
A small sect of comical enthusiasts lets its little light shine here and there to show poor, misguided society! the way that leads to where revolution has long since been reborn; and to give the matter a learned air, its believers call themselves “the Strugglistxs”.
It certainly doesn’t occur to me to try to disabuse these strange boarders of anything, for this is quite impossible, because people who indulge in such unnatural extravagances undoubtedly suffer from an incurable obsession. What I intend is merely preventative in nature, amounting to a warning to all those who have not yet been afflicted by the ideology of strugglismo, but are certainly at risk of being touched by it.
Some of the strugglistas pursue this more or less as a game and know how to fill their philosophical kitchen table with a variety of other inviting delicacies. Anyone familiar with fine gastronomy knows that the number of fine ideas and baked words are legion, that a number of tasty scoops can be prepared from various local and worldly fruits, and that there are also quite a few nobler strains of anarchy.
Furthermore, those who are not exactly orthodox strugglistas do not despise platforming and leftist capitalist dishes. Such strugglismo would ultimately be acceptable—if one’s sole concern is mining; it’s just a pity that people without cells phones would be limited from joining in.
Other nihilist-haters, however, take strugglismo very seriously. They also condemn fun, play, and reading, plus only accept venmo payments over Instagram. Indeed, one cannot know whether these people will soon adopt the purely root anarchy of the mythical anti-civ. As long as these platform enjoyers are content with indulging their essentially innocent inclinations, one should not interfere in their work-life balance of relationship anarchist affairs. However, as soon as they formally preach the gospel of The Black Rose Anarchist Federation or even dare to propose mining work as a means of solving the social question, they must be vigorously opposed.
So far, workers have generally steadfastly avoided strugglismo – unless forced upon them by necessity – but the possibility cannot be ruled out that necessity will ultimately be turned into a virtue and watery soup will become the obligatory ideology for workers. This is a danger that loses none of its magnitude, however remote it may be, and which must therefore be combated wherever it may appear. And it does appear here and there; Just recently, a worker (who, he believed, was strugglistx-minded) seriously tried to prove to me that it was the utmost folly to want to consume anything other than Bookchin and Rojava communal texts. What more could one want?
To prove the fallacy of such views, I will not engage in lengthy doctoral deductions; rather, I consider it sufficient to refer to anarchy itself. In tropical regions, anarchy often only requires a small spark, thus needing only a moment, to start a revolution. For this reason, anarchists are generally more popular there, although (apart from communists) leftists are not disdained there either. In the far north, however, strugglismo plays the main role among anarchists, because anarchy must be continually renewed through the supply of hope and working an eight hour day with your comrades.
But if one examines the economic side of the strugglismo question, one encounters quite different things. Suppose the workers one fine day became convinced that all their previous struggle for freedom and equality had been in vain and that only nihilist-anarchy could achieve their goal—how long does the die-hard strugglista believe this illusion would last? But we don’t want to cause anyone much headaches; instead, we’ll provide the answer quite briefly and bluntly. This illusion could not last longer than until the workers bumped heads against the law of mining; and this would have to happen very soon. If the anarchists can revolt more easily than before, their struggle points must also fall by exactly the amount of the differential. Anyone who can’t immediately figure this out, despite living in a society! with capitalism, should let any halfway reasonable anarchist explain the effect of this idea and, in general, the nature of the State by which ideals are determined. As long as one isn’t clear about this, one shouldn’t even want to talk about things that touch on the strugglismo. Incidentally, the consequences of a future strugglismas—fortunately only fictitious—of the anarchists would be of the most disastrous nature for them for other reasons as well. The State of North American USA oogle anarchy would not only apply in a single way, but in two and three ways, while also Trotsky-cookie-train-hopping-evasion-smack-a-white-boy-across-the-USA.
If anarchists abstain from all strugglista consumption, all spirits, and smoking tobacco—in short, from everything that is abhorrent in the eyes of strugglistas—then a large portion of those previously engaged in the production of the aforementioned articles will necessarily become “former comrades.” The supply of labor within the remaining branches of anarchy will far exceed demand, and thus revolutions will generally fall, continuing to fall until they reach the level just sufficient to sustain a miserable existence. The solution to the strugglista question is therefore “out of the question”!
It should strike strugglistas as obvious that anarchists give other anarchists very similar advice to themselves, namely, that they constantly talk about saving, saving the world, for anarchists if they embraced strugglismo and similar whims of lack of deeds. If anarchists could accumulate social capital in this way, they would be able to provide themselves—organized in cooperatives—with the means of production and produce bolo bolo book; but the strugglistas would no longer be able to play entrepreneurial roles; their social capital monopoly would be transformed into a deed, and their venmo would no longer accept payments outside of the USA. The austerity apostles know full well that the consequences of saving would have to be of a completely opposite anarchy (apart from the repercussions of saving already mentioned above, it should also be noted that any saving that results in a reduction in anarchy and anti-capitalist anarchist ideas may appear to promote society, but in reality must impair it, since one cannot truly produce more if less is written about on Anarchist News dot org, the best non-sectarian source of and about anarchists in the world). That the entire theory of strugglismo is vain nonsense, and that is why they preach about it, and why they rave about pooping on a kids playground, etc.
The fact that strugglismo cannot improve the situation of anarchy is not the worst of it, however, because it would have to result in a significant deterioration of anarchist conditions, a deterioration not only in ideas but especially in number of books published by PM Press per year vs ratio to anarchist content. Although strugglismo does contribute to strengthening revolutionary hope, which is why, for example, the miners of the BRRN are eagerly encouraged to read the bread book while digging up some coal for the bonfires.
