Note that the site is in archived, read-only mode. You can browse and read, but posting is disabled.
Welcome to Anarchy101 Q&A, where you can ask questions and receive answers about anarchism, from anarchists.

Note that the site is in archived, read-only mode. You can browse and read, but posting is disabled.

Categories

0 votes
Why am I asking this question on an anarchist website ? I know, I know...I get tired of Marxist bullshit being in stuff focusing on Anarchists. But, I have noticed many, many Marxist and Marxist-influenced people attending, tabling, and speaking at Anarchist bookfairs. The "attending" part is expected with there being so many of them, but the "tabling" and "speaking" parts...why ?
There's so many of them, why don't Marxists start their own bookfairs ?

This link has nothing to do with this question:
http://www.theonion.com/articles/marxists-apartment-a-microcosm-of-why-marxism-does,1382/
by (8.2k points)
i think it's because marxism as an ideology isn't very popular. I noticed there were marxists tabling at the bookfair i went to but there weren't all that many tables. They may have an easier time promoting their thought through political thought in general
many (most?) people don't consider anarchist thinking and marxism to be incompatible. (bakunin spinning in his grave, of course.)
perhaps positing the question as "why are there no communist bookfairs" would be more illuminating? (i would assume, for lack of other ideas, that it has to do with the vociferous and nasty anti-communism rhetoric in the u.s., at least.)
I might speculate that most Marxists aren't actually interested in open dialogue and ideas, which, if an anarchist book fair is being done right, is what it should be about.

Also, anarchist book fairs are just another example of our petit bourgeois  tendencies.
Dot, I think the Communist bookfair would be too different than the Marxist bookfair in that there are anarcho-communists and other anarchists who view their ideas as being in line with the whole Libertarian Communism would table at the bookfair. I don't agree with the ideas, but I could see that having some connection. Whereas the Marxist bookfair would be more interesting to me, because the whole philosophy or religion of Marxism is based entirely around the mindset of one individual. Communism in theory can be less bound to one individual thinker. Also, Marxism and Anarchism should have a historical antagonism starting with Marx vs. Stirner and Marx vs. Bakunin. From my perspective, a Marxist bookfair would be founded in the idea of Marx as the sole or primary source for understanding how life is structured. This goes along with Ingrate's comment on most (all ?) Marxists not being interested in dialogue and ideas. If someone doesn't think Marx is a great thinker or the greatest thinker in the history of the world (or at least, since the beginning of the class struggle for them), a Marxist bookfair is largely null and void.
i guess it just seems like comparing apples and oranges. a marxist bookfair would be compared to say a... bakunin bookfair? no, an adam smith bookfair maybe.
it could happen, but...

1 Answer

+3 votes
Marxists are often college professors. Why have DIY bookfairs when the university bookstore sells your books right there?
by (4.0k points)
Agreed. In addition to university bookstores, academic conferences have the haunting specter of Marx hovering over them. I've been to several where Marx is a noun and a verb. They like to marx the marx marx everytime.
oops, hit the wrong button - no editing happened.
just wanted to say "sounds scary! no marxing my marx marxes!"
...