cross-posted from: https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/post/54566460
Books, pamphlets, manifestos, you name it/whatever. Please just leave out terminally online "bread"tubers, thank you.
Ideally from a few reputable Anarchist to get a better picture. The literature doesn’t have to be exclusively about authority, but should mention it in relative detail.
Edit: Since I rightfully got called out on the following sentence in another thread as being demeaning of online educators work
Please just leave out terminally online "bread"tubers, thank you.
I should maybe clarify that I meant people like Contrapoints who have delightfully little to do with any kind of leftistm, let alone Anarchism
Not an anarchist anymore, but from back when I was, I know that there are a number of anarchist critiques of Engels’ On Authority. This is where you’ll find a lot of contemporary anarchist thought on the concept of authority as a deliberate counter to Marxism.
Of course, it goes without saying, I disagree with these critiques, but if you want to expand your knowledge of leftist theory in general, Read On Authority seems to be one of the more popular critiques of Engels from anarchists, and the Anarchist FAQ in general is probably the single-most comprehensive source for beginners to anarchism today.
Thanks for the suggestions!
I have read “On Authority” like ages ago and only remember that it wasn’t one of Engels’ best works and the general “nor engaging in good faith”.
Do you maybe know of a better Marxist critiques of those critiques or an alternative text to “On Authority”, maybe a bit more modern?To be clear, I think On Authority holds up. Anarchism is more amorphous than Marxist tendencies are, by intention, so On Authority actually does end up countering a lot of anarchists. There isn’t “one definition of authority” for anarchists, just a general trend against it, and many definitions. Some anarchists seek full horizontalism, some allow “justifiable hierarchy,” some want syndicalism, etc.
The biggest counter to anarchism, and what really started my path to Marxism in earnest, was Socialism: Utopian and Scientific, which I consider critical reading. If you want something more modern, though, I’m a big fan of Nia Frome’s work. Of particular relevance here is On the Abolition/Preservation of the State, but Frome has other excellent essays and none of them are overly long in my opinion.
With the exception of “Socialism: Utopian and Scientific” (which I read as a teen, but in a way more akin to how you read a novel and not really in a scientific manner), I haven’t heard of the other works you mentioned. Will look into them too.
“Scientifically” re-reading the classics and then expanding into stuff I haven’t read yet is definitely on my “priority Todo”, I really should get around to it.
(I haven’t gotten around to it for years, the brainfog and all the other baggage ain’t helpin’)I know what you mean! I’ll probably read through the r/TheDeprogram Study Guide after the Capital volume 1-3 reading threads finish later this year, and adjust my own reading list as well. I like to reread the classics, I think I’ve read Socialism: Utopian and Scientific 4 times by this point.
From the Deprogram Reading List thread:
Nice list! Just a warning about “Marxism Today” – the linked videos are probably fine, but I’d be very critical about his ultraleftist takes on AES countries like China
Reads like an endorsement; coming form a grad admin and all :p /lh /hj
Being honest, I agree with the Grad admin, I’m pretty pro-China and pro-AES. There’s a difference between what I would consider to be good, Marxist critique, and ultraleftism, which is what Marxism Today falls under. A lot of his videos are pretty good, but the MLM perspective does result in some idealist critique that reveals itself to be inadequate the longer we observe China’s trajectory.
I – in turn – tend to agree with excluding the modern-day PRC from AES/state socialism and do think something akin to “bourgeois state of a new type” is an adequate categorisation ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Also calling Maoists ultras/idealist 💀