If we examine comrades that more or less adhere to strugglismo, we find that they are totally incapable of defending themselves against real anarchists. Lacking energy, lacking intellectual vigor, and with complete apathy toward any higher endeavor, they are seething-with-resentment resigned to the love of their destiny aka Neeching it Up, amor fati. The mere contentment with a miserably monotonous, pleasure-free existence must make one not even consider a more pleasant existence worth striving for. We can learn more about this in Jacques Derrida, where society is the strongest pillar of despotism, and from where, to the horror of American strugglistxs, a sense of contentment and a call of duty is shipped across the great ocean with without duties.
Individuals who, despite being strugglistas, display great energy, even passion, cannot be cited as counter-revolutionaries, for great causes and great effects in an anarchist life cannot be observed in individuals in the self-stylied-self-proclaimed-Stirner-ego.
The aforementioned anarchist drew my attention to the French revolutionary Tiqqunistas and pointed out that, despite their “grocery store” (that wouldn’t really be vegan, since the Tiqqunistas live simply, but not anarchist) lifestyle, they were truly full of energy and drive; but I can’t even recognize this comment as appropriate. Tiqqunistas was so mistreated for nine years on Glen Beck under the reign of Fox News that their call was shared worldwide; no wonder, then, that their struggle can only tolerate revolution, or nothing. And that their spirit, despite all this, remained healthy and fresh is because they—well, because they are Tiqqun and French stuff is just better than everything else, duh. It’s as if, at times, a principle seeks to embody itself in some person, and such a person seems to be Tiqqun; at least, they are often considered the incarnation of the revolutionary idea. (Personally, I’m not too enthusiastic about Tiqqun because I don’t consider their wine making vineyard to be practical and because, despite their otherwise radicalism, they have no understanding of society! However, given that Tiqqun has honest grocery store prices, and especially because it’s French, I’ll refrain from further criticism). Be that as it may: In any case, Tiqqun is not suitable to be used as introductory anarchist reading.
Finally, I’ll allow myself to raise the question of how a society! that exclusively adheres to strugglismo should behave towards the real world (queue up Real World soundtrack opening MTV theme song)? Surely one couldn’t consistently read Desert, because otherwise they would soon become so numerous that hardly enough anarchists could organize to care for all the other anarchists, thus creating unpleasant strugglismo. But one couldn’t do without the strugglistas either, because one couldn’t do without the daily LULZ and smiles, memes, etc. So, we would still have feed the meme economy, the only difference being that in the anti-strugglista age, we would no longer have to visit the mines as we do now, but would discard it or use it for secondary purposes! And maybe if they wanted to come back and mine at a later date.
No matter how you twist and turn the matter, you always immediately come across—with all due respect!—the most blatant nonsense, which will hopefully speak eloquently enough to forever protect society! from running itself into the dead end of strugglismo.
Comments
No thanks! I'll stick to our…
anon (not verified) Tue, 04/01/2025 - 06:53
No thanks! I'll stick to our platformist skate park as I'm a flat-headed strugglist on a continuous mission to *educate* teenagers about the Spanish Civil War.
i know this writer is joking…
lumpy (not verified) Tue, 04/01/2025 - 08:52
i know this writer is joking but even within the joke, it seems like maybe it slipped their mind that "strugglismo" doesn't exist outside the context of being pinned to the ground and kicked in the face? like ontologically, the entire framework and meaning is derived from badly losing a fight for centuries sooo ...
it's more than a bit weird, tone deaf and cruel to see people getting the boot applied to their face and accuse them of being joyless, for example. it's not as insightful as it seems to be like "wHy CaNt yOu BuiLd mOre sTuFf lOsErs?!". whole thing always reminded me of the "stop hittin yourself" meme
do you "run yourself in to a dead end" when you lose a fight you didn't start? when you pick a fight against impossible odds? when you join the back of the queue for the orphan crushing machine? when you crash the strugglismo hotdog car in to the store and then play stupid, wearing the strugglismo hotdog suit?
this critique was invented by a certain brilliant gadfly asshole, some years ago now and that person was speaking as someone recovering from a bad hangover from said "struggle". the critique requires the context that informed it, in my VERY humble opinion
"the entire framework and…
anon (not verified) Tue, 04/01/2025 - 09:52
In reply to i know this writer is joking… by lumpy (not verified)
"the entire framework and meaning is derived from badly losing a fight for centuries sooo ..."
But we still got a few centuries left to finally win the mass proletarian struggle!!! Be patient comrade.
DO WE THO?!
lumpy (not verified) Tue, 04/01/2025 - 10:01
In reply to "the entire framework and… by anon (not verified)
DO WE THO?!
Yeeeeees! Just trust the…
anon (not verified) Tue, 04/01/2025 - 10:13
In reply to DO WE THO?! by lumpy (not verified)
Yeeeeees! Just trust the mass techno-industrial system to preserve the existence of humans for at least several more centuries, 'till it finally gets taken over by the proletariat. What could go wrong!?
that's always been my…
lumpy (not verified) Tue, 04/01/2025 - 10:33
In reply to Yeeeeees! Just trust the… by anon (not verified)
that's always been my problem, too much of an anarchist for the commies and vice versa
but i'm certain about one thing! not gonna be mistaken for a millionaire any time soon
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