Attacks and flexibility in activism

One of the immediate results of being under attack (and I mean REAL attacks that have consequences, not just people disagreeing with you) as a political movement is that you lose your flexibility.

Your points of view become solid things to defend, any step towards different points of view becomes an admission that your attackers were right in some small way and that is not a thought you want to entertain. Anyone within your group that critiques you becomes suspect of being part of the attackers.

Historically, this process is very obvious when you look at communist groups during the 1950s. After the death of Stalin it became more and more clear to everyone everywhere that Stalin had not actually been a good person at all and his Soviet Union did not line up with the ideals of communism.

But because ‘Stalin is terrible’ was also the main argument of the anti-communists who were very literally ruining the lives of communists, accepting ‘Stalin is terrible’ became unacceptable. It was coming from the capitalists, the FBI, the CIA, the right-wing media, so it had to be bullshit. A lot of communist groups in the US and Europe doubled down on their Stalinism at a time when the Soviet Union itself was letting go of it. They doubled down because this is what people under attack do.

A movement that can’t adapt can’t overcome mistakes and eventually loses touch with a changing reality and with the people it is defending. A movement that presents the same statements and uses the same tactics over and over and over again shrinks into insignificance. Flexibility is an important part of creating a vibrant movement capable of creating change.

So, ya know, keep an eye on that. Recognize when an attack on your movement is harming it’s flexibility and try to stop that process by treasuring conversations within the community that challenge existing views. Don’t go out debating the people that want to kill you, but do keep on talking to each other and accepting challenges to your point of view from each other. It’s essential to your survival as a movement.

(And remember that this works for your enemies too. Continuously attacking fascists means they lose flexibility too and that’s GOOD. Fascist groups that keep hammering on the same issues that helped them grow in the 80s and 90s are currently shrinking. And based on past experience, your chances of getting fascist groups to self-destruct are much better than your chances of ‘deradicalizing’ them. Keep up the pressure.)