Kropotkindersurprise

any chance you could explain your perspective on the rift between anarchists and MLs/communists/socialists/etc? i understand there's some methodological disagreements, like anarchists would never place their hope for revolution in a socialist/communist/etc political party, but i've genuinely heard self-proclaimed anarchists refer to "communists" with such disdain and it just makes me go ?????? we (anarchists) are also communists?? we ultimately want the same things - communism is a STATEless classless moneyless society. just, what's going on here??? surely this is not the best use of our time?

I used to be pretty hardcore about hating on MLs etc. in my defence, some of them can be pretty annoying, but I’m sure much the same is true of anarchists if you’re stood on the other side of the argument.

One thing that is almost certainly and provably true is that the overwhelming majority of radical leftists believe what they believe because, at their core, they think the current state of society is unjust, and want to work to build a better one.

But I also don’t think the argument that runs something like “we’re all just communists with different methods of getting to communism” holds much water. I don’t think anarchists can completely work with their ideological opponents; the belief that hierarchies are unjust and need to be dismantled is fundamentally incompatible with the idea that you need a centralised proletarian vanguard that derives its power from the representative democracy of workers councils. There has been significant and bloody conflict between both camps for a reason.

On the other hand, right now, those conflicts are petty and ridiculous when neoimperialism and neoliberalism continue their stranglehold over society and economy. I have worked and do work with many MLs/Trots/Maoists etc., and we need some serious solidarity with the left right now.

When millions struggle to meet their basic needs, when the proles are beaten and killed in the streets simply for asking for their basic rights, when the rights of minority classes are routinely and systematically infringed upon and reversed, when the whole planet is choking and dying, what does your opinion on a worker’s vanguard matter? People don’t even have their basic rights. It’s petty and useless to badmouth obvious allies in a struggle that is right on our doorstep.