Anarchy and Nihilism: Consequences

14 Pages·2012·0.08 MB·English

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Anarchy and Nihilism:
Consequences
Aragorn!
Aragorn!
AnarchyandNihilism:Consequences
RetrievedonMarch2nd,2009frompistolsdrawn.org.
ProofreadonlinesourceRevoltLib.com,retrievedonJuly12,
2020.
theanarchistlibrary.org

Contents
IntroductiontoConsequences . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Chapter1:Consequences—Onrevolutionarydespair 6
Chapter2:NihilismandScience 10
Howisinquirylimited? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Whatformshouldourskepticismtake? . . . . . . . 13
Skepticismascends! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Chapter3:Nowisthetime(andyetwewait)! 17
Chapter 4: When all Dictionaries are burned, will
westartover? 21
3

PositiveProgram Introduction to Consequences
Shorthand for a positive program for social change, a pos-
Thisisthesecondinaseriesofpamphletsthatdrawconnec-
itive program is one that confuses desire with reality and ex-
tionsbetweenthetraditionofthepoliticalnihilisttendencyof
tendsthatconfusionintothefuture.Inthecaseofradicalsthis 19th centuryCzaristRussiaandcurrentanarchistthought.
usually takes the form of stating programs along the lines of As Nihilism, Anarchy, and the 21st Century (the first
“ATR there will be no hunger” at worst and “The abolishment
pamphletintheseries)beggedthequestionofwhatrelevance
ofclasssocietywillresultinrelationswithoutlimit”atitsbest.
nihilism has to anarchy it could be argued that these essays
Apositiveprogramisanidealistlegacythatformsthecoreof
beg the opposite question. What does anarchy have to offer
mostrevolutionarythought.
nihilism?
That the range of anarchists includes the clowns from
Causality protest alley, micrometer-toting specialists of oppression-
identification, and Marxists who wear black flags isn’t a
Thebeliefthatoneeventfollowinganothernecessitatestheir
condemnationofanarchistideasbutisasignificantreasonfor
relationshipiserroneous,aspositedbyHume.Ifcausalitycan-
pause. In that pause we have to challenge our assumptions
notbeassumed,orevenacceptedifargued,theefficacyofmost
about anarchy. What do we really share with others in the
politicalformsislimited,particularlyasawaytotransformthe
big-tent(orshoulditbecalledacircustent)ofanarchism?
world.
Theseessaysareincreasinglyspecific.Perhapsthiswillgive
morepeopleatoe-holdsothattheyscaletheirownheights.At
ATR
theendoftheseessaysthereisaspecificinvitation.
AftertheRevolution There have been several opportunities for me to speak on
nihilismoverthepasttwoyears.Whathasbeensurprisingin
Revolution thattimehasn’tbeentheapparentantagonismbutthequietin-
terestandexcitement.Itisstillunclearhowthisinterestisgo-
The limited desire to change the world as modeled by the
ingtomaterializeintoadiscretepractice,butIwon’tbealone
French Revolution. The Good News: Heads will roll. The Bad:
inansweringthatquestion.
TheBureaucratswinintheend.
Aragorn!
Body
POBox3920,BerkeleyCA94703
Abodycanbeanindividual.Itcanbeagroupofindividuals.
Itcanbeaculturalorsocialunit.Itcanalsobeunderstoodas
a philosophical unit, a black box that accepts input from the
worldandrespondsinkind.Itisnotknownbutknowing.
24 5
Power
Hyphenated power doesn’t avoid the problem that power
raisesbuttriestoshiftitsomewhereelse.Wecan,do,andwill
Chapter 1: Consequences — continue to hurt, dominate, and manipulate one another. We
are creatures of power. To the extent that we do take respon-
On revolutionary despair sibility for this it looks like shame. This confuses power with
Christianity.
A nihilist is a person who does not bow down to Hope
any authority, who does not accept any principle
Thiscoinhastwosidesthatcan’tbeseparated:expectation
on faith, however much that principle may be
anddesire.
revered.
