Difference between revisions of "Danton's politics"

Like the Marxists, the leftist anarchist movements made the mistakes of rejecting liberal democracy and of advocating compulsory collectivism. But the anarchists developed a model of the autonomous collective unit which maintains its relevance today as a decentralized form of political or economic organization. Note that, contrary to the compulsory collectivization of Marxist socialism, membership in an autonomous collective unit is entirely ''voluntary''.

In the economic context, the automous collective unit is the workers cooperative. As a complement to top-down social reform carried out by the state, the working class movement should focus on building economic democracy from the bottom up, through the creation of cooperatives. A decentralized movement of voluntary association will in the long run allow us simply to replace companies that mistreat their employees, rather than having to keep struggling with their owners.

After the small group, we reach the individual. Traditional social movements have focused on collective welfare, to the point of asking individuals to sacrifice themselves for the group. But as Max Stirner put it: "What is not supposed to be my concern! ... Only my cause is never to be my concern." (In other words, I am supposed to support all of the good causes - but when will I take care of myself?) If individuals are of value in and for themselves, we should help them to realize their individual goals.

Just as we can help the smaller group to gain autonomy within society by fostering workers coops, so we can help individuals to improve their position within the group by promoting individual autonomy. The strengthening of all individuals within the group makes them more equal in power, thereby reducing the weight of elitism and facilitating an [[inclusion culture]].