The Alerta Association: Who we are and what we want
The Alerta Association is an organization of workers, the unemployed and students. It consists of local groups that are organisationally connected within a inter-regional federation. We gather in an association so that we can defend our interests through collective direct action and mutual aid. Our activity is manifested in different locations. These are streets, schools, workplaces, neighbourhoods and other places where there is organized oppression and it is possible to defend ourselves against it in an organised way.
The Alerta Association is trying to develop its activities with regard to the social context of past and present times. The historical dynamic has been, in our opinion, determined for centuries by the constant conflict of social classes with opposing interests – i.e. class struggle. This conflict is not a declaration of war on the part of one or another social group. It is a continuous social confrontation, which is a product of capitalist social relations and hierarchies. What kind of impact will such a class conflict have on us depends on the balance of forces between the individual classes and their abilities to organize themselves to defend their interests.
Our role in the class struggle is not to maintain a permanent dominance of one class over another, but through collective confrontation remove the entire class system and with it the social inequalities that it (re)produces. We see an alternative in a classless society organized without the existence of the state, capitalism, money and centralized power. This society should be structured in an egalitarian manner in order to meet individual and social needs without exploitation and oppression.
To achieve the desired transformation of social relations, we see it necessary to put an emphasis above all on aspects of content, form and strategy. These can be given various names, spoken about in different languages and approached with flags of a variety of colours. However, ideological labels, flags or vocabulary per se are never a guarantee of positive practice, so for us they do not constitute key factors which we would strongly dwell on.
Collective theory
We develop the collective theory of the association through analyses of contemporary social reality and by examining the strengths and weaknesses of ongoing struggles. Our theoretical conclusions are usually the result of collective dialogue. This takes place both within our group and at the level of communication with other groups who seek a revolutionary overcoming of capitalism. We believe that the class struggle and class consciousness develops better when there is an ideological debate between proponents of different interpretations of social reality. The exchange of ideas brings about a continuous reflection of our own theoretical positions and thus improves the quality of collective practice.
The dialogue which helps to construct the collective theory of the Alerta Association is a continuous living process and the resulting conclusions can not be regarded as fixed and unchangeable. Where some of the theories over time manifest themselves as problematic, we do not refuse their re-evaluation. In our search for theoretical consistency, we try to avoid dogmatism as well as opportunism.
We believe that in order for the theory to be consistent and become the basis of a quality practice, we have to organise within the association in a way that facilitates reflection and discussion within our own ranks. We also consider important expanding these discussions outside our group, into the entire working class.
Practical focus
The Alerta Association considers the workplace as a crucial field of class struggle, but also stresses the importance of struggles taking place outside the working environment and labour relationships. In practice, we therefore focus on the negation of the states and capitalism, both inside and outside the workplace.
We support through campaigning and active involvement all tendencies in social struggles that contribute to the development of class consciousness – revolutionary theory and practice. At the same time we strive to identify and reflect the limits of past and present struggles. We try to use these analyses and experiences to develop a coherent community that aims to overcome social hierarchies and capitalist relations. This means, among other things, the provision of technical and organizational background, space for education and access to historical sources of the revolutionary movement.
In addition to these areas, the Alerta Association also focuses on a specific area, which is the overcoming of the atomisation of society. In other words, the overcoming of a state where people are isolated, uprooted, deprived of traditional ties and the society becomes “fragmented” due to social conditions. We consider the overcoming of the atomization of society as a qualitative step towards class consciousness and a significant shift in the anti-capitalist practice.
Means and goals
The Alerta Association supports all the trends and resources leading towards class autonomy, as a necessary condition for the transition from capitalism to a classless, stateless community. The desired transformation of social relations may, in our opinion, only take place if the workers, the unemployed and students will be organized as an autonomous, conscious class and will press their interests from such a position. For our practice, this means that we primarily support those struggles in which the working class breaks away in the workplace from trade unions, in places of residence, and in schools from political parties, state-supporting institutions, leaders and agents of power.
The specific struggles and conditions produce specific organizational forms such as affinity groups, solidarity networks, federations, workers’ councils, general assemblies, communes and others. All these organizational forms are for us worthy of support provided that they maintain a non-hierarchical structure, anti-capitalist nature and a revolutionary agenda.
The Alerta Association rejects any form of parlamentarianism and organizational forms that want to overcome capitalism by counter-revolutionary means. In our opinion, in order to overcome capitalist relations, a class self-organization and a process of social revolution is necessary. They represent for us a qualitative leap in the class struggle, through which the capitalist relations collapse and provide a space for the development of a classless community.
The Alerta Association rejects the notion of a transition period between capitalism and classless society. According to our views, such a society needs to be formed immediately during the revolutionary events through the subordination of all productive and organizational forces to human needs. In practice this would mean the immediate elimination of wage labour and production for profit, the abolition of the market, money, and the practical application of the principle: each according to his or her ability, each according to his or her needs.
On the way to a classless society we consider it necessary to remove the state and replace it with revolutionary self-organization bodies. Only those bodies, in our opinion, can provide the conditions through which the working class is cancels itself as a class and dismantles the whole class society.