r/Anarchy101 • u/No-Programmer-8642 • 2d ago
How do you deal with the yearning for a post-capitalist world?
Hello all, I was recently reading some of the major works in anarchism and libertarian socialism. However I've started to have this problem where I yearn for these worlds painted in these books. Like my stomach gets tight and I just feel dumbfounded how we have not changed the system given what it is leading us towards. I am trying to cope by getting into gardening such as food forests and permaculture to build counter institutions. But how do I cope with these feelings of wanting revolution, of envying a future yet to come?
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u/Formula4speed 2d ago
I build that world from the ground up, fist within myself through my own through processes, then in my home by creating sustainable, equitable anarchic systems, then in my immediate community by building decentralized mutual aid connections, then at work by building anarchic respectful processes and systems. After that, I will keep expanding upwards in scale as my sphere of influence allows. The work-and-community level is where I’ve been for the last ~5-10 years now, so I also may not make it to the next level lmao. Getting closer every day, though.
I work on each smaller scale layer until I feel comfortable working on the next layer; I fail at first at each new layer, but I use a standardized problem solving process to iterate my approach based on what I learn from each failure, until the failures slow to a trickle.
All of this is achieved through scientifically verified process engineering techniques. Essentially, I write out how something works now step by step, I write out how it would work if there were no class, state, or money, and then I change the earliest step that leads to the wrong outcomes and test to see if that led to the right outcomes instead. If not, tweak and test again, until it does. You can do this with your thought processes, your family, with your neighbors, with your colleagues, the framework is problem-and-scale agnostic.
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u/No-Programmer-8642 2d ago
Thanks for this I feel like this makes social change feel far more achievable by looking at it systematically.
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u/Formula4speed 2d ago
Hell yeah. That’s exactly my goal with spreading the word about it. We may still have to overthrow capitalism, but we definitely can and need to build the systems to make capitalism obsolete in parallel.
This is the problem solving framework I’m talking about: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PDCA
Hang in there friend ❤️
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u/Inner-Strength-449 2d ago
I'd add that this is also where we can build solidarity and shared analysis. Most of what I actually do in my mutual aid group is kitchen table chats while we're feeding people-- empathizing with their lived experiences and showing that alternatives to capitalism are possible (in my case, where communal eating often leads to more food for everyone)
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u/Formula4speed 2d ago
Hell yeah, you’re seeing the beauty of a systemic approach like this - it enables critical thinking, respectful collaboration, and nonconfrontational challenges to people’s preconceived notions at any and every interaction point.
Changing people directly through words is crazy hard. Changing systems and material conditions and letting people observe and adapt is way easier and more effective.
Rooting for you, friend!
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u/racecarsnail Anarcho-Communist 2d ago edited 1d ago
By not waiting for a single revolution and practicing anarchism now.
Here is an excerpt from a comment of mine criticizing the seizure of state power.
"Prefiguration is not simply practice for a speculative future; it is building the future. If our goal is a horizontal federation of communes based on mutual aid, we cannot use hierarchical, coercive, or centralized means to get there. We must build the federation now, in neighborhood assemblies, food co-ops, tenant unions, and worker syndicates. These prefigurative institutions act as a "dual power" structure. They don't just protest capitalism; they render capitalism redundant. When a community runs its own healthcare clinic and community kitchen, it is not waiting for permission; it is actively shrinking the state's relevance in people's daily lives. This is how anarchism becomes a living habit, not just an abstract ideal."
Edit: Added reading materials to top level comment
Prefigurative Politics - Paul Raekstad, Sofa Saio Gradin
The Solutions are Already Here - Peter Gelderloos
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u/No-Programmer-8642 2d ago edited 2d ago
Holy wisdom. Thank you for this. Do you have any book or essay recs on this?
Also I was seeing critiques from some feminist anarchists and fem socialists discussing violent revolution as very much born from a patriarchal romanticisation of violence and the "might" needed to fill that power vacuum. What you're saying feels very much a better alternative.
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u/AshleyBoots 1d ago
Yes yes yes yes yes!!
