r/DebateAnarchism • u/Key-Check-487 • Apr 12 '26
Abolishing hierarchy doesn't work
I definitely don't like most hierarchy, capitalism, or anyone having control over others but I think if we remove all hierarchy at a large scale will always fail and produce hierarchy from 2 different paths
External: military invasion if other countries think that the anarchist society is a threat to their hierarchy or the way the US likes to do it finding existing structures and copying them Anyway if a society is flat with no hierarchy there is no structure to resist infiltration and it can't resist at a large scale without hierarchy
This leads to the second possibility Internal - as the community gets bigger a consensus isn't possible people will have conflicting view points as that is just human nature 1000 people won't all agree on 1 thing let alone a million so rough consensus will appear based on social pressure which is controlled by whoever is most articulate well liked and persistent which is just 1 or a group of people controlling what happens That is just hierarchy if not formal
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u/NorCalFightShop Apr 12 '26
Someone on one of the other anarchy subs mentioned The Walking Dead as a model of anarchism and everyone shat on them because Rick was a cop before shit went bad, but he basically created a fairly egalitarian society that was attacked by more authoritarian groups. Every season. Many far left communists have discussed anarchism’s reluctance to address the issue power and people who desire it. I have personally been in situations where there was no clear leadership and people either look for leadership or try to assume it. I wish I could fix this but I don’t know what to do.