Communists

ever since... perhaps 1793 to around 1840... workers and peasants alike, all who labour, have gathered under the socialist banner, and have repeated the maxim "From each according to their ability, to each according to their need," wishing to implement it into society. But that is about where it got to. It then started branching off into authoritarian, libertarian, Utopian, and all sorts of crazy names. By the late 19th century, the lines were clearly drawn... The Marxist Communists and the Anarchists. After vigorous competition for control of the international, it all degraded and finally disappeared into the slumber of the 1880's-90's to the early 1900's.
Then, with the result of massive militarization of states, World War broke out. This awakened many citizens to the bullshit of Capitalism, and the State, or the State in the hands of the Bourgeoisie. Then, 1916, Russia breaks, a democratic institution is put in as a provisional government. 1917, Bolsheviks take over with a coup d'etat. Lenin's dictatorship of the proletariat (Lenin's dictatorship of the proletariat being a state of the vanguard to fulfill the interest of the workers) was put in place. A few years later, Lenin's dictatorship of the proletariat is still in place. Rosa Luxembourg tries to make revolution against the Germans... Boom! nothing happens.
After the smoke from the coup is cleared, the Communists try to make another International. While all of this Commie shit was happening, the anarcho-syndicalists had been creating national syndicalist unions which delegated with other national syndicalist trade unions. The Anarchists watched and waited while the Communists formed their Soviet Union. Nestor Makhno, fought both the White and Red armies to defend what collectives he had. Sadly, in the end he fails and writes with his Russian comrades, the Platform.
The Syndicalists are invited to go to the International, and quickly turn away at the way the Soviets handle their matters. It becomes clear in the Syndicalists' eyes that the Soviet Union is a failure. The Syndicalists then try to strengthen their front against, now, both Communism and Capitalism.
People ask, 'could Communists and Anarchists work together in a revolution'. Seeing as they differ completely (aside from believing that capitalism is bad, although you could argue this since Communists try to enlist from the middle classes), I believe not. Anarchists are anarchists for they believe that the proletariat should go from be oppressed by the State and the Bourgeoisie, to oppression under the yoke of the dictatorship of the proletariat (or the dictatorship of the Communist Party). Where Communists do not trust the Working Class to handle matters themselves, the Anarchists do not trust the Party to handle matters of the Working Class for them.
I think the question could be answered in the Spanish Civil War. The Socialists (they are the moderates, the liberals of the Socialist rainbow, not Communists, alike Anarchists in many respects)[POUM], the Communists [PSUC], and the Anarchists [FAI-CNT] had been organizing trade unions for decades (UGT being the trade unions belonging to the PSUC, the CNT trade unions, being syndicalist, the political organ, the FAI belonged to them).
Then, Franco wanted to take power under a Fascist, Feudal banner. He organized an uprising with the aid of the other Fascist countries, Nazi Germany and Mussolini's Italy, and the UGT, the CNT, and the POUM quickly responded with and uprising of their own. So we have the Communists, the Socialists (Left Communists), the Anarchists, and the Fascists, basically the four alternative tendencies to Parliamentary Democracy battling it out. The Government, the FAI, POUM, PSUC, and the liberals united as Anti-Fascists to combat Franco. In the rear of the front line, what appeared to be Worker's States, Anarchists and Communists capitulating and working together to achieve Socialism was created. It was inspiring and magnificent. But in 1937, the Communist PSUC, began to replace the worker patrols and trade union militias, who bravely held the line, with Guards of their own to take power away from the Anarchists and give it to the PSUC, which was controlled by the Communists. This amounted to brawls and street fighting with the Anarchists and Communists, ending with the detaining of the POUM. The jailing of the POUM then continued to the other members of the political parties, ending with the failure of the the Government, and the victory of Franco.
The Communists could have saved the war by agreeing with the POUM and the FAI-CNT that the revolution and the war are inseperable, which would have made support for the Government from the working people of other countries. And if they had won, counting on the malevolent Communists, Spain would be Communist.
If there is a revolution in America, or England, or anywhere, Communists and Anarchist would fight side by side, but after the State and the Bourgeoisie are invisible, they would turn their weapons on each other. It could be possible, with Left Communists and Anarchists to live in a form of harmony, but the Communist urge to dictate and warp destroys the notion that Anarchists and full fledged Communists can get along. The Communists State, in such a revolution where Anarchists and Communists cooperate, would have to be not involved. With the loss of the Soviet Union, it is more plausible that they can cooperate more harmoniously.
Personally, I disdain Communism as nearly as much as Fascism. Communism has failed more then once. The logic that Communism has never been realized and that the multiple times that Communism has come into existence is bullshit. So I am surprised that there are still Communists around. I would do my best to not allow Communism to come about in my area, as it is dictatorship, plain and simple. My revolution is anarchist above all.
Critique of Communism

