Re: Re: Will Anarchists work with Non-Anarchists?

[Carrol Cox <cbcox@xxxxxxxxx>]

Doug, my posts have made it clear I thought the anarchists were, in
substance, right in Seattle, those they called "Peace Enforcers" or
whatever wrong. So you can't set up the question quite like this.
Give it context, and remember that Seattle has to be a beginning,
not an end.

And I *know* it was only (as I said in my post) a few dozen or
(hypothetically, on some future occasion) a few hundred. The
question I asked is the question that *has* to be answered for
the sake of the future. How do we form coalitions with anarchists
if they won't keep their word?

My post, whatever other posts on this thread did, did *not* pose
the abstract question of "Who is best, marxists or anarchists?" (That
question can't really be argued in this context very fruitfully.) I asked
if anarchists would enter princpled coalitions with marxists, in
response to your characterization of marxists as offering patronizing
advice to anarchists. As subsequent posts from Seattle have shown,
some anarchists are themselves concerned about this. And I note
that ChuckO does not speak of the anti-imperialist movement but
the anti-authoritarian movement -- so I guess that is his answer to
my question.

Are we going to have coalitions or is it each little ism for itself?

Carrol


Doug Henwood wrote:

> Carrol Cox wrote:
>
> >How many people on pen-l want to participate in a demonstration of
> >10s of thousands, confronting police, knowing that a few dozen or a
> >few hundred of their fellow demonstrators may take it upon themselves
> >to impose their judgement on that of the 50,000, without consultation,
> >without any regard for the opinions of others. From this perspective
> >it is interesting that the main complaint anarchists make against
> >marxists is our anti-democratic policies. And that Doug, here, seems
> >to be accusing *marxists* (rather than anarchists) of refusing to
> >speak to others.
>
> Carrol, there were about 50-100 people who broke windows, god bless
> 'em. There were many more anarchists and sympathizers who didn't do
> that. You passing judgment on a whole philosophy by the behavior of a
> fragment. A Marxist once signed a pact with Hitler; what conclusion
> about Marxism should I draw from that?
>
> Doug