Fractious factions of fanatics.
I started thinking after a conversation the other day about the factional nature of the left wing. The bloke I was speaking to suggested the utopian nature of left wing politics means that each little left wing group is prone to infighting and as a whole, damned to constantly bicker. His reasoning seems solid, a perfect world has no room for deviance, otherwise it would cease to be utopia. There is an optimal and variation from this optimal is bad.
Now, I see the logic behind this. I guess I question the utopian nature of some, if not all, left wing politics. ( For the record, I'm talking proper left wing, not centre left bullshit in this country) For example, you find this infighting within Anarchist and libertarian movements, despite the fact that these differences are often economic in basis. For examples, all Anarchist can agree that we don't need a government, but will disagree how to group ourselves after said government is gone. You have Anarcho-Communists, Syndicalists, Primitivists, individualist and a bunch of others, who all think we should be free, but disagree over the optimal formula.
Its all a little bit mental for me, since as far as I'm concerned, if I live a particular lifestyle, everyone else can do what they like. So I'm something of an anarcho communist, but not deeply entrenched in that system. If the people the next village across wanted to live as anarcho-primitavists, then I see no problem with that. Assuming we have no government, we can undertake social contracts freely, and even these different lifestyles can co-operate and all prosper.
Now, I can stare off into the mist and envisage some wonderful utopian future and then wipe a tear from my eye, then berate some Syndicalists for a slightly different model of anarchism, or I can do the first part, work with a bunch of people who have only one thing in common with me, and hopefully we can all be happy when the big bad monster is defeated and I can have that little cottage I've always wanted.
I just don't see why, when we have so many fights we've never picked to deal with, we choose to fight amongst ourselves.
Now, I see the logic behind this. I guess I question the utopian nature of some, if not all, left wing politics. ( For the record, I'm talking proper left wing, not centre left bullshit in this country) For example, you find this infighting within Anarchist and libertarian movements, despite the fact that these differences are often economic in basis. For examples, all Anarchist can agree that we don't need a government, but will disagree how to group ourselves after said government is gone. You have Anarcho-Communists, Syndicalists, Primitivists, individualist and a bunch of others, who all think we should be free, but disagree over the optimal formula.
Its all a little bit mental for me, since as far as I'm concerned, if I live a particular lifestyle, everyone else can do what they like. So I'm something of an anarcho communist, but not deeply entrenched in that system. If the people the next village across wanted to live as anarcho-primitavists, then I see no problem with that. Assuming we have no government, we can undertake social contracts freely, and even these different lifestyles can co-operate and all prosper.
Now, I can stare off into the mist and envisage some wonderful utopian future and then wipe a tear from my eye, then berate some Syndicalists for a slightly different model of anarchism, or I can do the first part, work with a bunch of people who have only one thing in common with me, and hopefully we can all be happy when the big bad monster is defeated and I can have that little cottage I've always wanted.
I just don't see why, when we have so many fights we've never picked to deal with, we choose to fight amongst ourselves.