Anarchists and the definition of Middle Class liberal

by COnfused Saturday, Jan. 19, 2002 at 10:10 AM

It seems whenever Anarchists are critiqued they begin with rants of you are nothing but Middle class liberal scum.

Over the past few days I have had a few conversations with anarchists and have been called nothing but middle-class liberal scum, mostly because I did not agree or I had questions with the way that some anarchists do things. I just wanted to know what is middle-class to anarchist? What definition are using to dictate who is middle-class, or liberal scum? I consider myself to be a revolutionary and have more than done my part at demonstrations and organizing events to raise awareness of socio-political events. I would not consider myself middle-class, elitist, liberal or any other term that has been used to describe me. I do have some problems with the way that some people approach things but I do not just sit back and criticize I do go out and participate in as many actions as possible. I was there in seattle getting tear gassed, I was there at the DNC in LA. I did not have the privelage, time or money to travel to genoa, ottowa, quebec city, nor will have the privelage or time to travel to NEw york but I will be there in spirit. My concern is that anytime that you bring up a question or criticism with any anarchist about the way that they approach things they shut you out and call you a liberal. They always say that they will be organizing the working-class and I consider myself to be working class because I do not make much money and work a lot, but yet I do not see anyone trying to organize where I work. I have tried and still try to get people who I work with to raise their conciousness and see that they have the power to become organized. I do not like the fact that the tendecy is to dismiss people just becuause they might not have the same viewpoint as you, I believe this is the same thing that the governments we are all trying to fight are doing. You then become the thing that you are trying to fight. I am not criticizing all anarchists because I have and still do work with anarchists, I just want to know what is middle-class and what is liberal and who is the working class, because it seems you dismiss the people working at Wal-Mart for $7/hr, the people who work in the big chain resteraunts for minimum wage or anyone who is not working in the glorified working-class factories as people who are not working-class. SO who do you organize? I am sure that the attacks I recieve I will be called a liberal, bouergeoise, elitist, and a whole bunch of other nonsensical terms. I will be laughing again and again as I work my ten hour days and then go to events and see the same people that call me liberal and elitist. I hope to hear from some of you.