You’ll see anarchists praising Rosa Luxemburg, who if they had actually read her writings – they would see that she was very clearly one of the “authoritarian” socialists that they rail against so much.
You see them praise the Black Panthers, who were supported financially by the DPRK and aligned themselves with the Juche ideology of Kim Il Sung.
They even praise Thomas Sankara, who purged anarchists and arrested syndicalists.
If these people had succeeded, i have no doubt in my mind that anarchists would call them “tankies,” they would call their experiments “capitalism with a red flag.” And I also have no doubt in my mind that if the October Revolution, Chinese Revolution had been crushed, they would hail Lenin and Mao as proletarian heroes.
I hear you. I still disagree. Congratulations on the surgery and I am sorry for the side effects.
We do not pretend to trust anarchists. They are at best temporary allies to Marxism-Leninism, or better yet they cease to call themselves anarchists and pursue an actual, practiced method of achieving socialism.
I recommend Stalin’s writings on anarchism and why “left unity” is a myth that Marxist-Leninists do not adhere to.
No Marxism-Leninist would turn their guns on anarchists unless it was in self-defense, like Makhno’s band of pillagers devastating rural communities under the guise of “liberation” (basically setting them up for slaughter) or the Kronstadt sailors violent antisemitism.
Anarchists joined Mao in droves. They ceased being anarchists and in many cases simply joined the ‘left’ wing of the party. There are constantly debates about how and when the state should begin to be dismantled. It’s usually a far longer process than anyone would like, but at least there’s a means and an end, rather than an end with no means, as is common in anarchist thinking.
I used to consider myself an anarchist but then I read about the Red Guards in China and how many abuses they got away with… because lack of technology and reach made party oversight basically impossible. This is always the effect of too much decentralization too quickly, violent ambitious people weaponizing revolutionary facades to garner power and commit violence. There must be some form of centralized power structure to ensure the rights of the people are being properly maintained and their needs properly met.
As a parting recommendation, I suggest Engels’ On Authority, assuming you have not read it. Personally, it shattered much of my anarchist thinking.
Best of luck with what you’re going through!
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