This is a essay style piece so there is no sources for this one, just my general critique of Anarchism as an anarchist
Anarchists have a lot to take in the world over from economic inequalities, Social inequalities and the threat of nuclear war that looms over us day to day, but this is not the biggest threat to anarchists, it is one of them, but it is not the biggest threat to us. In fact, the biggest threat to us is our societies, and not in the way that we think. The damage to our cause has already been done to us, many of us grew up in meritocracies where the most educated get the most praise (for the most part) and respect, we are conditioned in a society that if we don’t have a degree in the subject we can’t talk about it, or teach people about it because “it’s not our place” to do so.
Anarchists and other left-wing ideologies have an internal fight going on inside of ourselves due to the conditioning of our cultures and societies. We were taught that education is incredibly important and that if you want to educate you must be educated, this is incredibly troubling to see as there are thousands of young anarchists who are well versed in the world, economics and societal issues but never talk about the Economic issues, we only talk about the Social issues because that way it’s the path of least resistance with liberals, Liberals will fundamentally agree with you on social issues so it lowers the risk of being kicked from the group or ridiculed.
This must stop, Anarchists are against the idea of a meritocracy as it assumes that the boot maker who learned to make boots has an education in making boots, when most of the time it’s been through experience. We would never go to a shoe store and ask the boot maker their qualifications because we assume they know what they’re talking about but why do we assume young working-class people who have chosen to educate themselves don’t know what they’re talking about. Anarchists are fine with fighting against the grain on social issues because they can bring personal experience into it and not be shunned for it, but when it comes to economic issues we’d rather just call the conservative a “Nazi” because we fear being asked to justify our knowledge and experience when it comes to Economic issues.
We need to start fighting against the grain on Economic issues, it’s fine to most people to say you’re a communist and leave it at that, but if a liberal or right-winger is intrigued it is vital you educate them in the same way you were, cite books, websites, speakers, etc that inspired you and clicked with you. If you can cite where you got the information from, the person will look at the education of the person writing the article or giving the speech and not you, if you can cite people with an education and have a good reputation then that is in fact the path of least resistance.
I write this as a Platformist who has seen these things happen way too often and way too much, the friends and non-academic people who inspired me in this direction did not back down when I asked why, I used to be a Liberal democrat then I swung further and further to the left after being recommended reading material and evidence/context to the world I was living in. I have been an anarchist for almost 4 years now and it’s all because of a few anarchists not backing down when I had questions about social issues and Economic issues. It’s not a difficult thing to do, and if you are confronted about your lack of formal education, educate the person on why anarchists are against meritocracies and once they’ve listened to that go back to the talk on economic and social issues, don’t be afraid to throw in Marxist terminology because then it does show some understanding of the world around you.
It’s OK to be shunned by a few liberals but it’s not OK to be shunned by every single one because you refuse to answer their questions. If you don’t know the answer to something tell them you’ll find the answer and get back to them, we’re all learning and we don’t have all the answers to every single question. Don’t debate their worldview just because they’re liberals, bring their worldview together with yours and you are bound to find common ground to build on. We need to start having open dialogue not just with other anarchists (actual anarchists) but with liberals who don’t understand our world view, and to do that we need to fight the internal conditioning we were fed as a child. I know this may sound pacifistic or liberal but really all you’re doing with this is being diplomatic, stand your ground and dig in your heels, the more evidence such as books, articles, studies, talks, videos, etc you can cite the more you are doing to educate the working class and help the movement, because then you are creating understanding.
This is crucial to building a pro-anarchism movement as you are taking the least educated (liberals) in left-wing economics and social issues, as well as making them think a little differently when they see a black bloc on TV being spun to look like the bad guys, enlighten the working classes on what they should know and not shun them on what they think they know. You’d be surprised how willing liberals are willing to listen to you, and don’t take their constant line of questioning as trying to antagonise you, they aren’t most of the time they are genuinely curious about how you see the world, what’s brought you to that world view and what they may have gotten wrong up to that conversation with you.
I want to end this on a few things to keep in mind when talking with liberals about your views. Don’t back down and come to the centre on issues, they don’t want to hear what you think they want to hear. Don’t say they are “wrong” directly, it’s better to say things like they have been “misinformed” on an issue or they’ve misread a situation. Most of them want to be listened to just as much as they are listening to you, since they are being told that the “left-wing” isn’t listening to their issues, don’t be that person their media is warning them about.
