Propaganda by the deed. Insurrectionary anarchists, enemies of those who do not revolt?
aflameoffreedom:
http://aflameoffreedom.tumblr.com/post/24291585318
This post has a few of the problems associated with insurrectionary anarchists groups.
Just because the media lies are rampant, and is the master at manipulating the masses to believe anarchist insurrectionists are ‘enemies of the people’ does not change the truth that those who practice propaganda by the deed are not. They are enemies of the state, and enemies of the ruling classes. They are not enemies of the proletariat, what about those who are not defiant towards their oppression?
How are you defining ‘defiance’ here?
Just because it is omitted by those who deny the reality of revolutionary struggle anarchist insurrectionists operate on the same principles that will be found in the anarchist societies they envision, however now these principles are used for destruction (which is needed to create a new world),
not for creation when we will have anarchy,
Does this mean you regard the destructive and creative aspects of revolt as separated by time? Meaning first we’ll have to attack and defeat capitalism and the state, then afterward we’ll proceed to build an anarchist society? If so, you have it wrong, comrade. Insurrection and communization must occur simultaneously because the success of one depends on the other.
does not change from the fact they are setting examples of anarchism in practice, the most effective way, by the deed and through action. They remain anarchists at all stages of the revolutionary struggle and this should not be overlooked. They practice and are examples of autonomy, mutual aid, anti-authoritarianism, federation, and solidarity.
The problem with many insurrectionary anarchist groups is not their politics—it’s their activity. It doesn’t matter if I agree with their goals and methods of organization if I can’t stand behind their tactics. This isn’t to say i’m a pacifist who has a moral opposition to things like property destruction, kidnapping, intimidation, and so on, but these tactics in and of themselves won’t win the class struggle and have the potential to turn people off of anarchism entirely, leading them toward reactionary politics or the dead end of Leninism.
Are insurrectionists enemies of the proletariat that do not resist against their oppressors? No.
What do you mean by ‘resistance’?
No, because they like all anarchists want everyone to be free, but the people will only truly be free if they liberate themselves. Every oppressed person, every member of the proletariat has it inside of them to be strong, inside of them to be brave, courageous, daring, imaginative, innovative, creative and destructive, versatile, we all possess the ability to accomplish anything we set out to do, even creating a new world. All we have to do is hold our dream inside of our heart(s) and set our mind(s)to it. None of us are incapable of destroying what destroys you.
Agreed.
We all have the ability to reclaim our dignity, just in the act of fighting back. Anarchism is of this philosophy, that you are the master of your own life, your life only and that you are the creator of your own fate… You have endured so much already and this proves you are able to use your strength for change than merely surviving in the pathetic existence of chains and constraints, to take your freedom back. You can use the voice you were born with to use and propel yourself into action, end the abusive relationship you are in which you do not need, you can leave your parents if they have no respect for you, you can sabotage anyone who has treated you unfairly, you can wisely organize and beat the shit out of the person who made you want to kill yourself, who called you a ‘faggot’, a ‘slut’ or ‘prude’, a ‘nigger’, or did anything that disrespected you as a human being. You are also just as capable of attacking the very systems of hierarchy and domination that have created and support such people that have committed injustice after injustice against you and your fellow oppressed brothers and sisters. You can kidnap your bastard boss, bomb a bank and a murderous corporation, throw rocks at cops, rob a corporate store and give everything out to the members of your community, expropriate and expropriate some more! Assassinate a symbol, a cop, a corporate CEO, a president. Insurrectionists are exemplary in proving action is possible and can always hopefully be replicated and improved through action. We all can be militants! We all can be revolutionaries! Through direct action we will live free and fight to gain total freedom.
Sure, we could do these things, but then what? Again, i’m not fundamentally opposed to any of these things, but how will any of this bring us closer to an anarchist-communist society? We can all be revolutionaries, but blowing up buildings and shooting people isn’t much of a path to revolution if that’s the only plan the revolutionaries have.
No anarchist would ever aim to harm an innocent proletariat through propaganda by the deed or any direct action, ever.
Doesn’t mean it hasn’t happened. Intentions don’t excuse idiotic behavior.
If you are a pacifist or an authoritarian you are an instrument for the ruling classes and are traitors to your own freedom. You are an enemy of your own life. You will live through the chains of slavery and be slowly murdered by capitalism, if only you could understand that life without freedom is dead existence, that it is better to die on your feet than to live on your knees.
If you want a life of suffering and misery, if you want to be a coward and just another cog in the machine for the rulers then go ahead. You are a parent and a slave to the capitalists for your children? Do you think your children will grow up and thank you for a world with mass extinctions, oceans being poisoned, the mass deforestation, all of the wars raged by the rich for profit, the debts, the wage slavery, and the crises and inevitable rampant crime induced by the bankers and state? They will despise you, just as without destroying your oppressors you should despise yourself for having no dignity, not even trying to fight for a better life.
You are aware of how miserably elitist this whole paragraph sounds, aren’t you?
Insurrectionary anarchists do not compromise with the state, with the bosses, and rulers, they do not seek better slave conditions but total liberation. They fight for their freedom as individuals. Their language is action. Do you disagree or have concerns with an action by a propaganda by the deed group?
