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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:

  • drinkinglakewater [he/him]
    ·
    4 years ago

    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!