The Ultimate Introduction To Queer Activism And Gain Of Function Marxism
The things influencing today's queer activists.
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If you’ve ever wondered where the left’s wildest ideas about gender originate, look no further than Queer Anarchism. This underground subculture within the radical revolutionary far left serves as a core inspiration for the most extreme activists—the ones with the neon hair, bizarre outfits, and bad tattoos.
In this article, we dive into the tangled web of Queering Anarchism, unraveling how the fusion of queer theory and anarchist philosophy influences modern political activism. This exploration stems from a document of the same name, available in the Anarchist Library, and is inspired by a deep-dive stream I hosted in August 2024.
This post is brought to you by @Far_Left_Clips, which is an awesome account run by a volunteer in my community to summarize and share my work. Follow them on X @Far_Left_Clips for updates. Thank you to Reagan for putting it together.
TOPICS COVERED
What is a Queer Activist?
What is Gain-of-Function Marxism?
What is Queer Anarchist subculture?
What is a Queer Anarchist?
How will socialists distribute society’s resources?
Why do Marxists want to abolish hierarchy?
What is “institutional power” and why is it more powerful than political power?
What are the institutions that the radical left controls?
How does the revolutionary far-left define Capitalism?
Why does the far-left use institutions to “destroy in order to create?”
Why do socialists want to take your private property?
What does “Homonormative” mean, and how does it relate to Queer?
WHAT IS A QUEER ACTIVIST?
In this first clip, you will learn why Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) made the mistake of thinking that an actual Queer Marxist Activist was a Trans Activist QUEER does NOT mean gay or trans. Queer is activism in far-left politics, and it rejects societal norms to attack normativity and the Capitalist system. When you see Queer, it means Communism.
WHAT IS GAIN-OF-FUNCTION MARXISM?
If you remember the movie Contagion (2011), it was about a new plague that spreads like wildfire worldwide. A bat and pig created a new and deadly mutated virus. Today’s far-left activists did the same thing with Marxism and the old philosophy, creating a new Gain-of-Function Marxism.
Gain of Function Marxism hijacked the old philosophy (Marx/Mao/Marcuse/Lenin).
Gain of Function Marxism takes the pure philosophy and “mutates” it to another strain.
Gain of Function Marxism is what we see in today’s far-left activists.
Read more about Gain of Function Marxism:
GAIN-OF-FUNCTION MARXISM – OLD PHILOSOPHY VS. MARXISM TODAY
Conservative “influencers” like James Lindsay and Logan Lancing rely on old philosophy written 150+ years ago to inform people on communism and the far-left. When influencers are stuck reading antiquated philosophy and academic papers to educate the general public, they’re making a huge mistake. They’re unequivocally referencing Marxism in its pure form and that’s NOT directly related to what’s happening in the world today.
“Pure Marxist literature” (Marx/Engels/Marcuse/Lenin) doesn’t translate to current socialist reality.
Outdated philosophy is not a good indicator of current Marxism and what inspires far-left activists.
WHAT IS “QUEER ANARCHIST” SUBCULTURE?
Most prominently emerging in the late 1980s and early 1990s, there was a Queer Anarchist “subculture” that sprung up and it was heavily inspired by the
PUNK ROCK MUSIC SCENE (a culture showing rebellion through distinctive styles of clothing with deliberately offensive graphics, unique hairstyles like mohawks, and other crude forms of expression)
Queer Anarchist subculture publish “alternative” forms of literature, including: Zines, Communiques, and Manifestos.
Anarcho-communist subculture has the most hardcore writings that influence and energize the far-left activists today.
You can find anarchist papers and writings on websites like The Anarchist Library.
I’ve already analyzed some significant anarchist literature, including: Be Gay Do Crime (Mary Nardini Gang), Queer Social Anarchism (Elisha Moon Williams), Bonk University of California Office of the President Attacked (sacred black and red), The Gender Accelerationist Manifesto (VikkyStorm and Eme Flores), and Toward the Queerest Insurrection (Mary Nardini Gang). Find those on the Inner Circle Podcast.
HOW DID MARXISM “MUTATE” TO SOMETHING ELSE?
The Queer Anarchist Subculture that emerged from the Punk Rock scene in the 80s created a “new strain” of Marxism by taking the pure and antiquated philosophy of Marx/Mao/Marcuse/Lenin, etc. and MUTATING it to something new and completely different. This is what we’re dealing with in the world today – “a mutated strain of Marxism heavily influenced by Queer Anarchist subculture”
This mutation of literature (Gain of Function Marxism) is seen on college campuses today.
