OK, so one weird thing about leftist blogging? People often ask some version of the old question, ‘what’s your ideology?’
With liberals, this means asking whether you’re a Democrat or [insulting term for the sectarian leftist group liberals are upset about today]. But I’m not going to spend much time on that.
I want to talk about the version leftists ask. Leftists might ask whether you’re an anarchist. Or a communist and/or Marxist-Leninist, Marxist-Leninist-Maoist, or Trotskyist. Or anarcho communist. And so on.
The truth is, I don’t spend much time worrying about such labels. Given the topic of my first book, that shouldn’t be a shock to some of you. Sure, I find the labels fun at times. Every now and then, I even learn a thing or two from them. But I try my best not to take them too seriously.
If anyone’s just curious about it, I take an approach to evaluating capitalism that’s consistent with Marxism. But I also think a Marxist analysis of capitalism is compatible with a wide range of approaches to politics. And so, I draw plenty of influence from several anarchist and communist traditions. I prefer working-class organizing that starts from a broad perspective – not only organizing rank-and-file workers, but also tenants, people of color, and international communities.
However, I don’t go so far as to center my politics on these other groups, in the way many Maoists do. And I consistently oppose authoritarianism in all its forms. I remain unimpressed by leftists who offer endless excuses for authoritarians.
So, from all these things, I’d note ‘anarcho communist’ as probably the best label. ‘Left communist‘ works about as well. But, really, I could also do without labels. If you simply must call this blog by one, then those are labels that don’t offend me.
