”Bolshevism, embodying the ideal of a centralising state, has shown itself as the deadly enemy of the free spirit of revolutionary toilers.

Resorting to unprecedented measures, it has sabotaged the development of revolution and besmirched the honor of its finest aspect.

Successfully disguised, it concealed it's real face from the gaze of the toilers, passing itself off as the champion of their interests."

— Nestor Makhno, The Idea of Equality and the Bolsheviks

"Imposed communism would be the most detestable tyranny that the human mind could conceive. And free and voluntary communism is ironical if one has not the right and the possibility to live in a different regime, collectivist, mutualist, individualist—as one wishes, always on condition that there is no oppression or exploitation of others.

Free then is the peasant to cultivate his piece of land, alone if he wishes; free is the shoe maker to remain at his last, or the blacksmith in his small forge. It remains to be seen whether not being able to obtain assistance or people to exploit—and he would find none because nobody, having a right to the means of production and being free to work on his own or as an equal with others in the large organizations of production would want to be exploited by a small employer—I was saying, it remains to be seen whether these isolated workers would not find it more convenient to combine with others and voluntarily join one of the existing communities."

— Errico Malatesta, Property, 1929

"What is the use of government?

The first act of a socialist government on achieving power should be this:

Considering that, being in government, we can achieve nothing good and would instead stymie action by the people by forcing them to wait for laws that we cannot frame without sacrificing the interests of some to the interests of others and everyone’s interests to our own particular interests—We, the government, etc. hereby declare all authority abolished, invite all citizens to organize themselves in associations corresponding to their various needs, submit to the initiative of such associations, and bring the contribution of our personal efforts amid them.

No government has ever done anything of the sort and neither would a socialist government. And so, the day the people have force in their hands, if they are wise, they will prevent the establishment of any government."

— Errico Malatesta, The Socialist State

the last bunch weren't perfect either. we can always do things better than and differently from the people in the past, you don't necessarily have to emulate any one of them.

"The revolution, in my opinion, comrade delegates, is not, and cannot be, the work of a party. A party does not carry out a revolution; a party cannot do more than organize a coup d'etat and a coup d'etat is not a revolution."

— Ángel Pestaña

"Mythic Communism (with a capital C) is a theory of history, of a classless society that once existed and will, it is hoped, someday return again. It is notoriously messianic in its form. It also relies on a certain notion of totality: once upon a time there were tribes, some day there will be nations, organized entirely on communistic principles: that is, where ‘society’ — the totality itself — regulates social production and therefore inequalities of property will not exist.

Everyday communism (with a small c) can only be understood in contrast by rejecting such totalizing frameworks and examining everyday practice at every level of human life to see where the classic communistic principle of ‘from each according to their abilities, to each according to their needs’ is actually applied. As an expectation of mutual aid, communism in this sense can be seen as the foundation of all human sociality anywhere; as a principle of co-operation, it emerges spontaneously in times of crisis; as solidarity, it underlies almost all relations of social trust.

Everyday communism then is not a larger regulatory body that co-ordinates all economic activity within a single ‘society,’ but a principle that exists in and to some extent forms the necessary foundation of any society or human relations of any kind."

— David Graeber, Communism, 2010

'It’s also essential to mention that feminism and women’s freedom were not central to the Bolsheviks who were thoroughly workerist.

Alexandra Kollontai, the only woman on the first Central Committee to convene after the revolution, repeatedly advocated female liberation but was told “wait till after the revolution”. Women made important gains but their freedoms were ephemeral and Stalin quickly returned to czarist style appeals for Russian women to make babies for the greater good of Russia.'

https://freedomnews.org.uk/2024/10/10/the-death-of-leninism/

“You don’t know what order with freedom means! You only know what revolt against oppression is!

You don’t know that the rod, discipline, violence, the state and government can only be sustained because of you and because of your lack of socially creative powers that develop order within liberty!”

— Gustav Landauer

“The revolution is a thing of the people, a popular creation; the counter-revolution is a thing of the State. It has always been so, and must always be so, whether in Russia, Spain, or China.”

— Anarchist Federation of Iberia (FAI), Tierra y Libertad, July 3, 1936