This is a bit more of a personal post, and maybe a bit out of the scope of this blog, but it's been something bothering me a fair bit in lefty spaces.
Also, odds are this has been hashed out before, and in much easier to understand terms.
Anarchists need to stop being liberals.
For context, I would describe myself as an anarchist, so understand that these critiques come from a place of love rather than destructive ranting. As well as this, I live on the british isles, and the left-wing scene here is well and truly pacified. I might winge about this more in the future..
As a side note, "anarchist" isn't a particularly useful term anyway, because it refers to a broad group of philosophies concerned with a critique of power, and each one of those philosophies can vary WILDLY.
Also, by "liberal" I am refering to an advocate of free-enterprise, free-markets, and private property.
There is a concept known as "political prefiguration", which broadly refers to ways of organising that reflect the future society that you wish to build. Do you want a future non-hierarchical society? Then you have to literally act as if you were in one. And the more you do, the better you get at it, and the more you understand how to develop through it.
So often I see so-called anarchists talking about owning a business and hiring employees. And sure, if you're the kind of anarchist that either doesn't understand what capitalism is, or you don't see it as an issue, then sure, whatever. But IMO you can hardly call yourself an anarchist when you own employees? You are putting yourself in an unnecessary position of power over them. And you will only ever learn how to exercise that power over them.
Additionally, I hear so-called anarchists come out with "I'll just wait for someone to tell me what to do." And again, you will only ever learn how to follow orders and take instruction. You will never learn to think for yourself. You'll never know how to work with others. You have to step forward and say "I want this" and you work with your comrades to figure out how to get it.
And I get it. I really do. The society we live in really doesn't teach us anything useful, and if it did, it would cease to exist as it does. And there isn't any easy way to survive in this world without exploiting someone, even if it is several degrees separated. But you need and have to try.
Talk to people in your communities, be that where you live, where you work, where you learn, or where you play. Pick an issue people care about. Work together to figure out how to fix it. And then do it.
And sure, I am making that seem easy. And believe me, it is not. But the first step is to try. PLEASE.
