why do so many people seem to have a hierarchy allergy round these Western leftist parts
this post was submitted on 08 Mar 2026
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To me it seems to come partly from inexperience with mass actions or organizing. I was definitely more of an anti-hierachy anarchist/idealist at times in the past, but when I started getting experience with protests, I saw how groups that were too focused on "democratic" decision making in the moment couldn't act as effectively on the street when responding to police or other counter-groups. Like the importance of a vanguard in coordinating the mass of people in the macro sense, it's much more effective for working on the ground quickly.
Growing up in capitalist societies I think most leftists in the west see only the way hierarchies have been used to fuck people over, and have also been subjected to anti-socialist propaganda that paints any powerful leader of a leftist movement as inevitably tyrannical. What helped me get over this bias was understanding the war aspect of the class war, that it is an actual war with an enemy that wants us dead or enslaved, and in times of conflict history has shown how the effective organization and logistics of a group is an essential key to victory.
Yep, nobody would imagine a clip from Band of Brothers where they are under heavy fire and then they have a debate and a vote before they decide their next move, or the sargeant screaming "GET FUCKING MOVING", and then the soldier starts quibbling about "ummm you're violating my rights...."
That would all be ridiculous to even imagine. In war you need to follow orders you may not understand because the only way out is to work as a collective unit. The officers may fuck it up, but it's far too latefor that to matter now, if you don't take orders you are weakening the group and making yourself more vulnerable.
Engaging with "class war", but not being willing to take orders is a contradiction.
There is a big difference between an individual giving orders (and having the power to) in a tense moment, and an individual being the one who gives orders about everything all the time.
The ones who arrange the battles and the ones who arrange the councils are not the same, nor should they be. That equivalence is a flaw of Western civilization going back to classical Greece or even earlier.