Interesting video in which Maoists Space Babies and a member of FTP-Boston criticize mutual aid as not contributing to the revolution.
I can agree with some of their criticisms as mutual aid can sometimes just be a synonym for charity on the left, involving just giving people stuff without any connection to community ties or without trying to bring people into the class struggle. Doing mutual aid solely for the purpose of mutual aid without having other organizations such as labor unions and tenant unions attached to it doesn't build up dual power.
However I do think they go too far in their criticisms and fail to realize that providing support networks to people are critical to ensuring they can join an organization. Like if a working class person is already struggling to put food on the table they will not have the time to go on strike, but if you help them out first through mutual aid you not only improve their ability to take future actions but also will make them more sympathetic to your organization and more liking to want to go on strike and join the socialist movement.
What do y'all think of the video? :thinkin-lenin:
I think the video argues well against the "let's build communism by building communes" type of leftist, but I think it also misses a couple of useful aspects of mutual aid.
I think the party should be involved with people throughout the whole process of radicalization, not just come in at the point where they are ready to start studying theory. Mutual aid work is something that is easy to invite people to, regardless of their personal progress, it gets them involved and closer to the people.
The idea that mutual aid could actually prevent revolutionary conditions seems a bit suspect. People might have joined the Long March because the other choice was starvation, but I do not see that happening in the modern imperial core. The state is perfectly capable of feeding, housing, and clothing the people if it needs to, our competitor should also be able to, how will it look to the masses otherwise?
The video talks a lot about mutual aid not being "revolutionary in and of itself", but that is true of any revolutionary activity, at least ones that aren't abstract enough to also include mutual aid.
Coincidentally I was just reading a think piece I found from last year about basically this same topic.
I think saying "mutual aid alone is not revolutionary" is a valid criticism that's easy to take the wrong way. It's not a critique of the action of mutual aid, but the purpose it plays in the work of any revolutionary organization. Any organization that doesn't use mutual aid as a facet of itself and instead focuses on mutual aid as the means to an end may end up creating a symptom-treating charity with a red coat of paint. The piece I was reading points to Food Not Bombs (this is no knock on FNB, I love them and respect what they do) and how their purpose has seemingly shifted from demanding change while providing food to providing food and maybe demanding change. It's the same as keeping unions radical, if the membership allows leadership to stagnate and calcify, it becomes less of a combative force and more ineffectual to winning its members' demands. While I don't think anyone needs to take this idea as gospel, it is an interesting point of self-reflection that orgs should look to take in.
Anyway, absolutely love Space Babies! All their videos are absolute bangers and have a lot of food for thought!
Here's the piece if anyone is interested, I'm only about halfway through cuz it's pretty long and I had to take a break.
