Welcome to /r/Anarchy101!

Hey this is a pretty weird question probably, but I really like anarcho syndicalism and I like the theory behind it but I don’t know if I could call my self anarchist because I kind of have to study social sciences. I have autism and my special interest is politics so I actually really can’t study other subjects succesfully but this will most likely lead me to work in politics/government. Sorry if this was a strange question I just felt like getting some opinions

My friend who is studying philosophy in university is a hard core anarchist (anarcho egoist to be exact) and he is very pro EU which was surprising even though I do have the same views regarding the EU. My question is if this is the usual sentiment among anarchists?

My main problem with the capitalist system is that competition results in putting profit over people because those who put profit first grow their business the most and take over the market. But in an anarcho communist society based on mutual aid contracts wouldn't there remain a significant element of competition over the best mutual aid contracts?

For example if a commune that makes clothes makes an agreement with a commune that grows food would it not be possible that the first commune might lie about the quality of their clothing in order to secure a more lucrative deal? And other communes that make clothes might end up competing over the most lucrative deals.

One might reply that under anarcho communism people wouldn't perform mutual aid out of an expectation of mutual aid in return but out of the pure goodness of their hearts and solidarity. But this to me seems unsustainable and that only the most generous would be willing to work under those conditions and I expect that wouldn't be enough to keep society running. I think that only would work if we achieved a fully automated post scarcity society in which zero or hardly any labor was needed to provide for people.

explain to me like im 3 years old cuz i lowkey don't get it

This is meant to continue and expand upon a post made a few days ago about actions available within the movement while staying on the DL. The previous poster was a minor and the responses were very informative so I want to continue the conversation. I am an adult in a profession that gives me the opportunity to do good for individuals and my community as a whole. I have been interested In what more I can do beyond my professional life in the face of the oppression we are facing without putting myself and my profession at risk. I want to do as much as possible without risking what I am currently doing which requires a clean record. The responses to the previous post were very informative and I recommend people look at those, however I want to expand the conversation to those in situations similar to my own.

EDIT:https://www.reddit.com/r/Anarchy101/s/j5iDZzP3AG Link to previous post

Obviously this is an anarchist subreddit, so you all want anarchy. But im more interested in details and explanations as to how this all should work.

How would crime investigation and solving work in an anarchist.. country? Wouldnt terrible people be able to run rampant since there are no rules..?

If theres no borders, what would be done about countries that want to invade and take space? You would need organization and communication for that.

Those are just a couple questions.

How would problems with crime be handled in an anarchist society? In our current society, we have the police which are people with a certain level of experience in investigation. I can't imagine how a murder case, for example, would be solved without them, especially when even experienced detectives sometimes fail to crack a case. How would organized crime or groups attempting to seize power be dealt with in an anarchist society?

In case you don't know: Hearts of Iron 4 (Also known as HoI or HoI4) is WWII strategy game developed by Paradox interectactive. It sorts country ideologies into one of four categories: Democracy, Communism, Fascism and Non-Aligned. Interestingly, it puts Anarchism into Non-Aligned ideology group, which made me curious about what do you think about it

On one hand, I do aggre that anarchism is unique ideology so putting it into category that is reserved for more unorthodox ideas is fitting. But on the other hand, I fell quite uncomfortable with the fact that Anarchism is putted into same ideology group that Centrism, Monarchism and Autocracy uses

So what do you think about it ?

I’ve been reading up on mutualism, and Proudhon’s mutual banks seem to be one of the defining features. However, researching this aspect, they seem to operate exactly like my local credit union. How is this anarchist?

Everyone add how they would appropriate their ideal. In your idea of Anarchy, how would:

1. Trade work? What are the proponents of a society of production? How would this society avoid an industry magnate situation?

2. Deal with Mafias? The rule of the commune has always been established by the Mafia. Employing people for loan and taxation is a product of the 'family business'. How would you prevent an organised crime syndicate from collecting taxes?

3. Luxuries? A big obstacle in a free-organised society is that everything has to be micro-managed. There's a problem here? Go fix it. There's a problem there? Go fix it. This opens the question of how does everyone attain the conveniences that bureaucratic systems afford us?

4. Doctrine? If there is no one to enforce the idea of Anarchy, how's it to continue for generations without capitalists appearing?

5. This last question is not a challenge. What would an Anarchic utopia look like in your mind. What do the buildings look like? how do the people behave? What is the world striving for?

I bear no hostility, I just want to see how the answers vary.

Trying to broaden my local anarchist library to have more books accessible to Spanish speaking neighbors. What are some of your favorite books in Spanish or books that have Spanish translations?

Hi guys, I remember there being a black-and-white poster on some leftist subreddit years ago about all the support roles behind a combatant. It included people who do logistics, scouting, propaganda, ammunition, etc. Kinda like guerilla strategy. Idk if it's the right subreddit but I really need that poster right now, please help. Thanks!

