A-Infos (en) The Continuing Appeal of Authoritarianism (for ex members of Love and Rage Revolutionary Anarchist Federation)

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       by Sarah Jane Smith
       The Love and Rage Revolutionary
       Anarchist Federation broke up in 1998.
       The Fire by Night Organizing Committee
       formed from the feuds that broke it up.
       This was the only formal organization that
       emerged directly from Love and Rage at
       that time, although it is not the only
       political direction that came out of its end.

       Anarchist organizations in the US hold
       many theories about anarchism and
       revolution. Love and Rage was one piece
       of this in its eight year existence. The
       organization took seriously the
       development of a strategy for revolution.
       During this process, some members
       decided that some basic tenets of
       anarchism were untenable.

       Fire by Night is not an anarchist
       organization, but in the statement
       announcing the break-up of Love and
       Rage and the formation of Fire by Night,
       founding members said that several of
       them were still anarchists and committed
       to anti-authoritarian and anti-statist
       strategies. In August 1999, however, Fire
       by Night published their Points of Unity in
       which they state that as an organization
       they "no longer believe that anarchism
       offers an adequate framework for
       answering the real problems that confront
       the revolutionary project."

       Further explanation of Fire by Night's
       critiques of anarchism are in their
       pamphlet After Winter Must Come Spring:
       a Self-Critical Evaluation of the Life and
       Death of the Love and Rage Revolutionary
       anarchist Federation. According to Fire by
       Night's analysis, some major points of
       contention in the split were attitudes
       toward white supremacy, anti-statism, and
       anarchism's lack of theoretical
       development in terms of organizing and
       revolutionary strategy. In After Winter Fire
       by Night states its intention to study
       revolutionary and radical movements in
       order to draw conclusions about the
       possibilities for revolution in the US. Points
       of Unity is the result of these studies.

       As an organization containing many
       former anarchists, what did Fire by Night
       offer that could not be found in anarchist
       organizations?

       What They Have to Say
       Many groups have complained that the
       anarchist movement is white,
       male-dominated, and largely middle class.
       In After Winter, Fire by Night cites this as
       a problem in Love and Rage and discusses
       their efforts to change this. Fire by Night
       sees lack of clarity and theoretical unity as
       the major culprit.

       In Points of Unity, they put forward an
       analysis of the functioning of white
       supremacy in the US. Fire by Night makes
       clear that they view the struggle against
       white supremacy as primary in the
       struggle for revolutionary change. They do
       not discuss how they plan to put this into
       practice other than by "participating in
       mass struggles."

       In After Winter Fire by Night cites Love
       and Rage's lack of clear analysis of white
       supremacy and white skin privilege and
       lack of an organizational strategy as the
       barrier to the development of a "genuinely
       multi-racial revolutionary anarchist
       organization." The "clear analysis"
       presented in Points of Unity would
       presumably clear up this blockage in their
       path. The examples in After Winter are
       concerning ideas printed in Love and
       Rage's newspaper. They do not inclide an
       in depth critique of Love and Rage's
       actions and have not proposed an
       organizational strategy or any clear course
       of action for making the work of the
       organization anti-racist except that they
       will "support the liberation struggles of
       oppressed nationalities."

       Anarchist organizations besides Love and
       Rage have shown emphasis on anti-racist
       issues in their work. At the time of Love
       and Rage's break-up another grouping
       within the organization put out a
       document entitled Towards a Fresh
       Revolutionary Anarchist Group which
       shows a similar emphasis and proposed
       that groups focus their work in Anti-Racist
       Action collectives as a means of putting
       that into practice. Some Anarchist Black
       Cross collectives have focused work on
       prisons and political prisoners based on an
       analysis of prisons as part of the
       machinery of institutionalized white
       supremacy. These specific projects and
       others can raise issues and questions
       about how one goes about challenging
       white supremacy and the effectiveness of
       various methods, but this is not unique to
       anarchism and is not addressed in Points
       of Unity.

       Fire by Night's analysis in Points of Unity
       does not offer anything new. In After
       Winter, Fire by Night complains that
       anarchists of color were marginalized in
       Love and Rage. They do not include those
       voices or any critiques in their analysis.
       We do not even hear about why they were
       marginalized. Fire by Night has chosen to
       leave behind real struggles and experience
       in favor of creating a new idealized theory.

       The critique of white supremacy offers no
       plan of action other than removed
       "support." What Fire by Night seems to
       miss in its criticism is the power of action.
       Love and Rage, the Network of Anarchist
       Collectives, Anarchist Black Cross, and
       other anarchist organizations and
       organizing projects that anarchists have
       been involved in have led to concrete if
       unarticulated strategic developments
       towards building an anarchism that can
       defeat white supremacy. We need more
       mechanisms that can draw out and
       document the voices and ideas of these
       projects and organizers so we can build on
       them, not reject them if we do not see
       clear strategic intentions.

       Not Anarchist Enough
       Fire by Night diverges strongly from
       anarchist groups in how it proposes to
       change our current society into one that
       can build freedom. In After Winter, Fire by
       Night complains of Love and Rage's and
       anarchism in general's lack of organizing
       method and theory. Fire by Night offers a
       debt to anarchism's "vision of radical
       participatory democracy," but how to
       make this real has become very different
       in their development of an organizing
       strategy.

