*Yeah man! Nationwide anarchy! All that's required is some fierce, top-down, authoritarian discipline.
News & Views for Anarchists & Activists:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/smygo
http://www.anarkismo.net/article/24453
An article by a member of Rochester Red & Black and Common Struggle
making the case for a unitary class struggle anarchist organization in
lead up to a conference in February 2013 focused on the potential
formation of exactly such a grouping.
Nationwide Organization of Revolutionary Anarchists in the United States?
Over 150 years of the anarchist theoretical and organizing tradition
have passed, yet anarchist influence in the United States is practically
non-existent. (((Really? What a mystery! I'm baffled, etc)))
In some local contexts, we do see occasional anarchist
influence, but in a nationwide context anarchists are practically
irrelevant.
There has been a conversation brewing for a few years among some
anarchists. This conversation has moved forward specifically in a
grouping of organizations that have come together in recent years around
the Class Struggle Anarchist Conferences. Since the first Class Struggle
Anarchist Conference in New York City in 2008, it’s been increasingly
clear that these different organizations have a great deal of agreement
and could be strengthened by unification into a nationwide anarchist
organization.
(((You know what you guys need? One crazy right-wing billionaire with a
checkbook. Like a Vegas gambling mogul who was once keen on the Christian Right,
but is willing to try something weirder. Could that be so hard to find these days?)))
In anticipation for an upcoming conference of these organizations that
intends to found this single, nationwide organization, this article is
an effort to bring together the many arguments for why such an
organization is desirable. More than that, I hope to show the
inspirational possibilities of such an organization in the broader
anarchist movement, so that this organization can take off after its
founding.
Why Anarchist Organization in the First Place? (((Because of its
oxymoron value? It's a stark, bracing contradiction in terms, like
"military intelligence," "science fiction," etc)))
A great deal of literature already exists on the question of anarchist
specific organizations and the role of such a revolutionary
organization. For those who aren’t familiar with these traditions, many
of the organizations already involved in this process are explicitly
informed by dual-organizationalist, especifista, platformist, and
syndicalist traditions. These traditions raise the importance of
anarchists organizing specifically as anarchists to spread and further
develop the influence and understanding of our revolutionary ideas
alongside more broad-based social movements.
(((You know what's great about this? You're like sitting at the table
with your anarchist wife, and she brings you the steamed cauliflower,
and you eat that and then you're like "Thank you dear, that was very
especifista and platformist.")))
Given that many anarchists in the United States are increasingly
informed by these traditions, I’d like to focus on the value
specifically of a unified and nationwide revolutionary anarchist
organization.
Mass Propaganda (((get a billionaire.)))
An organization with hundreds of members throughout the country is
capable of spreading anarchist ideas at a larger scale than we’ve seen
from the anarchist movement in decades. We could manage and sustain
national or regional agitational papers like Freedom/Libertad and Four
Star Digest, as well as the more intensive theoretical literature of
"Ideas & Action" and the "Northeastern Anarchist". More importantly,
with the skills of anarchist media workers around the country, we could
surely move into creating high quality audio and video addressing the
wide array of radical organizing already happening. (((Why not hire
some Korean pop-stars? They're keen on class criticism.)))
Beyond simply producing media at larger scale and more energy intensive
media, we can also create the spaces for debate on ideas, tactics, and
strategies within the anarchist movement that help us to unify and
coordinate our efforts.
Solidarity at Scale
When anarchist organizers around the country face repression by the
state or bosses, (((or better yet, one another))) or are engaged in particularly difficult or important
campaigns, the ability to coordinate national solidarity in a unified
way can be instrumental. Bail or legal funds can be immediately paid off
from the treasury of a nationwide organization with hundreds of regular
dues-paying members. When a fight of national or international
significance is happening, members could coordinate solidarity efforts
around the country. When hot-spots of struggle pop up, anarchist
organizers from around the country could be sent to participate in the
on-the-ground organizing. ((("Anarchist Air B'n'B.")))
Build Local Chapters
The hardest organizing one can do is the real task of creating an
organization from the ground up, developing the skills of members,
finding effective work that the group can do and succeed at, and work to
make all of that effort sustainable enough that it doesn’t fall apart in
just a few years. Many of the anarchist organizations around the country
right now are started by members of other organizations that have moved
to a new city and work to start groups like their previous group.
Why not work to develop an ability to help people start local chapters,
train some of them in basic organizing skills, give them agitational
literature to use in their town, and support them through the challenges
that they will inevitably face? Why not strategically consider where we
would like to devote resources and energy to creating local chapters,
rather than have the anarchist movement grow more or less by accident?
(((Maybe because "basic organizing skills" and "anarchy" are mutually
contradictory?)))
Many current anarchist organizers have also written books or developed
inspirational presentations and gone on speaking tours. Let’s maximize
the potential of these tours by giving those touring the tools to
recruit people that agree into forming locals after the speaker leaves.
At the very least, why not have national tools that help us to keep in
touch with sympathetic people in cities where we may not be able to
build locals, but might have that ability in a couple of years?
(((Anarchist *stars.* Guys with drawing power. Guys who are like the
Napoleon of Anarchy. Elite, imperial anarchist guys.)))
Open to Various Levels of Participation
Part of what keeps so much of the anarchist movement small and fairly
homogenous is that in effect we require all participants to immediately
become high-level thinkers and organizers. For most people, particularly
those most affected by the disastrous consequences of the state and
capitalism, constant organizing simply isn’t possible. An effective
organization is capable of accommodating various levels of involvement,
and making it easy for members to move fluidly through those levels of
involvement. A unitary nationwide organization would allow members to
join without requiring that they become such effective and committed
organizers as to have to build chapters immediately, but could help to
ensure that whatever level of commitment they can agree to can have a
positive impact. This is particularly important to anarchists that may
not be surrounded by other revolutionaries in small cities, rural areas,
or more than 50 miles from the Bay Area. (((
