Anarchism

Anarchism is a social philosophy founded on the principles of liberty, equality, and solidarity. It originated in the anti-authoritarian wing of the revolutionary workers’ movement of the nineteenth century. Anarchists aim to create a society without bosses, governments, or any form of domination. This requires the abolition of capitalism and the state—a goal achievable only through a social revolution driven by the international working class. Such a revolution necessitates conscious and deliberate organisation, both in its preparation and its execution.

Anarchism is a movement of class struggle, grounded in the understanding that workers are the ones who make society function, while the capitalist class is a parasitic and destructive force. Labour is essential to the reproduction of society in any system, but under capitalism, the working class holds a uniquely revolutionary position. While exploited by capitalists, workers also possess the structural power to disrupt and halt production entirely. This capacity for disruption, coupled with the ability to reorganise production, positions the working class as the force capable of dismantling capitalism and ushering in communism.

This understanding drives our focus on organising within workplaces and through labour organisations. It is here, at the heart of capitalist production, where the fundamental conflict in society plays out—between workers and capitalists. By building power in this arena, the working class gains the capacity for revolutionary transformation and the creation of a society free from exploitation and domination.

Anarchist Communism

Our objective is to establish an anarchist communist society through a social revolution that abolishes capitalism, the State, exploitation, and domination. This society would replace the current order—driven by profit and exploitation—with one rooted in collective freedom, human need, and ecological sustainability.

An anarchist communist society is founded on self-management in all areas of life, guided by the principle: “from each according to ability, to each according to need.” Goods in abundance would be freely available, while scarce resources would be allocated through collective decision-making based on need. Capitalism’s relentless drive for infinite growth and competition would be replaced by sustainable, rational organisation. Labour would become de-commodified and de-alienated, undertaken for the benefit of both individuals and the community.

We build towards this vision by practising self-management and federalism within unions, social movements, communities, and our own organisation. We advocate anarchist communist principles and strategies that prioritise rank-and-file control in all organisations and coordination through mandated, recallable, and regularly rotated delegates.

A communist society creates the conditions necessary for humanity to reach its full potential. Freed from the constraints of profit-driven production, when people no longer compete for survival or accumulation, they can fully realise their humanity—both individually and collectively—and create a society free from exploitation and domination, living in harmony with the Earth.

Means and Ends

Anarchism is not only a social philosophy but a method and theory of social change, based in an analysis of existing social relations, processes, and institutions.

The methods we use are inseparably linked to the outcomes we can achieve. Social relations, actions, and material conditions shape consciousness, defining the range of possibilities that can emerge. The structures we create in struggle are not neutral—they materially shape the activity and understanding of those who engage with them.

Practically, this means that through collective struggle, workers transform both the world and themselves. Each struggle serves as both a means and an end—a practical challenge to the existing order that transforms material conditions and reshapes how we, as a class, understand our power and possibilities. In this ongoing, evolving process, material conditions influence us, while our struggles, in turn, transform those conditions, reshaping both the world and ourselves.

The coherence of means and ends does not mean living as though we already inhabit a
communist society. Instead, it stresses that our actions today shape the direction and potential of revolutionary struggle. A communist society inherently requires self-management and active participation in social decision-making, meaning it cannot be built using forms of organisation that deny these capacities. A society capable of establishing and sustaining communism can only be developed through the anarchist method of self-organised struggle.

Communist relations cannot be imposed from above; they must be built directly by the working class itself.

Self-Management and Federalism

Establishing anarchist communism on a global scale requires significant organisation and coordination. This cannot be achieved by replicating the centralised, bureaucratic structures of the capitalist state. Instead, it depends on the consistent practice of federalism.

Federalism is a method of organisation in which power flows from the rank-and-file upward. In a federalist structure, decisions are made by members within the foundational units of the federation, such as branches or locals. These units come together through free association, retaining autonomy within the framework and bounds of their mutual agreements.

