I'd first like to agree that people demanding pacifism of a movement are not to be trusted. Strict pacifists are willing to die to see that the oppressing class is unharmed, and not willing to intervene to protect an oppressed class. This puts them firmly in the camp of the oppressors.
However, dismissing nonviolent individuals as wholly ineffective liberal infiltration ignores the effectiveness of underground railroads, information warfare, community support, and labor sabotage. All forms of resistance are valid so long as all participants are willing to support one another. In a setting where acts of physical resistance are provoked as a way to excuse executions and incarceration, nonviolent resistance becomes the predominant form of resistance.
However, dismissing nonviolent individuals as wholly ineffective liberal infiltration ignores the effectiveness of underground railroads, information warfare, community support, and labor sabotage. All forms of resistance are valid so long as all participants are willing to support one another. In a setting where acts of physical resistance are provoked as a way to excuse executions and incarceration, nonviolent resistance becomes the predominant form of resistance.
I've been reading some theory recently, so I'd like to echo the views of Malatesta:
"We neither seek to impose anything by force nor do we wish to submit to a violent imposition. We intend to use force against government, because it is by force that we are kept in subjection by government. We intend to expropriate the owners of property because it is by force that they withhold the raw materials and wealth, which is the fruit of human labor, and use it to oblige others to work in their interest. We shall resist with force whoever would wish by force, to retain or regain the means to impose his will and exploit the labor of others."
"We neither seek to impose anything by force nor do we wish to submit to a violent imposition. We intend to use force against government, because it is by force that we are kept in subjection by government. We intend to expropriate the owners of property because it is by force that they withhold the raw materials and wealth, which is the fruit of human labor, and use it to oblige others to work in their interest. We shall resist with force whoever would wish by force, to retain or regain the means to impose his will and exploit the labor of others."
Malatesta defends revolutionary violence and critiques the three other common perspectives of violence.
Pacifism is described as terrifically selfish betrayal of the cause of the oppressed, allowing others to suffer without trying to come to their defense while reassuring oppressors against the fear of rebellion. Poetically, they are referenced as "sterile dreamers, who leave untouched all the existing evils, and do good to no one, for fear of doing wrong to anyone.”
Another concept criticised is that violence should be reserved for defense in cases of direct and immediate attack. Doing so “would mean the renunciation of all revolutionary initiative, and the reserving of our blows for the petty, and often involuntary agents of the government, while leaving in peace the organizers of, and those chiefly benefited by, government and capitalist exploitation.” The ruling classes don't physically attack us, but are maintained by violence, and as such violence should be warranted. Phrased differently, "as Anarchists, we cannot and we do not desire to employ violence, except in the defence of ourselves and others against oppression. But we claim this right of defence – entire, real, and efficacious. That is, we wish to be able to go behind the material instrument which wounds us, and to attack the hand which wields the instrument, and the head which directs it."
The third view Malatesta comments on is that of celebrated violence. It's part of why I take issue with Comrade GunBunny's views on dehumanization of the enemy. Kropotkin's father was a prince with 1200 male serfs and massive amounts of land. Dehumanization of an entire class excuses pointless violence. Ideally, the hand of the anarchist “must be like the surgeon who cuts when he must but avoids causing needless suffering.” This isn't to say that attacks on military targets are unjust, just to say that hatred should not be a factor in the decisionmaking. "Let us have no unnecessary victims, not even in the enemy camp. The very purpose on behalf of which we struggle requires us to be kind and humane even in the heat of battle; so I fail to understand how one can fight for a purpose like ours without our being kindly and humane."
Pacifism is described as terrifically selfish betrayal of the cause of the oppressed, allowing others to suffer without trying to come to their defense while reassuring oppressors against the fear of rebellion. Poetically, they are referenced as "sterile dreamers, who leave untouched all the existing evils, and do good to no one, for fear of doing wrong to anyone.”
Another concept criticised is that violence should be reserved for defense in cases of direct and immediate attack. Doing so “would mean the renunciation of all revolutionary initiative, and the reserving of our blows for the petty, and often involuntary agents of the government, while leaving in peace the organizers of, and those chiefly benefited by, government and capitalist exploitation.” The ruling classes don't physically attack us, but are maintained by violence, and as such violence should be warranted. Phrased differently, "as Anarchists, we cannot and we do not desire to employ violence, except in the defence of ourselves and others against oppression. But we claim this right of defence – entire, real, and efficacious. That is, we wish to be able to go behind the material instrument which wounds us, and to attack the hand which wields the instrument, and the head which directs it."
The third view Malatesta comments on is that of celebrated violence. It's part of why I take issue with Comrade GunBunny's views on dehumanization of the enemy. Kropotkin's father was a prince with 1200 male serfs and massive amounts of land. Dehumanization of an entire class excuses pointless violence. Ideally, the hand of the anarchist “must be like the surgeon who cuts when he must but avoids causing needless suffering.” This isn't to say that attacks on military targets are unjust, just to say that hatred should not be a factor in the decisionmaking. "Let us have no unnecessary victims, not even in the enemy camp. The very purpose on behalf of which we struggle requires us to be kind and humane even in the heat of battle; so I fail to understand how one can fight for a purpose like ours without our being kindly and humane."
I care a lot about corn. This is the second year of a record bad series of corn disasters that mostly gets niche coverage. Images follow a timeline from the 2019 planting in the Midwest being delayed two months by unprecedented rain through the Midwest, odd weather patterns stunting the development, then snow halting the harvest halfway and forcing farmers to salvage what they could with propane dryers. This year saw a terrifying storm flatten half the feilds in Iowa. It's not going well for weather in the areas that produce the largest crop in the US.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Athens_(1946)
"Boys, ... I'm going to tell them to bring the ballot box out of there, and if they don't we're gonna open up on them.' I hollered in there, I said, 'You damn thieve grabbers, bring them damn ballot boxes out of there.' 'That's just what I said. He didn't make a move down there and finally one of them said, 'By God I heard a bolt click.' Down there—one of them grabbers did, you know—they started scattering around. And I had a pistol in my belt with a shotgun. I had a shotgun and a rifle. And I pulled the pistol out and started firing down there at them. Well, when I did that, all that whole line up there started firing down there in there. A lot of them got in the jail, some of them didn't, some of them got shot laying outside."
"We'd put two or three sticks of dynamite together and tape it together and put a cap in there and a fuse. And we'd rear back and throw them"
"That first bomb landed under Bob Dunn's cruiser, flipping it on its back."
"Boys, ... I'm going to tell them to bring the ballot box out of there, and if they don't we're gonna open up on them.' I hollered in there, I said, 'You damn thieve grabbers, bring them damn ballot boxes out of there.' 'That's just what I said. He didn't make a move down there and finally one of them said, 'By God I heard a bolt click.' Down there—one of them grabbers did, you know—they started scattering around. And I had a pistol in my belt with a shotgun. I had a shotgun and a rifle. And I pulled the pistol out and started firing down there at them. Well, when I did that, all that whole line up there started firing down there in there. A lot of them got in the jail, some of them didn't, some of them got shot laying outside."
"We'd put two or three sticks of dynamite together and tape it together and put a cap in there and a fuse. And we'd rear back and throw them"
"That first bomb landed under Bob Dunn's cruiser, flipping it on its back."