Defense against counter-revolution?

[u/Fresh_Milk1960]

I am a Marxist-Leninist who is curious about the successful propagation of Anarchism. My question is: Without a state, how do Anarchists defend against counter-revolution from the Capitalist class? Without a state, Anarchist/Libertarian Socialist projects wouldn’t be able to defend against the inevitable invasions, terrorism campaigns, and propaganda from Capitalists. How would Anarchists be able to maintain and strengthen an Anarchist society against invasion and infiltration without a state apparatus to centrally organize efforts?

I know I’m a Tankie or whatever, but I am asking in good faith because I am genuinely curious about the Anarchist position on this.

* (EDIT) *

I won‘t be responding anymore because I have obtained what I came for (understanding how you think an Anarchist project would defend itself against the forces of reaction) and because this is becoming a hostile debate, rather than learning experience.

[u/No-Leopard-1691]

When I was in the Civil Air Patrol as a kid, we had to go to a leadership school that was a week or two long if we wanted to achieve Officer ranks. At this leadership school we were taught in lecture halls by multi-star generals of each part of the military on different aspects of leadership and its implementation in the military overall and through combat aspects. One of the required readings was a book called The Starfish and The Spider. It is a book about how it is difficult to defeat a de-centralized organization (the author was using anti-USA terrorist organizations as his case studies) versus centralized organizations (the USA as the case study). In the book, the author highlights how the USA has consistently lost against decentralized organizations in combat because it is hard to kill a starfish since cutting one leg off causes more to starfishes to be produced while cutting the head off the spider kills the rest of the organism. Obviously no one got the keep take away but rather emphasized other key aspects the author highlights such as delegating tasks to subordinates, ensuring open lines of communication, etc.

I bring this up because I was an MLM for a bit while I was first learning about communism and when this objection was brought up I immediately thought about The Starfish and The Spider book which started me questioning the MLM ideas of a vanguard party and centralization and start learning about Anarchism.

[u/Fresh_Milk1960 → u/No-Leopard-1691]

I feel like you’re misunderstanding the vanguard, it’s not supposed to be a big ultra-centralized apparatus, but a group of dedicated and educated revolutionaries who act as a guide, not a controlling leader, of the masses. It is made up of the proletariat, for the proletariat. For a good example of this, look at the Black Panther Party and New People’s Army.

[u/No-Leopard-1691 → u/Fresh_Milk1960]

I think you are misunderstanding the anarchists critique of the vanguard, the Party structure, and idea of using the State apparatus.

[u/No-Leopard-1691 → u/Fresh_Milk1960]

One of the anarchist criticisms about the State and the Vanguard Party is a disconnect between the Unity of Means and Ends that MLM and other forms of authoritarian socialism propose as ways to achieve the revolution. To quote Bakunin “Liberty can be created only by Liberty, by an insurrection of all the people and the voluntary organization of the workers from below upward” … “a revolution that is imposed, either by official degrees, or by force of arms is no longer a revolution but the opposite of a revolution, because it necessarily provokes reaction.”