The Failure of Sectarian Strategy
Anarchism or broadly libertarianism cannot succeed if alliances are limited only to a purist circle.The death of other political philosophies’ presence on the ground is largely due to it’s unwillingness to work outside set in stone parameters.One only need to look at organized Objectivism to see the truth in this.Anarcho-Capitalism is to some extent much the same.I’ve heard some who have a deep seated antipathy for any other anarchists that don’t fit their label.With that strategy they’ve cut themselves off from a great number of people who are in (certain respects) in agreement with them.
I need to make some caveats to this point though;It doesn’t mean we should work to get along politically with the most hardcore of statists(e.g. Far Right fascists) and it does not imply a relativism where anything goes and you must make apologies for being anarchist.What I’m getting at is where and if our support for a cause matches that of some other group or individual we should be willing and able to work with them for that cause provided it doesn’t require us to compromise to further statism or acceptance of Capitalism.
Some left libertarians have told me of their joy in working with Marxists, that’s one possible avenue.It seems to me that until our numbers grow or in areas where they are not very large, it’s important for us to reach out to those we can agree with on an issue by issue basis and work to avoid our goals.Being so sectarian as to avoid working with those who disagree with us in some ways on a specific issue will get us no where.Isolation never solved anything.All it helps is contribute to us languishing in obscurity and being so lacking in credability that when we are discussed it’s with ridicule.Broad your mind,find common ground and see what you can achieve.
6:49 pm
Bravo!!! We all desire a stateless society; there is no basis for divisions among us. We must work together not simply across ideological lines, but also, and just as important, across national borders. As a former member of that particular sect, I think Marxists must step up to the plate and be the first to join forces with the other communist threads on a truly non-sectarian basis.
10:33 pm
I think you make an interesting point about Marxists. Do you ever feel like its all give and no take? Don’t get me wrong, I have a lot of respect for every Marxist I know but they all seem united in their weariness and it makes things difficult. no sense of playfulness. Maybe thats just me…
11:38 pm
It is a weariness born of imagining the fate of humanity rests on their shoulders alone, and necessarily so. And, moreover, that every other social force in society is conspiring against this imagined interest. Paranoia is a bitch.
10:48 pm
Agreed, completely. The difficult part, it seems to me, is how best to facilitate this.
I can’t help but think about the church with an issue like this, because they’ve been trying to do the same thing for years and are utterly failing at it. We have, though it pains me to say it, a lot in common with the god botherers…. They are a massive and influential group that have thankfully lost a lot of their their influence because they have become defined by their secondary, denominational theological interpretations, instead of acknowledging the fact that they are all joined by a stated, non-mainstream social/political goal that in theory should be far more important than the bickering they have succumbed to.
Fortunately in the case of ecumenicalism and Jesus I have absolutely no problem with their failure, but where revolution is concerned this isn’t an outcome I am prepared to accept. What do we do?