Obviously this man was an important anarchist thinker, but I think this is particularly relevant to anarchism right now in a US election year where this conversation will come up ad nauseum.
He stops short of decrying electoralism in general here, but makes the point that the milquetoast emptiness of the US liberals enables a rightward slide. What he says is short and to the point and avoids getting bogged down in wider issues. He acknowledges that “at least they’re not nazis” is an appeal of the liberals, but points out that is the only appeal.
I just think this is a good thing to have if you don’t want to type out this argument every time you see it, to point out that this has been happening for a very long time, and to hear a voice of sanity when every single liberal is yelling at you to stop criticising poor Joe or else we’ll get the fascists again.
Stupid question to the Americans. Why do you not try to built up a further left party in the blue states? Obviously taking the role of president is going to be impossible, but Congress and Senat should be possible for a further left wing party to reach. At that point coalitions have to be formed and that means left wing politics can be inserted. The California Senat is like 80% Democrats, so it should be possible to get maybe 12 Senators in from a genuine left leaning party.
I’m not American, but a further left party exists, it’s called the green party. It just isn’t a viable strategy. The Majority Report is a US podcast that are very electoralist, but from a left perspective. I don’t agree with their electoralism, but one strategy they talk about a lot is primarying republicans, because both parties are vulnerable to this approach. They have flipped in the past, so there is value to the idea I guess. The problem is there’s only so far you can take a strategy like that before the political machinery subsumes it. Smart people have tried electoralism for a very long time, and equally smart people have worked against them. The structures in place however reinforce the logic of hierarchy and will not allow us to vote for true liberation.
There’s nothing wrong with voting, but it will never bring about the world we want. We have to do direct action.
Imho there is an insanely easy, albeit (for me) depressing answer: inertia and attention span. Its nearly impossible to get people to even click a button to push for a singular issue to be addressed, let alone build up a whole party.
I‘m sure it will be done at some point but people in general are tough to get to do anything and the americans have tons of laws against them, freedom of harassment - i mean speech, and so on.
I think the solution will come through push from the EU states and (like now with their privacy laws) they might follow without admitting that.
His early death was an unbelievable loss.
Debt and The Dawn of Everything are amazing books.
His argument here resonates with me viscerally. I was a milquetoast liberal at the start of the Obama era but progressively got more radical as nothing changed for the better. The Trump years, and especially Biden’s term has turned me into a self identifying anarchist.
I still vote, because I see the Republicans as so much worse the the dems. But I see that as harm mitigation and not actually something they will result in positive change. I focus on helping my community become more resilient.
Yeah, it’s amazing how radicalisation continues apace regardless of who’s in power, because they all obviously suck.
It’s also amazing how the liberals’ strategy of “VOTE!!!” turns into “don’t criticise anything about us or else you’ll get the fascists,” the moment you say that you do vote but you think the liberals suck anyway.
I’m glad to hear you’re working in your community. I am trying to get into that. It’s hard with a disability but it’s becoming more and more apparent to me that with my disability it is also my only viable shot at long term wellbeing.