In practice, this means that delegates—tasked with coordinating between groups—carry strict mandates and have no independent authority. Their role is to communicate and implement decisions made by the members who appointed them. Delegates can be immediately recalled if they fail to fulfil their mandates. Continuous worker consent prevents the calcification of leadership or bureaucratic tendencies. If a coordinating body ceases to serve the collective interest, groups can withdraw and reorganise.

Federalism and self-management are deeply interconnected. Self-management means workers directly and collectively controlling their own affairs—an essential foundation for a communist society. Anarchist communism does not equate to localism or small-scale production—the social revolution must be international, requiring vast coordination among workers on a global scale.

While federalism and self-management are essential to our politics, they are not sufficient on their own. Anarchist communism demands more than organisational forms; it requires the complete transformation of social relations through working-class struggle and revolution.

Anarchist Organisation

We follow the approach of organisational dualism, which argues that anarchists must organise at two levels: the political and the mass. Recognising the distinct yet interconnected roles of these levels is essential.

The political level is rooted in ideology. The Anarchist Communist Federation is a political organisation with formal membership, guided by anarchist communist principles. We unite convinced revolutionaries to multiply our efforts as anarchists within the broader working-class movement. Our organisation operates on theoretical unity, a shared strategy, and collective responsibility.

At the mass level, organisation is based not on ideology but on a shared commitment to fighting as workers for our collective interests. Trade unions, despite their bureaucratic limitations, remain the most significant mass organisations uniting workers on a class basis.

Mass organisations are not merely tools for immediate demands; they are schools of struggle where workers learn to organise collectively and develop the consciousness and capacity to resist capitalism.

The revolution will not arise from a single organisation but from the collective strength, solidarity, and determination of the working class. Our role is to actively participate in these struggles, fostering their revolutionary potential and influencing movements towards anarchist politics and strategies.

We have no desire to command mass organisations from above. Instead, we strive to lead through the strength of our ideas and methods of struggle. This involves supporting rank-and-file control, direct action, and federalism while opposing bureaucratic structures that disempower and co-opt worker movements.

Through principled and active participation in class struggles, we work to build the self-organised working-class power essential for overthrowing capitalism and establishing anarchist communism.

Capitalism

Capitalism is a social system rooted in exploitation and domination. At its core is the relationship between two classes: the capitalist class, which owns and controls the means of production—such as factories, machinery, and land—and the working class, which must sell its labour power to survive.

The working class includes all those who rely on wage labour for survival, as well as those structurally tied to it, such as family members dependent on wages, the unemployed, most retirees, and most students. The capitalist class includes those who control capital and direct the labour process, such as: major shareholders, senior managers, employers, and top government officials. Workers produce far more value than they receive in wages, with this surplus appropriated by the capitalist class in the form of profit.

Capitalism is not merely an economic arrangement; it is a totalising system that permeates every aspect of life. Capital exists not as a static thing but as a process of endless expansion. This drive for accumulation is the engine of capitalism. Capitalists, compelled by competition, must continually reinvest profits to expand or risk being driven out of the market. This compulsion is not a matter of individual choice but a structural necessity that dictates how production and social life are organised.

Under capitalism, our labour is alienated. Workers have no control over what we produce, how we produce it, or the conditions we work in. We are expected to live at the mercy of capital’s requirements. Human wellbeing and ecological health are necessarily sacrificed to the imperatives of endless growth.

Capitalism is inherently prone to crisis, routinely throwing vast sections of the working class into poverty. The constant threat of war and unfolding ecological catastrophe are not accidents but consequences of capitalism’s core dynamics. These contradictions cannot be resolved within capitalism itself; only revolution can end the misery it inflicts upon the world.

The State

The State is both a set of social relations and a concrete array of territorial institutions that claim the ultimate right to organise society, enforce laws, property relations, and manage power. Societies which are divided into classes based on the control of wealth, property and power are class societies. All class societies rely on the State to reproduce the domination of an exploiting class over an exploited class.