Students participating in the Solidarity Encampment at Columbia University back in April 2024 were reading Queer Anarchist literature in their “People’s Library.”
Queer Anarchist literature is what influenced the college protestors, it’s what they grew up reading in their free time, and this is corroborated by these students directly quoting the language verbatim.
WHAT LITERATURE INSPIRES THE RADICAL LEFT OF TODAY?
As a reminder – The Marxism we’re dealing with in today’s society is NOT the pure Marxism of old and outdated literature from philosophers like Marx/Mao/Marcuse/Lenin, etc. The new strain we see is dubbed “Gain of Function” Marxism – a mutation of Marxism heavily influenced by Queer Anarchist Subculture.
With this in mind, if you want to understand what is influencing today’s real world far-left socialist activists, you have to look at the relevant “Gain of Function” anarchist literature that influences them.
If you’re living in reality, the old philosophy is too outdated and unreliable if your main focus is there and not on the current literature (James Lindsay is guilty of this and we’re smart enough to not make that same mistake when analyzing the revolutionary left in society today).
WHAT IS A QUEER ANARCHIST?
A Queer Anarchist is an “Anarcho-communist”
Anarcho-communist means they do not want the government to exist, but they also don’t want any private property to exist either.
Queer Anarchists strive for the total elimination of the “Capitalist” United States government as we know i.t
Queer Anarchists also desire the communization of all property and resources, such as homes, land, private businesses, etc.
HOW WILL SOCIALISTS DISTRIBUTE SOCIETY’S RESOURCES?
“Present society, for example, has always held that Capitalist property relations are based on a legalized robbery of sorts. That is, we allow (and our laws defend) a system in which things like housing, food, water—the things that everyone needs access to in order to live dignified lives of their own choosing—are privately owned and sold for profit.” Queering Anarchism [The Urge to Destroy]
Socialists want resources like housing/food/water to be “communized.”
If these things are communized, you wouldn’t own a home or land.
The inner party community system would control all the resources.
The community would approve what you get, because private property ownership (Capitalism) would be eliminated.
WHY DO MARXIST ANARCHISTS WANT TO ABOLISH HIERARCHY?
“Anarchists propose to negate this legalized robbery—the system that we call CAPITALISM. We also live in societies in which we are alienated from the means of decision-making…And the decisions that affect our lives are made by politicians that ostensibly “represent” us. Anarchists argue that we should negate political representation—the institution that we call the state…This means fighting against and in some instances unlearning relations of domination including, but not limited to racism, ableism, sexism, heterosexism, and so on. Anarchists, then, argue that we negate all aspects of power over others—the systematization of domination we often refer to as HIERARCHY.” Queering Anarchism [The Urge to Destroy]
This is incredibly simple. Socialists want to eliminate all “hierarchy,” or what they would think of as “oppressive power structures” put in place by Capitalism. Marxists think capitalism is a system of domination with hierarchies of “power over others”
The goal of Marxism is to LEVEL ALL HIERARCHIES—and remove all categories—so that everyone is the SAME (Equity) You might ask, what are some existing hierarchies according to socialists?
I make more MONEY than someone else, therefore I’m above them
I own a nicer HOUSE than someone else, therefore I’m above them
I own a BUSINESS and someone else works for me, therefore I’m above them
I’m a PRIVATE PROPERTY OWNER (you rent out a home), that’s above an oppressed proletarian that doesn’t own property (like someone renting in an apartment complex) – how we get critical race theory
I’m a man, and that puts me ahead of a woman (where we get gender ideology)
I’m a straight cisgender-white man, and that puts me ahead of a black transgender woman (where we get heteronormativity and queer theory)
THE DANGER OF “INSTITUTIONAL” VS. POLITICAL POWER
QUESTION: Why is it that Republicans could win the Presidency, House, and Senate to sweep 2024 elections at the federal level, and the radical far-left would still be in control of implementing their plans? Well…the radical Marxist left has NEVER planned to execute their plans through electoral political power.
Unfortunately, the far-left control the cultural institutions, and this means they have and maintain INSTITUTIONAL POWER.
Some relevant cultural institutions the far-left controls include: the K-12 Public Schools, Colleges and Universities, and CEOs (or other major roles) at influential nonprofit organizations.
Institutional Power is MORE POWERFUL than Political Power, because Institutional Power does not change with a single election.
INSTITUTIONAL POWER – “POLITICIANS GO…WE STAY” (ROYAL ANALOGY)
ROYAL BREAK! This is how the analogy goes… INSTITUTIONAL POWER > POLITICAL POWER There’s a movie called “The Young Victoria” that basically follows Queen Victoria in her early life. Right after Victoria became the Queen of England she was walking in the gardens behind Buckingham Palace with her Aunt. Essentially, the prime minister got close to Victoria and started making some of her decisions…Victoria’s Aunt told her, “No no no young girl, do not trust in politicians! Politicians GO, we STAY.” That single line illustrates the power of the British Monarchy and how stable and permanent it is. You can think of it like an institution.
