An Anarchist FAQ (AFAQ) is now at version 15.5. This release is a revision of the appendix on how Bolshevik ideology negatively impacted upon the Russian Revolution.
How did Bolshevik ideology contribute to the failure of the Revolution?
1 How did the Marxist historical materialism affect Bolshevism?
2 Why did the Marxist theory of the state undermine working class power?
3 How did Engels' essay "On Authority" affect the revolution?
4 What was the Bolshevik vision of democracy?
5 What was the effect of the Bolshevik vision of "socialism"?
6 How did Bolshevik preference for nationalisation affect the revolution?
7 How did Bolshevik preference for centralism affect the revolution?
8 How did the aim for party power undermine the revolution?
This revision, as well as correcting various typos, expands on the discussion in section H of main AFAQ (and as published in book form).
We have also corrected a few typos in the appendix Reply to errors and distortions in David McNally's pamphlet "Socialism from Below". This is a critique of a Leninist pamphlet which attacked anarchism while presenting Bolshevism and Trotsky in a positive light.
Some context is needed to explain these appendices. All were originally going to be part of section H but this was shortened considerably as it would have made that section -- and so volume 2 of AFAQ -- too long (and impossible to print). Moreover, section H has changed considerably compared to the original plan -- it is probably the most modified section in this regard. Likewise, when AFAQ was originally envisioned (in the early 1990s), the Leninist-left was far more significant than they are now. As such, refuting their claims was considered more important then than they would be now, if AFAQ was being started now. The Bolshevik Myth has fewer adherents these days, although they do still remain. Given this, there does not appear to be the same pressing need as once was the case.
The aim is still to complete and revise all the appendices -- but when is still a moot-point. Particularly as much of what the one on the Russian Revolution covers is already discussed in section H, particularly in section H.6. However, there is still a lot of material to go through and as these are appendices, the necessity is not as pressing as the main body of AFAQ. Given that much of the arguments are now within the main body of AFAQ, this appendix can be considered as a supplement to section H.6.1 and section H.6.2. This builds upon and expands upon the arguments and evidence presented there.
Finally, in terms of our critique of McNally's pamphlet, it would be remiss of us not to mention the article "Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, Harbinger of Anarchism" in Black Flag Anarchist Review Vol. 1 No. 2 (Summer 2021). This is a comprehensive debunking academic Salwyn Schapiro who claimed that Proudhon was a "Harbinger of Fascism". McNally, following Hal Draper's pamhlet The Two Souls of Socialism, based much of his account of Proudhon on Schapiro's woefully inaccurate account and as this is repeated by many other Marxists, it is useful that a recent critique has been done to complete the contemporary one written by Italian anti-facist Nicola Chiaromonte ("Pierre-Joseph Proudhon: an uncomfortable thinker", Politics, January 1946).