anarchism
Anarchism is a social movement that seeks liberation from oppressive systems of control including but not limited to the state, capitalism, racism, sexism, speciesism, and religion. Anarchists advocate a self-managed, classless, stateless society without borders, bosses, or rulers where everyone takes collective responsibility for the health and prosperity of themselves and the environment.
Theory
Introductory Anarchist Theory
- Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution by Pyotr Kropotkin
- Anarchism and Other Essays by Emma Goldman
- Anarchy Works by Peter Genderloos
- Anarchism: A Beginner's Guide by Ruth Kinna
- Anarchism and Its Aspirations by Cindy Milstein
- Anarchy In Action by Colin Ward
- On Anarchism by Noam Chomsky & Nathan Schneider
- Anarchy by Errico Malatesta
Anarcho-Capitalism
Discord Legacy A collaborative doc of books and other materials compiled by the #anarchism channel on the Discord, containing texts and materials for all sorts of tendencies and affinities.
The Theory List :) https://hackmd.io/AJzzPSyIQz-BRxfY3fKBig?view Feel free to make an account and edit to your hearts content, or just DM me your suggestions ^~^ - The_Dawn
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I'd love it if you expanded on this cause i've been on this massively ML dominated space for years and still haven't been convinced that they're not (though i was always an anarchist so that might not matter that much). One of the main function of a state is reproducing it's power, that's why it can't wither away, especially in a world dominated by capitalist mode of production where communist states are forced to develop their productive forces.
We don't know what a communist society will look like either, mind you, we have blueprints at best. I posted an essay a few weeks ago about revolutionary spain and how anarchists there organized themselves and they definitely were getting there. You can check out Diego Abad de Santilan's writings to see a pretty concrete vision of how they wanted to make things work (though he's somewhat of a pariah cause he joined the revolutionary government, which is, yeah, not very anarchist).
Apart from that Anarchy Works by Peter Gelderloos (it's in the sidebar) is, while a pretty basic, but is another good example that shows why anarchism is anything but idealistic since it shows that the basics of anarchism together or separate were actually laid into praxis tons of times.
One thing to keep in mind tho which i see all the time is that anarchists have a different notion of what a successful revolution is than marxists, since their methods are different and i see this turning into a dick measuring contest still. For anarchists any revolution and any activity that creates stateless bubbles is a success, even if it's crushed in two years. That's why i specifically can't look at the USSR and say it's a success story, because while it existed, the state never withered.
Apart from that, what i think is also a huge and catastrophic misunderstanding is that most MLs still think On Authority is the greatest gotcha ever existed, but in my opinion doesn't do anything apart from conflating authority and force. Anarchists have proven thousands of time since it was written that they are very willing to use force against capitalists and fascists but biting the hand that beats you in itself is not an authoritarian act. What anarchists didn't do is setting up state structures where everyone's every step is monitored and you're encouraged to snitch on your friends and neighbours. Yes, i know we live in a system like that currently as well. That's why i say, from an anarchist standpoint there's no difference.
So yeah two critique's of Engels i've found interesting is this one and this one.
Are we allowed to have discussion on these points in this thread? Because one thing I never understood is the idea that the socialist projects have to wither away so fast, I never got how anyone thought we were at any time in modern history at a point where the coordination created by socialist States could be torn down safely while preserving the gains made.
With the richest countries in the world and many of their colonies, with all the nukes and military one could imagine, breathing down on your doorstep I don't know how it's rational to think that you should then begin tearing down the structures which were then only created out of historical necessity to fight against these very forces. Do Anarchists (capital A) generally believe that the period for communist parties to prove they can transition towards a classless society has passed, and that they've somehow proven they're incapable? Or do they think that the chance hasn't been available yet but that if it was then communists would then prove themselves incapable of transitioning towards communism?
Anarchists generally think that state communist parties (council communists are a different question) are not capable to lead towards a stateless, classless society, since they want to use state power, whose primary functions include reproducing itself. I'm yet to read any convincing account about how, if we got there, Leninists would start to break down the vehicle they used to defeat capitalism and rallied society around.
If you're asking my opinion, i have much of the same scepticism towards communist parties, but not on an equal level, for example i see much more potential in Latin American left/communist movements than in China. What i differ from most anarchists tho is that i'd be very happy to be proven wrong and generally won't advocate for the overthrow of the CCP in the current context.
Doesn't it seem reasonable that the idea of trying to create a classless society would be a task better suited for those who come after us? For example, the promise of socialism is that democracy is then increased to be available to the wider masses of people. Socialist societies have in the past, and even in the modern day, demonstrate that they're able to make huge leaps in social progress that enable more people than ever before be able to participate in the democratic processes of a society. I guess I'm not convinced that the idea that "Leninsts would not break down their own state" is something which is provable, and thus not a useful heuristic for making decisions. So what if "Leninists" aren't capable of the next step in the growth of humanity, it's been shown that they'll give up on their power much more peacefully than societies dominated by the bourgeois class ever will (even and especially communist officials who didn't benefit from the transition to liberal governance). If we're able to save the planetary ecosystem with cybernetic planning, end hunger, guarantee housing and work for those who're able and a good life for those who aren't as the "Leninists" demand; won't we have left our children with far more fertile soil for an anarchist society than if we simply struggle directly for a classeless society today?
Mind expanding on that since it seems like in the us its doing a piss poor job of it. In fact I'd say that a capital dominated state wants to do away with itself via privatization.
Engle's makes a pretty convincing argument that the state arose to mediate class conflict in favor of capital and that it cannot be destroyed until that class conflict is resolved.
Take the landlord tenant relationship. In order for this to exist then the landlord must exercise their property right through state mediated violence and the tenant is offered some rudimentary protections. If the state simply no longer recognized the property right of the land lord the state would wither and class conflict would resolve a bit.