Cartographie de l’anarchisme révolutionnaire (Alternative
Libertaire, France, December 2012)
Michael Schmidt est non
seulement un historien de talent, il est aussi un militant dont la force
d’engagement ressort dans le ton et les thèses centrales du livre. D’emblée,
cette Cartographie pose que la « grande tradition anarchiste », est
historiquement datée, et géographiquement bien plus répandue que ce qu’on en
décrit habituellement. Elle soutient aussi que l’anarchisme est profondément
prolétarien -sensibilité et idéologie naissent en même temps que l’ère
industrielle - en opposition quasi-immédiate au marxisme autoritaire, et que le
syndicalisme lui est presque coextensif : à la fois pratique
d’auto-organisation et stratégie offensive.
Pour l’auteur il n’est
en effet pas possible de séparer la forme moderne de l’anarchisme de ce à quoi
elle s’oppose - le capitalisme. Et si le
sentiment libertaire est antérieur à l’ère industrielle (taoïsme philosophique
en butte au centralisme impérial chinois, matérialisme radical des XVII et
XVIIIe siècles…), il ne faut pas le confondre avec cette prise de conscience de
masse du XIXème siècle, qui trouve dans l’anarchisme une forme d’organisation
de la classe ouvrière.
La spécificité de la
démarche de Michael Schmidt tient aussi à un autre repositionnement, celui de
la géographie. Rappelons que l’auteur est Sud-Africain, et que c’est depuis ce
point de vue qu’il peut remettre
quelques pendules à l’heure. Car l’anarchisme révolutionnaire se répand dès
l’origine (milieu du XIXème siècle) à Cuba, en Russie, en Amérique du Sud, en
Asie. Loin d’être seulement occidental, il s’écrit aussi, au même titre et avec
la même force, en chinois, en coréen, dans les langues d’Afrique subsaharienne.
C’est l’un des aspects
les plus passionnants du livre du reste, et des plus inspirants : la
description par M. Schmidt de la
profondeur et de la cohérence idéologique de l’anarchisme, son ancrage ; et son
internationalisme natif, ce souffle qui se propage au monde entier.
On retiendra enfin
l’intelligence de l’exposé historique où plutôt qu’une chronologie des idées ou
des personnages de l’anarchie, l’auteur déroule cinq « vagues » dont la
consistance est à la fois : événementielle, stratégique et idéologique. Ce
faisant, il nous rassure sur la vigueur et la vivacité de l’anarchisme :
évolutif, il est toujours d’actualité, et il est plus que jamais une réponse au
capitalisme, par-delà le temps, et par-delà les frontières et cultures.
Cuervo AL 78/95
Cartographie de
l’anarchisme révolutionnaire de Michael Schmidt, éd Lux , 190 pages, 14€
My translation:
Michael Schmidt is not only a talented historian; he is also an activist whose spring force commitment in the tone and central theses of the book. From the outset, this mapping raises the "great anarchist tradition" as historically dated and geographically more widespread than what one usually describes. It also argues that anarchism is a deeply proletarian ideology-sensitivity, born at the same time as the industrial era - opposed to the almost immediate authoritarian Marxism and trade unionism [with which] it is almost coextensive: both the practice of self- organization and of offensive strategy.
For the author it is indeed not possible to separate the modern form of anarchism from what it opposes - capitalism. And if the libertarian sense is prior to the industrial era (in philosophical Taoism [opposing?] Chinese imperial centralism, radical materialism of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries ...), should not be confused with the mass consciousness of the nineteenth century, [for] in anarchism is a form of organization of the working class.
Another specificity of the approach of Michael Schmidt is his repositioning of the geography. Recall that the author is a South African, and it is from this point of view that he can get some things right, for revolutionary anarchism spreads from the original (mid nineteenth century) Cuba, Russia, South America and Asia. Far from being just [located in] the West, it is also written in the same way and with the same force, in Chinese, Korean, and in sub-Saharan African languages.
This remains one of the most exciting and inspiring aspects of the book: the description by Mr. Schmidt [of the] depth and consistency of ideological anarchism, its roots, and its native internationalism, this breath that spread throughout the world.
Finally, we note the intelligence of the historical account: rather than a chronology of anarchist ideas or characters, the author conducts five "waves" whose consistency lies in events, both strategic and ideological. In doing so, he reassures us of the strength and vitality of anarchism: evolutionary, it is still valid, and it is more than ever an answer to capitalism, across time and across borders and cultures."
Michael Schmidt is not only a talented historian; he is also an activist whose spring force commitment in the tone and central theses of the book. From the outset, this mapping raises the "great anarchist tradition" as historically dated and geographically more widespread than what one usually describes. It also argues that anarchism is a deeply proletarian ideology-sensitivity, born at the same time as the industrial era - opposed to the almost immediate authoritarian Marxism and trade unionism [with which] it is almost coextensive: both the practice of self- organization and of offensive strategy.
For the author it is indeed not possible to separate the modern form of anarchism from what it opposes - capitalism. And if the libertarian sense is prior to the industrial era (in philosophical Taoism [opposing?] Chinese imperial centralism, radical materialism of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries ...), should not be confused with the mass consciousness of the nineteenth century, [for] in anarchism is a form of organization of the working class.
Another specificity of the approach of Michael Schmidt is his repositioning of the geography. Recall that the author is a South African, and it is from this point of view that he can get some things right, for revolutionary anarchism spreads from the original (mid nineteenth century) Cuba, Russia, South America and Asia. Far from being just [located in] the West, it is also written in the same way and with the same force, in Chinese, Korean, and in sub-Saharan African languages.
This remains one of the most exciting and inspiring aspects of the book: the description by Mr. Schmidt [of the] depth and consistency of ideological anarchism, its roots, and its native internationalism, this breath that spread throughout the world.
Finally, we note the intelligence of the historical account: rather than a chronology of anarchist ideas or characters, the author conducts five "waves" whose consistency lies in events, both strategic and ideological. In doing so, he reassures us of the strength and vitality of anarchism: evolutionary, it is still valid, and it is more than ever an answer to capitalism, across time and across borders and cultures."
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