On the internet I don’t see too many Anarchists give arguments past “communism doesn’t work because communists are doomed to repeat the same exploitative power structures of the capitalist state” and “we dont know what an anarchist society will look like we gotta wait til we get there!” Which like…is not convincing to me at all. I’ve engaged in what was supposed to be consensus based decision making systems and there were a ton of flaws, though that’s purely anecdotal.

So, I’d really like to have some suggestions on what to read that you think might really challenge where I stand/take anarchism more seriously. It might take me 5 years to get to them bc executive dysfunction but I really want to see if my mind can be changed on if it would be a better system from the get go than communism.

I think it would be super interesting to hear from anyone who shifted into anarchism from Marxism on why it made more sense to you

  • ReadFanon [any, any]@hexbear.net
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    4 months ago

    The EZLN does not identify with the western political paradigm and thus they are not anarchist and they openly reject the label, but they are radical and they are opposed to MLism, not in an absolute opposition sort of way but in a strongly critical sort of way.

    Subcommandante Marcos has written criticisms of MLism and similar stuff. One of his big communiques in this respect is the unequivocal I Shit On All the Revolutionary Vanguards of this Planet which is a response to criticisms leveled against the EZLN.

    For something a bit more dry and measured is Listen, Marxist! by Murray Bookchin, who is a contentious figure in anarchism as he too doesn’t truly fit within anarchism as he broke with it later in his life, although this piece was written prior to this development in his politics so I’d say it’s a decent example of an anarchist counter-argument to what MLs argue for.

    For a longer-form defense of the anarchist position in a more general sense, one that addresses ML criticisms without necessarily responding directly to them, is Anarchy Works by Peter Gelderloos. It’s not really something that attempts to deconstruct the ML position but I think that it will still be valuable in challenging your beliefs.

    • ratboy [they/them]@hexbear.netOP
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      4 months ago

      Lmao damn the name of that communique is fire. Yeah from my understanding the Zapatistas were very strongly vocal about it being an indigenous movement right?

      Thanks for the recommendations I appreciate it