Anark does (in my view) a well-cited and very polite refutation of Socialism4All’s response to one of his off-the-cuff videos, and a vastly more polite response to BadEmpanada than he deserves.
Anark does (in my view) a well-cited and very polite refutation of Socialism4All’s response to one of his off-the-cuff videos, and a vastly more polite response to BadEmpanada than he deserves.
Interestingly, I find these the least sympathetic things about anarchism because they are 100% idealist. They don’t get into any of the mechanism, they deal in psychology nor sociology. They essentially assert that the observations are explained by moral failings and then build their entire system design around moral hazard.
I find the most sympathetic part of anarchism their track record of actually organizing projects to deliver direct aid, build dual power, and supplant predatory providers. Like how they literally manufacture modern medicines, or build secure communications infrastructure, or educate people on first aid and routine health monitoring. I wish MLs were doing more of this.
The serious positions that look at how alternative social arrangements have been realised. Often anthropological.
I have found most people doing mutual aid are actually not doing it from some robust position of theory but just because humans are awesome (anarchists often pointing out this quality of ours and aiming to build on it).
moreso, if this is the metric of success than most churches and apolitical community organizations are pretty much on par if not at larger scale than anarchists in direct material aid. I live in a city with probably some of the largest anarchist groups doing material aid and one of the dozen local food banks serves more people than all the anarchists here combined. not to mention other organizations or churches. helping people without revolutionary theory doesn’t build socialism, it enables capitalism by cleaning up the messes of capitalism
Yeah, you can see the impact of e.g. black panther lunches vs food not bombs (which I have done a bit and think it’s admirable but without the larger theory and supporting organisation does not accomplish the desired shift in class consciousness).
the feds created the school breakfast programs because they were afraid of BPP recruitment. idk if that was actually founded but it makes for good agitprop regardless.
there’s probably nothing you can do to get large swaths of the public to become principled communists in the timeframes that projects below the nation-state level operate on, shit even AES don’t turn out a population of principled communists and they teach diamat in school.