Radicalizing the Everyday

In response to a comment posted on the minimum wage article/debate regarding GRAF’s stance on wage-labor, it seems prudent to write an official statement. Our stance and debate with Doug Clark of the News & Record concerning a minimum wage hike to $9.36, the economics in a “globalized” economy and ways of organizing workers stands on its own. It is not always necessary to constantly remind ourselves or our readers that we are anarchist-communists who are for a social revolution to rid human interaction of capitalism, wage-labor, private property, etc.... We are quite tired of constantly reading texts that are packed with radical rhetoric (abolish, smash, revolution, etc…) which just gives us another great pamphlet how the “extreme-left” dresses the part of awesome radicals. I want more, we want more, a social movement against capitalism, real action! A system that is highly organized and kept in place largely by a state monopoly on violence and liberal/conservative (twins joined at the hip) moral hegemony which quickly marginalizes any opponents with the feeling that, “there is no need to argue…” is our everyday life.

With that said, I now realize that we should have been more forthcoming or radical in our suggestion on what we as workers should be thinking about and how we should organize in for the minimum wage campaign. Organizing within the community and allowing ourselves to realize we have power in numbers should be the main method of organizing this campaign. Sure the minimum wage hike is reformist but our everyday lives are riddled with compromises. We must make sure the way we organize ourselves and communities is not reformist but takes on a social character. It is not about taking power or giving away power to city councilmen because that is not the issue. Nor is it a matter of getting a 3 dollar raise on our labor. Rather, the most important component during this campaign and the future is how we organize.

The problem with our movement or the “anarchist movement” is that we are against so much and almost pride ourselves on always pointing out the negative rather than doing something worth while with our time, ourselves included. We are not about hijacking movements or events. We should base ourselves in our communities as part of that community and no longer live up to the stereotype of wanting to be so different, allowing ourselves and our politics to become incoherent and abstract. When a campaign, event, or idea that will end up benefiting our communities pops up lets contribute with our politics, organizing methods, social outlook, and creativity. We know how to organize ourselves in for “anti-globalization” protests in relation to the state and other groups, now its time to do the same in our communities. We know we have something to offer so lets do it! It is about building networks and communities that will have the ability to leap into a new era free of capitalism.

GRAF draws inspiration from the old bearded men, the old school IWW (Industrial Workers of the World), left-wing communists, Black Panther Party for Self-Defense,1960’s-70’s strands of communism/Marxism which lead to contemporary autonomist-Marxism, the Zapatistas, ourselves, the dramatization of the Spanish Civil War in “Land and Freedom”, etc…but through all this history, theory, and practice we realize that we cannot resurrect ghosts. Inspiration is just that, inspiration and now we must move forward if we wish to remain relevant. As the theorists and activists of the 70’s in Italy leafleted their way to insurrection, GRAF would like to see communities come together for just that.

Abolishing wage-labor, of course! Seeing the dismantling of the state and ridding ourselves of capitalism, of course! And we see an important step in doing just that by changing our everyday lives on the way to a classless society. Being realistic no longer means compromise. Rather, realizing that we can struggle in the everyday for the future is realistic and militant. A campaign for a minimum wage hike is not won by voting or petitioning but by making it no longer profitable to NOT hike up minimum wage. Organizing and networking our communities to come together is our only strength.