In the United States, we don’t have a Monarchy. However, we do have INSTITUTIONS. These institutions include GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS (like Public Colleges and Universities, and Governmental Corporations) that are run by people who meticulously get into those jobs so they can sit there for decades and they CAN’T GET FIRED.
WHAT ARE THE INSTITUTIONS THE RADICAL LEFT CONTROLS?
Below are some areas where the radical left gained significant control and influence. It’s difficult to change, because the power is not determined by periodic elections.
K-12 Public Schools (This is the most dangerous institution the far-left controls, and we cannot fix the public schools through winning elections)
Colleges and Universities (We have colleges and universities where it is almost impossible to fire people. Even if you fire the president of one university, there are still VPs and professors with tenure at those same universities. It’s near impossible for them to get fired.)
Labor Unions
News Media
Hollywood
NGOs (Non-governmental Organizations)
Lobbying Groups
HOW DOES THE REVOLUTIONARY MARXIST FAR-LEFT DEFINE CAPITALISM?
“Build ‘the new world in the shell of the old.’ In place of a system of private property and systematized robbery, anarchists have proposed the social ownership of society or, alternatively stated, the abolition of property altogether.” Queering Anarchism [Is Also a Creative Urge]
The far left doesn’t define capitalism as crony capitalism, corrupt capitalism, or free market capitalism.
Capitalism is defined specifically as “private property ownership.”
Socialists want a new world in place of the current system with private property.
Socialists propose “social ownership of society” where capitalism is abolished completely.
HOW INSTITUTIONAL POWER “DESTROYS IN ORDER TO CREATE”
“Destruction is also creation. So anarchism is also a creative endeavor—this has been demonstrated historically through anarchist attempts to create alternative institutions or, in the words of the IWW, build “the new world in the shell of the old.” Queering Anarchism [Is Also a Creative Urge]
When Queer Anarchists want to “destroy in order to create,” it is in line with the “4 Goals of the Woke Left”
ONE: Socialists gained all power over the institutions
TWO: Socialists use that institutional power to fundamentally destabilize our society.
THREE: The destabilization that causes people pain allows socialists to attack Capitalism, specifically defined as “private property ownership.” Capitalism is:
Your ability to own a home
Your ability to own land
Your ability to own an apartment rental
Your ability to own a private business
Your parental rights
Your individual liberties
Your intellectual property
FOUR: When socialists “DESTROY” capitalism and our entire way of life, socialists will then “CREATE” and usher in their Marxist Utopia in the shell of the old.
YES…SOCIALISTS WANT TO TAKE YOUR PRIVATE PROPERTY
“This might sound absurd in a society that treats property as sacrosanct, but anarchists put forward a specific definition of property: ownership claims on those things that one neither occupies nor uses. Anarchists usually juxtapose this with possessions, or those things that we use or the homes that we live in (i.e. no anarchist wants to take your home or guitar away).” Queering Anarchism [Is Also a Creative Urge]
Socialists will lie and gaslight you into believing that they aren’t going to take your stuff. For instance, if you own a vacation home that you don’t primarily live in, socialists will take it from you because it is private property that you own.
Socialists want to take all property creating generational wealth to redistribute it, like a house you own, because you aren’t using it in the way they deem appropriate.
Socialists want to abolish capitalism (private property ownership) to create a world of equity that eliminates hierarchy.
Socialists will take your stuff, because you won’t be utilizing the stuff in the way they want it utilized.
WHAT DOES “HOMONORMATIVE” MEAN, AND HOW DOES IT RELATE TO QUEER?
“A heterosexuality that has a goal of a happily married couple in a permanent relationship, abiding by the plethora of norms that make up what is referred to as ‘heteronormativity.’” Queering Anarchism [Is Also a Creative Urge]
Queer Anarchists define “heterosexuality” as a happily married couple in a permanent relationship. But what if you have two gay men in a happily married and permanent relationship with each other? What do socialists think about this, and how would the married gay couple relate to the word “Queer?”
Socialists consider gay couples in a monogamous permanent relationships to be “homonormative.”
If there is a homonormative gay couple, then that gay couple isn’t queer because they uphold societal Capitalist norms.
As a reminder, Queer is a REBELLION against all Capitalist normativity.
Normativity includes all the things that uphold the oppressive system of Capitalism.
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