       There are themes in anarchist organizing
       efforts. In almost any anarchist mission
       statement/points of unity, primary
       elements are mutual aid, anti-statism and
       social self-organization. Mutual aid and
       communication among anarchists and as a
       means of putting out anarchist ideas are
       present in the mission statements of the
       Network of Anarchist Collectives and the
       Atlantic Anarchist Circle. Collectives or
       local groups are the main focus of political
       development and work. Organizing
       strategies and revolutionary goals are
       expected to develop within these
       collectives. Whether the strategies and
       goals actually get developed is another
       question, and anarchists could certainly
       stand to explore this further, pushing
       ourselves to document and build together
       working theories that are our own and
       that confront authoritarianism. Some
       attempts have been made such as NAC's
       Dis/Connection magazine, and the
       Community Organizing Core that
       developed out of the Active Resistance
       conference in 1996.

       Fire by Night's alternative is to find the
       path to revolution "through direct
       participation in mass
       struggles...revolutionary theory must
       continuously be tested in practice and
       modified in the light of new experiences."
       In After Winter they say that their
       organizing strategy developed from a
       combination of what they call "the
       Zapatista theory of Mandar Obedeciendo
       or 'leading by obeying,' which shares much
       in common with Paolo Friere's ideas on
       pedagogy and the Maoist theory of Mass
       Line," although in their description it bears
       much more similarity to Mass Line theory
       than either of the others: Fire by Night
       states that "revolutionaries should, in
       struggle with the people, draw out the
       revolutionary content in how they already
       understand their conditions.... Through the
       constant repetition of this process a more
       fully developed revolutionary
       consciousness emerges."

       Mandar Obedeciendo is a principle that has
       long been used by Mayan communities.
       Leaders are elected to fulfill a role and if
       they do not obey that mandate they are
       immediately recallable by the
       communities. Friere's ideas on pedagogy
       do bear many similarities to Mao's Mass
       line, but he also includes concepts which
       critique the roles of leader and teacher.
       Many anarchists have also been inspired
       by the Zapatistas and Friere, but they
       have drawn different lessons than
       reinforcement of Maoist organizing
       strategies.

       Fire by Night is presumably attempting to
       fill holes that are left by anarchism's "lack
       of method." The organizing theory that
       they put forward is not new or very well
       developed. The theory put forward in After
       Winter cites very few organizing concepts,
       none of which were developed in contexts
       similar to the US. Points of Unity repeats
       what Fire by Night sees as one of the
       failures of anarchism by not putting
       forward a developed method for
       revolutionary organizing or a defined
       strategy for developing one.

       The Final Section
       The most glaring and obvious differences
       between anarchists and Fire by Night
       emerge in the final section of Points of
       Unity, "Civil Society and the Revolutionary
       State." They critique the state, asserting
       that it is "above all else an instrument of
       class rule...(it is) alienated from and
       operates above civil society...(and) it
       makes self-preservation its highest
       priority," yet in the same section assert
       that in overthrowing the existing class rule
       we need to create a socialist state which
       can create a more egalitarian society. How
       this state will finally be done away with is
       through a second revolution which
       happens after the socialist state somehow
       allows the "creation of a vibrant civil
       society of autonomous organization."

       Fire by Night does not even attempt to
       deal with any of the challenges that
       anarchism poses to such theories in these
       points of unity. How the transition from
       bad state to good state to no state
       happens is not addressed except that each
       will be a violent revolution. Questions of
       developing critical consciousness and
       participation among "the masses" are not
       addressed except in the mention of
       needing a "vibrant civil society." There is
       only a vague description of how civil
       society will participate. In history,
       transitional governments established in
       communist revolutions have been no
       better than capitalist states. They have
       suppressed or controlled the rebellions and
       organizing efforts of civil society, rather
       than allowing it to become "vibrant." Fire
       by Night offers no explanation as to why
       the socialist state they imagine would be
       any different.Although in After Winter they
       state an intention to "ruthlessly attack the
       flaws in all existing revolutionary theory
       and search for the ideas that can be
       used," they do not seem to have searched
       very far, or attacked very hard.

       Work for Anarchists
       I admire Fire by Night's stated goals of
       anti-sectarianism and working to develop a
       strategy that learns from past struggles
       and current realities. Yet they do not offer
       anything that is well developed or very
       new in Points of Unity.

       In After Winter, Fire by Night packages
       eight years of experience into a neat
       analysis critiquing Love and Rage's and
       anarchism's lack of theoretical and
       strategic development. They have taken
       the path that many authoritarian
       communist parties have taken upon
       seizing state power—history has been
       retold through their eyes and to serve
       their purposes. The action and vitality of
       the anarchist movement disappears when
       they attempt to remove the messiness of
       it. In dismissing anarchism, Fire by Night
       has also dismissed complex lessons and
       the thoughtful and innovative thinking and
       work that can be created by
       anti-authoritarian processes.

       Issues of revolutionary strategy need to
       be addressed by anarchists, but I believe
       we can find anti-authoritarian answers.
       Fire by Night is right that we need to find
       ways to draw out these discussion in our
       work through collective process and
       struggle. Let's make sure that our
       discussions are deeper and more
       thoughtful than Fire by Night's.

       Since the publication of Points of Unity,
       Fire by Night has disbanded to merge with
       the Freedom Road Socialist Organization.


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