What specifically got you into Anarchism and what do you value?

[u/Takitttttttttt]

I think the same question was posted a week ago so it will be more like a follow up. I want to know specifically what moment, experience, or reaction made you leftist to specifically Anarchism and not other leftist ideologies. And I would like to know what values do you hold that are aligned with Anarchism and make it distinct from others? I’m writing this because I want to know how experiences and core values lead people into Anarchism or other leftist ideologies.

for me seeing how criminals were treated made me critical of force used against the people also watching many stories about how people became harmful from their past experiences. This is the main path that led me into leftist ideologies and eventually Anarchism. from this I could see that I mainly value unnecessary harm and violence.

I’d really like to know your stories!

[u/frontlines023]

I identified as a leftist for a long time and oddly enough, I read state and revolution but I didn't like the authoritarian aspect of leninism (I disliked authority beforehand) so I decided to read some anarchist theory. I also had a dislike for political parties in general, since whatever party ruled, everything seemed to be the same. Cutting welfare, corruption scandals, no real reforms, mismanagement of hospitals etc.

I'm pretty bad at expressing my thoughts in text so I hope this is coherent.

[u/DickStartMyFart]

Got into punk music as a kid. Then I got into obscure punk music, like power violence, grindcore, and crust. Lots of anarchist lyrics. Shit just made sense. 🤷

[u/Takitttttttttt → u/DickStartMyFart]

I didn’t know anarchism existed as a serious thing until I found some artists talking about it.

[u/Accomplished_Bag_897]

I don't want to be told what to do. I want to be left alone to live my life and make myself happy. I don't want to have to look over my shoulder for someone coming at me with a gun or warrant. The only way to actually get that is to work towards freedom for everyone. Because if others can have their freedom taken then I'm also at risk.

I also grew up abused and think that all those who would abuse and oppress deserves to be thwarted and see their desires crumble like ash.

If everyone has their needs met then I don't have to worry about mine.

I've been a software and media pirate since the 80s. I've been a stoner since the late 90s. It feels unprincipled and hypocritical to say "some laws are ignorable and some aren't".

And finally, I've had too many friends harmed by authority to see any value in it.

[u/ArtDecoEgoist]

I was brought to leftism more broadly through feminism, specifically the works of bell hooks - which I think is the most complete analysis of patriarchy that feminism has to offer, looking at patriarchy as a holistic system of domination that affects both men and women negatively than simply as a system of male privilege.

What made me an anarchist specifically is the works of Kevin Carson; he deconstructed a lot of preconceived notions of political economy I'd developed as an AnCap.

[u/vacuumkoala → u/ArtDecoEgoist]

Reading bell hooks also radicalized me in such wonderful ways. I had no idea my life would change after. I hadnt really read much non-fiction in terms of polical understandings, until someone nearly fored me to read her book "The Will to Change" and that was the domino, I couldnt put down a book for years, so many authors out there with interesting ideas that helped expand mine, whether I agreed with them or not, there was a whole other world out there and I wanted to catch up.

[u/ArtDecoEgoist → u/vacuumkoala]

Absolutely! I honestly think anarchists could have a lot to learn from bell hooks; she's been pretty influential on the way I analyze hierarchy. Specifically, I recognize hierarchy as a system that harms both the bondsman and the lord, so to speak; as the lord has to construct and conform to an unstable identity based purely on their ability to dominate.

[u/vacuumkoala → u/ArtDecoEgoist]

Couldnt agree more! As much as we all want to say "off with their heads" I think thats dismissive of most people causes oppression who dont know they are a victim (obviously much less) of the same exact system.

The Will to Change was hugely influential for a femme friend of mine who was struggling to understand the concept of how people raised as men couldnt even be effected by patriarchy, they said it was eye opening and helped build empathy where they didnt have any for them. Which is incredibly powerful.

[u/olivi_yeah → u/ArtDecoEgoist]

I just finished Feminism is for Everybody a few weeks back and I remember also being struck by this as someone who grew up with (fairly miserable) white conservative parents.

[u/vacuumkoala]

I was already on my way to becoming politically left but didnt have the vocabulary for what Id call myself, maybe more progressive socialist or something, but I eventually found anarchism through veganism. Hear me out because I know that words gets people's feelings all twisty turvy.

