Being Neighborly, The Linchpin of Anarchism
It's also the foundation of any community organizing effort!
A lot of the work for the PA system is going to hang on our ability as anarchists to overcome two primary pitfalls in the modern world: The fear of anarchy, and failing to understand who can and cannot be organized.
Pitfall 1: The General Public’s Fear of Anarchy
Noam Chomsky often said Anarchism is the most misunderstood political theory in human history. Most of that stems from a large-scale dis-information campaign by government systems over the last few hundred years. Understanding that we live in a Machiavellian1 system in which power aims to stay in power at any cost, it helps us to understand the Sisyphean2 task ahead of us.
Whether it's movies, TV shows, High School/College textbooks, or any other general form of media; Anarchism is often defined and discussed as chaos. More so, it’s a specific type of violent chaos, full of riots, looting, unchecked killings, and harm to women and children. You’ll notice that every time there is a discussion about police budgets, or disarming a group of people the word “Anarchy” is immediately thrown out, and the group in question draws the line in the sand as the sole shield protecting people from such a dire and miserable fate.
The reality is obviously much different. As we mentioned in a previous article, Anarchism has been the default state by which humans across the globe have lived since at least 15,000 B.C.E and the development of modern tools and agriculture. Anarchy is the state of freedom. Freedom from any levels of oppression or rule by some outside class. It is a system of thought which requires we question all claims of hierarchy for their justification3. Anarchism, is by its nature, communal; not individualistic, and for those who haven’t moved this far left yet, what Karl Marx is describing as the end result of Communism.
So when it comes to organizing in our communities we are going to have to do a couple of things:
Avoid using the designation of Anarchism, or Anarchy. - Talk about the beliefs, about freedom, about self governance, about community, etc. If you describe Anarchism, or Communism to a right winger and never use the key words, they’ll often agree with everything you say, largely because that is how their ideal christian church community model is sold to them. Biblical Jesus was literally a socialist, and it was through the standard corruption of religious institutions that lead to his teachings being warped into a sort of homophobic conservatism.
Avoid aggressively defending yourself or anarchism. - As the media becomes more aware of how information spreads and tactics change to better educate people, you’ll notice they will (and in some cases already have) start actually using words correctly. They’ll talk on the news about anarchists as an ideological grouping instead of treating all of anarchism as “Black Bloc”. From there, they will simply just provide the least charitable interpretation, or simply lie about the theory to convince people it’s dangerous. So if a community member is saying things about why anarchism is evil, just agree with them. It may look like this4:
Them: “This talk kinda sounds like anarchy communism. They said on the news those folks are trying to steal our babies, and hate god”
You: “Look, I hear you. That sounds pretty awful. But what I am talking about is WAY different. I don’t know anything about that weird stuff. I just know, I don’t think the government should be telling me what to do, or how to do it. And I don’t trust any of the TV media, they lie about everything. Look at CNN!”
Them: “Yah, that makes sense. They do lie a bunch. And I agree about the government.”
You: “See. We’re not so different. Well, if you ever need help setting up that garden, or wanna hit the gun range together, let’s do it!”
Them: “Yah that sounds great!”
The goal of the movement is to get everyone to agree to call themselves anarchists. The goal is to HAVE anarchy. Don’t get into the weeds on the labels, and focus on the PRACTICAL steps to move towards exiting the capitalist system.Finally, Talk about the community itself. - Remind people who’s there when shit hits the fan. When Becky needed help with babysitting, it was the neighborhood that stepped in (or it should have been). When Roger needed help mowing his yard after the injury, it was the neighborhood who helped. Tying the conversations back to the community and breaking down the individualistic tendencies that the system has trained people towards is the most powerful tool in organizing your community.
Pitfall 2: Failing to understand who can (and Can’t) be organized, as well as Should/Shouldn’t.
In an earlier article I wrote about what is leftism and who gets to count, which you can find here. In that we discuss a bit about the “who doesn’t” by hitting on the obvious options: Nazis, Klansmen, White Power orgs, etc. But there is of course more to it than that. When you’re out in your neighborhoods talking to people about building worker power, you need to assess whether or not those people actually want worker power. I’m not trying to help save petite bourgeois landlords/business owners/etc from the downfall of capitalism. Their very lives are built on exploitation and the forthcoming suffering is what we call a “comeuppance”. Similarly, if you have police or state agents (ICE, BP, etc) living in your area, you shouldn’t be trying to organize them. They’re class traitors and not only do they not deserve your support in revolutionary times, but they are going to actively fight to stop you.
So finding out who in your neighborhood not only is potentially a cop, but who the people are that are going to run over to the cops house to narc on you is vital to your organizing efforts. Making sure to have conversations with people who are interested and unlikely to sabotage your network is the key to success.
As for finding people to work with and not just people to NOT work with, a good place to start is to find out who rents in your area. Who are the people working in restaurants, bars, etc. Look for tradespeople such as plumbers, electricians, etc. Finding actual working class people, especially those who either already are in a union, or who are open to it, gives you a strong base to build from. You won’t be having to overcome a lot of objections to solidarity networks, or having to explain basic concepts about working together. Those folks are gonna get it.
While you can definitely move people left with in-person conversations, it isn’t easy, and it isn’t fast. You don’t need to just start knocking on doors and asking folks if they are willing to drive to the capital to get a do-over of January 6th. You need to catch people when they are walking their dogs, or their kids, or when they’re out front pulling weeds in the yard. Ask if they need help. Get to know them. Revolution comes from the bottom up, not the top down, so take your time and enjoy building those relationships. After all, they will be the ones you count on when the time comes.
-EQ
This is a reference to Niccolo Machiavelli, a 16th century political philosopher whose most famous work is titled The Prince, in which he basically sends a guidebook to a young prince on how he ought to rule given the goal is to rule for as long as possible.
More can be learned here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niccol%C3%B2_Machiavelli
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sisyphus
This happens to be a contentious point for a lot of white anarchists who will say things like “no hierarchy can be justified ever” and often ignore reasonable philosophical counter-examples such as Student-Teacher, Master-Apprentice trade work, Doctor-Nurse-Patient, or even Parent-Child relationships. I personally have zero intention of debating these things, and there is plenty of available discourse to be had online. I consider anyone who automatically charges someone of being CIA for suggesting Pilots fly airplanes and we don’t democratically elect the popular guy to do it instead, a bad faith actor who fails to understand what their belief system actually entails.
This is all clearly hyperbolic for the purpose of illustration.