So what exactly is Insurrectionary Anarchism? How is it different from more traditional "Social Anarchism" like Anarcho-Communism and Anarcho-Syndicalism? Do most Ancoms and Ansyns not believe in direct action, propaganda of the deed, and illigalist tactics? Do Insurrectionary Anarchists believe in class? Are they just Blanquists? Insurrectionary Anarchists like Bonnano and Camette seemed to draw a real line in the sand between themselves and other Anarchists in the 70's and 90's, but I don't really understand why.
So what exactly is Insurrectionary Anarchism...
Justin Russell
Christian Jones
They're the pinnacle of alienation and bourgeois individualism. They disregard any form of organization and thus any possibility of changing the status quo.
Cooper Collins
So are they basically just modern day Blanquists? I once saw a Insurrectionary criticize Vanguardism because he felt the Proletariat could engage in class struggle on their own, but I don't see how Insurrectionary Anarchism wouldn't be just as if not even more elitist and cut off from the Proletariat as a class.
Jaxson Murphy
This.
Not at all. It's just "affinity" groups AKA lone wolf terrorism: a surefire way to get the working class on your side!
Michael Lopez
Many of them have a Nietzschean disdain for masses going on, but they don't actually want to capture power, like Blanqui did. It's just theft and terrorism.
Daniel Cox
Most "social" anarchists don't really promote propaganda of the deed and illegalist actions, even if they don't condemn them.
The main difference between ansyns and insurrectos is that ansyns want revolutionary action to come through workplace struggle and unions, while insurrectos want it to come through riots, looting and non-workplace sabotage.
No. They reject permanent organizations and prefer temporary affinity groups.
Dominic King
This is kind of what I assumed, thank you for the clarification. But I remember starting a thread awhile back because I wanted to learn more about Platformism and how it was different from Vanguardism, and while many Anarchist were incredibly helpful a lot of them also said that most Ancoms these days don't practice Platformism, and that Ancom praxis has devolved into a lot of affinity groups and voluntarism. I guess I'm just asking what Ancom praxis looks like in counter-distinction, besides the fact that I'm assuming most Ancoms don't want to go around committing random acts of pointless revolutionary terror.
Ryder Carter
Well, any form of organization that promises results.
Ethan Nelson
Not to sound naive, but I have to ask, what would the point of this even be? Ancoms want to establish Democratic Federations, from what I understand, Ansyns want One Big Union, and Communalists won't shut up about how intricately planned out their post-revolutionary society is, but if point A is insurrection, meaning random rioting and violence, and point B is Anarchism, how the fuck do you get from point A to point B? Maybe I'm asking a lot here, but this seems kind of ridiculous.
Chase Taylor
AFAIK platformists still advocate for federalism over vanguardist centralization
John White
What all anarchists, communalists, and hopefully most marxists can agree on is building dual power until the capitalist state is the one to declare war.
Jack Rivera
Cointelpro
Wyatt Roberts
The way I understand it they either don't want to reach some "post-revolutionary society" in the first place, or believe such a society can only be achieved through the self-emancipation of every single individual (which again some think to be impossible). Either way, individual liberation in the here and now is given more importance than changing society.
Aiden Foster
Their argument is exactly that these permanent organizations don't deliver result
Lincoln Mitchell
Oh yeah, the Anarchist I talked to in that thread were very informative, but they also said Platformism has become very obscure and that it's gone out of practice in general, and that most Anarchist organizing general today is defined by affinity groups, voluntarism, and the like.
100% right there with you on that one comrade.
Okay, now i understand, thank you.
Angel Parker
Just want to say everyone in this thread was very generous and helpful. Sorry if I made everyone else do my homework for me!
Liam Williams
...
Dylan Green
They claim that mass movements are dead, organizations always get recuperated, and that you shouldn't wait for some miraculous general strike or revolution but go out, make total destroy, and hope that others will do the same.
James Ross
Collaborate on projects, don't join groups, even if they claim to be "horizontal". Always follow your conscience, never be pressured by the group into acting in "solidarity". If it doesn't feel right to you, don't do it.
A common misconception about insurrectionary anarchism is that it's just about breaking shit and stealing. Not necessarily. Something an insurrectionary might feel this is the strategic thing to do, but this insurrectionary anarchist believes that the best thing to do is to make the CASE against private property and the State in creative and in-your-face way that cannot be ignored.
BE FREE NOW
Lead by example. If a critical mass of people began to simply refuse to acknowledge authority, to evade it's grasp at every turn, they could never corral us. But because so many of us are like scared sheep we're easy to herd.
James Rivera
You're thinking of platformsism, bud. Insurrectionism is the only form of resistance that is impossible to co-opt.
Noah Jenkins
It's a full-force approach, what's there to not get?
Not really, they're not advocating for a small group of conspirators, they rather like a large group of conspirators, and the conspiracy is the overthrow of government by violent means.
You keep using that word…
No they don't, it's just that modern anarchist organization is full of pussies who dislike their tactics. You're really gonna sit there like a faggot and tell me that right now, if there was a massive resistance movement full of armoed and mobile forces of the proletariat, you wouldn't hop right out of your chair and go join them? Hell you don't even have to be an anarchist fior that.
Lemme know when your hippie songs and peaceful marches that get you arrested make any headway.
Organizations that stay past their time degenerate and don't serve the interests of the people. Rather than making your central committee for the people's whatever-the-fuck, it's better to only form a group as a tasl force when things need to be done, so not only are you getting grassroots-level organization and practice, you're also effectively eliminating the need to have a central HQ and people that can easily be attacked by reactionaries, the only way thy could seek out and kill insurrectionists is by attacking people at random which would hardly go unnoticed or supported.
Read Banano. Also InAns are not opposed to vanguards. They just need to be more inclusive.
Oliver Jackson
cops have posed as smashies and smashed plenty of times
Nolan Phillips
Yeah, they do that to discredit anarchism/insurrectionism. Smashing shit is NOT effective AT ALL.
Having spent time among platformists and genuinely trying to integrate into it and learn how it works, I've decided the theory necessarily leads to the formation of a cult.
Jeremiah Kelly
That just shows the tactical superiority, they got the cops to actually help them!
Cameron Gomez
what do people here think of this paragraph/argument? it is from section 4 of the text
It seems to me that they are positing insurrection as the first, pure, a priori
but insurrection has to come from somewhere, and it comes from different causes (I mean it can come from a hike in transport fare, or from a high degree of social collapse per Germany 1918)
and the effectiveness is multiplied by organization
it seems that social problems and insurrection are each necessary but insufficient by themselves for revolution
and this is to say nothing of consciousness
Austin Hernandez
Well call them "agent provocateurs"
Brody Nelson
Collaborate on projects, don't join groups. Always remain true to your conscience. Never allow yourself to be pressured into an action you don't want to do because of "solidarity".