Government elections in Queensland, Australia, and USA saw wins for right-wing politicians in late October and early November 2024. The following several weeks saw lots of opinions and hot takes published all over the internet. But from a revolutionary non-authoritarian perspective, the hot take from Crimethinc needs a reply.
In this instance, Anarchism as a political/philosophical position is taken to mean the desire to create a society without coercive domination, in which direct democratic organisations collectively control capital and economic product/distribution. Hey, it’s an old ideal.
The anarchists at Crimethinc published an opinion piece titled “History Repeats Itself: First as Farce, Then as Tragedy: Why the Democrats Are Responsible for Donald Trump’s Return to Power”. https://crimethinc.com/2024/11/06/history-repeats-itself-first-as-farce-then-as-tragedy-why-the-democrats-are-responsible-for-donald-trumps-return-to-power
The general theme being that the Democratic Party of the USA has facilitated the rise in fascism and the election of Donald Trump in the USA in November 2024. This opinion is propagated by various statements such as:
- the Democrat Party’s New York Mayor Eric Adams was pro-police and corrupt;
- complaining that the Democrats only ever made legal challenges against Trump, and advocated for law order;
- complaining the Democrats they didn’t support mass mobilisations against the police;
- claiming (without examples) the Democrats collaborated with Republicans to suppress anarchists;
- that the Democrats have moved politics to the right then normalised it;
- the Democrats supported the Gaza genocide.
To quote Crimethinc, “The Democrats have done everything they could to associate themselves with the ruling order: moving their politics to the right, shifting support away from supposed “leftists” within their ranks, demobilizing protest movements. It turns out that this was a losing wager at a time when people are hungry for change.”
So in summary, their entire critic is that the major ruling political party of the USA, behaved like a major ruling party of the USA, and didn’t do our job as anarchists of stopping fascism for us.
The Democrats are a rusted on feature of Government. So of course they aren’t going to advocate defunding the police, or use direct action. Of course they are going to limit themselves to utilising the legal system to prosecute illegal behaviour. And yeah of course they are going to defend capitalism, private ownership of wealth and their allied states in the Middle East. It’s completely delusional to expect anything else.
But the biggest problem here is the false representation of the Democratic Party, and the failure to provide a critic of the undemocratic structural issues with the USA election system. This piece is just a personalised hack-attack of the Democratic Party. And the biggest problem this article represents is a degeneration of ‘The Anarchist Movement’ into making false representations of individuals (aka. Cancel/Call-Out Culture), within an entitled culture of performative Victimhood, and an inability to take personal responsibility for a situation … Well Ok that last comment is unfair. Crimethinc do close by saying “Ultimately, we cannot blame the Democrats for everything. We are the ones who failed to build movements powerful enough to survive their efforts to suppress us.” But there is no critical analysis as to why, and yes that claim is in the title.
So to begin with, the Democratic Party has actually moved “Left” over the past few years. Biden objectively has passed more ‘Green’ and other progressive reforms (including raising minimum wage) then any other past Democratic President in last couple of generations. We can argue details, but the general reality being perceived of the Democratic Party policies, is opposite to Crimethinc claiming they move “Right”. https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2020/apr/17/barack-obama/joe-bidens-platform-progressive-obama-says/
When ordinary people read hyperbolic, exaggerated or false claims from anarchists that do not match their lived experience, they further distance themselves from the ideals we are trying to advance. If ordinary working class people stop listening to, or engaging with anarchist ideas, they will either talk to the fascists instead, or more often they’ll just retreat and disengage. So why did people actually vote Right-Fascist?
On that point this article fails to discuss the structural reasons why the majority USA population just didn’t vote at all, either way. Little details like the fact that the USA is the only major “Western Nation” that holds elections on a work day didn’t get a mention. And yes, there is a laundry list we can go down here.
Let’s look back in history, because the Past is how we arrived at the Present.
Anarchism is an old philosophy that has seen various changes in cultural expression as generations past. In the past 15 years, we have seen a rise in a very toxic culture of making hyperbolic or false claims in public; to bully and defame organisers or individuals under the guise of Call-out Culture; to retreat into ideological personality cults; to abandon freedom of speech in favour of Cancel Culture & misusing using PC language as an ideological beating stick.
Then there is the reductionist/puritanical Identity Politics promoted over working class solidarity. Now think back to 10 years ago, who remembers those ridiculous internet mobbings over various tedious issues like dreadlock haircuts as cultural appropriation? Vikings had dreadlocks! If my ancestry is Scandinavian, does that mean I’m allowed to identify with a Viking heritage and have dreadlocks too? No! It’s just a bloody haircut! So go have fun with it.
At this point it’s worth noting these are all American Leftist cultural phenomena. But as the old saying goes, when America sneezes the rest of the world catches a cold.
