more sense and is just as arbitrary as politicians drawing straight lines on a map. It is a contradiction of the anarchist principles of voluntary association and self-management, since it would take away the right of people to federate according to their self-perceived common interests and instead force them into borders dictated by so-called "environmental scientists." Nor is there any reason to suppose that once forced to live in these "scientifically" contrived bio-regions, people would acquire any more concern for the surrounding ecology than they had before. Worse yet, bio-regional politics might even produce the opposite effect: an anti-environmental backlash against what people would see as a paternalistic attitude by the bio-regionalists. Undoubtedly in some cases, communities do have strong ecological reasons for federating. All the communities in a river valley ringed by mountains, for example, would have a common interest in coordinating their industries to control air and water pollution, and soil erosion. On the other hand, a multitude of communities spread out over the Russian steppes or the plains of the midwestern U.S., not sharing the same water resources and having less of an air quality problem, would not have as great a degree of common ecological concerns, eventhough they were all part of the same "bio-region." Rather than dictate to people what political units they must live in, it would be better to allow communities to decide these things for themselves. Where common ecological interests are important, we can assume they will federate without needing to be told to do so. Social Ecology, a collection of essays on the works of social ecologist and anarchist, Murray Bookchin, is by far the best pamphlet of the three. Purchase gives Bookchin credit for his many insights about ecology and its relationship to a free society, but takes him to task for his anti-worker bias. As the author shows, Bookchin's rejection of the labor movement is often based upon stereotypes and a lumping together of all types of unionism, from conservative business unions to the anarcho-syndicalists, as though they were the same thing. Even worse, is Bookchin's rather sloppy sociology, which by identifying workers as only those directly engaged in full-time manufacturing, defines the working class right out of existence. As Purchase argues, service workers are every bit as much working class as their manufacturing brethren and in the modern economy, need labor organization as much as ever: How is one to travel or phone another city in Bookchin's ideal world of liberated, self-sufficient city communes unless we have to repair the roads, railway or telephone cables? ...Economic and industrial life is unfortunately global in nature and the idea that one could organize an inter-continental railway network from the individual town or city is as absurd as the proposition that one could organize social life from the factory floor - an idea that he mistakenly credits to industrial- syndicalism. The industrial proletariat, although it may certainly never represent the force that it did a century ago is hardly likely to disappear and Anarchism simply states that in the absence of capitalism and the nation state the workers in each industry must organize their affairs for the good of themselves, their city, their ecological region and the whole of humanity. (Pp. 5-6) Bookchin, on one hand, points out all the short-comings of the labor movement to conclude that it no longer has any revolutionary potential. On the other hand, he glosses over environmental opportunism and romanticizes the so-called "green movement." The point that Purchase makes is not to deny the potential of the ecology movement, but that it is not necessarily strong enough to bring about social change by itself. Therefore the ecology movement should not cut itself off from its working class supporters by claiming that the greens alone represent the needs and interests of everyone, and the workers are just a minority "interest group." Graham Purchase in these pamphlets, and his numerous magazine articles, has made a serious attempt to lay the foundation for a synthesis of the classical anarcho-syndicalism of yesterday and the emerging ecological anarchism of tommorrow. If it is not always possible to agree with him in all the particulars, his works certainly lead in the right directions.