Marxism and European anarchism are often treated as original political theories, but in reality, they borrow heavily from Indigenous and non-Western social structures. Concepts like communal land, mutual aid, anti hierarchy or dialectical and historical materialism weren’t invented by Marx, Engels, or Bakunin. These systems already existed and endured in Indigenous societies across the world.

The key difference is that those Indigenous societies weren’t just built on political structure. They were held together by culture by relational systems, intergenerational obligations, protocols, stories, spiritual beliefs, and deeply embedded values. That’s what made them resilient over long periods of time, even under immense pressure.

Marxism and European anarchism, in contrast, attempt to reconstruct these ideas in theory, but without the cultural foundations that sustained them. These European ideologies emerged in societies already disconnected from land, kinship, and traditional knowledge. They try to rebuild community through politics alone, without the deeper relational systems that keep people connected and accountable beyond ideology.

Marxism and European anarchism are often treated as original political theories, but in reality, they borrow heavily from Indigenous and non-Western social structures. Concepts like communal land, mutual aid, anti hierarchy or dialectical and historical materialism weren’t invented by Marx, Engels, or Bakunin. These systems already existed and endured in Indigenous societies across the world.

The key difference is that those Indigenous societies weren’t just built on political structure. They were held together by culture by relational systems, intergenerational obligations, protocols, stories, spiritual beliefs, and deeply embedded values. That’s what made them resilient over long periods of time, even under immense pressure.

Marxism and European anarchism, in contrast, attempt to reconstruct these ideas in theory, but without the cultural foundations that sustained them. These European ideologies emerged in societies already disconnected from land, kinship, and traditional knowledge. They try to rebuild community through politics alone, without the deeper relational systems that keep people connected and accountable beyond ideology.