New York Primogens and the Tremere Regent's second in command jockey for power and favor from the Justicar. Conclave in Leaves of Three
Perhaps the best apology for the Camarilla is that it shows perhaps the greatest danger that can befall the immortal: Eternity means fearing death forever.
Fear is the basis of the Security the Camarilla stands for: Safely hid away from mortals, assurance that their wealth and power will not be taken from them, a wall of meat puppets to be the first to die against risen Antediluvians with the thirst of aeons.
Fear is what puts front and center, the creation of Anarch society, as the reason for the Camarilla's creation. Fear not only of the Anarchs, but of seeing that it was the Elder's oppression that cause the Anarch's creation, and thus having to question a power structure that can only hold on against the downtrodden's uprising by yet more oppressive rules.
Redemption presents a choice of two evils: Sabbat or Camarilla, because of Camarilla excesses, and utterly ignores the Anarchs which were the first and only unequivocally good choice. In fact the Camarilla's rules, which Prometheans rejected, preceeded the creation of the Camarilla. The Anarch's rejection of bad rules and behaviour of their elders were the basis of the Anarch Revolt, and the Camarilla was merely a reaction to Anarchs.
The First Anarch Revolt was spurred on during the days of the Inquisition. Vampire neonates were appalled by their clan elders who took no risks when they could instead sacrifice their young to the Inquisitors. The neonates were perishing at alarming rates during this period. As the battles of the Anarch Revolt intensified, however, so too did the efforts of the Inquisition, and the pressure of twin assaults led directly to the creation of the Camarilla. The Anarch Revolt continued for seven years after the Camarilla's formation.
The White Wolf narrative of the Anarch Revolt does not go into specifics about the Camarilla's victory over all the Childer that the Anarchs could rally, at a time when they were supposedly also fighting against the Assamites, merely stating that the Anarchs were outnumbered.
The Convention of Thorns in 1493 left all the Anarchs that returned to the Camarilla in fear of reprisals and persecution for their role, in any way that would not so overtly breach the Convention that it could not be overlooked. Yet the story goes, most of the remaining Anarchs joined the Camarilla.
Neither is it clear why the Anarchs all decided to become Sabbat, there being no benefit for changing their name and a known brand to lose by doing so. Those who did not join the Camarilla, it is said, mostly the Lasombra and Tzimisce, went on to form the Sabbat.