T(rule)kies

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You know it’s kinda rich of you to refer to, of all people, Voline. If he was critical of Platformism guess what he had to say about Bolshevism. Even before Trotsky tried to have him killed.
I am not talking about Voline's personal opinions on neither platformism nor bolshevism, but on his accounts on the makhnovite project. I do not know what is your definition of tyranny since, as you implied, ideas amongst anarchists vary quite a lot. However, if you consider that the actions taken by state socialist projects to ensure their survival are tyrannical, I suppose you would too consider tyrannical the anti-mennonite massacres perpetrated by the black army after Eichenfield, the existence of a 200-men personal bodyguard corps (the Black Sotnya) for Makhno or the closure of the Bolshevik revolutionary committees of Alexandrovsk and Ekaterinoslav and threats of arrest and execution of its members, which ensured that the only speech that enjoyed of freedom in Makhnovia had to be anarchist-alligned. Acceptable? You will say if yes or no. Anti-authoritarian? I'd beg to differ.
…somehow you also ignored the two successful ones. I kinda wonder whether you even know which I’m talking about.
Rojava and the Zapatistas, I presume. The Zapatistas have already declared publicly and explicitly that they are not anarchists and that they reject such label, so there is not much else to say. Rojava on the other side is one project that anarchists in my area began to detract from after they began collaborating with the US army, but even then there exists fair criticism of it and accusations of repressing minorities by closing down Assyrian schools. Don't misinterpret me: despite its faults I do have a generally positive view on Rojava, but I do not think it is the paragon of non-hierarchical and anti-authoritarian virtue that western anarchists generally set as the bare minimum.
You have not addressed my comments on the anarchist actions in the May Days during the Spanish Civil War, but I will not assume malicious intent from your part.
Also, if you bother answering at all I’d like you to give an example of a revolution of yours that didn’t end in tyranny. Shouldn’t actually be that hard for a tankie as you don’t think tyranny is bad, so why not admit it that there’s none?
I have no bad faith in this discussion, and I would like to ask you to do the same. We do not think that "tyranny is good": we think that the state is needed for a revolutionary project to survive as much as it is its fate to disappear as class contradictions do too. We are dialectical materialists: even if we wanted for some reason the state to persist, the march of history would do away with it nonetheless, and we would have to accept it.
To answer your question: I am, again, not aware of what do you consider tyranny, but I have found most anarchists to be pretty accepting of Sankara's Burkina Faso and admit that its pros outweight the cons.
Edit: grammar.
- I did not send my first message to attempt to "convert" you or anyone into another ideology. My intentions were simple: to disprove the popular claim of MLs "betraying" revolutions by taking a closer look at the events that it refers to, and to show that past anarchist projects are equally guilty of engaging in authoritarianism once they see themselves out of idealist theory and into the field where they have to survive: all of it by taking a closer look at history. And, if not to actually manage to convince anyone about it, at least to encourage people lurking here to take a deep dive into the history of their own movement, something that we "tankies" are already forced to do because of constant confrontation but that anarchists usually don't have to, being instead able to rejoice in a romantisized and adequately simplified version of the past, not having to worry about anyone ever bringing up the "dark" bits of their history.
  You are welcome to attempt discussing it or (although I doubt it) agreeing with it. Yes, we could instead talk about the theory attempting to change each other's minds in vain about either anarchism or marxism-leninism, but with due respect, that's outside the scope of my initial intentions, and nonetheless I do not think that neither you nor I have any intent of perpetuating this discussion into eternity. And even if I wanted, attempting to discuss some subjects such as North Korea would eventually get me banned from this sever and have my comments deleted per this site's rules.
  If you wish to add anything else about our initial topic, you are welcome to do so and I will listen and respond adequately. If not... I'd say it's been a pleasure talking. You are a well read person, I will give you that.
  
  How would you analyse NK if it didn’t have hammers and sickles painted all over it?
  I just... Told you I won't. Not here, at least. Just by being here I am already dancing on the knife's edge and, as this server very clearly states, "authoritarian" behaviour is a bannable offense here. I came here limiting myself to talk about history because I am not interested in breaking this place's rules. If you still insist in hearing what I have to say you are more than welcome to send me a private message.
  Edit: grammar.
  
  You pretty much already gave the answer: Your interpretation wouldn’t change, or at least you can’t imagine it would.
  No I did not, and you are putting words in my mouth here. I said I refuse to talk about the specifics of North Korea in this place. But if you insist, I'll tell you that symbolism is meaningless by itself alone, and that a solid interpretation of a society can only come from a study of its structure seen from the lense of its history and its material conditions.
  If you want a honest conversation without the restriction of moderation, once again, you are welcome to send me a private message. If not, there's nothing else to say.
  
  What moderation could you possibly be afraid of if your interpretation were to meaningfully change and turn into a critique of authoritarianism?
  My interpretation consists on actually attempting to explain how North Korea's apparatus works. I have no interest in critiquing "authoritarianism" (or in other words, the existance of a state) per se, as an idea of an entity above society and separated from it, independent of class struggle.
  Or is it that such an interpretation would get you banned from lemmygrad and you don’t want to lose your cricket club?
  That's such a bizarre thing to say. The only thing it serves is to show you have absolutely no will to have a good-willed conversation.
  
  Nah what it shows is that I’m an incorrigible, smug, edgelord.
  Good luck with your future trolling endeavours.

86 comments