Failure of Praxis? European Revolutionary Anarchism in Revolutionary Situations 1917-1923

Abstract

This article investigates the action of anarchists to the revolutionary situations that emerged in Europe from the October Revolution in Russia until 1923, and their reaction to the failure of anarchist revolutionary practice. It focuses on Russia, Spain and Italy to show the similarities and differences in the anarchist critique of the failure of anarchists to guide the social unrest into a successful revolutionary outcome. Rather than simply looking at the role of their opponents this critique centers on aspects of anarchist praxis and tactics which some anarchists argued needed to be revised in light of experience.