Ok, so if you ever get into a kerfuffle with an anarkiddy about state socialism or “tankies”, then use this statement:

Anarchism is unfeasible because the lack of a state makes a nation vulnerable because it doesn’t have a centralized military to protect itself. Marx’s “stateless classless moneyless” society is only possible if the whole world is under one state socialist government first. However, what anarchists want is to go directly from capitalism to stateless socialism, which is impossible.

  • ☆ Yσɠƚԋσʂ ☆
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    93 years ago

    Yeah that’s basically Lenin’s argument in The State and Revolution. To add to that, I personally find the whole idea of anarchism incredibly naive. Hierarchies arise time and again in human societies, and they even predate humans. Social animals who are our closest relatives organize hierarchically as well. So, even if you somehow managed to create a completely flat society, it will reinvent hierarchies sooner or later.

    We need to acknowledge the fact that hierarchies tend to arise. As Engels explains in his On Authority essay, there is nothing inherently nefarious about hierarchies and they are a necessary tool for coordinating labor.

    Furthermore, our current society is hierarchical and centrally organized. We need to have equal amount of organization in order to combat the class that currently holds power effectively. There is a reason armies have a strict command structure.

    Anarchist desire to abolish hierarchies is fundamentally misguided. What we should be focusing on is figuring out how to prevent abuse of power within hierarchies. How we can keep people in positions of power accountable, how we can do recall when they abuse power, and so on.

    I also don’t think we need to try and come up with a perfect system. We just need to come up with a system that’s better than the current one and that’s open to self criticism and gradual improvement.