Hey found this video talking about the Zapatista security forces have never heard of this nor could i find anything about it in the context of the video. They said that an anarchist society would ”punish people if necessary” and described the group changing leaders to avoid hierarchy. I mean I know militias are apart of anarchist revolution but the way they described it made it seem like policing. Any context for this?

Hello there,

I'm fairly new to anarchism and have encountered a phrase in a recent philosophy book which mentions both terms as if they mean different things. For the life of me I cannot find any source (academic or otherwise) to understand the difference.

How are they different from one another? Any source that I can look up?

Here the incriminated sentence: "In the course of several conversations, Duncan Bell and I shared exchanges on federalist and federationalist projects".

Source: Seyla Benhabib (2018) Exile, Statelessness and Migration

How would you prevent an anarchist legal structure from being mob rule while fixing some of the failures of other legal systems?

Could someone recommend some reading/viewing on anarchist responses to colonialism?

In particular:

• Anarchist understandings of colonialism and anti-colonialism;
• Historic involvement of anarchists in anti-colonial movements;
• The significance of Spain's colony in Morocco during the civil war;
• How the movement in Rojava has navigated both the war and US imperialism;
• Anarchist responses to the anti-colonial revolutions following the second world war, from both the imperial and colonised nations.

Hi! I'm new to the whole spectrum of far left ideas, so i'm trying to get a picture of everything. I would like to know how much of Marx's economic analysis of capitalism do anarchists adhere to. I don't mean the general idea of the evil of capitalism, but his specific theories. Such as LTV or dialectic materialism. Do anarchists generally agree with these ideas? Or do you have a different and "personal" analysis of capitalism? Thanks for bearing my ignorant questions, hope you have a good day!

Is a state defined by its centralized monopoly on authority and violence, or can a government cease to be a state if it is decentralized and locally accountable?

Would it be accurate to say that anarchists advocate for horizontal governance, contrary to the media’s portrayal of anarchism as total disorder?

If so, how does this distinction relate to the libertarianism (excluding right-libertarianism).

Ok so I kinda lurk on this sub (can’t think of a better word) and have been for maybe three weeks now. I like world building and diving in depth with new story ideas, the concept of an anarchy has always really interested me as in what it would actually look like in a fantasy world or in general. Now I’m young and politics make me sad so I generally avoid them outside the basics. Anyway the only thing I could think of for a fictional depiction of an anarchy was the purge, like just the night not their society(this isn’t right tho?) so I googled it bc I wanted to see if there was a fictional depiction of a world set in an anarchy, also was kinda hoping it would give me a book rec abt that or fiction world set in other forms of government. Regardless it brought me to a post from this sub with a similar question. Ever since this sub has been recommended to me on my fyp Reddit equivalent and when it interesting I click on a post here and there. Now I’ve always thought that an anarchy would just be chaos, no rules, maybe some form of corrupt crumbling puppet government. However I’ve begun to gather from hanging around (there’s my better word) this sub that that is not the case. So I’m here to ask the experts what an actual anarchy would look like/what it is. Now I’ve read the definition of it I wouldn’t come asking here if I could be bothered to do even that but like that just gives me the mental image I already had. I also want an other view (you guys) bc every source I’ve asked about anarchy (when I was younger) has had the same view of crumbling chaos so their opinions have all been pretty biased against it for obvious reasons. But I’ve seen you guys, you actively want an anarchy, what to be activists about it so what does that really look like?

So my questions are the following(btw all of this is genuine questions bc I’m curious and want a perspective from people who know their shit)

Why are you an anarchist/why do want or would prefer an anarchy to current government (I live in the US so if you don’t why would you want it over your government with a bit of explanation abt your government) ?

What would a perfect anarchy look like ? Or what would an anarchic government (is there such a thing or is that an oxymoron) or society look like?

What do you do to bring this about and make your preference reality, like what’s your activism (?) ?

I don’t mind terms or more specific explanations bc I’d love for you to go as in depth as you want but also like along with any in depth explanation please like give a dumbed down eli5 tldr bc I might not understand the longer part with out a bit of explanation to the explanation lol ALSO I’d love a scenario example for any explanation or what an actual anarchy is or would look like bc I seem to learn from this best.

Ofc I appreciate any explanation but I’m trying to understand so the above is just for that bc that’s how I think I’ll get it best. There are some grammar and typos in here but I’m on mobile and it’s being a pain when I try and go back through to correct those so if it’s unclear what I’m saying plz ask, I don’t want misunderstanding. However if it’s just grammar then I’m and probably not going to go back and fix it .

Is anyone familiar with any books, articles, etc. that evaluate how the Walled City evolved from an anarchist perspective? I am curious to learn more about what the residents did well, what was missing, what kind of control the triads had, etc. It seems like there should be a lot of lessons to learn from it. To my knowledge, the residents were not really trying to start an anarchist society, just survive a capitalist/colonial one. So, there is a limit to how much their experiences can inform our modern theory. To be clear, I am not suggesting the KWC was a shining beacon of anarchism or really anarchist at all. The "accidental anarchism" should still be informative, though. The only books I have found are mostly photography and interviews with residents. I have not found any political analysis.