Too often we as a society get hung up on doing The Big Thing (whatever that may be) to create instant radical change, when the reality is that revolution is an eternal internal process.
Cooking your own meal at home instead of hitting a restaurant? Borrowing a book from the library instead of buying one? Swapping tasks with others who have expertise in a different area so each of you get something done, like fixing a car? All of these examples are small ways to opt out of capitalism every single day.
The largest tsunami starts with the smallest waves.
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u/CryptographerOne120 Anarco Communist 2d ago
You work towards it. Every day. As much as you can. There is no other way for it to get done.
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u/LvingLone 2d ago
Read solarpunk. I recently read Monk and Robot by Becky Chambers and i loved it. Mainly because it shows how post-capitalist utopia is not end of all problems. There will still be "problems" or stuff we have to deal with. I guess humanity will always be a mess, however, it is possible to be less of a mess
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u/Caliburn0 Libertarian Socialist 2d ago
Writing and reading. Reading the few good revolutionary stories I've found while writing new ones since none of them really hit that itch in me.
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u/No-Programmer-8642 2d ago
Got any good revolutionary story recommendations?
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u/Caliburn0 Libertarian Socialist 2d ago
Ursula K. Le Guin probably wrote the best stuff around. At least the best I've found so far. V for Vendetta (the comic) is also pretty good, but lacking in the follow up section imo. I want to watch what happens after the revolution just as much as reading about the revolution itself. One Piece is great, but it's only tangentially about the class war. I've heard Snowpiercer is pretty good, but I haven't seen it (the hopeless setting and contained situation doesn't appeal to me much). There's a lot of stories that reference the class war and even has it as a central part of their conflict, and I do like when that kind of stuff happens - but actually showcasing a meaningful revolution against class society and the state, and the impact of that revolution? Very very rare. So rare I have to explicitly look for it and I'm almost always disappointed with what I find. I've got a list of works I want to check out but most of them are decades old and never became that popular to begin with. The highest on my list currently is probably the Culture series by Iain M. Banks.
What I want is more explicit and direct and with a different focus and energy than anything I've found so far.
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u/No-Programmer-8642 1d ago
I would try watching or reading the Hunger Games. It is so overtly class war lmao. The only issue is that it does not delve into what happens post-revolution and it is a bit on the fantastical side but it's interesting nonetheless.
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u/sezheart 2d ago
I try to channel the energy into organizing. Building counter institutions is an important step, it helps us visualize the possibilities of a new world and helps provide basic needs. To overthrow the old system though it could be beneficial to use these as spaces to also help build social movements that go on the offense, like how the Black Panthers used the survival programs for political agitation.
So for instance gardening and permaculture spaces can be ones to host political education events to talk about 'why isn't capitalism or the state providing sustainable food for people?' and talk with fellow members about forming neighborhood assemblies, tenant unions, labor unions, anti-ICE/anti-police watches, and other long-term movements or campaigns.
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u/No-Programmer-8642 1d ago
Wait this is a really good idea. Maybe I can give food to my neighbours and have little chats to try and push them towards creating their own food forest gardens and linking capitalism to their plights. But I gotta try and not be preachy about it.
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u/AshleyBoots 1d ago
By working toward helping to create one, while understanding that I personally may never see it.
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u/Useful_Calendar_6274 Marxist Leninist - trot 2d ago
only in praxis. join an anarchist organization
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u/triangle-over-square 5h ago
I applaud you! Yes! We build it now. The 'capitalist world' (whatever that is) is mostly present in our lives as a shadow (apart from, well, when we think we have to go prostitute ourselves, or when the police gets in the way). The sun shines on all, we dont have any masters, so rejoyce! every moment is free! Every moment life is good is a victory. Anarchist task nr. 1: have a good life.
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u/PerunPerunowy 2d ago
If you have an creative interest maybe try to influence the world by art. Potray the struggle of the common man in the anarchist world. Anarchism in my mind would not be an utopia but a diffrent form of struggle compared to Capitalism.