Anarchist Information Bureau

On August, 13-15, 2004 XVII Congress of Association of Anarchist Movements took place in St. Peterburg. The Congress collected 52 comrades, including 19 participants of Association from 6 cities – Kazan, Moscow, Nizhniy Novgorod, St. Peterburg, Solnechnogorsk and Yaroslavl – and 33 guests from Russia (Volzhskiy, Moscow, Petrozavodsk, St. Peterburg, Solnechnogorsk, Tyumen), Finland (Helsinki), Germany (Berlin) and Italy (Kozence, Rome). During the Congress activity of local anarchist groups (Moscow, Nizhniy Novgorod, Volga, Yaroslavl, St. Peterburg, Kazan, Petrozavodsk) was discussed and a report about the VII Congress of International of Anarchist Federations (IFA), taken place this spring in Besanson , France, that had ratified the Association joining IFA. Congress has established, that the participants of Council of Revolutionary Groups of Anarchists, (SRGA) Yaroslavl should take responsibility for contacts with anarchist federations in other countries and interaction with Secretary of IFA

Congress discussed the report «About directions in modern anarchism» and a problem of interactions between the anarchistic organizations of Russia. Claims of members of Federation of Revolutionary Anarchists to Petersburg Anarchist League of and to participants of «Independent Action» are considered within the companionable discussions. The information on separate conflict situations in anarchist movement is taken into account in connection with proclamations of some participants from Moscow. Having considered the problem with the attitude to «the Union of Anarchists of Ukraine», Congress has agreed with accepting new decisions for this occasion being unnecessary, because problems, arising in this case, are subject of the «Agreement on interaction» of ADA

Under the initiative of comrades from St. Petersburg and Moscow. Congress approved the changes to a number of working resolutions of the ADA («About war on Caucasus», «About an internal duty and bankruptcy of state system of Russian Federation», «About a pension support», «About the problems of education», «About tactics and technical base of anarchists », «About imperialism» and «About a situation in the world after 11.09.2001г.»). With some changes, the resolution «About occupation of Iraq and methods of struggle against it» and the Antifascist resolution were authorized. The brief resolution of VIII Congress of the ADA «About boycott of elections » was cancelled; instead a new, advanced one was accepted, proving and precisely fixing boycott of elective procedures, and, in particular, establishing voting «against everybody» impossible for participants of Association. On the basis of the Yaroslavl project, the resolution «About discrimination » was accepted.

Comrades from Peter and Volzhskiy called a number of offers on carrying out actions during the period before the following Congress (in particular, in connection with the beginning of academic year (on September, 1), beginning of recruiting in the Russian Army (on October, 1), day of the Black Banner (November, 21), Day of struggle against labor (December, 1), Day of the Unknown artist (on March, 1), Day of the tax bearer (on April, 1), Day of protection of children (on June, 1), Day of struggle against police cruelty, the 140-anniversary of 1-st International, etc.).

For the lack of time, questions on the Anarchical Black Cross (the organization meant to help the political prisoners), on mutual aid and on solving the material problems, on exchange of editions and propaganda materials were not discussed in sufficient detail at Congress. Their further discussion is planned to continue by means of email group of Association, that should be restored in the near future. It was decided, that comrades from Yaroslavl and Kazan are to engage in its restoration.

Congress took some changes in the list of participants of Association in account. The Anarchist Union of Kuzbass (АSК) is considered left the list of collective participants. New collective participants of Association became Gaj League of Anarchists (the Orenburg area) and Novosibirsk anarchist group «Resist». In August, 2004 the Association includes nine groups - collective participants (in Kazan, Tver, Guy, Zheleznogorsk, Novosibirsk, Peterburg, Yaroslavl, Konigsberg and Nizhniy Novgorod). Individual participants of the ADA operate in 16 cities (Bryansk, Warsaw, Leplee, Minsk, Moscow, Nizhniy Novgorod, Nyagan, Peterburg, Pskov, Riga, Rostov-upon-Don, Sarapul, Solnechnogorsk, Surgut, Yurga, Yaroslavl).

The following, XVIII, Congress of the ADA is decided to take place in the end of summer or in autumn of the next year in Yaroslavl (backup variant – Moscow). Organizing committee of forthcoming Congress – the Council of Revolutionary Groups of Anarchists of Yaroslavl.