I was sent this essay and I had a good conversation about it but it got cut off… so im gonna repost what I said then here because this topic really interests me (full disclosure im not very knowledgeable on communist theory, im very bad at reading)

I think this essay is conflating being an authority and being in authority, as in having “power to” vs having “power over”

one thing is when people give you authority due to your knowledge and expertise, and the other is when you put yourself on a position of intrinsic authority, where others are forced by the system to respect it

I think the former is a case of authority but not really of authoritarianism per se