This has been a topic on my mind a lot recently, but I've been afraid of asking it here since I thought I would be being accused of/banned for being sectarian. While I am more on the ML side of things, I really have no qualms or issues with Anarchists and mostly consider our political differences insignificant in the face of global capitalism as it is now. In my eyes, we're a long way off from the reality of needing to debate how a new society will be structured/governed, so, at the end of the day, whether someone is anarchist or ML is not really a major issue to me. As long as they're against the current status quo and understand the need from change, they're cool by me.

Maybe I'm wrong, but that feels like the prevailing belief, in so many words, I've seen other MLs express as well. However, it feels like the majority of sectarianism I've seen pop up is always Anarchist accusing MLs and communists of being as bad as fascists, or supporting genocide, or being evil, etc. I feel I never see it the other way around. At the most, MLs just tease and rib anarchists, but don't view them as evil or reactionary, as some Anarchists see to view MLs. I'm basing this off of things I've seen/experienced online, and from IRL friends who consider themselves anarchists, but who've recently started espousing anti-communist talking points (ie: using the word tankie, saying communist dictators are/were as bad as fascists, etc.)

So why does it seem to come to this most of the time: Anarchists more often being unwilling to work with MLs and accusing them of being fascists, and not the other way around? Is this just a flawed perception on my part? A bias or point of propaganda I've had seep in and need to try and overcome? Is it a valid observation? If so, why does it play out like this?

I'm really sorry if this is still considered sectarian. I really just wanted to express these feelings/observations and seek input/correction from others on them, rather than bottle them up and potentially form prejudices. As mentioned, I personally don't have issues with others having different beliefs among the left, as long as they're fighting capitalism and imperialism, and being supportive of their fellow, diverse comrades.

EDIT: I just wanted to thank everyone who's commented for their thoughtful responses. You've given me a lot to think about, both in challenges to my bias observations/experiences, and in explanations more clearly articulated and knowledgeable than what I understood. Thanks for understanding my intent and keeping it civil.

  • nat_turner_overdrive [he/him]
    ·
    3 years ago

    A lot of these responses kind of boil down to 'anarchists aren't good leftists yet' which is an attitude that contributes to resentment from a lot of anarchists online. As much as you see complaints about calling people tankies, you'd think anarkiddy wouldn't be a respectable argument but that's what some vocal MLs think.

    • SiskoDid2ThingsWrong [none/use name]
      ·
      3 years ago

      ‘anarchists aren’t good leftists yet’

      I mean a lot of anarchist takes seem to be “MLs aren’t leftist at all”. At least “yet” implies there’s room for growth and progress.

      • nat_turner_overdrive [he/him]
        ·
        3 years ago

        Yeah, a lot of bad anarchist takes are like that, but that take isn't even remotely acceptable here. This thread is full of MLs doing the other thing, not anarchists do that thing.

    • Ithorian [comrade/them]
      ·
      3 years ago

      Yeah that seems the be the overwhelming thought in this thread, if you read theory you wouldn't be an anarchist. No wonder we get a little salty we people start digging at us.

        • nat_turner_overdrive [he/him]
          ·
          3 years ago

          The difference is the anti-ML takes dumb online anarchists have aren't acceptable here, but these "anarchists are all fresh out of the ideology oven and aren't quite ready yet" takes are pretty accepted here.

            • nat_turner_overdrive [he/him]
              ·
              3 years ago

              In fact, if you check the modlog, all the recent sectarian posts that were removed were MLs talking shit on Anarchists. Come down off your cross.

              Which doesn't really negate my point that it's pretty prevalent here despite the intents of the mods.

      • MarxMadness [comrade/them]
        ·
        3 years ago

        if you read theory you wouldn’t be an anarchist

        I think this comes from the difference in meme politics (where someone doesn't have a good understanding of the underlying ideas and counterpoints, but loves the aesthetics) vs. informed politics (where someone does understand those underlying ideas and has considered many of the counterpoints). It's legitimate to view people with meme politics of any stripe as uninformed, but it's patronizing when one calls someone that even though they have informed politics.

        People aren't saying that all anarchists are meme anarchists -- they're saying (and sure, this is debatable) that it's easier to be a meme anarchist than meme ML. The idea is that anarchism is not demonized the same way Stalin or Mao has been demonized, so it's easier for someone to just wake up one day and call themselves an anarchist.