Northeastern Federation of Anarcho-Communists (NEFAC)

Northeastern Federation of Anarcho-Communists (NEFAC)

Overview

* Seeks to consolidate disparate Communist groups


The Northeastern Federation of Anarcho-Communists (NEFAC) is a bilingual (French and English) organization of revolutionaries based in the northeastern region of North America “who identify with the communist tradition within anarchism.” Its aim is to create “a classless, stateless, non-hierarchical society.” “To achieve such a society,” says NEFAC, “we must bring an end to patriarchy, white supremacy and class domination; smash State power; expropriate the wealth of the rich; abolish the wage system and market economy; and socialize the means of production and distribution for the benefit of society as a whole. This means nothing short of social revolution, which can only emerge from autonomous social movements and the revolutionary self-activity of the working class.”

NEFAC first began to coalesce in the summer of 1999 as a loose network between English-speaking anarcho-communists from New England and their French-speaking counterparts from Quebec who “shared a mutual dissatisfaction with the state of the anarchist movement on both sides of the border.” In April 2000, NEFAC was officially launched at a conference in Boston, Massachusetts.

NEFAC explains that it is neither a party nor a “self-proclaimed vanguard,” and that it harbors no ambition to lead either the anarchist movement or the working class “to social emancipation.” “We recognize that a successful revolution can only be carried out directly by the working class,” says NEFAC. “However, we believe this must be preceded by organizations able to radicalize mass movements and popular struggles, combat authoritarian and reformist tendencies, act as a forum where ideas and experiences between militants can be discussed, and provide a vehicle for the maximum political impact of anarcho-communist ideas within the working class.”

NEFAC seeks to bring about this goal with a three-pronged approach consisting of “study and theoretical development, anarchist agitation and propaganda, and intervention in the class struggle.” This approach has led NEFAC to play an active role in “the anti-globalization movement, anti-war activism, international solidarity, prisoner support, workplace and community organizing, anti-fascist struggles, and anti-poverty work” — all in an effort to bring about the “social revolution” that is a prerequisite for “a libertarian communist future.”

“[O]ur class will abolish the wage system and socialize all industries, means of production and distribution,” says NEFAC. “We reject the division of labor that condemns an individual to a life of restricted activity for the sake of the commodity economy. The abolition of markets and exchange value will allow for the satisfaction of human needs, adhering to the communist principle, ‘From each according to ability, to each according to need.’ … We seek to abolish all forms of capitalism, … [which] creates a society divided into two antagonistic social classes: a small, elite ruling class and a large, exploited working class.”

NEFAC views capitalism as the source of a wide variety of societal ills, including “patriarchy, the domination of men over women”; racism; “homophobia”; ecological destruction; and imperialism that “expresses itself in two different manners: one uses brute force through direct state military intervention, while the other uses economic coercion through transnational financial institutions.”

NEFAC rejects “the ideology of national liberation movements, which claims that there are common interests held between the working class and the native ruling class in the face of foreign domination.” It further rejects “all forms of nationalism as this only serves to redefine divisions in the international working class. The working class has no country, and national boundaries will be eliminated.” “We are internationalists,” adds NEFAC, “… and recognize that a social revolution must be global if it is to succeed.”

In NEFAC’s calculus, “True liberation can only be attained by social revolution. … While we don’t fetishize violence or armed struggle, we understand it will require revolutionary force on the part of the working class to bring about social emancipation. … We advocate radicalization of every struggle.”

Among NEFAC’s crusades is the effort to free such “political prisoners” as Tom Manning, who bombed Mobil Oil and U.S. military targets, and members of Red and Anarchist Skinheads, who have been charged with explosives- and weapons-related offenses.

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