this post was submitted on 19 Jul 2023
98 points (98.0% liked)

Anarchism

376 readers
4 users here now

Are you an Anarchist? The answer might surprise you!

Rules:

  1. Be respectful
  2. Don't be a nazi
  3. Argue about the point and not the person
  4. This is not the place to debate the merits of anarchism itself. While discussion is encouraged, getting in your “epic dunks on the anarkiddies” is not. As a result of the instance’s poor moderation policies and hostility toward anarchists by default, lemmygrad users are encouraged not to post here, though not explicitly disallowed if they aren’t just looking to start a fight.

See also:

founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS
 

I'm digging anarchists' more hands on, pragmatic approach to politics. I finished The Conquest of Bread a couple of weeks ago and I'm currently working my way through Bullshit Jobs. Any suggestions about theory, praxis, mutual aid, etc. would be appreciated

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago

Many of the early anarchists weren't looking to "no government" as the ideal, but rather a different kind of government. One where any authority that exists is granted by those over whom it is exercised. An example would be a federation of local village and neighborhood governments. Every official is chosen directly by the people they will serve, not appointed from above by someone whose authority comes from something like their birth, wealth level, popularity with people outside the community, and so on.

This was in the context of a world that was still ruled by royalty and nobility, with a developing bourgeoise capitalist elite alongside them. They would agree with the socialists (and were mostly allied with them until the Bolshevik betrayal) about dealing with noble and capitalist elites, but disagree about replacing them with a centralized top-down party elite lead bureaucracy.