You will find a new translation of Hector Morel's "Dialogues Between an Anarchist and an Authoritarian" (1888) linked in the sidebar of this post, which contains my translation of his 1862 work "Nationalities."
The Dialogues are an interesting example of anarchist communist thought in the movement's early, more or less "anti-organizationalist" period. But they are also just a fun, rather uncompromising defense of anarchist ideas.
"Direct Action: The Invention of a Transnational Concept" 
In this episode of the #AnarchistEssays podcast series 
, Sean Scalmer examines the rise of #DirectAction as a key concept in anarchist and radical politics: https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-ae2ud-15ba6f3 #Anarchism #AnarchistCommunism #AnarchistStudies #AnarchismResearchGroup #Activism #SocialChange
Check out Felipe Corrêa's (ITHA-IATH, OSL) presentation about organized #anarchism, #especifismo, #platformism, and the tradition of organizational dualism within the anarchist movement: https://blackrosefed.org/organized-anarchism-event-correa 
The "Organized Anarchism: A Global Perspective" discussion series is organized by @blackrose_rosanegra #AnarchistCommunism #Revolution #SocialMovements
"Less mobilising, more organising": @redblacknotes argues that left-wing activists should focus less on shallow #mobilisation and #protest, and more on deep, long-term #organising: "An organising approach aims to take a particular constituency with clearly defined boundaries and then organise literally every single person in it to come together, act collectively, and take power into their own hands. (...) Organising also has much greater potential to politicise and radicalise new layers of people." https://www.redblacknotes.com/2024/01/31/less-mobilising-more-organising #AnarchistCommunism #Anarchism
‘The Revolution is in the individual spirit, or it is nowhere. It is for all, or it is nothing. If it is seen as having any end, it will never truly begin’.
—Ursula K. Le Guin , The Dispossessed
Periodic call out: I'm trying to make my account here more useful so that I actually use it, who should I follow?
Interests: #anarchistcommunism #education #union #classstruggle
Any fellow teacher-union members about?
Points of Unity template for shared practices and processes (for social movement groups and popular organizations of various kinds):
Direct-Democracy: Direct democracy refers to direct collective decision making. Direct democracy enables collective dialogue, decisions, and actions to achieve various goals and solve various problems. Deliberation is foundational to a practical direct democracy as it enables questions, amendments, conversations, problems, solution criteria, multiple perspectives, critiques, concerns, alternative possibilities, dissent, and evaluation of pros and cons to round out proposals and decisions made. After deliberation, there is an aim for full agreement. If there is not full agreement, there is further discussion and then a decision is made by majority vote. ***The specifics of direct democracy can be tweaked and even left out of this section and simply included in the bylaws.
Horizontality: Horizontality refers to the presence of self-organization and the absence of hierarchy. Hierarchy refers to institutionalized top-down command obedience relations. Horizontality includes horizontal rights such as freedom from hierarchy, freedom from oppression, freedom from domination, freedom from exploitation, and freedom to participate in self-managed groups and relations. This group strives to be internally horizontal and contribute to horizontal relations. etc. ***can alternatively be called or framed as: non-hierarchy, or egalitarian relations, or opposition to hierarchy. With different groups, different framings and wordings will make more sense. Depending on group and context, it may or may not make sense for a group to give a list of various hierarchies in such a points of unity document.
Free Association and Participatory activity: Free association refers to freedom of and from associations and participatory activity within associations. For there to be free association and participatory activity, persons and groups must have the guaranteed freedoms to choose their activities and associations while respecting and enabling freedoms of others to do the same. All labor, work, and action within this group is to be voluntary and non-coerced. If someone does not like a policy that is made, they can continue to argue for and advocate an alternative proposal, continue to argue one’s point formally and informally, choose to not participate in the implementation of the policy they disagree with while remaining in the group, or choose to leave the association. *** This point can potentially be included in other points of unity without being its own point.
Direct Action: Direct action refers to opposing unfreedom and injustice through self-managed action to achieve various goals. Direct action can be contrasted to indirect action of top-down organizing and relying on rulers to solve social problems. Direct action includes a wide array of potential activities and campaigns against specific hierarchical institutions for short term, mid-term, and long-term goals. *** A description giving examples of direct action tactics such as occupations, blockades, strikes, boycotts, etc. is optional. An alternative to the wording “unfreedom and injustice” can be “domination, exploitation, and oppression”.
Mutual Aid: Mutual aid refers to voluntary multidirectional help to meet needs. Mutual aid can exist within a group, between groups, between groups and persons, between persons etc. Mutual aid enables groups and people to pool abilities, needs, ideas, proposals, actions, infrastructure, resources, tools, etc. together. Mutual aid can include a wide array of potential activities from mutual assistance towards common goals, creating or participating in development of the commons (including communal fields, factories and workshops, social centers, libraries, eco-technology projects, etc), free food distribution, communal childcare, etc. ***Such a list or variation thereof is optional to include.