Insurrectionary anarchists also tend to miss the point of fighting for better conditions. By fighting for better conditions within the capitalist system, we gain the strength to move beyond it. These kinds of groups have to (and often fail to) take care that their language of “action” doesn’t turn into just doing things ‘just because.’
“Communication must be based on a horizontal and anonymous debate, which will come out of the practice (claims of actions) and of the widespread of theories through the means of communication of the movement. In other words, the meeting will be substituted by an anonymous and horizontal debate between groups or individuals who communicate through practice.” They ”do not want any democratic federation, as this would involve representatives, delegates, official meetings, committees, and organs implying the election of leaders, charismatic figures and the imposition of specialists of speech.” From a statement made by the Informal Anarchist Federation.
Insurrectionary groups are forced into secrecy by the nature of their activity. How can anyone expect to build an anarchist movement based upon anonymous activity? When one gets involved in bombings, bank robberies, and things of that sort, their circle of trust necessarily becomes smaller. I would imagine it difficult to do anything in a positive manner when one spends a large part of their time carrying out attacks against the physical manifestations of capital and the state and worrying about the heat such attacks brings down.
Insurrectionary anarchists constructively criticize all those who are in situations of compromise with power in their belief that the revolutionary struggle is impossible at the present time. Asanarchists they would never aim to harm an innocent proletariat through propaganda by the deed or any direct action, they hope to see them standing for liberty and equality at the barricades.
Whether or not they aim to harm innocent people, it does happen.
If you don’t want to suffer and die just as a victim, a capitalist casualty, nothing but a number, a consumer, an obedient slave, to fight back properly you will need gasoline, some matches, bombs and guns, but most importantly that fire inside of your heart that beholds solidarity which spreads revolutionary resistance like wildfire.
Okay, so we need weapons, but what else? Propaganda of the deed is about much more than blowing things up and killing people. Reducing the idea of insurrection to an unwinnable (we’ll never be able to defeat the state in a purely armed struggle) war against the government is not only pointless but deprives the concept of most if not all of it liberatory potential.
As someone who’s been deeply influenced by communization theory, I am highly sympathetic to the cause of the insurrectionists. However, it seems that all the current insurrectionary groups have to offer us is violence. Yes, revolution will require a certain degree of it, but we also need to change the way we are organized economically (toward communism) and politically (toward anarchism). Our actions need to reflect our goals, so yes, bomb, shoot, kidnap, assassinate—but they will need to have some level of involvement with working class, student, feminist, anti-racist, and LBGT-liberation movements as well.
Does this mean you regard the destructive and creative aspects of revolt as separated by time? Meaning first we’ll have to attack and defeat capitalism and the state, then afterward we’ll proceed to build an anarchist society? If so, you have it wrong, comrade. Insurrection and communization must occur simultaneously because the success of one depends on the other.
I was addressing the point that anyone that believes we can reach anarchy without defeating capitalism and the state through destruction and force is delusional. I meant that we are not going to be focused on making bombs and improving our marksmanship skills once we have achieved anarchy to the extent we must now. I agree with you that they must occur simultaneously.
If fighting for your life and freedom is a turn off then what can I say? stay enslaved in the violence of the state and capitalism and die slowly.
How will any of this bring us closer to an anarchist-communist society? We can all be revolutionaries, but blowing up buildings and shooting people isn’t much of a path to revolution if that’s the only plan the revolutionaries have.
Not the only plan at all. I don’t understand how they do not bring us closer to an anarchist-communist society. We do these things so we can expropriate the means of production and are prepared to protect these expropriations. How else are you supposed to do the revolution besides the educational aspect?
Anarchism is about satisfying everybody’s needs so they can then reach the highest stages of their development. Less work and more time for the arts and sciences or whatever the heart desires. It is about creating higher social cultures and a new and better humanity unrestrained and held back, through freedom. Is it elitist that I want everyone to have the right to be the best they can possibly be? Not to be a ruler or a slave? Knowing cowards do not change the world and take their freedom back and looking down upon such makes me elitist? Makes me wrong?… We should always strive to be the best we can be and what we need to be for revolution and our freedom.
Fighting for better slave conditions is the greatest trap ever in history for oppressed peoples.
Billions of innocents have suffered and millions die because of capitalism on purpose! Millions upon millions upon millions have died because of the state on purpose! No anarchist would ever aim to hurt a member of the proletariat. Accidents happen, you focusing on them only gives more power to the state, which they will use to say we are the careless ones. Suggest because someone might get hurt by using explosives we should not act? where the hell would that get us! no where.
As someone who’s been deeply influenced by communization theory, I am highly sympathetic to the cause of the insurrectionists. However, it seems that all the current insurrectionary groups have to offer us is violence. Yes, revolution will require a certain degree of it, but we also need to change the way we are organized economically (toward communism) and politically (toward anarchism). Our actions need to reflect our goals, so yes, bomb, shoot, kidnap, assassinate—but they will need to have some level of involvement with working class, student, feminist, anti-racist, and LBGT-liberation movements as well.
They offer such great inspiration, that the revolutionary struggle is not a theory or a dream, but real, here, and alive. If we wait for the ‘right conditions’ it will be too late to prepare for the revolution. I hope so much to see insurrectionist cells of students, LGBT, feminists, and anti-racists! A revolution is just a multitude of many expropriations and insurrections, we must remember this. Viva la revolution!
