If we stop organising as anarchists and hesitate to spread the word of anarchism and substitute it for the easy way out (Or ‘easy way in’ depending on how you want to put it), that is for the broad-left, then we risk becoming something we are not, lefties. This does not, will not and can never earn us favour, respect nor admiration in the eyes of fellow working-class people.

I am not saying that we should remain in the anarchist ghetto, I despise that place, I just believe that we should promote and organise ourselves specifically as libertarian socialists in the broad sense and anarchists in the specific sense. We need to do this in an open and relevant, yet principled way to the wider working-class community. If we fail to do this (Not organising as anarchists) then what is the point of us being anarchists? I will tell you that there is none, we may as well simply be lefties. We can not organise as anarchists and promote anarchism whilst we are plugging leftist ideas instead of our own and promoting some leftist agenda in some leftist struggle or group. It is at best defeatism, compromise or the watering down of our ideas and objectives. Lefties and leftist ideas are fucking boring anyway!

In addition to this we should not tolerate upper and middle-class people dominating and controlling anarchist groups, campaigns, spaces and initiatives. Rightly we would not and should not tolerate non-black people trying to dominate and control the black liberation movement or men and straight people trying to dominate and control the women’s and gay liberation movements. So why should we tolerate and allow anarchism, the liberation movement of the working-class in general, to be controlled and dominated by people who are not working-class? We can have non-working-class allies just as the black, women’s and gay liberation movements can have sincere non-black, male and straight allies. However our allies should not be allowed to dominate, control, speak for or represent us. If an “ally” attempts to do those things then they are no ally at all. Middle and upper-class people should always be in the minority.

If we allow and tolerate this take over, and it is real and it is happening, then we have lost, the meaning and gravity of our struggle has been compromised, subverted and discredited which ultimately means we have been defeated. We will no longer reflect and represent who we are.