by Chris Crass (early 1993, when he was 19)
Anarchism in theory is the radical transformation of society from the competitive to the cooperative, from the hierarchical, sexist, racist to the egalitarian, from the exploitive to the supportive, from the oppressive to the free. Anarchism in practice must therefore take on these ideals as well. Having been raised in a dominating capitalist society, it makes it extremely difficult to live out the potentials of anarchism.
One of the biggest problems that I have come to deal with is not the rejecting of the system comprised of police, the politicians and the rich, but rejecting the system's influence on me. It is much easier to understand the exploitive nature of capitalism, than to understand the exploitive characteristics that have become part of my mentality through the conditioning and indoctrination of the capitalist society. For years I have been fighting against institutions that exert power over me, but only in the last few months have I truly begun fighting the power that I exert over others; that power taking form in sexism, racism and domination.
For hundreds of years anarchists have struggled with the concept of organization. In a world of hierarchy, control, discrimination,
exploitation and abuse, it is very difficult to organize a group of people along the lines of cooperation, equality, mutual aid and respect.
Throughout history and into today, the most popular form of anarchist organizing has been and is the collective - a group of people who have come together to work, live and/or play together in a non-hierarchical, free way. People can organize collectives around work in the form of a syndicate; around school in the form of cooperative teaching; in the community in the form of direct democratic town hall meetings where everyone is involved in the decision making process; collectives can be created in most situations.
In San Diego, California the collective run Che Cafe serves inexpensive vegetarian food and serves as a center for revolutionary activities and information. In Minneapolis, Minnesota there is the Profane Existence collective that produces a bimonthly newspaper, runs a record label and a music distribution. In the United States and around the world there are collective run bookstores, grocery stores, music stores, community centers, coffee shops and soup kitchens.
The benefits of organizing a collective are numerous. To begin with, the collective aims at empowering individuals to take responsibility for themselves and then as a group take responsibility for the collective. A collective knows no boss, manager or other parasites living off of other's labor. The ethic of the collective is 'do-it-yourself'. We don't need
someone telling us what to do or how to do it. What we need is for people to turn their desires into expectations and then act on them. The collective is revolutionary in the sense that it puts people before profit and power.
I'm a member of the United Anarchist Front. Many months ago wo took on the challenge of becoming a collective. For much too long power in the group was monopolized by a few people. In an effort to expand participation and combine energy with others we asked friends who had interest in revolution to join us. With about 15 members we set out to create equality and cooperation in the group. We started having weekly meetings to organize activities and discuss issues effecting the UAF. We also started up a
weekly study group to develop our ideas.
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