Post-left anarchy
Post-left anarchy is a recent current in anarchist thought that seeks to distance itself from the traditional left and to escape the confines of ideology in general. It has rapidly developed since the fall of the Soviet Union, which many view as the death of authoritarian leftism; however, its roots are clearly visible in the ideas of the 1960's Situationists.
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Arguments
The Left, even the revolutionary left, post-leftists argue, is anachronistic and incapable of creating change. It offers critiques of radical strategies and tactics which it considers antiquated; the demonstration, class-oriented struggle, focus on tradition and the inability to escape the confines of history. The book Anarchy in the Age of Dinosaurs, for example, critiques traditional leftist ideas and classical anarchism while calling for a rejuvenated anarchist movement. The widely read CrimethInc essay Your Politics Are Boring as Fuck is another critique of "leftist" movements: "Why has the oppressed proletariat not come to its senses and joined you in your fight for world liberation? ... [Because] they know that your antiquated styles of protest—your marches, hand held signs, and gatherings—are now powerless to effect real change because they have become such a predictable part of the status quo. They know that your post-Marxist jargon is off-putting because it really is a language of mere academic dispute, not a weapon capable of undermining systems of control..."
Conflicts with Authoritarian Leftism
Post-leftists argue that anarchism has been weakened by its long attachment to contrary "leftist" movements and single issue causes (anti-war, anti-nuclear, etc.). It calls for a synthesis of anarchist thought and a specifically anti-authoritarian revolutionary movement outside of the authoritarian leftist milieu. It sometimes focuses on the individual rather than speaking in terms of class or other broad generalizations and in some cases shuns organizational tendencies in favor of attempts at absence of hierarchy, with some attention paid to the fact that informal, unstructured groups tend to create informal hierarchies.
The authoritarian left, post-leftists argue, is anachronistic and incapable of creating change. Several post-leftists have also argued that an essential element of authoritarian leftism is a reliance on "compulsory moralism". Such socialized value judgements perpetuate alienation and an inability on the part of individuals to think critically. Post-leftists believe that anarchism necessitates organic, subjectively derived self-theory.
Proponents and Detractors
The ideas associated with Post-left anarchy have been criticized by other anarchists, notably Murray Bookchin. Bookchin's polemic, Social Anarchism or Lifestyle Anarchism, attacks these recent trends in anarchist thinking, and advocates a traditional focus on class struggle. Bob Black wrote a book in response to Bookchin's arguments called Anarchy After Leftism, an important post-leftist work. Anarcho-communists have also criticized post-leftist thinking. Many primitivists, including John Zerzan, can be said to be post-leftists (Zerzan himself has claimed to be “anti-leftist”).
In 1999 the Situationist influenced book Two Hundred Pharaohs, Five Billion Slaves by Adrian Peacock was published. Written in response to the 1997 Albanian revolution and the Battle of Seattle, the book re-assesses class structure, industrialisation and globalisation while deriding what the author sees as compromised ideologies such as Anarchism, Council Communism and Situationism itself. Purportedly an underground classic, "Two Hundred Pharaohs" (ISBN 184166071 Ellipsis imprint) has been criticised for being a work of ideology itself, verging on Workerism and dogma. See reviews [1] and [2]
Some groups and individuals associated with Post-left anarchism include: CrimethInc, the magazines Anarchy: A Journal of Desire Armed and Green Anarchy, Jason McQuinn, Bob Black. Many have argued that this trend is known as the Lifestylism, or Anti-Worker(ist) branch of anarchist thought.
See also
External links
- Anarchy After Leftism (Infoshop.org)
- Primitivist and post-left 'anarchism' (Anarchism.ws)