I'm curious to how people here became anarchists.
Here's some questions that can be useful:
How did you get into politics? Was it related to a conflict at work? Or was it something else?
Did you immediately become an anarchist or did you start from a different political ideology?
I got into politics in school. It had no connection to my own life, I wasn't working an awful job or not getting healthcare or something.
I was reading a history book that was extremely anti-communist. Churchill, someone I knew had said and done nasty things, was portrayed as a great person. So I started reading about Lenin. I got hooked by his anti-racism and anti-imperialism. I therefore adopted the rest of his views aswell.
I developed an obsession with Trotsky, whom I had heard of before becoming interested in politics. To me, Trotsky is a bit Christ-like: he was on the rise and then he got betrayed, exiled and murdered.
After a while, I started becoming a little ironic about Lenin and Trotsky. I started making and laughing at jokes about them and communism. I think that humour made me a little doubtful of what my opinions were. Was red terror justified? Was war communism justified? I grew more distant from Lenin and Trotsky.
I eventually started reading about the bolshevik ban on factions, and about how the Cheka tortured people. I had just handwaved the red terror previously, but I think reading about actual cases made me reconsider. That's when I started reading communist critiques of leninism. And that eventually led me to reading about anarchism.
I don't think I'm a "proper" anarchist for the moment, but I do wish for an anarchist society.