> The assumption here seems to be that anarchism is on the rise because
> "leftism" is dying. But, actually, anarchist thought-- however distorted from
> its original form-- is on the rise due to the fall of the Berlin Wall and the
> Soviet Union, i.e. the collapse of the "deformed workers' states". This led
> to a hole in whatever little of the left still existed. But, the author seems
> to be conflating "Leftism" in general with "leftist sects," the latter
> apparently referring to Stalinists and all the rest. Notice, again, the tacit
> agreement between anarchists and the "sects" they decry: Both anarchists and
> Stalinists seem to agree that "leftism" is most clearly expressed within
> dogmatic "leftist sects." It seems like two sides of the same coin to me.
I agree that the fall of the Soviet Union led to this opening, but there are many other factors at work, including lots of solid anti-authoritarian organizing over the past decade.
I really don't care what the Stalinist think, because we are starting to get into esoteric lefty semantics here. The "Left" as far as I'm concerned includes all of the sectarian left, the progressive Left, the Greens, the liberals, and the social democrats. There are parts of the Left that I would consider to be part of the post-Left; this would include tendencies such as autonomist Marxism, council communism, and other emerging forms of anti-authoritarian socialism/communism.
<< Chuck0 >>
Personal homepage -> http://flag.blackened.net/chuck0/home/index.html Infoshop.org -> http://www.infoshop.org/ Alternative Press Review -> http://www.altpr.org/ Practical Anarchy Online -> http://www.practicalanarchy.org/ Anarchy: AJODA -> http://www.anarchymag.org/ MutualAid.org -> http://www.mutualaid.org/ Factsheet 5 -> http://www.factsheet5.org/ AIM: AgentHelloKitty
Web publishing and services for your nonprofit: Bread and Roses Web Publishing http://www.breadandrosesweb.org/
"...ironically, perhaps, the best organised dissenters in the world today are anarchists, who are busily undermining capitalism while the rest of the left is still trying to form committees."
-- Jeremy Hardy, The Guardian (UK)