IS ANARCHISM DECLINING ?:

Every once in awhile I come across the opinion that "anarchism is declining". Usually this is little more than a statement that that, for the individual writer, anarchism is less and less relevant in their personal life and that they believe in it less and less. Considering what sort of 'anarchism" is often offered as a model, particularly in the USA, this may be a very good thing. It is sort of like recovering from a belief in the most primitive of religious fundamentalisms.

But the opinion is often set forth by those who have a vested interest in maintaining such primitive beliefs, with all the gnashing of teeth that would be expected. Molly's own opinion, for what it is worth:

###YES, some "anarchisms" are indeed declining. Primitivism and post leftism are the primary examples. In terms of natural selection such futile pathways of thought will either inevitably decline to nothingness or will become fossilized as cults. The fossilization process is already well advanced in some cases. Mindless activism is also in decline, even amongst those who promote aspects of it. To say the least travelling across half a continent to provide 1/10,000th of the nuisance to a police force that local gangs provide is NOT a "revolutionary strategy". It is ego-boo plain and simple.

###AT THE SAME TIME more realistic anarchist strategies are growing by "leaps and bounds", if you will excuse an overstatement. Working within unions and community associations is the way that more and more anarchists decide to carry their ideals as they become older. Even the more "ideologically bent" "primitivists" eventually adjust their ideology to community reality unless they are into comic-book pseudo terrorism. When they come down to having to live in a human community they actually CAN make good contributions, and they often do.

###Molly thinks that anarchism is GROWING today, not declining. The difference is that certain juvenile expressions of anarchism are becoming less common at the same time as more mature and effective expressions are becoming MORE common. What Molly wants to see is the fastest possible transition that can be achieved to effectiveness. Hence her opposition to some anarchists who imagine that each and every thing that claims the "a-word" is equally valuable. Such a view aims to delay the transition to an real and effective anarchism for as long as possible. Mostly this desire is unconscious and merely stupid. In rare cases, however, it is quite deliberate, for the personal interests of the advocate. Molly intends to stand against the latter to the best of her ability.

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