Comment by Cowbee [he/they]@lemmy.ml on for all the "anti-authoritarians" out there

Yes, Engels does a pretty good job of explaining why “authoritarian” complaints are usually explained purely by vibes.

He mostly explained how he actually didn’t really have a proper grasp of what authority actually means. He conflated them with a lot of things without actually making sense. I’m surprised why “On authority” is so widely known.

Let me guess, you’ve read “The problems with on authority”, but haven’t read "A Marxist Response to “The problems with on authority” " ?

Here you go: https://hexbear.net/post/2141265

Lol, not dipping into that cesspool.

Hey, I stepped into an anarchist space to read the most popular critique of on authority, you can step into a non-sectarian left space to read a critique of the critique.

He has a great grasp on how often Anarchists operate mainly on vibes, even if in practice when they get into power they still implement some form of authoritarianism, such as the labor camps in Revolutionary Catalonia.

Sorry, but claiming that just shows that someone didn’t engage at all with anarchist theory.

Edit - addendum: even if this wasn’t true back then in Engel’s days: Still quoting him today ignores all that anarchist theory on power that happened since then.

The problem with anarchist theory is that it demonstrably doesn’t work. A theory that can’t be put into practice is not worth the paper its written on.

Sorry, but you obviously have no idea of modern anarchist theory.

neither do anarchists though, so I don’t feel alone in that regard

I have, I used to lean more Anarchist, until I read more Marxist theory. Concepts like ParEcon were extremely interesting, and could be applied to both an Anarchist system or a Worker State. I am aware of Anarchist principles of horizontal organization, and I think they are quite beautiful, but I am also aware that Anarchist critique of Marxism falls flat almost all of the time.

What kind of Marxism? Marx’s Marxism, or that body of theory by his followers that even Marx denounced, i.e. ML, MLM, etc.

Anarchist’s analysis of power has been spot-on ever since Bakunin predicted the bureaucratic dictatorship that Russia became under the Bolsheviki.

Marx died March 14th, 1883

Mao was born December 26th, 1893

Was Karl Marx a time traveler?

How exactly would Marx denounce Lenin? Or Mao? That’s a supremely goofy statement.

Bakunin was not correct in analyzing power. If saying “states have issues” counts as being “correct” enough to only approve a system that has only ever lasted a few years at a time, you’re intentionally missing the forest for the trees. The USSR was by no means perfect, but it was history’s first true Socialist state and managed to prove that Socialism does work.

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for all the "anti-authoritarians" out there(lemmy.ml)

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