About 10-12 years ago was the first time people began hearing the word “Woke” as a political expression. Following the collapse of the Occupy Movement, the general working class were still getting on the internet discussion forums to figure stuff out. Various Leftists, “anarchists” and radical feminists pulled out the PC beating stick to shut down criticism and discussion. Discussion and democratic debate was abandoned to screaming shut-downs. The Right-wing played up the more ridiculous bits in their propaganda; they worked hard at associate the non-defined word “Woke” with idiocy. Most people just retreated and disengaged and this is the core problem. Why did most Americans just not vote in this election?
Meanwhile corporate capitalism continued to pillage the working class and the environment. While in the background older or effective grassroots organisers are being bullied out of the scene with that PC beating stick and false accusations of being sexist, transphobic, racist, being a settler colonialist, rape apologist etc.
In Australia we can look that the past example of the collapse of the Perth IWW branch in 2012. Members from IWW Melbourne branch conducted a period of internet harassment and ‘flame wars’ against IWW members in Perth using PC gender and identity politics justifications. Perth IWW was the biggest and most active branch in the country at the time. And after a couple of weeks of trying to negotiate this abuse, all the Perth members just quit the union. Literally their sentiment was “I don’t need to deal with this shit”, they quit and they didn’t come back. Certainly not the last time this happened, and a marker of the general cultural shift in “Anarchism” in the past decade.
Brisbane Australia, as as example of ‘Why Fascists are Winning’.
In Brisbane 2014, a community based coalition of various anti-fascists, trade unionists and the general public shut down an attempt by the Greek fascist party Golden Dawn from marching through the streets of Brisbane.
CFMEU unionists walked off their job to physically take their fascists flags off them. Golden Dawn didn’t get to march more than 50 metres down the road before retreating, to reassemble in the CBD. Unsubstantiated rumours are spread about individual fascists getting their arses handed back to them on a platter after the event.
See these links for evidence.
https://westender.com.au/golden-dawn-supporters-chased-cbd/
https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/queensland/golden-dawn-supporters-clash-with-antifascists-in-brisbane-20140502-37msg.html
https://greekreporter.com/2014/05/02/brisbane-anti-fascists-confront-gd-rally-near-greek-consul/
Also see the recent commentary about State Government anti-union attacks from the CFMEU delegate Jade Ingham -> https://seqldiww.org/australian-construction-workers-are-fighting-back/
Now unlike southern cities in Australia like Melbourne, Neo-fascists have generally been unable to successfully march in Brisbane or Perth for the past 30+ years. This fact is independently described by The Beetoota Advocate (cause no one else would). https://www.betootaadvocate.com/world-news/nazis-not-marching-in-brisbane-for-some-reason/
However in 2024, exactly ten years after the Golden Dawn intervention, 40 Neo-nazis marched the streets of Brisbane to disrupt a protest against the Gaza genocide. And it was the first time in living memory that they successfully marched unopposed by the community. What changed? Well it sure wasn’t the Democrats fault, nor was it Albo/Labor Party fault.
Let’s be honest here, the good people of Brisbane are very lucky the Queensland Police Force also hates Nazis. And that is a point to draw on. Crimethinc made a big issue of The Democrats promoting fascism, yet in Brisbane the failure to produce a community response to marching Nazi’s was filled by the State Government – literally Liberalism stepped in when the Anarchists could not. Imagine what might happen if a government sympathetic to fascists got into power instead? See this link for evidence. Seriously watch the video, I love the way that copper tells that Nazi to go back to Melbourne. He really isn’t taking their shit lol. Also Nazi’s don’t believe in freedom of speech or democracy. They want to abolish it, so don’t let them apply that argument to themselves. -> https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/queensland/police-disrupt-neo-nazi-march-in-brisbane-20240811-p5k1ho.html
So what has changed in the USA, Queensland, and the ‘Rest of the West’ in the past ten years? Why are the fascists wining? Well, it’s just an opinion, but locally the organic community networks that used to sustain Anti-Fa have been reduced to a Facebook page with a couple of ‘Gate Keepers’. A decade of this systemic bullying with the PC Beating Stick has meant anyone effective as a community organiser has walked.Those Gatekeepers/Neo-Vandgardists that still hang around are unable to engage with the general community. Instead they cultivate an insular cult-like social group, while working hard at defaming and shut down any “competition” to their own egotistical self-importance. Everyone else just walks away and says ” I don’t need this shit”. No doubt there are lots of individuals with similar experiences in other cities all around the Anglo-Western World.
Viva La Revolution. There is an Idea that still Lives.
BTW the good people of Toowoomba should note their local university published this piece of anti-fascist history.
https://www.unisq.edu.au/news/2023/01/fighting-back-fascism
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