Arkady
ExistentialNihilism
1. There is not a liberating vision for humanity. Every so- Anexistentialnihilistremainsatanimpasseregardingava-
calledrevolutionaryatbestfailsandatworstestablishes rietyofcoreissues.Ifwecannotknowanythingthenhowcan
yetanotherfiefdom.Therhetoricofliberationmakesfor we make choices? When Nietzsche talked of nihilism this is
greatbedtimestories,keepsstarry-eyeddreamerswarm what he was referring to. The trajectory of Western thought
atnight,andshouldbeseenforexactlywhatitis.Charla- leadstounknowablequestionsandparalysis.
tanseitherbelievethattheyspeakfortheoppressedand
that the weight of their opinion is greater because they StrategicNihilism
summon the power of representation, or that they are
Revolutionary programs deserve the snickers that they get.
thefirstonestocomeupwiththeideasthattheyhave.
The idea that yet another manifesto (YAM) or mission state-
2. Theideaofasingular,recursive,oriterativeapproachto mentoractionplanisgoingtomakethetiredactivismofanew
positive social change works better in a classroom than generationsmellslessofthedeathitwrapsarounditsneckis
inlivedexperience.Thekindofsocialsciencethatresults ludicrous. Strategic nihilism argues for a new approach to so-
fromtheseexplorationsresemblesasecularmonotheism. cialtransformationthatresemblestheburningofafieldrather
Asanorganizationofsociety,oramodelingofthetrans- thanbuildingthenewworldwithintheshelloftheoldorone
formationofsociety,apocalypsehasalongtrackrecord lastpushbytheworkingclasstoseizethemeansofproduction.
anditisentirelyreactionary.Thisistosaythatwhether An approach that concerns itself with exactly what the forms
called an insurrection, a revolution, a singularity, or a ofsocialcontrolareandtheirsuppressionfallsfarastrayfrom
collapse,asimilarthingisintended:moreofthesame. modelsofrecruitment,education,progress,orthecrossedfin-
gersthatthenextriotwillbetheBigone.
6 23
beyond comprehension. This being the case, and as the desire 3. Isthequietmiseryofdailylifepreferabletoareactionary
ofconsciousbodiesistounderstand,aframeofreferencetobe- rupture? The lesson of the German Revolution (1918–
gintoimpacttheworldcanbebasedononeoftwooptions.Ei- 1919)isthelessonofhistoricalAnarchism:gloriousfail-
thershrinktheworldthatyoudesiretounderstandandtouch ure.WhetheritisFrance,Spain,Germany,orRussiathe
or assert yourself onto a world gone mad in such a way as to story of social revolution has not been one of triumph.
transformscale.Institutions,ideologies,systems,schools,fam- Instead,andatbest,ithasbeenasetofstoriesaboutmo-
ily,capital,governmentandrevolutionarymovementshaveall mentsworthliving.
developedbeyondthebody.Nihilistanarchismisn’tconcerned
4. How many lives are we willing to sacrifice for our
withasocialrevolutionthataddsanewchaptertoanoldhis-
moment? Shall we stack them for barricades? Fill the
torybuttheendingofhistoryaltogether.Ifnotrevolutionaries
trenches with them after the tanks roll in? Use their
then possibly epochanaries, for the transformation of society
bloodtowritethehistorybooksthattellofourglorious
withoutapositiveprogram.
time?
PhilosophicalNihilism 5. Nechayevdidnottellushowtobegoodpeople.Hiscon-
cept of an army, or even a secret society, of revolution-
The answer to the existential question about what is know-
ary supermen is laughable, but perhaps the reason for
ableis,nothing.
laughter isn’t immediately clear. Lenin was clear how
much the Catechism influenced his thought. It was The
PassiveNihilism
Princefortherevolutionaryset.TheCatechismprovides
Ifthefutureisunknowableweareconfrontedwithachoice. a moral roadmap, an action plan that has demonstrable
Whenallweknowisterrormanystopmakingchoices.People results.Listyourhumantargetsinorderoftheircrimes,
break.Ifyouhaveeverbeenconfrontedbythealarmclockand hardenyourself,andeliminatethesetargetsinorder.The
justshutitoffandpulledthecoveroveryourheadyouknow greatestcriminalsarethefirsteliminated.
