> This has puzzled me for years now: like Chris, I see no meaningful
> distinction between a society genuinely based on Marxist principles
> and an anarchist society. No state, activities and groups based
> on mutual benefit and cooperation, no wage exploitation, no
> "property rights"--how does this Marxist dream differ from Chuck's
> anarchist utopia?
Anarchism and Marxism have been divorced for over a hundred years now. There are plenty of articles and books out there on why anarchism and Marxism are different.
Perhaps a good place to start is with the works of the libertarian Marxists and council communists. Why are these people closer to anarchism and farther from traditional Marxist leftism?
A more direct answer to our questions involves the history of "Marxist" experiments such as the Soviet Union and China, and why anarchists focus so much on "practical" activities. We've seen what happens when so-called Marxists or Leninists seize the state to make it "wither away." On the other hand, anarchists maintain that you practice what you preach for starters. We do not have any fantasies about seizing the state and we prioritize implementing our ideas in our ongoing revolution.
Chuck