Questions about Lifestylism - Or, Why is CrimethInc. So Reviled?

[IllicitPopsicle]

Every time someone brings up the publishing collective CrimethInc., at least on this board, it seems to be inevitable that the words "Lifestylist" and "dumb punk" arise in some related post further down. I am still new here, and still relatively new to radical politics as it were, yet the terms slightly irk me.

I listen to punk rock music, and I am familiar with a large body of CrimethInc. works, yet I have done so separately from my research into classical anarchist/socialist theory. Do I classify as a "Lifestylist" anarchist because I read CrimethInc.?

The way I see it, CrimethInc. is a good jumping off point in contemporary anarchist theory, a place for confused and/or disaffected youth to discover the ideas behind anarchism and socialism (the latter to a lesser extent) and test the waters, so to speak. It may not be the end-all, be-all, but it's better than the late-80s movie SLC Punk! in regards to representing anarchism in a way that's not just advertising hedonism.

I dunno. That's just my thought on the matter.

[Yazman]

I don't mind them at all, and don't really see much in the way of problems there.

I also think a hell of a lot of people here are deeply entrenched in their long-since made resignations to never fighting anything in any way outside of rallies and electoral platforms.

Stuff like Crimethinc isn't the epitome of our movement by any stretch of the imagination. I have been active for a long time and I agree, those terms irk me too. I agree that such materials can be a good point for getting into revolutionary left theory.

[IllicitPopsicle]

It's just, as an American teenager growing up primarily on the west coast but spending my high school years in the midwest, there's not much in the way of obtaining real in-depth anarchist literature. Chomsky is about as "hardcore" as it gets here, and I live in a more "liberal" area.

So, yeah... I don't really know what kind of point I was trying to make with this particular post. Just got back from a ska show where some Nazi skinheads tried to recruit me and I'm wore out.

[which doctor]

There was a period in my life when I was attracted to the ideas of Crimethinc, but I've since made it out safely. I think I was feeling suffocated by my banal, middle-class adolescence (or something) and longed for the nomadic adventures Crimthinc sounded like they could offer. This was after I had already been introduced to Marxism, and I don't know how I ended up reading Crimethinc. Long story short, I got distracted by the wonders drugs could offer, then grew out of those too, and realized that you really weren't any more free (or liberated or whatever) if you didn't wear deodarant and were a freegan and hitching trains around the country, etc. than if you're just a normal person. I don't care really care if you go and do that stuff on your own, and if you can make it then great, but it doesn't sound so fun or enlightening to me anymore. I have a lot of thoughts about Crimethinc, but I'll just give a few quick notes.

1. For being a "decentralized ex-workers collective" or whatever they call themselves, they have a startingly professional operation. I almost wouldn't be surprised to find out it was all some clever marketing gimmick all along, but I don't think that's the case. I've always thought there website has been really well done, it sure as hell beats navigating through old geocities pages and the like trying to dig for things.

2. Crimethinc texts are literary, but they lack any real, substantiated theory. As far as their political content goes, I think its value is practically nil. Most of its idealist wishy-washy nonsense, with no historical foundations or a basis in class-struggle. I don't think you should lump them into to contemporary anarchist/socialist theory because I don't think they have any lasting theory to offer.

3. Is Crimethinc bad? Maybe not necessarily, but I think they still should be criticized. While they do offer bad politics, at least they're not the worst. They did incite my interest in other ideas, for which I'm grateful for, but I can safely say that my political beliefs then (or antipolitics or whatever I might've been calling them at the time) barely resemble the ones I hold now.

[Os Cangaceiros]

1. For being a "decentralized ex-workers collective" or whatever they call themselves, they have a startingly professional operation. I almost wouldn't be surprised to find out it was all some clever marketing gimmick all along, but I don't think that's the case. I've always thought there website has been really well done, it sure as hell beats navigating through old geocities pages and the like trying to dig for things.

That has always struck me as well.

It seems like their books and Rolling Thunder are all very professional-looking and glossy. Which always struck me as odd, seeing as they're often portrayed as some dirty DIY outfit.

[ellipsis]

I don't know enough about them to make a firm judgement. Critics of them on this forum seem to be motivated largely by ignorance and mis-guided hatred. I agree with them that revolution must, at least for me start with the self. This view is not generally shared on this forum. I did like flipping through their "anarchist cookbook" at a RCP-USA book store, better that avakian's tripe.

[The Ungovernable Farce]

I listen to punk rock music, and I am familiar with a large body of CrimethInc. works, yet I have done so separately from my research into classical anarchist/socialist theory. Do I classify as a "Lifestylist" anarchist because I read CrimethInc.?
No, as long as you have a decent grasp of class struggle anarchism, what you do separately from that in your own time is up to you. I like a lot of punk, I get news from mainstream bourgeois newspapers, and I've just started a book by a Marxist historian, but that doesn't make me a lifestylist-capitalist-Marxist or anything.

The way I see it, CrimethInc. is a good jumping off point in contemporary anarchist theory, a place for confused and/or disaffected youth to discover the ideas behind anarchism and socialism (the latter to a lesser extent) and test the waters, so to speak. It may not be the end-all, be-all, but it's better than the late-80s movie SLC Punk! in regards to representing anarchism in a way that's not just advertising hedonism.

I'd pretty much agree with that. Some of their stuff's good, some of it's totally cringeworthy. It's a well-written, accessible starting point, as long as you bear in mind that it's just that - a starting point, not a definitive guide or something that's useful for strategy.

I did like flipping through their "anarchist cookbook" at a RCP-USA book store, better that avakian's tripe.
As much as I'm willing to critically defend CrimethInc, it does say a lot that the best things people can say about them are "better than an 80s movie about punk" and "better than Bob Avakian". :lol:

[IllicitPopsicle]

No, as long as you have a decent grasp of class struggle anarchism, what you do separately from that in your own time is up to you. I like a lot of punk, I get news from mainstream bourgeois newspapers, and I've just started a book by a Marxist historian, but that doesn't make me a lifestylist-capitalist-Marxist or anything.

I'd pretty much agree with that. Some of their stuff's good, some of it's totally cringeworthy. It's a well-written, accessible starting point, as long as you bear in mind that it's just that - a starting point, not a definitive guide or something that's useful for strategy.

As much as I'm willing to critically defend CrimethInc, it does say a lot that the best things people can say about them are "better than an 80s movie about punk" and "better than Bob Avakian". :lol:

Hahahaha.

Well now that I'm starting to discover the extent of anarchist literature and theory, I see your point, for sure.

In a slightly related facepalm moment, someone at my school told me to watch the aforementioned SLC Punk! because "it will totally change your opinion on anarchy!"

So, out of mild curiosity, I did. Turns out the movie was made by Sony.

Friend gullibility fail.

[bcbm]

slc punk wasn't made in the 80s.

[Искра]

slc punk wasn't made in the 80s.
SLC PUNX rocks!

[bcbm]

not nearly as good as the anarchist cookbook.