passivenihilism.Thepainofresisting,ofbeingthefalseoppo-
6. Psychologyhasmadetheroleofsupermananembarrass-
sition, or the purged, justifies a thousand no’s. A million. The
ingone.Thesocialmilieuofradicalismonlyallowsroom
passive nihilist no longer has hope that their participation is
forsensitiveinhumansuccessstories.Brokenpeopleare
necessaryfortheworldtokeepspinning.
highlyfavoredaslongastheyarebrokenalongthelines
ofsurvivalandpoliteness.TheNechayevsoftodayfade
Life
out of sight after no greater crimes than petty larceny
Isaterrorizedbodyliving? and broken hearts. The Machiavellis implement simple
strategiestomakesurethesupermenstayoccupiedwith
irrelevancies.
22 7
7. Revolutionary strategy is a failure from the perspective
ofprovidingamechanismtogetfromheretothere.This
is not to say that there is not the possibility of wide so-
cialtransformationbutthattotheextentthatitfollows
Chapter 4: When all
the lead of the glorious losers (anarchists), Nechys, or
Micheals of the past it will fail in succeeding either on
Dictionaries are burned, will
itsowntermsoronthetermsofbeingaliberatedsocial
change.
we start over?
8. Thisisnottosaythatwearefreeorsatisfied.Weareat
an impasse. This impasse is one part frustration at the
rhetoricoftransitionavailabletous(withoutwordsitis ActiveNihilism
hard to understand where one is or where others are),
As foretold by Raoul Vaneigem in Revolution of Everyday
anotherpartangeratthegrindingdeathofadenatured
Life,“Thereisnoconsciousnessoftranscendencewithoutcon-
daily life and another part ennui at the futility of our
sciousness of decomposition.” The active nihilist sees in the
social or political power. Without the ability to control
unknownfutureanddespairatourcurrentsituation,acallto
ourownlife,politicalaction,andsocialrelationships,our
arms.Anactivenihilistfindsenergy,awilltoact,inthehope-
vividimaginationlayfallow.Thereisnothingtoeathere
lessness of the conforming, rigid, asphyxiation of our society.
butagraypastethatkeepsusalive.Butforwhat?
Meaning is found in approaching the void rather than in the
falseknowledgeofwhatisontheothersideofit.
9. This problem extends to the west generally. We under-
standthatpastformulationsareoutofdate.Welackfor
newones. Terror
The primary modality of class society, whether it is by vi-
10. New efforts are being made but they are orthogonal to
olence, hunger, or the threat of the elements. If every object,
the approach of the humanist West. They are, to put it
person,andmomentisforsale,ifthereisnothingoutside,then
gently,moreseverethanthevaluesandtheoryofmoder-
thereisabjectterror.Whenlivingisacontemptibleact,itister-
nityallowfor.Theyare,ultimately,goalless.Theseareac-
ror.Whatistheoppositeofthis?
tionsthatareinterpretedbyothersbutmovesorapidly
as to be entirely chased by the mullahs, fatwas, and an-
alysts. These new efforts are the language of the disen- NihilistAnarchism
franchised humanity. There is no hope. There are only
We are not drifts of snow moving through reality. Things
casualties.
havehappened.Choiceshavebeenmade.Thesechoicescanbe
evaluated,notfromatimelessdoctrinebutfromahumanscale.
Bythishumanscalethesize,thescope,ofthechoicesmadeis
8 21
actualpowerbrokerswhoenacttheirideasisaparalyzingprob- 11. Thesuicidebomberisthemuseofourtime.Theydonot
lem. inspireustosingoffreedom,justice,anddignitybutof
What’snextthen?Iftherearenocastlewallsbecausedom- consequence.
ination has found a way to succeed without necessarily mate-
rializing,thenourprojectnolongerlookslikeasiege.Ifvirtu-
alizationhasbecomepartandparcelofthedominancematrix
thensinglepointsofattackarenolongereffective.Thereisno
letterbomblargeenough.