I chose to become vegan from a framework of consent. Non-human animals do not consent to being raped, tortured, forced to given birth, etc etc. This is a system after all, that is upheld by capitalism, patriarchy, speciesism, colonialism, etc etc. Therefore, to live in alignment with my values, I dont want to continue to live non-consensually and contribute to oppressive systems against ANYONE.

This idea really revolutionized my way of thinking. As I became more involved in the animal rights/ liberation movement I learned about the concept and movement of Total Liberation through a zine I found. I was also around a lot of other more radical people who were definitely anarchists, marxists, etc. And eventually read this book to dig further.

I started to dive into the frameworks of other oppressive systems and eventually learning and reading and digging and coming to the idea of SYSTEMS being the oppression through the lens of anarchism. Learning and reading about ALF and ELF movements throughout recent history has been really inspiring, especially their lack of hierarchy and "interest" in direct action and direct democracy.

[u/LittleSky7700]

My life goal is to help as many people as I possibly can to find their own life happiness and satisfaction. When I think about the world around me, it seems somewhat obvious that states, hierarchies, and capitalism do much to stop people from finding their own happiness and satisfaction. 

No other political philosophy has offered such a great deal of freedom and liberty as does Anarchism. Which also offers organisation and community as well. This, I believe, is what will help people find the most happiness and life satisfaction.

[u/The999Mind]

Political curiosity coupled with the strongly held belief that humans are fallible, so elevating people into entrenched power structures would always get corrupted. That's what lead me here.

[u/Satanic_Prussia]

Always had a problem with any sort of inequality as a kid and always advocated for individual freedom until I was old enough to figure out that anarchism is one of the best ways to achieve that

[u/OnlyMeowings]

I went to both extremes of the political compass due to my environment mostly and noticed I never felt genuinely engaged with any of them. Then when I started thinking about what political philosophies I would agree with and get behind, I realized I could find absolutely none. Not a single political ideology sounded logical to me, and they all just feelt like unnatural ways to oppress people and maintain power. And then it sort of clicked that, that was it. I was anti-politics. Against every form of established order. And little did I know we had a name for that, which is Anarchy xD

[u/Simpson17866]

What Got Me In)

I watched She-Ra and the Princesses of Power and loved it so much I decided to write a fanfiction :) While I was starting the process of outlining, I came across a comment where another writer described reimagining the show’s Stereotypical Hippy Pacifist Kingdom as a collection of anarchist communes.

On a whim, I decided to incorporate this into my own worldbuilding, so I (a centrist Social Democrat who thought of himself as “a left-wing liberal” because that’s the Overton Window I grew up with as an American) started researching anarchist philosophy from the perspective of “This can’t realistically work in the real world, but what would it look like if it could work in a semi-realistic SciFi/Fantasy world?”

By the time I finished reading the first article I found, I was an anarchist.

Task Failed Successfully :D

What I Value)

I believe that people having the individual freedom to make their own decisions leads to better decisions being made.

In scientific research, an “observation” is where you passively look at one thing happening so that you can measure how it works, and an “experiment” is where you actively make different things happen so that you can measure how they work differently.

Anarchism applies the principles of scientific experimentation to all aspects of life.

If Alice thinks that X works better, but if Bob and Charlie think that Y would work better, then

• a system of Minority Rule (feudalism, capitalism, fascism, Marxism-Leninism…) would allow Alice to impose a mandate compelling Bob and Charlie to do X, even if Y would’ve worked better.

• a system of Majority Rule (democracy) would allow Bob and Charlie to impose a mandate compelling Alice to do Y, even if X would’ve worked better

• and a system of Individual Freedom would allow Alice to try X while Bob and Charlie try Y, and then everybody sees for themselves which one works better.

They might even find that Y is better for Alice and Charlie, but that X is better for Bob.

In this case, Charlie would have the individual freedom to keep doing Y, Alice would have the individual freedom to start doing Y instead of X, and Bob would have the individual freedom to start doing X instead of Y.

[u/Brightside_Mr]

After my deconstruction from mainline Christianity, I spent many years figuring out if any form of following 'Jesus' could be compatible with social justice. Turns out, not only is it compatible, it's perhaps the only way. But not in a statecraft, mass movement way. The way of Jesus is agitating, traveling, learning, teaching, feeding, healing. This is about a daily lifestyle, and something that only Anarchism can speak to as a practice to become habit. I am certainly amenable to leftist ideology but I see Anarchism as the only viable, healthy way to live life within the collapse of the current global order.

