02. Terminology

Submitted by armillaria on November 1, 2014

A Note on terminology: The editors of this pamphlet tend not to use the words “activist” or “activism” to describe our class struggle activities. This is a for a variety of semantic and political reasons. However, we have chosen to use these terms in the pamphlet because (1) we know many dedicated class warriors do use such terms and (2) for stylistic reasons it makes more sense than using the terms “militants”, “comrades”, “revolutionaries”, etc., over and over again (a group of words in themselves which carry their own complicated connotations). For a more in-depth discussion of such terminology (which, in itself, may have implications for the mental health of those actively committed to the class struggle), see “Give Up Activism” (available online at: libcom.org/library/give-up-activism ).

Similarly, we’ve used the word libertarian in its historical sense: referring to the anti-state wing of the socialist movement. Obviously, it’s a travesty that the right is trying to claim such terminology as their own. It goes without saying that we are opposed to the ‘libertarianism’ of the Libertarian Party, the Tea Party movement, and that of the other free-market ideologues. Grammatically, word spellings have been left in their original form as submitted by various contributors. This means sometimes they’ll be an ‘ou’ in labour
and sometimes only an ‘o’. This should help to give a more authentic feel to the accounts and reflects the international scope of the project.

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