this post was submitted on 14 Apr 2026
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Could you elaborate on the final point? What do you mean by that?
They act like they don't want a state and hierarchy but then the world they want to make are still functionally hierarchical states. Kind of like anarchists point to rojava or the EZLN as examples of successful "anarchists" but those are both states with hierarchy
OH ok I get it now, that definitely seems very hypocritical. Anarchism feels pretty shallow if you are a Marxist-Leninist, yeah?
Anarchism is just fundamentally anti-Marxist by the very nature of being idealist instead of materialist. There are endless words written about Anarchism, you can get incredibly deep with it, but the very foundation of it is individualist idealism so it's like getting deep into the fantasy genre or sci fi. It is a story centered around thoughts and emotions instead of a scientific process of social change centered around an analysis of material conditions, history, and economics. This is why it is has been so popular in the west, because you can just feel and think whatever you want and immediately feel better about yourself for being politically progressive compared to the people around you.
Generic anarchists might also be easier to put into a story than Marxists, since anarchism in fictional media boils down to "the government sucks" and hoodies, while Marxism is an actual science and philosophy, so fictional media (a lot of which is owned and made by large companies) might not want to bother learning the basic outline of Marxism just to portray them.
Counter culture in general has been a way to deradicalize youth who are looking around, finding themselves dissatisfied with the material conditions and wondering why. From the beatnik era onward, the capitalist substructure has coopted and utilized artistic movements as a shield against criticism of itself.
Their original intent of bucking the system, rejecting imperialism, or what have you is transformed into social clubs, substance abuse, hedonism and big money.
These examples become the only available ideas of what a disaffected youth could replicate if they were to start questioning the status quo, and it's a guaranteed dead end that leads them to one day give it up and capitulate to capitalism once they accept that maybe dumpster diving and throwing house shows isn't going to end capitalism after all, maybe it's time to learn a trade or join the family business.
This very much recalls to me the book review Comrade Rainpizza posted here
This is the ML position on anarchism:
— Anarchism Or Socialism?
Thank you for the quote. I did not know about the focus on the individual beforehand.