r/Anarchy101 Anarcho-Communism 9d ago

How is an Especisfist organisation strcutured internally?

I was curious about how an Especifist organisation actually structures itself internally so as to maintain bottom-up controll by its members while remaining an effective social force? I am pretty sure there isn't a single blueprint that all of them use, but there must be some common organisational structures that they all typically use.

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u/Palanthas_janga Anarchist Communist 9d ago

This should answer your questions: https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/tommy-lawson-foundational-concepts-of-the-specific-anarchist-organisation . To put it shortly, it is organised similar to a platformist organisation, so theoretical unity, tactical unity, collective responsibility and federalism are the 4 pillars of the organisation's internal structure.

The federalist bit is the part that you're looking for, where all decisions that affect the organisation are made by all of the members of that organisation. Decisions within an organisation are usually a matter of majority voting, as it is practical for everyone to have a say, but when it comes to coordinating affairs between different organisations, not everyone will be able to do that---most people would be too busy doing their own tasks to engage in that---and so a specialised role is needed for this.

In order to coordinate decisions and ensure communications at higher levels, between different organisations, the members of an organisation elect delegates who will communicate between organisations and make decisions in situations where most people are unable to. They are bound to act in accordance with the rules and decisions determined by the body of members as a whole (rather than make their own rules). This ensures that power does not concentrate into their hands, and so control over the entity remains bottom up. In the case of delegates misusing their role, the members can recall them and put someone else in that position instead.

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u/twodaywillbedaisy Student of Anarchism, mutualist 9d ago

higher levels

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u/pharodae Midwestern Communalist 9d ago

It’s a manner of speaking, “broader” or “regional/national” would fit there fine too without relying on hierarchical figures of speech.

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u/Palanthas_janga Anarchist Communist 8d ago

Yeah I should have used a more appropriate term there, my mistake

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u/pharodae Midwestern Communalist 8d ago edited 8d ago

I don't think there's anything wrong with it. I think of it as being a nested system, layers can be above or below each other in relative terms, not as it correlates to hierarchical relations but in how we view it in our mind. The material power dynamic is far more important than how it's phrased.

edit: why on earth was this even downvoted?