Edit for clarity: I’m not asking why the Tankie/Anarchist grudge exist. I’m curious about what information sources - mentors, friends, books, TV, cultural osmosis, conveys that information to people. Where do individuals encounter this information and how does it become important to them. It’s an anthropology question about a contemporary culture rather than a question about the history of leftism.
I’ve been thinking about this a bit lately. Newly minted Anarchists have to learn to hate Lenin and Stalin and whoever else they have a grudge against. They have to encounter some materials or teacher who teaches them “Yeah these guys, you have to hate these guys and it has to be super-personal like they kicked your dog. You have to be extremely angry about it and treat anyone who doesn’t disavow them as though they’re literally going to kill you.”
Like there’s some process of enculturation there, of being brought in to the culture of anarchism, and there’s a process where anarchists learn this thing that all (most?) anarchists know and agree on.
Idk, just anthropology brain anthropologying. Cause like if someone or something didn’t teach you this why would you care so much?
Which socialist projects do you hold in higher regard?
In fairness, the USSR was the first Marxist experiment. There were other socialist experiments before that, most important to us being the Paris Commune.
There were a whole lot of weird utopian socialist cults in America. Like Oenida silverware started out as a utopian sex cult.
Most of them. Different criticisms, but generally; most of them.
China hasn’t counted for decades; opposing America is not a defining component of socialism. It’s just a generally cool thing to do.
But my primary concern is not states and authorities; they dont generally interest me.
Okay, why do you hold, for example, Vietnam in higher regard than the USSR? Why do you consider Angola to be better than the USSR? Why the early PRC over the USSR?
Also, surely you don’t hold the pogrom-loving Makhno’s territories in higher regard, do you?