The modern State emerged in symbiosis with the capitalist mode of production. The capitalist class relies upon the State to protect and defend its interests. In our context, the State is distinguished by political decision-making bodies such as parliaments and an unelected bureaucracy, which maintain class rule via violent mechanisms of law enforcement: the prison system, the police, the army, and border enforcement agencies. The State also assumes broader social functions, mediating social antagonisms—between classes and between competing factions of capital—attempting to pacify class struggle through reforms, concessions, or repression.

While the State serves the capitalist system, it is also compelled to reproduce itself as a distinct entity within the capitalist totality. This reproduction includes maintaining the institutions and privileges of those who govern, as well as ensuring the loyalty and participation of the broader population.

Just as capitalists rely on the exploitation of workers, the State depends on the labour of millions to sustain its bureaucracy, military, and infrastructure. This creates additional contradictions, as the State is not only an enforcer of capitalist property relations but also a major employer and a target of working-class resistance.

Although the State is fundamentally shaped by its role in sustaining capitalism, it develops its own internal logics and institutional interests that can occasionally diverge from the immediate priorities of capital. Nevertheless, it is not merely a passive tool to be wielded by this or that class; its overarching function always remains the preservation and reproduction of class society as a whole.

Reformism and State Socialism

The fundamental transformation that we envisage will require a social revolution. The existing ruling class will not freely allow us to abolish class society.

The social revolution is not an abstract idea—it is the tangible transformation of workers’ relationships to one another, their workplaces, and the broader structures of society. Building workers’ power through militant self-management is essential and cannot be deferred until “after the revolution.” Rather than relying on State or electoral strategies, workers must develop distinct forms of organisation designed to meet the needs of communism. These organisations of workers’ power are forged through struggles for reforms and provide a foundation to replace State institutions with revolutionary structures under direct self-management. Only by building and exercising this power can we abolish class society and create a world free from exploitation and domination.

As such, we engage in the struggle for reforms as part of a broader strategy for revolution, but we are against reformism. That is, we reject the idea that capitalism can be progressively reformed into socialism.

Reforms do not originate from politicians, ideas, or legislation but from shifts in the balance of class power and the State’s efforts to manage conflict. Reforms that benefit workers are won through direct struggle and the exercise of working-class power. We argue for working-class direct action not only because it is the best way to win reforms, but also because it builds the revolutionary potential and consciousness of the working class.

We reject the idea that the social revolution we desire can be achieved through the State. The State is an apparatus to manage and maintain class society. Working class self-emancipation will not come through elections or coups.

Electoral parties and campaigns, even for the purposes of propaganda, reinforce the passivity of workers and reduce them to ‘voters’. This defers the latent power of the working-class to politicians and parliamentary systems. Once in office, structural pressures lead politicians to prioritise their own position and privileges, with the pursuit of office becoming an end in itself.

We also reject the claim that a so-called ‘Worker’s State’ can ever lead to communism. A Socialist or Communist Party in government does little to transform the relationship of workers to production. Either the old capitalist class continues to rule through its control of the means of production, or the State becomes the boss, taking on the function of managing production. In both cases, workers remain alienated and exploited, unable to fundamentally reshape their relationships to work, power, and the social fabric that governs their lives.

Environmental and Climate Crises

Capitalism has created the greatest existential threat in human history. It has plundered Earth’s natural resources, driven mass extinctions, and polluted the atmosphere—causing global warming and increasingly extreme weather events. The delicate ecosystems that sustain all life now hang in the balance. In the process, capitalism threatens the cultures, traditions, and livelihoods of countless peoples and communities.

By prioritising capital accumulation above all else, capitalism not only destroys the environment but also severs the relationship between humanity and the natural world. This system reduces nature to a commodity—nothing more than a resource to be extracted for profit—while divorcing it from the social and ecological processes that sustain life on Earth, fracturing the essential connection between human societies and the ecosystems they depend on.

Sustainability is fundamentally incompatible with capitalism. The system’s survival depends on the relentless extraction of resources and the pursuit of infinite growth, which is impossible on a finite planet. Environmental destruction and climate crises are not external failures or accidents—they are intrinsic to capitalism itself.

