Ease up on the death notices : from the end of the working class to its reconstruction

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The task is not replacing the proletariat with some new, heaven-sent subject, nor subordinating it to parties or States, but reassembling its autonomous, horizontal and federal potential so that it can overwhelm capitalism in every facet of life. If capital is global and all-encompassing, then our organization should be likewise. 

None of the foregoing ascribes any guaranteed “historical mission” to the proletariat. That a class exists is not guarantee of its victory; it merely indicates the field on which the struggle can be fought out. The alternative to defeatism is not some promise of insurrection, but a rebuilding of the components of possibility: sociability, conflicting infra-structures, revocable coordinating panels, effective internationalism, communities in struggle. That is what supporting a libertarian class outlook amounts to today: not the heralding of it but laying the groundwork for it. […] 

“Revolution or barbarism” is no longer a catchphrase: it is a genuine alternative, mid-way between two competing futures.

 

Translated by: Paul Sharkey.