For groups that collaborate with other groups in various formal and informal ways:
Co-Federalism: Co-federalism refers to ways organizations can freely collaborate for inter-collective coordination, decisions, and actions in a way that enables decision making power to be in the hands of people directly. Delegated persons and councils of collectives can meet up for deliberation and administration. Such delegates and co-federal councils are mandated and recallable to their respective popular assemblies, are merely communicative, administrative, and have no policy making power. All policies are made and ratified by general assemblies directly. ***Alternatively the words federalism, confederalism, intercommunalism, inter-collectivity, egalitarian federation, etc. can be used in place of co-federalism. Co-federalism is a neologism, and confederalism and federalism both have connotative issues despite them referring to an essential practice for horizontal and free inter-organizational relations.
Addendum points for Community assembly groups in particular:
Communal Self Management: Communal self-management refers to horizontal, democratic, participatory community politics and economics. Such communal self-management can exist on every scale from the block, to the neighborhood, to the city, and beyond. Means of existence and production needed by communities are to be held and managed in common. Policies and protocols for communal economics are managed by communal assemblies and co-federations thereof. Such communal assemblies and co-federations thereof have embedded participatory councils that self-manage implementation within the bounds of their respective mandates and protocols. Such a communal economy aims towards providing each and all with free access to needs.
***The above point is specifically for community assembly groups that are at a mature level development to the point where they have sufficient power, means of production, and popular support.
Alternative framing that synthesizes the first three points of unity into a single point:
Participatory Democracy: Participatory democracy refers to a combination of direct collective decision making, without rulers, where people freely participate in decision making and implementation of decisions. ***By condensing the substance of the first three points into a single point, a lot of clutter disappears. From here, people can fill out this point through their own descriptions or through copying, pasting, and blending some of the more essential sentences from the first three points of unity listed as needed. An alternative framing for this point could be “self-management” in such a way that includes the substance of direct democracy, horizontality, and free association. As coherent as the first three points are as separate points rounding each other out, they are rather cumbersome and can be difficult to wrap one’s mind around. Creating a single point that combines the essential features of those points can help clear up confusion. Something like a practical unity of Participatory Democracy (as defined above), Direct Action, and Mutual aid can lead to a lot of coherence and functional use for groups starting from scratch or otherwise developing such points of unity overtime.
https://usufructcollective.wordpress.com/2023/01/14/liberatory-points-of-unity-template-2023-remix/
#anarchism #socialism #communism #communalism #assemblies #socialmovements #popularorganizations
#anarchy #freedom #egalitarianism #solidarity #anarchistcommunism #anarchocommunism #libertariansocialism #libertariancommunism #commune #community
An extract from Nick Heath's "The Idea". #anarchism #AnarchistCommunism #AnarchaFeminism
In a communist society, political economic organizations– including communal reproduction, production, and distribution–would be decentralized and co-federated. The virtue of such decentralization would be the right kinds of decentralization, in the right ways, in the right contexts, for the right ends, in tandem with other features that enable such decentralization to be rounded out. Such a virtue of decentralization has decentralized and federated decision making, power, and planning from the bottom-up through horizontalist participatory associations. Such right kinds of decentralization of the economy enable political economic assemblies to exist at scales that are easy to deliberate within and self-manage (which can in turn easily scale out into confederated forms and networks), enable redundancy of functions within and between multiplicities of locales in such a way that fits people’s needs and preferences (creating more resilience when it comes to disasters and emergencies and everyday life), enable greater degrees of self-sufficiency, and provide various ecological benefits. Such a decentralization would also blend town and country: infusing each with good/desirable functions of the other as well as creating mutualistic relations between more urban and more rural associations. Additionally, decentralization of political economic organizations into multiplicities thereof (as needed and desired) enables people to find communities that make sense for them, allows people to use relevant local knowledge to solve problems, and enables people on local scales to utilize informal social relations, approval, and disapproval to supplement upkeeping the commons. Despite various benefits that localization can have, there are many contexts where considerations come into play that make intercommunal and confederated economic decision making and planning into something that makes more sense for multiple reasons such as: 1. That which affects multiple communities should be decided by multiple communities as various decisions are not just about a single block, neighborhood, town, or city 2. To pool needs/abilities/volunteers/resources/technology/ideas/proposals together to solve problems and develop projects on multiple scales 3. To provide for needs and desires when local scales are not absolutely self-sufficient (which they rarely are) 4. To reduce overall labor/work through mutual support and assistance on an intercommunal scale. 5. As an extension of choice and freedom of intercommunal associations to undertake joint projects. 6. To uphold responsibility and commitment towards other communities and towards forging the right kind of interdependence between communities. The above are examples of reasons why intercommunal decision making and planning can make sense in various contexts for various functions compared to mere localized approaches. Decentralized and Co-federated planning and economics enable the benefits of non-local scales without the cons of centralized power over and above horizontal collectives. And such co-federation is a desideratum beyond mere necessity as the right kind of decentralization is not about absolute self-sufficiency but the right kinds of self-governance and self-sufficiency in tandem with radically egalitarian ways of organizing interdependence. Such a mutually interrelated and multitudinous political economy enables people to associate in various communal associations, embedded councils, working groups, and varied social groups that fit their dynamic preferences– enabling a radical differentiation and pluralism in harmony with horizontalist freedoms and duties.
https://usufructcollective.wordpress.com/2022/02/01/the-conquest-of-sandwiches/
