Thoughts on this idea?

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Puzzled_individual's picture
Puzzled_individual
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Feb 19 2012 00:02
Thoughts on this idea?

So thinking about why the movement never really grows, it occurs that the actual ideas that anarchism is based on are never presented, that is to say news papers do not touch on why capitalism doesn't work, the need for anarchism etc.
It seems that the lack of the actual ideas of our movement is the reason why we don't seem to get anywhere, the ideas are logical when clearly presented after all, but newspapers seem to just be anarchist propaganda for x strike and y event, and never the 'basic' ideas behind the movement.

So thinking of working with some friends to produce a paper based resource explaining anarchism, and other 'basic' concepts, that could be used by any and every libertarian communist organisation.

What do you make of the idea and the thoughts behind it?

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radicalgraffiti
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Feb 19 2012 00:09

there are already multiple leaflets and pamphlets explaining anarchism

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Serge Forward's picture
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Feb 19 2012 00:41

Here you go, Puzzled Individual, have a look here: http://www.afed.org.uk/publications/pamphlets-booklets.html

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HorrorHiro's picture
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Feb 19 2012 00:50

You should check this out.

http://anarchy101.org/

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Puzzled_individual's picture
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Feb 19 2012 19:06

Sorry, terrible terrible OP from me and i'm not sure if this one will be any better tongue

I know there are already pamphlets and leaflets out there to explain this stuff, but i think they should be given out alongside news papers, or even on their own, as opposed to being given a free paper, and not the ideas behind the movement. It seems to me news papers are brilliant propaganda, but propaganda alone and need something more to work. Essentially, here's how capitalism works, we're an organisation that fight against it.
This puts has some other requirements on a leaflet, it must be effectively worded, and short to cut down on resource usage.

I think the AF one does an OK job but it's lengthy and doesn't explain capitalism very well, i'm more a fan of the ragged trousered philanthropists 'great money trick' for explaining how capitalism works.
The website is certainly interesting for individual questions, might have to spend some time reading it later.

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Serge Forward's picture
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Feb 19 2012 19:14
Puzzled_individual wrote:
ragged trousered philanthropists 'great money trick' for explaining how capitalism works.

You mean summat like this?

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Feb 19 2012 19:34

Post link? Can't see the image sad ;(

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Serge Forward's picture
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Feb 19 2012 19:52

Fred Wright cartoon

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Puzzled_individual's picture
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Feb 19 2012 22:00

Oh, I've seen that before, Along the right lines, but needs more detail IMO.

It's OK in terms of expressing surplus value, but doesn't stack up against the ragged trousered philanthropists in terms of expressing the power relations that lead to it, as well as the money aspect of capitalism.

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Chilli Sauce's picture
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Feb 19 2012 23:03

Abolish Restaurants

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Puzzled_individual's picture
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Feb 20 2012 00:07

Love the Prole.info stuff, but same issue as with the Afed leaflet suggested earlier, too costly to print in any large numbers. Also the title 'abolish restaurants' was too much for my housemate, although she is very anti-political, likewise on the content, it is quite 'ultra-leftist' and abit of a turn off for liberals who might pick it up.

Been doing some thinking and what do you guys think of this?
A cycle diagram of how capitalism works, ie. Capitalist gets property, via force or money, employs people to work, pays them, workers buy stuff back, capitalists get more stuff, start over. Not sure about all the steps, that was just off the top of my head. There'd be some writing to back it, and answer some FAQ's as well. Thinking along the lines of showing capitalism as a whole system.

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noodlehead
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Feb 24 2012 15:36

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=2777754157161&set=a.2187225674318.119830.1057325634&type=1

hows that. its made by a wobbly in the states

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Ellar's picture
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Feb 24 2012 16:34
Quote:
So thinking about why the movement never really grows

Are we really that cynical? cos from my perspective the movement (in the UK at least) is growing a quite a rate and the anarchist movement certainly has grow to a huge size in the past.

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Feb 25 2012 00:44
Ellar wrote:
Quote:
So thinking about why the movement never really grows

Are we really that cynical? cos from my perspective the movement (in the UK at least) is growing a quite a rate and the anarchist movement certainly has grow to a huge size in the past.

Is the government there still having which hunts for anyone who opposes them? Namely Anarchists.

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Serge Forward's picture
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Feb 25 2012 01:01
HorrorHiro wrote:
Is the government there still having which hunts for anyone who opposes them? Namely Anarchists.

Surely, you mean 'what' hunts???

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Feb 25 2012 01:24

Mate, I wish we were in a situation where the government viewed anarchists as that much of a threat.

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Ellar's picture
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Feb 25 2012 11:37

We will only admit that anarchism is moving slowly out of the ghetto and becoming more popular once we're all in prison. wink

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cantdocartwheels's picture
cantdocartwheels
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Feb 26 2012 06:14

The OP is pretty much correct the 'anarchist movement' broadly speaking is very bad at explaining its ideas in a concrete form, often relying too much on vagueness, abstractions and an ad hoc fill-in-the-blanks type approach to things.
Plenty of pamphlets cover the general ideas,but not enough spend enough time demolishing bourgeois economics in laymans terms (ie not in academic marxist knots) and hardly anything covers the practicals of what an anarcho-communist society might look like (eg schools, hospitals, production, distribution, agriculture, transport etc). in the 21st century

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Puzzled_individual's picture
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Feb 26 2012 14:35

Not sure that was what the original post was about but it's something I agree with, the need for updated texts and examples of it in action. They certainly show that anarchism is

Is there an online list of available resources? In particular leaflets of like A4 size and less that can be given out as supplementary material, as well as a paper, but that don't have a huge financial burden attached to them? There's the Libcom library but there doesn't seem to be leaflets etc. on it from what i've seen.
If not do you think it's something that LibCom should look into?
It would reduce the repetition of designing leaflets that have been done before, and could be used to give feedback on what works, what doesn't, and allow us to update and improve them as appropriate.