There are real world success stories of anarcho-socialist societies (although perhaps not syndicalist) even in the present day. I'm not saying this to claim whether it's viable or not in our industrialized conditions with imperialist empires at play, just pointing out relevant info.

The largest scale anarchist-style societies I know of are:

FEJUVE in Bolivia, population >100,000, ongoing for 45 years
Chiapas autonomous areas (formerly MAREZ) in Mexico, population >300,000, ongoing for 30 years, although reorganised structurally last year

And while I'm aware they don't technically qualify as anarchist, they are certainly evidence of autonomous modes of social organisation at a scale larger than many existing states.

Tagging @kittenzrulz123@lemmy.blahaj.zone for relevance.

[–] sqgl@beehaw.org 2 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

Thanks. Despite my scepticism I have sought out such communities and had not heard of those two.

There is also Mondragon in Spain..

I know of only one community in my country of Australia: Tuntable Falls. I can only find pages related to the school or real estate. It is 20 minutes drive from Nimbin which in turn is 40 minutes from Byron Bay, NSW.

I suppose there is Kibbutzim in Israel.

[–] eureka@aussie.zone 2 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (1 children)

Oh, I didnt know about Tuntable Falls. Thanks.

If we include smaller communes, then Wikipedia has a sizable list of intentional communities which is fun to explore. I found Cheran interesting, they had problems with organised crime coming into town and logging, disappearing people who tried to stop them, and the police and politicians were complicit, so the town kicked them all out. Now if you try to drive in with a political sticker on your car, it will get torn off at the checkpoint. A short Vice video on the place had some interesting interviews, including a local patroller who said crime plummeted and is now basically as simple as pub fights that locals can split up, and an interview with a political representative who was voted in, despite them not really wanting the job as they would get paid more in their previous job at the university. Reminds me of a Douglas Adams quote:

[...] To summarize: it is a well-known fact that those people who must want to rule people are, ipso facto, those least suited to do it. [...]

[–] sqgl@beehaw.org 2 points 3 weeks ago

A close friend in a long term relationship told me his partner wanted kids but he wasn't sure he would make a good father. My advice was along the lines of Douglas Adams.

Both kids are now in their 20's and doing fine.