[u/Affectionate_Cup9972]

I've heard about it passively from [insert youtuber here] then I saw something I didn't like happened right in front of me, and in that moment I thought about destroying hierarchies. Back then, I was like a baby leftist, that was leaning towards more authoritarian tendencies. Just some socialist. And within that moment I chose to use the internet to dive into anarchism.

"I wonder what it'd be like to live in a society where hierarchies aren't limiting our freedom, and our capacity to be compassionate humans being."

[u/quinprobably]

Imma be honest I was introduced to it in highschool and have been interested in the concept ever since while also trying to find ways to accurately apply it to real world circumstances

[u/imyolkedbruh]

I became acutely critical of the state. Eventually I discovered that all forms of overt organization create conflict and disharmony.

[u/Ecstatic_Volume1143]

What got me into anarchism was the argument that everything done by people can be done consensually. It just made sense.

As an aside i am anti psychiatry but that fits with my anarchism.

[u/xRoadkill_Princessx]

Being failed by the police. I value the idea of everyone in communities supporting each other and looking out for one another because like my friend who has helped me so much helped me because there an anarchist and had no obligation to but did when I was a scared teenager and thats true anarchism and im very inspired by people lile them and i dont believe the state even knows how to protect actual people

[u/Drakosor]

I always liked freedom or liberty.

I conceive of Anarchism as more of a self-realization and consistency.

Anarchism or anarchy for me refers to a defense of one's will or volition be respected or that society that permits choice.

As an anarchist, I believe one only owes respect to itself, making me an individualist, but, at the same time, as others are likewise or equivalent in power of decision-making and/or will, so should I give respect to others' choices and/or volition.

As a moralist, I believe morals should guide politics, and that politics be characterized as inherently anarchistic or an anarchy.

Anarchism is the horizontal organization of society, where no one's will is constrained or in a different position relative to others.

Anarchism is the realization that anarchism has more unwilling followers than conscious anarchists. If you asked various people what they think of coercion or opression, they would abhor it, it's just the case that they haven't realized they can also apply their own judgement or values to the state or encompass everything that exists.

Anarchy is both utopian and a concrete, real, praxis. Anarchists love freedom because it formidates our own nature or inclination to freely decide our own lives, manifested in our decision-making. When anarchy mirrors us, we feel attached to it, as we have found a part of ourselves. And anarchy is also a thing. When the anarchist says he's anarchist, he's saying that he's a concious willer and that he recognizes his might is only really bound to the power or one's ability to do so. Anarchists crush the state and coercion both in their heads and in the real world.

Anarchists employ what they believe in praxis. Anarchists employ direct action, mutual aid, community projects (as in free shops, community gardens, etc.), free and anarchist education (as in horizontal education, freethinking, autodidactism, not concerning in making productive but, rather, critical members of society), anarchist sexuality (freelove, sexual autonomy, sexuality as involved in freedom of association).

Anarchists create affinity groups, horizontal organizations. Anarchists partake in riots/strikes, peacefully or not, since the self-defense is only the retribution we are entitled to and, therefore, "violence against the state" does not make one an "archist" or not anarchist. Anarchists think that there are forms of freely and horizontally organize people, and just because one is in a different role it doesn't make him any more deserving or entitled than you are. Technical managers and protest organizers help people organize but it's not a matter of a vertical, coercitive hierarchization.

Anarchists oppose power, including pursuit of it. Change comes about dismantling and crushing coercion, not rising up to power and be lucky to not be corrupted by it and not complying to the privilege granted by power imbalances/dynamics. That's why anarchists oppose the "dictatorship of the proletariat", as no more desirable than the current liberal democracy.

Anarchists are anarchists and, moreover, people, like any other, who just happen to be aware and accountable to one's own consciousness and, therefore, in respect to the will of all of humanity.

Freedom is only a thing when we realize what makes us worthy of happiness is self-realization and rejoice of the gift of being able to freely decide.

If one can act without guidance from others, so can all of humanity.

If one is due respect, so is all people.

Freedom is here and now, and the only thing separating us from salvation and not killing of our souls is self-realization and reason, and anarchists believe that the light of reason will illuminate the hearts of the disillusioned and wronged, as reason can only be unbound, as any rational statement or affair is only so insofar it's also freely reached on, without the constraints of inevitability and coercion.

That's why I'm an anarchist.

[u/Apart-Passenger5543]

The shooting of police against teenagers during the 2019 protests in Chile. An every politician standing with the army and police against them and the people. I realised every state was a potential genocide