Notes On Attacking the Cult of Personal Agency

• Regardless of my political positions or activity, I cannot transform material conditions. Involvement in a political group or “movement” does not change this. I can, at best, make it onto the evening news.
• The cult of personal agency pushes forward the ideology that individual choices and ideas can change the world. This cult pushes people in circles of useless political activity – in addition to the usual working, shopping, and so on – and leaves many burned out when all of their actions amount to nothing more than a strange social life.
• The expectation of doing the right thing, dressing correctly for political activity, and articulating acceptable positions on everything makes for awful personal and romantic relationships within the pro-revolutionary milieu. Specifics differ depending on ideology and subculture, of course, but the dedication to evangelism and party building (spreading consciousness) is constant.
• Sectarianism and ‘infighting’ emerge when one believes that political militants change the world, but the world doesn’t change. The lack of change is attributed to bad organizing, lack of creativity, or faulty leadership. As with advertising firms, the wording and layout of leaflets, websites, and posters takes on monumental importance.
• Political militants hold each other to a completely different set of standards than they do their coworkers and neighbors, who are not considered worthy of leadership or agency.
• Pro-revolutionaries, in their self-importance, make decisions not based on self-interest but on political strategy and tactics. In this way, the cult of personal agency is a cult of sacrifice.
• Do you think the possibility of revolution is related to what you happen to be doing?
• “tis true that slacking is likely the closest we’ll ever get to heaven…”

These theses appeared in the zine Total Destruction #4, published in 2007.