I think people jump to “Read On Authority” to quickly, a behavior that amounts to scripture-quoting, but
I just threw it into chatgpt, I think I understand now. It’s basically saying that some level of authority is necessary for society to function (which I wouldn’t have argued against otherwise).
chatgpt sucks and has demonstrated that again here. On Authority essentially argues that a socialist revolution 1: is itself a monumental exercise of authority and 2: requires authority to be protected when it exists in a world fundamentally hostile to it. There are some ancillary arguments about command structures, but overall it is written in opposition to anarchist dogmatism about “Authority” being an evil thing that must be discarded.
I’ll let someone else unpack the “Stalinist Russia” part
I think people jump to “Read On Authority” to quickly, a behavior that amounts to scripture-quoting, but
chatgpt sucks and has demonstrated that again here. On Authority essentially argues that a socialist revolution 1: is itself a monumental exercise of authority and 2: requires authority to be protected when it exists in a world fundamentally hostile to it. There are some ancillary arguments about command structures, but overall it is written in opposition to anarchist dogmatism about “Authority” being an evil thing that must be discarded.
I’ll let someone else unpack the “Stalinist Russia” part