So what’s up with Worcester? A good question. Most people have not heard of Worcester MA o r if you have the image is likely to be a negative one vaguely implying that Worcester is a hellhole. Worcester is the second largest city in “New England” - a post-industrial city that utterly fails at urban density. Sandwiched between the much “cooler” cities of Providence and Boston...Worcester is a bit of a sleeper hit. Over the years Worcester has managed to slowly build a long standing anarchist community based on successive waves of organizers intentionally deciding to make the city their long term home. There is a culture in Worcester that is concerned with organizing based on our long term rootedness, relationships built over many years, and long arc infrastructure building. Also we have a statue of a boy having sex with a turtle. Vaster than Empires and More Slow Worcester’s anarchist community has been mucking around with infrastructure projects since at least the 70’s. In the late 80’s and mid 90s both the christian anarchist Sts. Francis and Therese Catholic Worker house and the secular anarchist Collective A GoGo were purchased- providing a base for long term organizing as well as a basic blueprint for creating stable collectively owned infrastructure. Benefitting from the reputation of Worcester as “a hell hole” anarchists were able to raise funds and buy buildings cheaply. This general direction was further invigorated by the rise of the Global Justice movement- and in the mid ousands anarchists bought numerous collective spaces and a community center. Early in its existence the GoGo was able to pay off its mortgage - creating a situation in which members of the GoGo began using their funds to annually give $5,000 to anarchist projects in Worcester. As of Fall 2017 Worcester has 7 collective houses, 1 collectively run community center, 1 house of hospitality, and 1 soup kitchen. While having a bunch of collective projects is not u nique to a city of Worcester’s size- that all of these collectives OWN their spaces IS unique. They are all fairly stable, have existed for years (in several cases over a decade), support one another, and are not likely to go away. Compared to the fragility of many other anarchist collective spaces- this is ...unfortunately... remarkable. The stability of these spaces has allowed for a longer arc of organizing in Worcester. Projects likely to die off in other cities tend to survive in Worcester. The longevity of collective space has meant that our innovations don’t as easily blow away in constant battles for rent. Experiments have a better chance to stick or linger in stable collective ecosystems. This is not to say that infrastructure work is not difficult or slow- but that it accrues more than it collapses. On a good year. The long arc feeling of Worcester has attracted many people to simply stay put. It isn’t the sexiest place- it’s slow. But it is ever more becoming an intergenerational and long term resistance community. Kids, families, older folks, and teenagers are part and parcel of the community. This is beautiful in the long run. For example many of the tiny children that went to The Raven Freedom Skool are now teenage anarchist organizers.