Saturday, July 27, 2013

Liberating Ourselves: In Defense of Leaderless Revolutions

Click here to access article by Peter Gelderloos from CounterPunch.

The author argues that revolutions are a process, not a single event; that we should not be misled by those who support "authoritarian" revolutions which are a dead-end. In support of his argument, he provides this great quote:
“A revolutionary process is a process by which structures of power are created by a broad mass of people that allow them to eventually transform every aspect of their society — from the structure and role of the State and the organization of the economy to inter-personal relations — all with a view to eliminating all forms of oppression.”
This dedicated anarchist even takes issue with any form of a state which he views as inherently evil. It seems to me that there are semantic issues here. Surely a society organized around power structures designed with bottom-up power controls can leave the "state" as a necessary, but merely a coordinating body that serves the people.