anarchism

Michael Yates mikey+ at pitt.edu
Mon Dec 6 06:25:39 PST 1999


Chuck,

I don't know why the word "jealousy" would be used in response to my post. I thought that there was some debate going on about anarchism in light of the anarchism of some of the Seattle protesters. Just because someone posts a quotation doesn't mean that the poster agrees with all that is in the post. I'm certainly jealous of the fact that I was not there! These were great and possibly important protests.

michael yates

Chuck0 wrote:


> Michael Yates wrote:
> >
> > In light of recent discussions of the anarchists in Seattle, the
> > following remarks of Hal Draper from his pamphlet, "The Two Souls of
> > Socialism," might be of interest:
> >
> > "...Anarchism is not concerned with the creation of democratic control
> > from below, but only with the destruction of "authority" over the
> > individual, including the authority of the most extremely democratic
> > regulation of society that it is possible to imagine. This has been
> > made clear by authoritative anarchist expositors time and time again;
> > for example, by George Woodcock: "even were democracy possible, the
> > anarchist would not support it...Anarchists do not advocate political
> > freedom. What they advocate is freedom from politics..." Anarchism is
> > on principle fiercely anti-democratic, since an ideally democratic
> > authority is still authority. But since, rejecting democracy, it has no
> > other way of resolving the inevitable disagreements and differences
> > among the inhabitants of Theleme [reference to Rabelais], its unlimited
> > freedom for each uncontrolled individual is indistinguishable from
> > unlimited despotism by such an individual, both in theory and in
> > practice. The great problem of our age is the achievement of democratic
> > control from below over the vast powers of modern social authority.
> > Anarchism, which is freest of all with verbiage about something from
> > below, rejects this goal. It is the other side of the coin of
> > bureaucratic despotism, with all its values turned inside out, not the
> > cure or the alternative."
>
> Oh, OK, so now it's time to drag out the anti-anarchist Marxist writers.
>
> Do I sense some jealousy here? Am I correct in assuming that the
> authoritarian "international socialists" were caught flat-footed by the
> Battle in Seattle? Maybe if they spent less time selling their crappy
> newspapers and joined some community groups involved in direct action,
> they'd be more in touch with the spirit that led to N30.
>
> I'm already seeing a huge increase in people joining my anarchist
> organizing lists. The events that transpired last week obviously
> inspired lots of people. Activist groups should be prepred to see an
> increase in new faces.
>
> --
> Chuck0
> http://flag.blackened.net/chuck0/home/
>
> Dr. Laura is scared of this sig file
> +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+
> Mid-Atlantic Infoshop
> http://www.infoshop.org/
>
> Spunk Library
> http://www.spunk.org/
> "All the anarchy you'll ever need, organized neatly
> and with reassuring authority."
> -- 1998 Rough Guide to the Internet
>
> FREE MUMIA ABU-JAMAL AND LEONARD PELTIER!
> +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=



More information about the lbo-talk mailing list