Milton the Anarchist Re: "post-leftism"

Brian O. Sheppard x349393 bsheppard at bari.iww.org
Sun Aug 18 11:23:39 PDT 2002


On Sun, 18 Aug 2002 Dddddd0814 at aol.com wrote:


> In a message dated 8/17/2002 11:52:35 PM Eastern Standard Time, gcf at panix.com
> writes:
>
>
> > The liberal vision centers on the efficiency of the social
> > machine; therefore, while liberty is good in its place (so
> > that the wheels can turn) it must be liberty under Law. When
> > necessary to the well-being of the Great Machine, that Law
> > may order war, slavery and imperialism -- that is, call out
> > the cops -- so that the Machine can go forward. This is the
> > very coercion whose specifics I have been asking about and
> > which we see all around us.
> >
> > The anarchist, interested (I would think) in Minute Particulars
> > rather than the greatness of the Great Machine, might suggest

The question is HOW to get to the post-revolutionary (or advanced
> communist) society.
>
> I have never gotten an anarchist to answer this question, beyond the usual
> vague emotionalisms on "freedom," "liberty," etc.

Workplace organizing coupled with community organizing. There is no easy answer; there is no easy way. It depends upon the extremely hard work of actual in-the-field organizing, coordinated over large goegraphical regions. Whole books have been written on it (Daniel Guerin's _Anarchism_), or see, for an example, Diego Abad de Santillan's "After the Revolution."

You can look at how limited anarchist successes of the past fared - what they did to achieve them, how they failed, and why. Spain, 1936. Ukraine, 1917. Mexico, 1910's. There was collectivization of industry coordinated through anti-capitalist unions; the success of these depended upon the degree of class consciousness that organizers had been able to raise amongst workers, peasants, students, the unemployed, etc. If no one is trying to do this, there will be no anarchist society.

As Errico Malatesta said (and this is a paraphrase), "It is not important that we achieve a full-blown anarchist society tomorrow. What is important is that we march towards it tomorrow, and march towards it always, whether we get there or not."

Brian



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