Whispers to myself on the "facts" of social uprising

Certainly everyday I think of the supposedly inevitable revolution. I have abandoned the idea that the Social Revolution is inevitable. The Social Revolution needs mass propaganda, mass awakening, and perhaps most importantly, practical stimulation.
This is happening in Greece, the revolution is in Greece. That is the model for all peoples. Commemorating the anniversary of Alexandros Grigoropoulos' murder by the police, riots have broken out to combat the police. It's not just about anarchists. workers and students on all fronts are stepping up against the police. Every occupied building guarantees the freedom of detained demonstrators.
I think that the expanse of the revolutionary spirit says something about the situations of the world movements. In one instance we have the United States. The IWW (Industrial Workers of the World) has under 2000 members. We have a growing anarchist movement, albeit a bit uncomfortably slow (compared to European movements), successful organizing skills when we look at the RNC and DNC (08), and confrontation with the police in some locales. The Shaleshock Coalition is beginning to rise awareness to the incompetence of the state and the insatiable greed of the capitalist (being a human being in an undesirable position of power). This is appreciable but sadly, as said, a bit unprecedented to the European movements.
Next, we have the Netherlands. They are personally one my favorite countries when in comes to anarchism. They and Iceland have a successful squatting movement. They also usually have a successful Food Not Bombs movement (not to say that the US doesn't, Silent City Distro is putting out free food, and Boston FNB is highly successful). The European movement surges of citizen movements (citizen movements is something that the US largely has nothing of), facilitated by anarchists, having the most experience with the tasks. What the northern European anarchists have that the US anarchists don't have is in my humble opinion, a bolder movement, particularly in squatting. what's different about organizing successful events and a squatting movement is that, although important and incredibly helpful, the organizing of events is temporary. The squatters movement creates a stability for the anarchists ensuring a determination to keep and defend the squat and the mode of life, and confrontation with the police. The Netherlands, in Amsterdam, has had a few events to express solidarity towards the anarchists in Greece, something I may be missing in the US.
The situation in Greece gives credence to networks and collectives. Before the tragedy of Alexis' murder, Greece had a network of collectives all in communication with each other. When the murder made news, the word passed through the entire network reaching all the collectives reaching all the anarchists. Thus, when all the anarchists were given the news they immediately organized demonstrations which turned into riots, and the rest is history. Now, on the anniversery of the tragedy, the anarchists, and most of the organizations of Greece are demonstrating and occupying to gain political and economic rights and advantages. It has learned of the mistakes made in last December's insurrection, and has become much more efficient than last time.The state of the country uprising is inspiring to those who wish for the social revolution or people's rights. It is inspiring to all anarchists and all people that we should form an organization and temperament like those of the Greeks.
The question of Greece now is sustainability, and progress. How long with the offensive last, and how far will they have gone?

for info on Greece '09: Riots and Police Brutality on first day, libcom
second day, libcom
consistent in anarchist events on Greek struggle, witness to last December uprising
some revleft threads: one, two

