Lifestylism, Individualism, Primitivism

Living outside the system

Living outside the system woill never work. It's a self-serving idea, and appeals usually only to the greedy folks who don't give a fuck about anyone else.

What do I mean? I mean kids who think that by working, shopping, anything like that, they're contributing to capitalism. Well, truth be told, they are. But that's not necessarily anything to be ashamed of.

This actually ties in with my chapter on business and the need for anarchists to start our own businesses. Not to sound like a liberal, but where we spend our moeny counts right now. If we shop at Wal-Mart, we're supporting union-busters who don't give a shit about quality or their workers. If we shop at a mom and pop store or cooperative store, we're at least likely helping out folks like ourselves.

But see, we shouldn't just be avoiding corporate hell holes just yet. We should, in fact, be trying to get jobs there. Think about it. A dozen anarchists get jobs at Wal-Mart and, if the workers are up for it, start an organizing drive for a union (see my chapter on unions for more on what I think about this).

If we did things like this, and did them right, winning gains for working people and letting them see that anarchists are people just like them who face the same problems everyday, they're going to take us more seriously.

Look at it this way: if the janitor at Wal-Mart comes out back to throw some trash out and sees some crusty covered in circled-a's and Crass patches crawling out of the dumpster, his initial reaction is going to be to pre-judge the crusty as some poor sob who needs money not revolution. If that same janitor is working the graveyard shift with an anarchist who's actually listening to his problems, willing to help, and offering real solutions, that janitor is more likely not to judge anarchists as bad people, and will see that we're willing to do some dirty work.

Plus, we have to take into consideration that if all 270 million people in this country just quit their jobs and dumpster dove and shoplifted, there would be no one producing the products that they're trying to get for free.

I got a better idea, and it's really simple, but will involve real work (I know, that scares alot of folks away) - get jobs. If we want to destroy capital, and have a good life for everyone on the planet, it's going to take a lot of work. So get used to it, or get lost, frankly.

Look, we all want - partisan differences aside - a world without suffering, without hunger and want, but we're gonna have to do some work to get to that. And this entire idea of living outside the system negates that end.

The only reason that interpretations such as indivdualism, primitivism, and lifestylism exist, is because the followers of such beliefs have more priviledge than the rest of us.

Think about it. Damn near anywhere else in the world, there are really only two versions, so to speak, of anarchism: communist and syndicalist. Most other places in the world, folks aren't as well off as we here in the states.

People the world over don't have the priviledge to dumpster dive and shoplift; they have to work to live. Therefore, communist/syndicalist anarchism appeals most to them.

But here, we have countless kids calling themselves anarchist who are more interested in living off this system, than in working to revolt against it. These kids are priviledged, no doubt about it. They can get money off mom and dad, rather than working for it. They don't have any real vested interest in changing the world, outside any part of it which directly affects them.

Rather than use their priviledge for the better, use it to build solidarity with comrades the world over, these spoiled kids use it to their own ends. They use it to make their own lives what they want, without understanding or caring about "mutual aid". Lifestylists, individualists, etc. are no better than the capitalists those of us who know what "class struggle" means are fighting against. They need no utopian dream; they're already living it, at the expense of this movement.

Primitivism doesn't appeal to folks the world over who already live in conditions similar to those called for by primitivists.

Therefore, we need to cut these folks loose. Sorry to sound like I'm calling for a purge, but that's what it amounts to. The elements in this movement which are holding us back and making us look like fools need to go.

Instead of these kids using their privledge as a means to travel to other countries, building contacts with foreign fellow workers and movements, they're using their privledge as a means to slack off. Call me whatever you want, and I'll likely be derided as a leninist (wouldn't be the first time), but if you're (willingly and of your own volition) not working, then don't call yourself working class.