have y'all noticed that it’s always the anarchist or anarchist-leaning who are pressured to compromise with or excuse authoritarian bullshit? and hardly ever the other way around?
criticisms of communist groups or state capitalist regimes are frequently met with accusations of being “divisive” while the organizations being criticized are (quite literally, in the form of borders and prisons,) constructing and enforcing barriers to social cohesion…
make it make sense!
this is not an appeal to dismiss the fact that the legacy of the red scare has had an enormous impact on popular conceptions of communism…but that’s why there’s a critical need to differentiate between accurate and fair critiques – rooted in creating a higher standard for liberatory projects – and reactionary criticism, that is the product of nearly a century of propaganda manufactured by capitalists in the imperial core to discredit and discourage anything left of neoliberal charity “activism”.
we cannot afford to waste even more effort on repeating failed experiments that resulted in the creation of authoritarian dictatorships exploiting those they claim to represent.
we must adapt to the urgency of our situation by broadening our scope to include ideas and actions that won’t create new toxic hierarchies that inspire cults of personality. we have to be willing to challenge past assumptions and biases in order to advance and challenge the powers that be.
without understanding why popular communists movements were crushed, infiltrated or rendered inert, how can we hope to liberate ourselves from the state, capitalism, white supremacy or patriarchy?
exposing the abusive tendencies in these groups and their ideologies doesn’t “divide” us, it merely empowers us to avoid the same pitfalls of previous movements and keeps us safe from bourgeois elements hoping to exploit our ignorance for their gain. not everyone who claims to be a “leftist”, communist or otherwise, is to be trusted based off of their words and aesthetics alone.
we can start by having a consistent analysis of how power is wielded, by gauging what can be done to flatten power dynamics to be more horizontal instead of creating permanent positions of authority that, even with the best of intentions, leaves us less capable of creating a society of truly liberated individuals, built from a culture of solidarity and self-determination.
let’s learn from the past. let’s be brutally and thoughtfully honest, inspire each other to do better and think for ourselves instead of trying to revive the corpse of a previous iteration of struggle, and do what is necessary to achieve this project.