[lbo-talk] "Authoritarian" -- define, please

Chuck0 chuck at mutualaid.org
Sun Jan 23 10:57:57 PST 2005


John Lacny wrote:


> And since the "anti-authoritarians" are always in favor of revolution except
> where it succeeds, they consider leftists who want to actually win to be the
> most anti-American -- er, "authoritarian" -- of all.

Anti-authoritarians are in favor of revolutions that succeed and end up empowering working people, as opposed to failed revolutions which set up a new regime that oppresses and slaughters millions of working people.

But you know that, which is why your e-mail is another trollbait.

The answer to your obvious question is quite simple. Anarchists, anti-authoritarians and other leftists call other leftists "authoritarian" because it accurately describes their pro-statist politics. It's very important for us to make this distinction, because many people think that authoritarian leftists and libertarian leftists have something in common. In fact, there are irreconcilable differences between these political groups. "Authoritarian" leftists seek power and embrace the state. Anti-authoritarian leftists desire to abolish the state and place power in the hands of working people. "Authoritarian" leftists seek to seize the state and use it to change things for working people. As we saw in the twentieth century, this strategy failed and was rejected by billions of working people around the planet.

That leaves us with the remaining option for a leftist revolution: one that is based on anti-authoritarian ideas, methods, tactics and principles.

Excuse me if I lapse into a bit of historical determinism that is popular on this list--authoritarian leftism has been rejected and anarchism and/or libertarian Marxism are the only options left for us.

;-)

Chuck Infoshop.org



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