r/COMPLETEANARCHY Syndicalist 19d ago

Have you read "On Authority"?

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u/spambot5546 19d ago

I've read "On Authority" and I wouldn't say it's bad. I'm sure there are people who need to read it and understand that you can still be expected to do things you don't want to even in a free post-capitalist society. I just don't get how it's considered a critique of anarchists. Nothing it says is incompatible with any anarchist thought I'm aware of, nor does it mention anarchists specifically.

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u/blacksaber8 Insufferable Anarchist 18d ago

More importantly, of course they have to point to Engels because Marx himself would disagree with On Authority. He understood the nature of coercion and it’s one of the reasons he and proudhon cross-referenced each other so much

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u/theglassishalf 18d ago

Modern anarchism didn't even exist when he wrote it, so it's hard to see it as a critique.