This has been a topic on my mind a lot recently, but I’ve been afraid of asking it here since I thought I would be being accused of/banned for being sectarian. While I am more on the ML side of things, I really have no qualms or issues with Anarchists and mostly consider our political differences insignificant in the face of global capitalism as it is now. In my eyes, we’re a long way off from the reality of needing to debate how a new society will be structured/governed, so, at the end of the day, whether someone is anarchist or ML is not really a major issue to me. As long as they’re against the current status quo and understand the need from change, they’re cool by me.
Maybe I’m wrong, but that feels like the prevailing belief, in so many words, I’ve seen other MLs express as well. However, it feels like the majority of sectarianism I’ve seen pop up is always Anarchist accusing MLs and communists of being as bad as fascists, or supporting genocide, or being evil, etc. I feel I never see it the other way around. At the most, MLs just tease and rib anarchists, but don’t view them as evil or reactionary, as some Anarchists see to view MLs. I’m basing this off of things I’ve seen/experienced online, and from IRL friends who consider themselves anarchists, but who’ve recently started espousing anti-communist talking points (ie: using the word tankie, saying communist dictators are/were as bad as fascists, etc.)
So why does it seem to come to this most of the time: Anarchists more often being unwilling to work with MLs and accusing them of being fascists, and not the other way around? Is this just a flawed perception on my part? A bias or point of propaganda I’ve had seep in and need to try and overcome? Is it a valid observation? If so, why does it play out like this?
I’m really sorry if this is still considered sectarian. I really just wanted to express these feelings/observations and seek input/correction from others on them, rather than bottle them up and potentially form prejudices. As mentioned, I personally don’t have issues with others having different beliefs among the left, as long as they’re fighting capitalism and imperialism, and being supportive of their fellow, diverse comrades.
EDIT: I just wanted to thank everyone who’s commented for their thoughtful responses. You’ve given me a lot to think about, both in challenges to my bias observations/experiences, and in explanations more clearly articulated and knowledgeable than what I understood. Thanks for understanding my intent and keeping it civil.
I think gentle ribbing is not so gentle as you may perceive it. (baby) mls also react really sharply to critiques of lenin/stalin, honestly don’t know why :shrug-outta-hecks:
Also general propaganda/scare of communism result in easy fall back into old frameworks.
The anarchist-to-ML pipeline is real, and as someone who went through it, I’ll say that anti-structure Reaction is also real. A lot of anarchists (at least in my experience) are young and full of piss and vinegar and distrustful of any kind of hierarchy that could constrain their individual actions. It’s a form of liberalism that many outgrow and many don’t.
Then there’s the fact that in the U.S. at least, anarchism is far more tolerated by the state than is any kind of organized ML movement. Other comments have already addressed this, but it bears repeating: when you spend your whole life immersed in anti-communist propaganada, it’s easy to take at face value that ML governments / orgs are “just as bad” as the capitalists.
I think for the terminally online, calling yourself an anarchist is a way to be a leftist without doing the legwork and lifting of reading and understanding theory, but knowing that the system is fucked up. And MLs can come off as exclusionary know it alls because they can’t go thirty seconds without mentioning Lenin. Unfortunately, the baby leftist with an attitude is susceptible to lib shit masquerading as radical