Chemins AItema tifs

Book Review

A Structured Anarchism by John Griffin. London:
Freedom Press, n.d., 37 Pp. Reviewed by Jeff Shantz

John Griffin's short book from the venerable Freedom Press, A Struc-
tured Anarchism, represents an attempt to address perceived shortcom-

ings of anarchist analysis with regard to matters of sociology,

psychology and economics which the author finds to be generally "weak

and unsystematic" (5). In reading the text it is clear that of these con-

cerns Griffin is most interested in questions of economy, devoting all but

three of the nine chapters to questions of production, exchange and capi-

talist organization.

The author's stated intention is to sharpen anarchist analysis in light

of its current position as "sole bearer of a useful critique of all authoritar-

ian and exploitative societies" (5) given the recent troubles of world

communism and Marxist theory. Underlying Griffin's discussion is a
debate between collectivist (Proudhonian small market economics, con-

sumption related to work) and communist (Kropotkinian non-waged,

money-less relations) perspectives. While preferring collectivist alterna-

tive economics in the present, since he sees this as more readily attain-

able, Griffin seems to recognize that widespread social improvement is

impossible without the overthrow of capitalism. Unfortunately, a turn in

Griffin's analysis relating to his sociological understanding leads him

away from offering many insights into how this overthrow might be
effected, or even how capitalism operates.

Griffin's attention to such seemingly academic matters as sociology

and psychology is interesting especially since the author is not an aca-

demic, a fact which may explain the clarity of his writing. The idea of
discussing anarchism in relation to sociological theory is a compelling

one, especially given the usually overlooked historical engagements

between anarchists and the "founders" of sociology, notably Karl Marx,

Emile Durkeim and Max Weber. Certainly, both the anarchists and the
early sociologists were responding, in different ways, to the same chang-

ing conditions being ushered in by industrial capitalism in 19th century

Europe. Moreover, the founders of sociology and anarchists were

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Alternate Routes

directly engaged with one another, often in pitched battles. (One story

I've heard tells of the anarchists of the Munich Soviet of 1919 chasing

Weber out of town before he could give a speech.)

Unfortunately, rather than exploring the engagement between anar-

chists and sociologists and the debates between them (which along with

anarchist theory have been written out of sociological history), Griffin

wastes this chapter on a rather unconvincing criticism of Marx's analysis

of class. Griffin argues for the abandonment of "working class" as a core

theoretical concept given the difficulties of definition in the current con-

text. Griffin goes so far (too far) as to call class a "chimera" (10). He

suggests strangely that an analysis of class "inevitably distracts attention

from the core concern of all anarchists, namely the authority and power

which sustains those who rule" (11). While not all power flows from

class in our society, still it remains one of the principle relations under-

pinning rulership, as recent protests against the WTO, World Bank and
IMF remind us. In place of an analysis of class, which he regards as neb-

ulous, Griffin prefers the bourgeois sociology of Durkheim which turns

from class to the truly nebulous notion of community.

In fact, in place of the more precise discussions around class and its

changing character, Griffin substitutes more oblique notions of "commu-

nity harmony." Elsewhere he makes the dubious suggestions that anar-

chists shift attention to the "psychology which gives rise to" power (36)

since the "real revolution lies with the individual." Anarchy as pop psy-

chology or advertising.

Griffin's analysis of the market and money as aspects of unconscious

drives and authoritarian compulsions, rather than as outcomes of real

practices of accumulation and competitive social relations is neither con-

vincing nor particularly insightful in terms of helping us to overcome

those relations. Asking capitalists to be nicer will not turn the trick. His

discussion presents money as simply a convenient medium of exchange

rather than a complex relation with respect to social labor and he seems

to buy the hype that markets are self-regulated by supply and demand.

As a result he cannot see beyond a petty bourgeois version of anarchist

society with money as the primary means to ensure work and relate con-

sumption to work done.

The rest of Griffin's socioeconomic discussion consists of construct-

ing his argument for collectivist economics, weighing its benefits against

capitalism and identifying the problems it poses. Here Griffin drifts

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Chemins Alternates

down the path of alternative economics, and like many proponents of
LETS, barter and "green production" substitutes his abiding enthusiasm

for an analysis of how capitalism must impede and "co-opt" such
projects. Overcoming capitalism is not simply a matter of good inten-

tions and lovely schemes.

Despite the problems of analysis, there are within the text sections

which will interest readers. These include the organization of communes
in Spain between 1936-1939, the Mondragon cooperatives in Spain and

the Scott Bader Commonwealth in England. Syndicalists will be quite

familiar with these efforts, and highly critical of the latter two especially,

but Griffin provides a serviceable introduction for the unfamiliar.

A secondary emphasis in Griffin's work concerns the social psycho-
logical mechanisms by which state and capital instill authoritarian cul-

tural values. Griffin draws upon the work of non-anarchists Wilhelm

Reich and Erich Fromm. While providing a useful synopsis of the psy-

choanalysts' main ideas, this section does not provide a satisfactory

accounting of authoritarianism. The Freudian emphasis on the subcon-

scious is accorded too great a place in the discussion while analysis of

social structures and relations (which were crucial both for Reich and

Fromm) are downplayed.

Likewise, in seeking to overcome authoritarianism, Griffin implores

us to "look within ourselves," (14) which is certainly part of a response

but as the sixties old new agers showed is no solution. Notions that the

destruction of the environment, economic exploitation and social crises

result from some "mindless drive," (31) or represent "an expression of

the thought patterns of the powerful" (32) are of little analytic value.

Some of this reads like a "self-help" book and Griffin's suggestion
that anarchists "consult an analyst" (15), a rather authoritarian role itself,

completely turned me off. In the end, however, I can agree with Griffin
that the lived experience of oppression is more important in the forma-

tion of authoritarian drives than is media propaganda. I just wish he had

paid it more attention in his analysis.

Griffin's attempt to deal seriously with the difficult questions around

social organization, workers' control and non-capitalist exchange is wel-

come. Unfortunately his analysis is so weakened by his insufficient

understanding of class and capitalist social relations that the work ulti-

mately fails in its stated goal of developing a strong, systematic anarchist

understanding of sociology and economics.

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