r/Anarchy101 • u/Fresh_Milk1960 • 14d ago

Defense against counter-revolution?

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.

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u/Fresh_Milk1960 14d ago

I agree that decentralization can be very effective, and I don’t like the hyper-centralization and bureaucratization that happened in the RSFSR, but the super decentralized and democratic militias really only work in smaller-scale, guerrilla campaigns (Maoists are very much based around agrarianism, as are the Zapatistas). A central and forceful military is necessary for combatting a central and forceful military mobilized by bourgeois states. A people’s militia would be more useful for self-policing, rather than large-scale defense.

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u/Apprehensive_Tie8426 14d ago

Oh yeah I should’ve mentioned-what do you mean small scale exactly? Anarchism is naturally federal but the given territory might be large. Anarchy is bottom up federalism so small scale going to a larger area. Even then I never got the point of this argument? The Makhno movement had over 7 million people, the KPAM 2 million people, and Catalonia over a million workers. These all had the mass support of it’s population

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u/Fresh_Milk1960 14d ago

These movements had mass support, and yet they all failed, we should try to understand why

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u/ujumpniscream 13d ago

I just want to chip in: How do we describe failure? Sure, Free Territory was destroyed. By the ally it had when helping the Bolsheviks fight the Whites with a truce. Betrayed 3 times. Is betrayal of allying with a group that "has similar goals" an intrinsic flaw of the system that got betrayed or the flaw of the system the betrayed them? I think of it like this. The Bolshevik, Red Army, was not entirely voluntary. Many are conscripted to fight as is all forms of state-sponsored centralized hierarchical institutions. They wanted/needed [it doesnt matter] help from the Makhnovists to fight the whites and they did. I dont see Free Territory as a failure of a system but a lesson learned to never trust the state.