>I guess we'll see about the long term. The way I look at it, the
>anarchists in the U.S. have achieved more in the short term than the
>Left has managed to accomplish in the past 20 years of newspaper
>selling. And I'm not just talking about our victories in conjunction
>with the "anti-globalization movement."
Then what ARE you talking about, Chuck? The way you present it here, there are two factions on "the left," the anarchists and the sectarian paper-sellers. Where does Jobs with Justice figure in all of this? Or how about all of those former "paper-sellers" up at Labor Notes who've been organizing rank-and-file caucuses in unions for years, with precious little coverage from the bourgeois press, to be sure, but with not a little success considering what they're up against? And as for the student movement, how about USSA (no, not USAS; I mean USSA)?
Perhaps I'm being provincial by relating my personal experience, but where I am, I've met and know a lot of anarchists. They're overwhelmingly young, white, and very nice folks. They're sincerely outraged about social injustice. But they don't seem to want to participate in a lot of stuff that's organized by other people. They have their own ways of organizing: through punk benefit shows, vegan meals and such. All of which is well and good, and they can be good at mobilizing their own people. They'd like to "get more people involved," but they're not too interested in getting involved in stuff that's being done by other people, especially the stuff that's a little boring and mundane, but necessary. I've seen not a one involved in our local Living Wage Campaign, for instance, and it's not for lack of trying on the part of people like me.
I don't like the paper-sellers either, Chuck. But do you see why a lot of people who are doing the more systematic community and union organizing among working-class folks might just write off both the paper-sellers and the anarchists as irrelevant? Don't you think there's SOME kind of problem here, some level of truth to the criticism? Maybe things are different where you are, but this has been my experience, so I don't at all mean to bait you, I really would just like to know what you think.
John Lacny