There is no solution to this crisis within the framework of capitalism. For life on Earth to continue, capitalism must be dismantled and replaced with a social system that ensures ecological sustainability and resilience, integrates human culture with the ecosystem, liberates science from the imperative of profit, and supports sustainable and healthy cohabitation across the planet.

Against All Domination

Anarchism is not only a method of revolutionary struggle against capitalism and the State; it encompasses an opposition to domination in all its forms, such as racism, sexism, queerphobia, transphobia, and ableism. Capitalism uses forms of oppression and domination to divide the working class and to undermine working class unity and power. Capitalism is able to profit from the divisions it creates, by oppressing and marginalising segments of the working class, whilst co-opting other segments in defence of this oppression.

There is no successful fight against capitalism without the fight against all other forms of domination. Even if capitalism could be overthrown without defeating racism, sexism, queerphobia and all other oppressions, these structures and ideas would soon provide the basis for the re-emergence of a class society.

Various forms of oppression and domination can be fought under capitalism, but for as long as capitalism remains, every victory will be partial and temporary. Capitalist class society will always regenerate oppression and domination in one form or another, to the same effect.

Mobilising the working class towards revolution requires unity and an anarchist-communist society requires emancipation from domination. As such, our opposition is both strategic and principled. Domination must be fought both within our movement and in society at large; both structurally and culturally. Solidarity and unity with marginalised and oppressed comrades is at the core of our activity, guided by the slogan “Touch one, touch all.”

Colonialism and Racism

Modern colonialism is structurally tied to capitalist expansion. It relies on exploiting labour, extracting resources, and enforcing class domination. These systems are upheld through violence, division, and ideology to ensure the continued dominance of capital.

In Australia, capitalism was built on the dispossession and genocide of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Settler colonialism sought not only to claim land but to eliminate Indigenous social and cultural relations with it, replacing them with capitalist structures. Assimilation policies, land theft, mass incarceration, and systemic racism, both historically and in the present, continue to oppress Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Indigenous land rights remain a direct threat to capitalism, as they fundamentally challenge the logic of private property. Sovereignty over the Australian landmass was never ceded.

Migrant workers, particularly those without permanent residency, form one of the most exploited segments of the Australian working class. Under threat of deportation, they constitute a hyper-precarious labour force. This system benefits capitalists by dividing workers along racial and legal lines, weakening the collective strength of the working class. To counter this, the demands of migrant workers must become the demands of the working class as a whole, and the abusive visa system that sustains these divisions must be dismantled.

Racism is a critical tool for maintaining capitalist dominance. It is not merely a set of harmful ideas but a material force that sustains exploitation. By dividing workers, racism obscures the true source of their oppression—capitalism itself. It adapts to meet the system’s needs, shifting its targets to justify new forms of exploitation and control.

Liberation requires the dismantling of racism and colonialism. Aboriginal sovereignty, migrant rights, and the fight against systemic racism must be embraced by the working class in its entirety. Without addressing these forms of oppression, there can be no true unity or liberation.

Sexism

Patriarchal systems predate capitalism by thousands of years. Nonetheless, in our context, sexism is maintained by capitalism. This is of course not to say that the end of capital would automatically produce the end of sexism, and in fact they must be destroyed together. In this system, people are arbitrarily assigned restrictive social roles on a perverse distortion of gender. It enforces a hierarchy, positioning women as inferior and subordinate. Heterosexuality and the nuclear family are upheld as the only acceptable mode of domestic organisation. This system sustains an unequal power dynamic that promotes domination over women and limits the full human experience for everyone.

Capitalism and sexism are intertwined. Sexism is sustained, deepened, and imposed on the working class to serve the interests of capital. Capitalism devalues reproductive labour and places the burden of this undervalued and often unpaid work on women. Sexist violence is encouraged and enacted by the ruling class to enforce this unjust system. However, this division is not just about undervaluing women’s work, even if reproductive labour were equally compensated the gendered division of labour would still impose restrictive and unequal roles. This leads individuals to reproduce sexist violence in our private lives. This dynamic allows capitalism to exploit wage labour more profitably. The end of capitalism requires working to end this system of exploitation and control.

