Occupy Wall Street: Creating a Strategy for a Spontaneous Movement

New York City anarchists played a major role in Occupy Wall Street. Opposition to the ruling 1% promoted an anti-capitalist class consciousness and a political emphasis on inequality. OWS' militant encampments and street action avoided assimilation into the Democratic Party. However, not only massive repression, but dysfunctional organization and an unrealistic strategy also led to its decline. Its supposedly "leaderless" horizontalism and consensus process made decisions impossible, while the autonomy of individuals and groups produced an inability to coordinate its many working groups. Rejection of the demands of actual struggles limited outreach, and made identification with the 99% mostly symbolic rather than the basis for a unifying mass movement. Emphasis on mutual aid enabled an effective response to hurricane Sandy, but also involved a utopian strategy based on unsustainable encampments rather than class struggle.