You ask about implementing anarchism in real world projects?

"and then i open up emacs" - future anarchist factory workers of the world unite!

From The Anarcho-Syndicalist Federation

The aim of anarchism is revolution, but we understand this revolution in a two-fold sense: Negatively speaking, what we are against is capitalism and the state. Positively, what we are for is the extension of democracy (direct, participatory democracy) to every institution of society.

The creation of democracy is (a fortiori) the destruction of the state because what makes a state a state is that it is a hierarchical and bureaucratic apparatus of power that sits separate to and above the people it governs.

The creation of democracy is the destruction of capitalism, which is the hierarchical and bureaucratic relationship in which we, the workers, are subordinated to the bosses and shareholders who direct and exploit our labour for profit.

Democracy is not voting for leaders to decide for on our behalf; an oligarchy selected by vote is still an oligarchy. No, democracy is the creation and changing of situations so that we can come together based on equality to debate and to decide by voting directly on all the issues that affect us in common.

You asked about real-world projects, so how is this to be achieved in the real world and on a real-world scale?

Through the strategy of anarcho-syndicalism!

The International Workers' Association (IWA-AIT) is a federation of workers' unions organised and operating according to anarchist principles. Its aim is to advance and defend workers' interests against the capitalist and rent-seeking classes today, whilst building an organisation capable of carrying through social revolution tomorrow.

The key thing is that the organisations federated within the IWA are not waiting for tomorrow to bring democracy into being. To join is to start participating directly and immediately in the project of collective and individual autonomy.

Collective and individual autonomy are two sides of the same coin. You cannot achieve a full development of your individual autonomy unless you actively create and participate in social institutions that realise and practice collective autonomy, which is to say 'democracy' in its direct and participatory sense.

While the end game all anarchists work towards is social revolution – the extension of (direct, participatory) democracy to all institutions of society – we affirm our autonomy in the here and now by making the attempt to build organisations with this character.

Every meeting, every picket and every strike represents an event in which the power of capitalism and the power of the state meet resistance and are made to retreat.

Every attempt at organising and extending or organisation further demonstrates the fact of our thinking and acting for ourselves, both as individuals and as members of the working class.

This is what makes it a real-world project.

The revolution isn't some far‐off all-or-nothing event. The revolution is all the steps on the way to and through and past any single climax of struggle. And nothing that we do to support each other through the organisation and militancy of an anarcho-syndicalist organisation is wasted. This is what makes it realistic as a long-term strategy for revolution. The benefits of participation are direct and rewarding despite the distance to our end goal.

The values, actions, and forms of relationship, (equality, autonomy, solidarity, mutual aid, direct democracy, direct action, federation) that we put into practice today within our organisations are the same values, actions and forms of relationship that will characterise a future anarchist and libertarian socialist society.

And nothing builds confidence in oneself and real friendship with others than engaging in a struggle for better wages and conditions or to get sacked workers reinstated or compensated. We don't need the bureaucrats within mainstream unions to tell us how to do these things. We are more creative and achieve better results when we do it for ourselves.

We can do without the bosses and the bureaucrats and politicians, but they cannot do without us. That is our strength and our power. All we need to do is think, organise, and stand together when we act. We have the tools to do this. They are called anarcho-syndicalism and the IWA-AIT.

There are 15 Comments

"The aim of anarchism is revolution"

oh?

"what we are for is the extension of democracy"

...oh

"And nothing builds confidence in oneself and real friendship with others than engaging in a struggle for better wages and conditions or to get sacked workers reinstated or compensated"

OOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHH.....

like ... old af old school ancoms. like, unironically, unapologetic red and blacks who just stepped out of the smoking time machine ... this shit is cringe and i'm a leftist sympathizer!

### Anarchy means NO RULERS, i.e. "NO government".
Democracy is a form of government (and so is Communism, Socialism, Fascism and Constitutional Republic).
Capitalism is an ECONOMIC system where individuals trade among themselves _without_ third party (government) regulations and controls. Anarcho-capitalism describes this political-economic relationship.

Do NOT conflate Capitalism (an economic system) with the Fascism (government and its corporate handmaidens) that we currently have in America and Western Europe. Every corporation is licensed by a government and protected from liability by that government's police and military. Without government there would be no corporations.

Want more details?
.https://tinyurl.com/The-Bare-Minimum-W
.

You should read some Dmitry Mrachnid, its very refreshing.e.g.
"Another dogma: «Capitalism is just a moment in the history of the world, it must be destroyed,» but it is an insurmountable truth of exchange, ever since the world became a world. After all, capitalism is often confused, as a way of producing wealth that provides for private property, and liberalism is a way of redistributing the wealth thus obtained. So there could be libertarian capitalism, like the way Soviet capitalism existed or as ecological capitalism, to which it seems we are now moving…"

I will exchange some of my fish with Dmitry, and everyone will be happy.

oh great, more infiltration by promoters of unregulated capitalism. who, after stating "no rulers", states that capitalism is an economic system, and therefore it is fucking COOL!!!!

economic SYSTEMS are inherently reliant on authority/government. autonomous individuals - NOT tied to using some economic system - who chose to gift and trade amongst themselves and with every transaction they alone decide what "value" is.

i could never understand why some people see everything in life in terms of economics. seems like the most myopic perspective.

Small scale laissez-faire capitalism without monopolization doesn't actually offend the basic values of anarchism. Like, if I spend 1 whole day catching fish and then take them to a money dealer and get 10 coins for them, and go to a carpenter and give him 10 coins for 2 chairs he spent 2 days making, I'm not ripping him off, just saying.

Yeaaaa, so amazed by your success story, a thousand other brilliant "laissez-faire" capitalists" from your area ended up emptying the whole fucking lake from fishes just to buy themselves useless chairs from a guy privileged by a system of skilled labor. Then just to make sure they don't get deprived from the firsh that'll probably grow back next year, they started a cartel or government (i.e. the same) so that other people can't take part in the scheme.

Bravo, idiots! FULL 360 degrees.

(i.e. you just recreated same-old capitalism ad everything wrong that comes with it... yaaaaaayyyy!)

"thousand other brilliant "laissez-faire" capitalists" from your area ended up emptying the whole fucking lake from fishes just to,,,,"
Capitalism is an insurmountable method of exchange since the world became the world.
"50 other brilliant "laissez-faire" Neanderthals from your area ended up driving the entire herd of mammoths over a cliff, emptying the whole continent from mammoths, just to,,,,,"
Or " all the chipmunks accumulated the entirety of acorns all for themselves, for their future kittens to survive on during the harsh winters,"
Hey dude, kids do it with candy, people will always exchange and accumulate items. Its about time that a libertarian centrist economic process was experimented with which works.

"Capitalism is an insurmountable method of exchange since the world became the world."

No, just since YOU came to the world... with a dogma as glasses to watch it with.

Another poster here ____
■experiment with libertarian centrist economic process was experimented with, which works■
Maybe, but some conditions must apply like ___
1 / No currency
2/All surplus including monopolized goods potlatched to the broader local community.
3/Free food and accomodation.
4/Stealing made into a legal pastime and hobby, the object of the game is not to be caught.

*looking at the masses of law-abiding citizens sleeping under highway overpasses in the US*

Yea, your system works just fine!

why would you go through the money dealer? why not take your fish to the carpenter? if they don't want fish, work out an iou based on trust between 2 individuals. eliminate the mediators, and that is money's sole function. mediated relations, especially when rooted in economics, are completely contrary to any kind of anarchist relations i want to see in the world.

and before you go into capitalism 101, i fully understand the role money plays in typical markets. this here anarchist don't want typical markets.

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