There is a stereotype perpetuated by the political right that anarchists tend to be rich, white kids radicalized by the ‘postmodern neo-Marxists’ that have apparently taken over institutions of cultural production. This is clearly a tactic to strategically simplify and obscure both the complicated relationships between Marxism and postmodernism and the multicultural, working class origins of anarchism. However, there are indeed many anarchists—like myself—who do come from some type of class/wealth privilege. And it is therefore the responsibility of such anarchists to not only participate in standard anarchistic organizing and activism (and in the process work to contribute without centering our voices) but also to put our money where our mouths are and commit to voluntary wealth and land redistribution, mutual aid projects, and immediate reparations to working class BIPOC individuals and organizations. We must become the good kind of class traitors. To do anything less is to make our identification as anarchists a joke.
One avenue for this kind of work—specifically wealth redistribution—that C4SS does not officially endorse but I would like to individually ‘advertise’ for using the platform the Center has provided for me is Resource Generation (RG). Founded in 1998 by Tracy Hewat and Lynne Gerber, Resource Generation is, according to the official website, “a multiracial membership community of young people (18-35) with wealth and/or class privilege committed to the equitable distribution of wealth, land, and power.” The org is national campaign partners with both the Center for Popular Democracy and the Movement for Black Lives as well as part of the New Economy Coalition and Unmasking Fidelity. Utilizing the collective structure of RG, members are able to independently raise large sums of money (the goal for 2022 is $100,000,000+) to contribute to BIPOC-led solidarity and redistributive projects as well as participate in campaigns focused on challenging and transforming our current socio-economic systems.
Though not an anarchist organization, RG includes people who identify as anarchists as well as other anti-capitalist and leftist ideologies. It is also certainly anti-capitalist as a whole in its goal to reorganize wealth and ownership and, in its own internal structure, does have a central hub but its chapters—at least in my experience—tend to be both highly autonomous and if not fully consensus based, still directly democratic and largely horizontalist. With this in mind, I would highly recommend that any anarchists with material privilege should step up, read about RG further, and either start or join a local chapter. To begin, take the Class Privilege Quiz! If the future is to be equitable and decentralized in terms of wealth and land, then we need to start now!
