I'm not surprised that the article "Mass Society" was not signed by the member of the "Wildfire Collective" who penned it. I, too, would be ashamed of putting my name to such nonsense. Strong words, I know, but justified given the self-contradictory and superficial arguments this article inflicts on its readers.
Our anonymous comrade (whom I will call WF) seems to have taken all the traditional arguments against anarchism and turned them into arguments for "primitivism." "Anarchism cannot work in complex societies"? Correct. "Organisation equals government"? Of course. "Society equals the state"? You bet! "Modern society requires bureaucracy." Indeed. "No one will work"? Right! How depressing reading an anarchist confirm all the common prejudices against anarchism.
And the alternative? That is not defined but in the "immediate term" we get "small scale land-based culture," based on the smallest group possible. I doubt many people in the West will embrace this return to peasant life. Rather, they would embrace the inequalities and oppression of capitalism and statism, given the alternative. With enemies like these, the current system really does not need friends!
Then there is the incredible level of self-contradiction. WF opines that "why should people's actions be defined by the resources they live near" yet fails to recognise that the small-scale groups they favour will, by necessity, be defined so. It is asserted that "no community would be beholden to any other" while talking about "our shared future world." But such groups need not share anything, unless they have something "defined by the resources they live near" which others do not. Then they would "be beholden to an external need," which is bad. And WF talks about "establishing a truly global classless human relations" while making communication beyond a few days walk impossible! Which makes their opposition to "cultural Pangea" quite ironic: their "small groups" will only see the few "cultures" nearest them.
Then there is their wondering of "who's going down the mine." They answer "Me? No thanks!" Ironically, WF does not offer that option to those who do not wish to live in self-sufficient small groups. Even more ironically WF refuses those in the "global south" any choice in what kind of society they want while also arguing that other anarchists seek a similar bland globalised world as capitalism and cannot see beyond the "western model." Indeed, a successful anarchist revolution in the west would be imperialist, "export[ing 'civilisation'] to these denied its 'wonders.'" But perhaps this exposes an awareness that people in the "majority world" do not particularly like many aspects of their lives and seek improvements (e.g. clean water and basic medicines) in their living conditions? As for the level of technology and industry they would like, well, I think true anarchists should let them decide that themselves rather than seeking to impose primitivist fantasies onto them.
So WFs vision of the future is as contradictory as it is unappealing. What of their critique of traditional anarchism? That, too, is lacking. Talking of London, WF argues that "if the city stays" then it "cannot and will not be anarchist" due to the size of the population and the resources and organisation required. In return, I ask, how will WF get rid of London? WF claims that organising a city the size of London would be "a fucking nightmare" yet singularly fails to talk about the real fucking nightmare of what will happen to these 8 million people? Why should they leave the city? How? Where to? Can all 8 million, never mind the other 50 million, attempt to live the life "primitivism" asserts is in their interests to live on these islands?
If London "stays" WF wonders if "those in the 'countryside' still have to provide food for the beast"? By "the beast" I assume WF means the 8 million people of London. So, for WF, is the enemy the mass of the population? Apparently so. And I wonder how "those in the 'countryside'" would appreciate a mass influx of millions of starving city folk, driven from the city by who knows what? But why let little issues like mass starvation and what people want and desire get in the way of the primitivist utopia?
What of WF's argument that it is impossible to organise a city the size of London in a libertarian fashion? He wonders where all the delegates would meet. But why assume that all the delegates would have to meet or discuss all the many issues of the population. Many issues would be in the hands of those most affected and not require wider discussion. Most communication of needs would be direct. A community would contact workplace A for supplies, which would contact workplace B to arrange inputs, and so forth. For co-ordination of wider activity, there would be delegates of federations so cutting down on the number having to meet substantially. And as for FC's pondering of how "those in the Global North [can] communicate let alone convince a community in the Global South" not to "harness nuclear energy," have they not heard of e-mail, telephones, letters, petitions, sending delegates by plane? Or forms of direct action as the boycott, the strike? Or even protest marches? Or raising a protest motion at the appropriate federation congress?
So how would our "community's voice [be] heard"? In the same way as the rest, by an elected, mandated and recallable delegate. Impossible? It worked during the French and Spanish revolutions and in the recent revolt in Argentina and would, I suggest, work far better than any primitivist alternative. Such a system will involve reaching agreements with others and so compromise, but freedom is not some immature desire to always get your way. That is the atomised, narrow and self-defeating individualism promoted by capitalism, not the social freedom desired by libertarians.
Popular self-management would apply in industry too. WF states that "workers control" means "placing technologies and skills in the hands of the few." Actually, it means the opposite, i.e. workers' controlling the technologies and skills they use rather than letting bosses (the few) do so. As for it being "enforced divided labour" and "workers self-exploitation" WF is really abusing the meaning of words. Yes, things will need to be produced and different tasks will involve different work but if this is "enforced divided labour" then so is all productive activity, including that in WF's "small-scale" groups. Or perhaps the work required to get food is not "enforced" as the alternative is starvation? If so, then say hello to the usual capitalist defence of wage slavery!
Non-primitivist anarchists know that production "will continue to need raw resources to be built." Yes, this will cause ecological destruction. But so will the ecological destruction caused by the breakdown of civilisation WF desires: nuclear meltdowns, toxic waste and oil slicks caused by abandoned industry, all the other legacies of industrial society, which (like the ruling class) will not just disappear. We will need to handle such problems while transforming society. And this is where the "industrial progression" WF dismisses out of hand comes into play. They cannot see that technology can be used by those who work to make it easier and reduce/eliminate the most unpleasant aspects of it. People can see the impact of their activity and would change things to minimise it. Yes, solar panels will use resources but they are less ecologically destructive than coal fires in every home. Which is, of course, "progress". Would WF, as a true believer in anti-progress, oppose developments which save resources and reduce pollution?
Which exposes another problem with primitivism. It is the mirror image capitalist worship of progress (for one it's good, the other evil). They are two-sides of the same, anti-human, coin. Anarchists see progress in a more complex light. It is surely a truism that "progress" under a hierarchical society will be shaped by the equalities of power in it. This means that progress is not as neutral as either capitalists or technophobes like to suggest. Rather than the quasi-religious opposition to "progress" we should be using our minds, evaluating the costs and benefits of specific concrete forms of technology and production, seeking ways of improving and changing them and, perhaps, getting rid of some of them totally. Something anarchists have long argued people who are creating and living in a free society would do.
Ultimately, WF exposes the core problem with primitivism. For them, technology, "mass society" and "civilisation" are neutral. For the primitivist, all these things are inherently "bad" and so independent of the desires of the people affected by them and the system they are part of. However, once we realise that these things are not neutral we can see the way out. We can see that workers' control is not "self-exploitation" but rather the first step in modifying technology and production to ecologise and humanise it. Similarly, the self-organisation and mass participation required by social struggle and revolution are the first steps in humanising society and civilising a "civilisation" distorted by the barbarism of capitalism and the state. And this new society would be take the best of existing cultures, technologies and skills to help produce a world of unique individuals who live in diverse communities and experience diverse cultures and ideas.
To end, WF complains that "the left claim these primitivists want Mad Max dystopias." On the evidence of this article, I can only surmise that "the left" is right on this one.
Iain McKay