Silent City Distro and Anarchist Economics

Silent City Distro is pretty amazing. I talked to a guy on the phone who was busy organizing the North East Anarchist Network General Assembly in Ithaca. It makes me feel all fuzzy and prideful to see the anarchist movement actually moving. Happy to have a collective in the city. If we could get one in every city and establish a free economy then we would have basically realized Anarchy.
I want to start a free agricultural economy in Ithaca at least. The production of vegetables would consist in numerous gardens throughout the countryside. I should hope to produce a surplus, and that should be possible with the ways these freegans get their shit. And the distribution would be through Food Not Bombs. They'd have to have more workers though for it to be realized. They'd distribute every day at most, and thrice a week at least. This could be at the squat, a rented or bought place, or at a park. I think that this would bring a lot of people into the practice and politics of anarchism, especially with the economy today. I also want to start a FREE STORE which I might describe later.
To all the people who say that no one will want to start a garden to feed people, I say to that, FUCK YOU!
A FREE STORE will have to be monitored frequently to minimize shoplifting. It would get it's crap from whatever freegans get and don't need, "shoplifting" "maybe", :), and a drop off box for stuff people would like to sell to the FREE STORE. It's gonna have to have a place so it can exist, and I think that in with a squat, a place rented or bought, it would do perfect. A squat qould go great with the Food Not Bombs, but a rented space might be too small. Though we'd need so much more, it's still a good start.

OM: In frustration of Hindu Terminology

Tonight I have realized that I am connected with everything, whether through the air I breathe, the water I drink, the stars I look at, the energies I feel, part of the collective unconscious and the psyche we all experience together. We are and we always shall be brothers and sisters, eternally connected, immortal and temporarily in existence with eachother. Spiritually connected with the Allfather, Atman, the spirits, ancestors, and the rocks and algae. Undeniably consistent with eachother, the love dwells under our skin, under the skin of the predator and the prey, the killer, the victim, the monk and the junkie.
Silently, slowly, gracefully moving.

Earth First Meeting

Today after school I went down to Dewitt park to see the Earth First! folk. The meeting actually began at one, and while lunch I was trying to think whether I should skip the afternoon for it. I got to the meeting at around 4 and they were discussing civil disobedience and direct action. After, they did some weird introduction, where they all said their names and did some weird action, and everyone copied. Must be some weird cult thing... after that I was invited to sit down. On the ground inside the circle I could see food scraps of grape fruit and a melon and an empty box of what I think was doughnuts.I listened to a discussion about direct action and civil disobedience and what they were good for and then it moved into what workshops they wanted to do. I don't really remember what exactly they said because I was eating clover leaves while it all was going on. They decided on building an example tripod for making successful and able road blocks (civil disobedience).

While the team went out to their van and grabbed giant poles and other equipment there was a sort of intermission. Juggling with improvised music of Madeline and banging a spoon on a can. A little after a woman had two boxes full of papers. She told everyone that there were zines, booklets, and leaflets for free and charged with donations (as mysterious as that can sound) I grabbed a bunch of them and I am going to scan them and post PDFs of them on the blog. While I was doing this the woman started explain on how to tie the very special ropes in the tripod and other important things. After I got all the booklets I wanted, I left being strained for time.

Out of what I saw I was pretty interested. And I wanna go to whatever one might be next, if there's one that's next.

A New Turn

Fuck all that bullshit I talked about in the introduction. My ideas on things have changed, and I am less juvenile and less romantic and misguided about that shit.
For one thing, there already is an "underground" anarchist paper in Ithaca (I'll explain the quotations things later). It's called IthAcaZine, only it has an A-circle thingy in the capital A and it's a magazine.... and this is just a blog, it holds little value compared with something like that.
"Values of an American Revoluti0n"... Who gives a fuck. No one at all. Seeing as I am an anarchist I would mean an anarchist American revolution, and that term is redundant as hell. the revolution is ongoing, wherever there is a squat, free food, or some form of resistance and institution there is revolution... if you could even call it revolution.
Gerald Celente is a prick. He just predicts stuff, and he predicted that America would become a third world nation within three or four years and around 2012 we would experience some form of revolution. if the Hopi or Mayans are wrong, which I won't touch, I expect it to be a fascist revolution, or socialist, pure, oh the beauty.... And being the chaos loving psychopath freak I was or am, I fell in love with the idea. Or, being the rhetorical and political boring SOB I was, in love with idea of squatter's unions, not understanding exactly the meaning behind the words. Sounds pretty damn good still though.... I ramble too much. Anyway, Gerald Celente is a prick.

