By Cake Boy

The current culture is neoliberal when it comes to economics. And mostly cultural/Frankfurt Marxist when it comes to cultural issues.

When it comes to economics, we live in a plutocracy. Landlords, speculators and bankers rule this system. Connected to internationally so-called ‘free markets’ (which aren’t free in the broadest sense of that word)

When it comes to culture, we have to be woke. So, we have to work on our internalized racism, we are bi curious, we have to stop eating meat, we educate our colleagues when they are transphobic etc.

I would say neoliberalism is the masculine side of the current culture. And Cultural Marxism, the feminine side. The men wanted their neoliberalism to make money, to conquer. The woman wanted the soft values, the woke values, propagated by culture Marxists. Meanwhile, these two currents clash with each other. Neoliberalism tells me I should be a kind of ruthless competitor in a cutthroat market. It tells me about the law of the jungle. Cultural Marxism tells me I should be an emancipated man, share my emotions, raise children, cry more often, not make sarcastic jokes, etc. So, I have to be a predator and a nurturer. It’s a schizophrenic culture.

The capitalist system incorporated aspects of Marxism that were not dangerous to its financial interests. So, the cultural aspects of Marxism. CEO’s and technocrats are ok with the Marxist perception of so called ‘counter culture’. They don’t care if you are queer or not as long as you pay your rent and taxes.

Neoliberalism and cultural Marxism infected modern-day anarchism. Anarchism, as a distinct current, disappeared in these two currents. It became a part of one of these currents. That’s why it doesn’t really play a role anymore, while it did in the 19^th century.

Leftist anarchism became pure cultural Marxism. A lot of the current Antifa and Ancom leaders used to be Trotskyists/Marxists. This is not a coincidence. These leaders took their Marxism with them when they became ‘anarchists’. To them, anarchism is not about autonomy for people but about ‘cultural change’ and ‘a better world.’

The Boston anarchist movement of the 19th century (the other big anarchist movement) turned into neoliberalism. It turned into the current libertarian movement, mostly a propaganda channel for big business, corporations, and landlords. Tucker wanted to get rid of the state and replace it with full autonomy and usufruct of the commons for different social, economic, and political groups. Current libertarianism is about ‘paying fewer taxes’ and ‘the genius of Jeff Bezos, who creates nice jobs.’

Current neoliberal anarchism and current cultural Marxist anarchism attract middle-class people. They attract the woke middle-class or conservative middle-class capitalists.

A lot of people don’t like woke anarchism, and they don’t like libertarianism. They see woke anarchism as too extreme and too radical, and people make fun of it. And they are afraid that libertarianism would just lead to higher rents and nothing else. A capitalist dystopia, like you see in the sci-fi movies.

Preston tried to redefine anarchism, to separate it from these two currents, to make it distinct, to escape the culture war and capitalist realism. He tried to do this with his pan-secessionist approach, which is an understandable step.

If anarchism wants to be something in the future, it needs to be something other than cultural Marxism and neoliberal libertarianism. It needs to bring together the three anarchist factions (ancap, ancom, and mutualism). Anarchism as a plurality, as described in some classical liberal texts.

This is the mess anarchism is in. The aim of Preston was correct, his analysis too, but I think the Attack the System approach didn’t really work as was mentioned. It got lost in translation. Preston said: well, these white nationalists can also post on this site because we want people to perform self-rulership. The problem was that everyone who saw the Attack on the System site thought it was a Nazi site. Because only Nazis would align themselves with these people, this was a mistake, and it made it very easy for Antifa and libertarians to attack this project.

If anarchism can’t stand on its own feet and be a distinct movement, it will disappear soon. Other movements and parties will then rise. The black flag (A) will be forgotten as a relic from history.

Preston talks about three cultural tribes in his book. The conservative neoliberals, the woke neoliberals, and the ‘grey tribe’. The ‘grey tribe’ is the loose group of people with more or less antiauthoritarian or at least decentralist views. So, libertarians, classical liberals, some Georgists, anarchists, paleoconservatives, syndicalists, federalists, some socialists. This ‘grey tribe’ should then, in theory, become the fundament for a new anarchist wave.

I believe I said all of this before. But young serious anarchist activists need to understand all of this. So, if you want to revive anarchism

1 Get it out of woke (Antifa/woke cults), and get it out of the corporate wing of neoliberalism/libertarianism (The ‘libertarian party’)

2 Try to mold the three big schools together, and put them under one umbrella

3 Don’t align yourself with white nationalist nonsense (let them do their own things)

So, get out of the Antifa milieu (which is Marxist, not anarchist), don’t create political parties (which will get coopted), and don’t think that authoritarian movements have something to offer. They will only give you a bad reputation.

It will be extremely hard to restore anarchism and make it up to date. I will not do it; I’m too lazy to be involved in activism. But I’m good at analyzing and thinking. And somehow, anarchism became a sort of obsession for me. I don’t know why.

So: A new anarchism would be

1 about free speech absolutism

2 based on all the decentralists movements out there, fighting for a common cause

3 not connected to white supremacy, or Antifa/Marxist extremism/authoritarianism