#51: Anarchism, Voting, and Direct Action: An Audio Zine

The Ex-Worker

Do anarchists vote? If not, how do we express our voice and participate in changing society? What’s the problem with elections and representative democracy? In this special Election Day audio zine,we describe why electing representatives robs us of our power, refute common arguments made to convince us of the value of voting, explain direct action as an alternative approach for making change without politicians and parties, and lay out our vision for a free world beyond electoral politics. We begin by surveying anarchist responses to elections from the 19th century to the present day, and include excerpts from CrimethInc. interventions against the last few presidential elections, including “Don’t Just Vote, Get Active: A Community Non-Partisan Voters’ Guide” (2004), “Voting vs. Direct Action” (c. 2004), “False Hope vs. Real Change” (2008), “The Party’s Over” (c. 2009), and the “Democracy is Bankrupt” website (2012). This audio zine provides background for our discussion of the 2016 presidential campaign and its likely aftermath, which appears in Episode 52. Whoever they vote for, we are ungovernable! {November 7, 2016}

-------SHOW NOTES------

• This audio zine draws on several previously published CrimethInc. texts that address voting, elections, democracy, and direct action, including “Don’t Just Vote, Get Active: A Community Non-Partisan Voters’ Guide” (2004), “Voting vs. Direct Action” (c. 2004), “False Hope vs. Real Change” (2008), The Party’s Over" (c. 2009), and the “Democracy is Bankrupt” website (2012).
• In the introduction, we quoted a variety of historical anarchist critiques of elections, voting, and representative democracy, including: Mikhail Bakunin, "On Representative Government and ; Peter Kropotkin, “Revolutionary Government”; Elisee Reclus, “Why Anarchists Don’t Vote”; Henry David Thoreau, “Civil Disobedience”; Emma Goldman, “Woman Suffrage”; Zo d’Axa, “He Is Elected”; and the Yippies’ nomination of Pigasus. You can find many more anarchist critiques on these themes via The Anarchist Library.