Barry Eidlin, associate professor in McGill’s Department of Sociology, gave a lecture entitled “Tyranny of Structurelessness” on Nov. 19 to approximately 15 students. The lecture was based on Jo Freeman’s essay “The Tyranny of Structurelessness,” first published in 1972, which explores the dichotomy between “structure” and “structurelessness.” Freeman argues that “structurelessness” in an activist organization does not actually exist—rather, it is a way of masking informal and unauthorized power.
The talk was one of many events hosted during the Shut It Down strike campaign, providing an alternative to attending class for students on departmental strike for Palestine between Nov. 17 and Nov. 21. Eidlin began the lecture by defining two key terms in activist movements: Strategy and tactic.
“Strategy [is] a broad, long-term, abstract goal, like abolishing patriarchy, freeing Palestine, and ending racism,” he explained. “It’s a big thing that you’re not just going to win in one fell swoop. It’s a multi-step process, […] [while] tactics are specific actions you take in pursuit of that strategic goal. The key question you could be asking is, ‘Does the tactic help or hinder my pursuit of that strategy? Am I getting myself further along that path, or am I just standing still, or am I going back?’”
Eidlin then expressed that in the context of social movements, organizers’ desired outcomes are often unattained because of a mismatch between their strategy and their tactic, or a lack of either.
“There’s a retreat into a moralist, individualist approach to politics, where politics becomes more a part of who you are, as an identity, rather than the thing that you do,” he stated. “In the modern day and age, […] you post all sorts of radical stuff online, but you’re not […] getting anywhere [….] [That is] strategy without tactics.”
Eidlin concluded his lecture by highlighting how Freeman calls for social movements to create more democratic structures.
“Organizations that claim to be non-hierarchical, horizontal, anti-authoritarian, [do] have a structure, they just don’t see it,” he said. “Problems that derive from this refusal to develop formal structure [can be alleviated through] creating instructions of accountability to distribute authority deliberately, [and] allocating tasks more democratically to create more open channels for permanent […] transparency.”
More information on the post-talk student discussion can be found here.