Other marginalisations amplify and are amplified by sexism. LGBTQ people undermine the strict gender roles required to enforce sexism. Sexism and racism are deeply intertwined. LGBTQ people and racialised women are regularly on the receiving end of extreme sexist violence.

We reject that women are inferior or subordinate to men. We reject that gender implies any social or labour role. Sexism must be actively challenged both within our movements and in society at large. We stand firmly against attempts by the far right to mobilize around these forms of oppression, including the transphobic ‘gender-critical’ movement.

The liberation of each of us depends on the end of sexism in all its forms.

Nationalism

There is nothing inherent or fixed about “nations.” National identities have been constructed by historical chance, common experience, and often deliberate invention. We recognise the reality of national sentiment for many people, but reject the premises of nationalism.

Nationalism divides workers into rival “nations,” assumes that all “nations” must be embodied in a national state, and that the national state advances the ‘national interest’. Capitalism and capitalist states develop, foster, and variously invent nationalism in order to defend the capitalist social order and legitimise the state.

There is no “national interest.” The national interest supposes that the exploiters and exploited in a nation have a common ‘national interest’ that supersedes any class interest. In truth, the national interest advanced by every state is nothing other than the collective interests of the ruling class.

Workers always have more in common with the working classes of other ‘nations’. Nationalism conceals this through the false ‘national interest’ and the purposeful othering of the global working class, often utilising racism and xenophobia.

Nationalism provides a justification for a capitalist state, its military, its imperialism, and its wars. Nationalism and national identity enable the ruling class to mobilise the working class to fight its wars and kill their fellow workers around the world, while capitalists reap profits from the casualties. Nationalism also provides the basis for workers competing within the globalised economy of capitalism—fighting against one another to secure work for themselves, thus losing the perspective of solidarity. As such, nationalism acts as a barrier for international labour organising and a united struggle against capitalism.

Anarchism is internationalist. Against nationalism, we advance the idea of an international working class solidarity which must extend across all borders and be directed against the ruling classes of every nation. The interest and unity of the working class stretches across all nations and cultures, and we believe that our strength stems from our diversity. Furthermore, isolated revolutions are vulnerable to both attacks by reactionary forces and political degeneration as a result of material circumstances. Whatever ideals revolutionaries may hold, conditions shape what is achievable. Prolonged isolation and war make degeneration inevitable and result in authoritarian deformations, such as the reconstitution of the apparatuses of the state. Thus, the strength of the international movement is critical for defending, extending and deepening the revolution. The more internationalist we are in our organisation prior to a revolution, the more likely the revolution will be successful.

Imperialism and National Liberation

Capitalism is driven by the need for constant expansion. As capital accumulates, it must continually find new opportunities for valorisation—turning surplus value into expanded capital—to avoid crises. This imperative drives capital to seek new territories, raw materials, labour power, and markets, forming the basis of imperialism. Imperialism is not a deviation from capitalism but a necessary expression of its logic.

Imperialism reshaped capitalism on a global scale, creating systems of global domination through capital export, exploitative trade regulations, economic sanctions, and war. The state evolved from a facilitator of general accumulation to a direct champion of dominant national capitals. While imperialism may manifest as geopolitical rivalry, it is ultimately driven by capitalism’s need for continuous accumulation.

Anti-imperialist struggles arise when oppressed peoples resist imperial domination. These struggles often involve multiple classes with conflicting goals—workers and peasants seek to end exploitation, while local nationalist capitalists aim to establish their own dominance.

Anarchist Communists support national liberation struggles, in principle because we support the right of any oppressed group to resist, and in strategy because national liberation necessarily fosters a class struggle that threatens to spill beyond the limits of the capitalist state. Our role is to actively participate in these struggles, fighting for working class independence and methods of struggle. Abstaining from anti-imperialist movements cedes them to nationalist or reformist forces. Capitalism is an international system, so the fight against it must transcend borders, linking the global working class in a struggle against oppression everywhere.