tbh this is in no way a new development, there's just new topics where it's being revealed - and in new media.
Leftist anticommunism has been the rule in the United States since the 50s, anarchists included. The only "acceptable" socialist was one who would parrot the US State Department, CIA, and related organs of imperialist power, or who would question that narrative without attaching any action or organization to it. It was even virtuous to repeat imperialist narratives, just as it is now. Every absurd, inconsistent dichotomy described by Parenti was repeated by left anti-communists unquestioningly. Whether from a position of earnest propaganda or fear of being delegitimized doesn't really matter given its net effect: support for the US regime-change apparatus.
At the same time, those who did materially opposed imperialism were targeted for destruction by that same apparatus. The assassinations of civil rights organizers, blacklisting of socialists, infiltration, criminalization, and jailing of anti-war environmentalists.
This is why building power and organization is so important: what we create must withstand that violence, because it is coming. No single leader must be too important. No betrayal too off-putting. We must build a self-sustaining movement focused on action to oppose these monstrous crimes and push capitalists to the point that they force a revolution through their violence in response to our very reasonable demands - safe work, housing, food, medicine, anti-war, and dramatic action on climate change.
tbh this is in no way a new development, there's just new topics where it's being revealed - and in new media.
Leftist anticommunism has been the rule in the United States since the 50s, anarchists included. The only "acceptable" socialist was one who would parrot the US State Department, CIA, and related organs of imperialist power, or who would question that narrative without attaching any action or organization to it. It was even virtuous to repeat imperialist narratives, just as it is now. Every absurd, inconsistent dichotomy described by Parenti was repeated by left anti-communists unquestioningly. Whether from a position of earnest propaganda or fear of being delegitimized doesn't really matter given its net effect: support for the US regime-change apparatus.
At the same time, those who did materially opposed imperialism were targeted for destruction by that same apparatus. The assassinations of civil rights organizers, blacklisting of socialists, infiltration, criminalization, and jailing of anti-war environmentalists.
This is why building power and organization is so important: what we create must withstand that violence, because it is coming. No single leader must be too important. No betrayal too off-putting. We must build a self-sustaining movement focused on action to oppose these monstrous crimes and push capitalists to the point that they force a revolution through their violence in response to our very reasonable demands - safe work, housing, food, medicine, anti-war, and dramatic action on climate change.