The simple answer is that we have to be patient. We have
to have an engaged patience that is incomprehensible to the
lethargyoftherevolutionaryleft.Ourroleshouldnotbetolay
inwaitforsomemarktocomestumblingalongbecausethatis
nevergoingtohappen.Insteadwemusthavetotalengagement
inthesocialandpoliticalprocessesaroundus.Nothingshould
escapeourattention.Thiscouldlooklike,andisnotlimitedto,
attendingchurch(especiallypoliticallyactivechurches),going
to shareholder meetings, attending city council, toasters, Elks
lodges,civicorganizationsandevenleftistmeetings.Theidea
isnotthatoureffortsshouldbeparticularlysupportiveoreven
destructivetothesegroups(althoughpushingtheboundaryin
bothdirectionsshouldbepartoftheprocess)buttounderstand
how it is that modern acculturated civil society works. What
doesasocialgrouplooklikeandhowdoesitreacttothekindof
stimulusthatcanbebroughttobear?Ifyouplaythegamehow
easyisittointegrateintoanorganizationalform?Towhatex-
tentdotheseformsaccruepower,negligenceandmomentum?
Weneedmoreinformation.
20 9
is mostly a rhetorical device alluding to something obvious
(if you accept the premise). If the world is indeed media
rich, cybernetic, illusory, and entirely without mooring on
the foundations of the 19th century, including 19th century
Chapter 2: Nihilism and
prejudices about labor and progress, then engaging with it
must be in this new vocabulary. If you do not accept this, if
Science
yourecognizeitasatragicmisreadingofDebord,mostofthe
consequences of thinking of culture-as—transformative-lever
canbeseenasbasedonafaultypremise.
There is the history of nihilism that idealized natural sci-
This is how postmodernism works. It takes a premise, let’s
encesasasinglesolutiontothequestionofmaterialexistence
say that “Everything that was directly lived has receded into
withoutGodandanotherthatwouldcritiquescienceuponem-
arepresentation”(Debord)andturnitaround“Representation
pirical,ideological,andethicalgrounds.
iseverythingdirectlylived”andyouhaveaclearargumentfor
non-engagement.Whybotherlivingintimeandspace?Iflife
“A decent chemist is twenty times more useful
ismerelyrepresentationthenmediaislivingonagreaterscale
thananypoet,”
thanwouldbeotherwisepossible.
Bazarov I recently attended a speech where one of the questions
asked of the presenter, who was arguing against represen-
The history of nihilism is of a moment in time. Russia in tation generally, went along these lines. “I am a computer
the1860swas asuffocating place.Themajority ofthe popula- graphics student and I have spent long days precisely mea-
tionwereserfsbreakingundertheirnewfreedom(tomakepay- suring and evaluating a blade of grass with the goal of
mentstotheirformerlordsbydecreeoftheCzarinexchange reproducingtheformwithinthecomputerenvironment.How
forworkingtheirland)orchokingunderthesuperstitionand can you say that my work, both in the observing and the
conservatism of the Orthodox Church. Russia was also at a reproducing,iswrong?”Thisisaclassicexampleofaccepting
crossroads: having proven itself among the great empires of the premise and basing, in this case, an entire career and life
EuropeafterthedefeatofNapoleonitalsofounditselfanintel- path on it. If we live in a media environment then oh, what
lectualbackwater.Verylittleofthedemocraticunrestthathad a time savings that I myself do not have to go to a field to
affected the Continent had consequence in Russia. Even Czar experiencesomethingcalled field.Instead Icandownloadthe
AlexanderII’sdramaticmoveoffreeingtheserfswasmoremo- FieldExperiencevolume1andknowfield.Whoareyoutotell
tivatedbyhisromanticsensibilityafterhavingreadTurgenev’s medifferently?Doyouhaveownershipoftheconceptoffield
“A Sportsman’s Sketches” than an urge to transform Russian thatyouwouldlordoverme?
society. The point being made here is simply this: abandonment of
As a consequence of this environment historic nihilism understanding the mechanisms of control disarms us. In the
embraced positions that we could largely understand as caseofpostmodernism,confusingasetofacademicswiththe
reactionaryratherthanasintentional.(Thisissomethingthat
10 19