it’s just poor people running poor charities for other poor people, which is all well and good but isn’t changing anything.
This tends to be my primary critique of Anarchists that actually participate in real world praxis. Red charity is good and there is always a demand for it to be done in the material conditions we find ourselves within, but to call solely that revolutionary praxis when the action of supply distribution is not accompanied with educational or organizational materials to build the foundations of a dual-power structure outside of the existing capitalist system.
I'm not really totally certain how to take that next step from our current position but considering that there is actually a pretty robust bit of 'mutual aid' going on, we actually have a full on leftist community center that does shows and events has a free food fridge and kitchen, a jam space and recording studio, print screening access, computers and printers and a large zone library (that only takes self published stuff for some reason so most actual theory isn't available), we have resources but the conversation never moves beyond how to share them and not what could be done with them if any amount of discipline wasn't total anathema.
Huh that's a pretty neat setup over there. I can't speak on what y'all should do since I'm a dirty card-carrying Red, but I can suggest on trying to get some kind of organized reading session going on to actually get some learning going. Whether that's intra-organization to try and get your group start cohering beyond what it currently is, or utilizing your space to make a more public education session, that can be up to you and your mates. Of course you should know your audience when it comes to selecting reading material, so if something very simple and straightforward like Why Communism? Plain Talks on Vital Problems by Moissaye J. Olgin would scare or shut off your audience's brain because certain spooky scary words, then Kropotkin's Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution would make a more viable alternative. Of course at the end of the day it also comes down to the dedication and drive to the socialist cause overall. Not everyone's a dedicated Vanguard partymember willing to set aside a normal life to work towards building their party and the Revolutionary movement, nor is everyone a dedicated Anarchist organizer willing to bust their ass building up a network of comrades to build towards regional autonomy, and so on and so forth, point is if your mates just don't want to do anything other than keep what they got then that's fine. If you want to do more then spread your wings and go find yourself an org to network and build with.
This tends to be my primary critique of Anarchists that actually participate in real world praxis. Red charity is good and there is always a demand for it to be done in the material conditions we find ourselves within, but to call solely that revolutionary praxis when the action of supply distribution is not accompanied with educational or organizational materials to build the foundations of a dual-power structure outside of the existing capitalist system.
I'm not really totally certain how to take that next step from our current position but considering that there is actually a pretty robust bit of 'mutual aid' going on, we actually have a full on leftist community center that does shows and events has a free food fridge and kitchen, a jam space and recording studio, print screening access, computers and printers and a large zone library (that only takes self published stuff for some reason so most actual theory isn't available), we have resources but the conversation never moves beyond how to share them and not what could be done with them if any amount of discipline wasn't total anathema.
Huh that's a pretty neat setup over there. I can't speak on what y'all should do since I'm a dirty card-carrying Red, but I can suggest on trying to get some kind of organized reading session going on to actually get some learning going. Whether that's intra-organization to try and get your group start cohering beyond what it currently is, or utilizing your space to make a more public education session, that can be up to you and your mates. Of course you should know your audience when it comes to selecting reading material, so if something very simple and straightforward like Why Communism? Plain Talks on Vital Problems by Moissaye J. Olgin would scare or shut off your audience's brain because certain spooky scary words, then Kropotkin's Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution would make a more viable alternative. Of course at the end of the day it also comes down to the dedication and drive to the socialist cause overall. Not everyone's a dedicated Vanguard partymember willing to set aside a normal life to work towards building their party and the Revolutionary movement, nor is everyone a dedicated Anarchist organizer willing to bust their ass building up a network of comrades to build towards regional autonomy, and so on and so forth, point is if your mates just don't want to do anything other than keep what they got then that's fine. If you want to do more then spread your wings and go find yourself an org to network and build with.