Not too sure where I am going with this post, and if this type of discussion is not allowed, I’m fine with it being removed by the mods…

…but, how does everyone deal with this type of remark?

Every now and then, and especially this month, as I’ve been more vocal about identifying as an anarchist, I am met with people saying that they also remember when they were 16 years old.

Sometimes, I don’t even have to self disclose. Sometimes, they pick up on it once they hear my points of view.

Tbh, it’s a little insulting, and lately it’s been getting a little under my skin. I usually won’t respond to such comments, but it’s pretty clear that it’s some sort of put down. As if my points of view were too immature to be taken seriously.

Has anyone dealt with that as well? What’s your take on it?

For the record, I’m about three decades older than 16…

Hello, everyone, hope you're having a good and peaceful day/evening.

I'm really sorry if my questions come off as silly-sounding, but I really wanna know.

I don't know how legitimate my concerns are, but considering the state of affairs in the world right now (the situation in the States, upcoming elections in nearby Germany & the AfD, to name a few), and while the opposition won in the parliamentary elections last year, as far as I know, and the prognosis seems to be better for the upcoming presidential elections this year than in said Germany, for instance, I'm still concerned because I don't know how much of the conservative "wave" around the world supposed to influence the people over here specifically and how fast, and I've been literally losing sleep over the fact I've got no idea what exactly does it mean for both myself and the other as/more vulnerable in this country.

As a Ukrainian refugee with no Polish citizenship, I'm unable to participate directly in the elections, while I intend to catch up on learning Polish, I've been struggling with doing so due to some personal circumstances, and I lag behind a lot at the moment, and I've been struggling with semi-known and currently undiagnosed and unmedicated mental health issues for the majority of my life which often get in the way of doing daily stuff properly. However, this is where my main limitations end. While me/my family is not extremely well-off, I currently have enough for the basics with some extra, and I'm able to donate money from time to time. While I'm closeted to my family as a trans and queer person for safety (and this is very important to me), I'm out at my uni and in the majority of other situations which don't require me to use my legal/deadname, so there's also that.

So, my question is, is it possible to join some local volunteering orgs which welcome English-speaking (without me burdening them) and openly trans/queer people? Are there actual impactful things I can do on my own? Do you have any general advice for me?

Thank you very much in advance and stay safe!

I've noticed a lot of people have an aversion to the phrase anarchist because they don't understand what it means and think large scale confederated organizations is the same thing as a state and think all anarchists are anti organizational.

It might be better for the growth of anarchism to change what they call themselves to differentiate between pro organizational anarchists and anti organizational anarchists.

They could call themselves libertarian socialists or even classical libertarians for instance and people would likely be more receptive to hearing what they have to say.

What are people's thoughts on this?

Is developing that split in anarchism even worth it for improving the clarity of the movement for outsiders?

I haven't seen any post that mentioned them, it might be because they're niche part of slavic history but I'm curious about thoughts of those who heard about them, I know they weren't full anarchist but they seem to be the very first example of true freedom in last 2000 years

Also I mean earlier times before they joined Muscovite Empire to fight against PLC

I'm creating a little booklet that I want to be free and easily printable so that it can be dropped off in libraries and bookshelves in coffee shops and little free libraries by anyone anywhere. I have the whole thing written out, but I am trying to design it in a way that will be easy for anyone to print at home and spread if they'd like. Any suggestions on layout or how best to do this would be helpful!

Just as the title says. Having a hard time finding fellow anarchists here in this country (somewhere in SEA) and getting into anarchist spaces. Just want to expand my circle.

Edit: SEA as in Southeast Asia.

Hi guys! I'm writing a fictional work on if Нестор Махно won, but am trying to get a better understanding of what that would look like immediately after victory and then later on, like in contemporary times, assuming the state wasn't annexed. Thank you for your help!

I was thinking about this earlier today and tried to pull up some relevant reading. The most relevant I found was this: https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/deric-shannon-anti-capitalism-and-libertarian-political-economy

(Dear anarchist librarians, being able to know what the articles are actually about, or being able to rank them by popularity/relevancy when searching would make this so much easier!)

This quote really caught my attention for this question: “The ruling class in capitalist society has an interest in maintaining capitalism while the rest of us have an interest in ending our exploitation.”

I feel like a standard anti-capitalism response to “does the profit incentive exist,” is no, for emotional and ideological reasons. We don’t want the profit incentive to exist, and if it does, we want horizontal structures to be more important than it. Community over profit. But if that’s the case, how can we “have an interest” in anything, as it’s presented here? If there’s no motive for profit, why would we seek to better our specifically economic situation once our basic needs are met?

Let's say you're given more than enough land to be self-sustaining, somewhere in the country you live, in current society. How do you best utilize this plot of land to advance principles like mutual aid, organizing, local communities, direct action? Do you start a collective? Give it back to the indigenous? Put a fence up? Sell it & use the proceeds to...?