Differences between Anarchists and Communists?

[Streetlight]

Hello all, I'm new to this forum and just was looking for some more information about the major differences between the Anarchists such as Anarcho-communists and the Communists such as the Trotskyist and Left Communists. I know that they all want the same end, a stateless classless society but is the only difference their means to that end? ie the Revolution and transitional periods? Thanks for the help!

[Vendetta]

Broadly, anarchists and communists believe in the same end goal (classless, stateless society). They differ on preferred methods reaching that goal.

[Streetlight]

What are the preferred methods differences between them?

[Muzk]

Dictatorship of the proletariat, anarchists believe the state doesn't wither away

They like throwing molotov cocktails at cops too instead of building a vanguard party

[The Vegan Marxist]

Dictatorship of the proletariat, anarchists believe the state doesn't wither away

They like throwing molotov cocktails at cops too instead of building a vanguard party

Actually, I was talking to an anarchist on another thread, & he believes in the dictatorship of the proletariat, in which, & correct me if I'm wrong, he said that it's when the workers end the state. In which, this is similar to Marxist belief, which kind of confused me, though I think he see's as an immediate elimination of the state during that period, while the Marxists, & any other communist believe in the gradual elimination.

[Zanthorus]

What are the preferred methods differences between them?

Us anarchists like to organise in a decentralised federalist way and don't believe that revolutionaries should attempt to take hold of the state.

Marxists/state-socialists generally organise in a centralist way and a good deal of them believe that the working class will have to take control of the state in a "dictatorship of the proletariat" to suppress reaction and achieve socialism.


They like throwing molotov cocktails at cops too instead of building a vanguard party.

That's a blatant lie, apart from the bit about the vanguard party depending on your interpretation of what a vanguard is.

[Muzk]

I was trying to be provocative, just chill star-guy...

[The Douche]

Actually, I was talking to an anarchist on another thread, & he believes in the dictatorship of the proletariat, in which, & correct me if I'm wrong, he said that it's when the workers end the state. In which, this is similar to Marxist belief, which kind of confused me, though I think he see's as an immediate elimination of the state during that period, while the Marxists, & any other communist believe in the gradual elimination.

The "dictatorship of the proletariat" has nothing to do with "ending the state". It literally is the proletariat (working class) reshaping the world for their best interests, against the will of the bourgeoisie (the bosses).

The phrase is essentially meaningless (and thats why I don't like to use it) because each sect has its own idea of what the physical manifestation of the dictatorship of the proletariat will look like.


Us anarchists like to organise in a decentralised federalist way and don't believe that revolutionaries should attempt to take hold of the state.

To be fair, you don't have to be a federalist to be an anarchist. I do not believe in federated organizations, and my organization is not federalist.

[Tower of Bebel]

We all makes the same mistakes. Because bureaucratization, economism and sectarianism are in a way bourgeois means (of keeping the working class at bay) several strands of communist organizations have existed. The biggest difference is one between anarchist and communists because both have different organizational methods that stem from or result in different theories about the state. The question of (state) power pre-revolution and after the revolution is tied to the question of organization (in a vulgarized way you could discern between those who want to take power [from the ruling class] and those who want to negate power [of the ruling class]).

This explains why most Marxists are organized in or around political parties while most anarchist don't. Devisions among marxists and anarchists again reflect the question of power. Left-Communism and Trotskyism are products of the so called bureaucratic degeneration of the early USSR, but both have different methods of organization and different ideas about the so called worker's state. Yet both support the idea of a political working class party (which makes council communists still distinctive from anarchists).

But again, in the end most anarchists and communists still suffer from bureaucratization, economism, reformism, sectarianism, etc. So the question of what makes us different (in case of state-theory and the question of organization) doesn't concern me that much. I'm more inclined to think about the demands and ideas that will help forge a working class organization that can question the rule of capital, even if hypothetically it means working closely with (or even in?) an anarcho-syndicalist vanguard organization as a proponent of the political party.

[Streetlight]

Thank you all, now one last question. I find myself to have both tendencies from Libertarian Socialists and Left Communists, what is in fact the major differences in the two?

[Os Cangaceiros]

Thank you all, now one last question. I find myself to have both tendencies from Libertarian Socialists and Left Communists, what is in fact the major differences in the two?

http://www.revleft.com/vb/okay-yall-raises-t122507/index.html?t=122507&highlight=difference+anarchist+left+communist

[Die Rote Fahne]

Dictatorship of the proletariat is a transition phase in which political power is seized by the workers.

What we currently have in capitalism is a "Dictatorship of the Bourgeoisie".

[The Douche]

Dictatorship of the proletariat is a transition phase in which political power is seized by the workers.

What we currently have in capitalism is a "Dictatorship of the Bourgeoisie".

Right, but class dictatorship still has no real meaningful political definition because there is no concrete political expression of it.

The way I view it is very different from how the stalinists view it which is different from how the...etc

The dictatorship of the bourgeoisie is the same, both democracy and fascism are dictatorships of the bourgeoisie.


I think revolutionaries ought to forget about the term, its loaded with baggage because people don't understand it, and they don't understand it cause there are a thousand variations of it.