Now regarding why I put underground in quotes, I mean that I don't necessarily see IthAcaZine as being underground as more as DIY. For those of you who don't know, DIY stands for Do-It-Yourself, which is basically just getting your own damn shit and building what you want. It ties in a lot with direct action which is why it is so present in the anarchist movement. And that's why I'd prefer to say that IthAcaZine is a DIY anarchist [maga]zine. But that's just what I think. Ask Silent City Distro, Ithaca's local anarchist collective...

Yeah, to the point now, I am going to be using this blog more as survival tips and information on DIY or direct action... not that any of my friends are anarhcists. But I'll tell people how to get free food and other nice things like that. As an example, join the local Food Not Bombs on saturdays.

Mortality

"The way is broken, and the ropes are gone."

The old man sat done by the muddied dusty window of the decaying building the desperate would search for in hopes of relief or shelter. He sat as he had not sat in a longtime. As a boy, he hugged his knees and cried, gazing.

A child in rags entered the building and went up to find the attic, and in the attic he saw the old man with his rough long gray beard, dirty face, and weary eyes.

"The way is broken, and the ropes are gone." spoke the child. And the old man bowed his head in the relief and sorrows of his reluctant submission.

"The way is broken, and the ropes are gone." repeated the child.

Fractured, salvation shall not come to them.

The unreasonable reluctance to die.

WARNING:THIS MAY RUIN THE STORY

DO NOT READ THIS UNLESS YOU WANT TO HEAR WHAT YOU ALREADY UNDERSTAND!

Afterword: I wrote this today in trips. It's a metaphor representing obviously mortality. I chose the scene of a dystopian perhaps battlefield or crashing depression cuz I am just like that. The child and elder represent the stages of our futures and pasts. the attic represents the sentiment involved with death and memory. This is supposed to symbolize the inevitable and our struggle and our please to be free of it... I of course left out our acceptance, because 1) it'd ruin the scheme, 2) acceptance of mortality is too human to be written, and too beautiful to be characterized in something such as this, and perhaps 3) is to remain with the soul in the real world... some things I guess aren't to be expressed through art...
special thanks to Kansas and their dust in the wind.
wooh?

Disregard

This guy. He's a sexist and a fuckin homophobic jackass who can't get his manners or theory straightened out. I bet he's got some weight, has glasses cuz he's middle aged, is going through a divorce or a lawsuit and is using this as an outlet and just wants to bitch in some kind of "I'm being held back" masochistic pathetic anticipation for nothing. Fucking nerds.
Disregard this.

FOR RENT

I've been noticing "FOR RENT" and "FOR SALE BY OWNER" signs all over the place. Especially in Ithaca, renting signs are posted up everywhere. Parts of me are conflicted over what I should feel about this. One part of me is worried about the future to come, and another part of me is excited. The latter part is the dominant self. Excited that the world is falling apart, excited that I will be able to survive through the future, excited that a diluted anarchy will be instituted.

Squatting, Low Impact Crashing, Foraging off of the wild plants...
All of these skills will somehow help. All should learn of their own ways to fulfill their necessaries of life: food, fuel, shelter, and clothing (and sanitation).
So, my excitement at seeing FOR SALE and FOR RENT signs, sickly as my mother purchases a house, what should anyone make of it?

I apologize... this entry went on a span of about a month and is incredibly disoriented and disorganized. Over that time I forgot wtf I was saying.

Intro... Hi, Guys... timid-timid

This post, I want to introduce the blog. With time things may change, but what the hell. I want this to be about politics, like practically everything else I talk about. I will proved basic theory, tips on survival, values of an American Revolution, predications of Gerald Celeste’s “coming Revolution”, and more bits and pieces. Perhaps some interviews to help understand things.

I would have loved to have gathered with some friends and started an underground paper. Getting stuff from papers and local printers. Copying from other papers from the internet. And all the wonderful things that come from working your own paper (I could have been such good friends with office max).

But the printing workshop is for something different. And journalism is coming apart. With the dieing economy people don’t want to pay so much for a peice of toilet paper they don’t need (check the paper recycling bins for free) and can get the news from the internet anyway. Only the problem with the information super highway, people only look for what they want to learn. So I figured I’d get on the mascurade and post info and all the trappings of an underground government.

P.s. I’ll be aiming for bi-weekly at least.