Anarchism

2008/9 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Philosophy

Anarchism (from Greek ἀν (without) + ἄρχειν (to rule) + ισμός (from stem -ιζειν), "without archons," "without rulers") is a political philosophy encompassing theories and attitudes which support the elimination of all compulsory government (including but not limited to the state), and is often described as opposition to all forms of authority. Anarchism is defined by The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Politics as "the view that society can and should be organized without a coercive state."

There are many types and traditions of anarchism, not all of which are mutually exclusive. Anarchism is usually considered to be a radical left-wing ideology, and as such much of anarchist economics and legal philosophy reflect anti-authoritarian interpretations of communism, collectivism, syndicalism or participatory economics; however, anarchism has always included an individualist strain, including those who support capitalism (e.g. market anarchists) and other market-orientated economic structures (e.g. mutualists). As defined by the 21st century anarchist Cindy Milstein, anarchism is a "political tradition that has consistently grappled with the tension between the individual and society." Others, such as panarchists and anarchists without adjectives neither advocate nor object to any particular form of organization.

According to The Oxford Companion to Philosophy, "there is no single defining position that all anarchists hold, beyond their rejection of compulsory government, and those considered anarchists at best share a certain family resemblance". Anarchist schools of thought differ fundamentally, supporting anything from extreme individualism to complete collectivism. Some anarchists have vocally opposed all types of coercion, while others have supported the use of some coercive measures, including violent revolution on the path to anarchy or utopia.

Origins

James Northcote, William Godwin, oil on canvas, 1802, the National Portrait Gallery. William Godwin is credited as one of the founders of modern anarchism.
James Northcote, William Godwin, oil on canvas, 1802, the National Portrait Gallery. William Godwin is credited as one of the founders of modern anarchism.

Some claim anarchist themes can be found in the works of Taoist sages Laozi and Zhuangzi. The latter has been translated, "There has been such a thing as letting mankind alone; there has never been such a thing as governing mankind [with success]." and "A petty thief is put in jail. A great brigand becomes a ruler of a State." Diogenes of Sinope and the Cynics and their contemporary, Zeno of Citium, the founder of Stoicism, also introduced similar topics.

Modern anarchism, however, sprang from the secular or religious thought of the Enlightenment, particularly Jean-Jacques Rousseau's arguments for the moral centrality of freedom. Although by the turn of the 19th century the term "anarchist" had an entirely positive connotation, it first entered the English language in 1642 during the English Civil War as a term of abuse used by Royalists to damn those who were fomenting disorder. By the time of the French Revolution some, such as the Enragés, began to use the term positively, in opposition to Jacobin centralisation of power, seeing "revolutionary government" as oxymoronic. From this climate William Godwin developed what many consider the first expression of modern anarchist thought. Godwin was, according to Peter Kropotkin, "the first to formulate the political and economical conceptions of anarchism, even though he did not give that name to the ideas developed in his work." Godwin, a philosophical anarchist, opposed revolutionary action and saw a minimal state as a present "necessary evil" that would become increasingly irrelevant and powerless by the gradual spread of knowledge. Godwin advocated extreme individualism, proposing that all cooperation in labor be eliminated. Godwin felt discrimination on any grounds besides ability was intolerable.

The first to describe himself as anarchist was Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, which led some to call him the founder of modern anarchist theory. Proudhon proposed spontaneous order, whereby organization emerges without central authority, a "positive anarchy" where order arises when everybody does “what he wishes and only what he wishes" and where "business transactions alone produce the social order." Like Godwin, Proudhon opposed violent revolutionary action. He saw anarchy as "a form of government or constitution in which public and private consciousness, formed through the development of science and law, is alone sufficient to maintain order and guarantee all liberties. In it, as a consequence, the institutions of the police, preventive and repressive methods, officialdom, taxation, etc., are reduced to a minimum. In it, more especially, the forms of monarchy and intensive centralization disappear, to be replaced by federal institutions and a pattern of life based on the commune" By "commune", Proudhon meant local self-government or according to literal translation, "municipality", rather than a communist arrangement.

Schools of thought

Mutualist Pierre-Joseph Proudhon (1809–1865) was the first self-described anarchist.
Mutualist Pierre-Joseph Proudhon (1809–1865) was the first self-described anarchist.

Mutualism

Mutualism began in 18th century English and French labor movements before taking an anarchist form associated with Pierre-Joseph Proudhon in France and others in the United States. Proudhon's ideas were introduced by Charles A. Dana, to individualist anarchists in the United States including Benjamin Tucker and William Batchelder Greene.

Mutualist anarchism is concerned with reciprocity, free association, voluntary contract, federation, and credit and currency reform. According to Greene, in the mutualist system each worker would receive "just and exact pay for his work; services equivalent in cost being exchangeable for services equivalent in cost, without profit or discount." Mutualism has been retrospectively characterized as being ideologically situated between individualist and collectivist forms of anarchism. Proudhon first characterized his goal as a "third form of society, the synthesis of communism and property."

Individualist anarchism

Individualist anarchism comprises several traditions which hold that "individual conscience and the pursuit of self-interest should not be constrained by any collective body or public authority." Individualist anarchism is supportive of property being held privately, unlike the social/socialist/collectivist/communitarian wing which advocates common ownership. Individualist anarchism has been espoused by individuals such as William Godwin, Henry David Thoreau, Josiah Warren, and Murray Rothbard.

19th century philosopher Max Stirner, a prominent early individualist anarchist (sketch by Friedrich Engels).
19th century philosopher Max Stirner, a prominent early individualist anarchist (sketch by Friedrich Engels).

One of the earliest and best-known proponents of individualist anarchism was Max Stirner, who wrote The Ego and Its Own (1844), a founding text of the philosophy. Stirner's philosophy was an " egoist" form of individualist anarchism according to which the only limitation on the rights of the individual is his power to obtain what he desires, taking no notice of God, state, or moral rules. To Stirner, rights were spooks in the mind, and he held that society does not exist but "the individuals are its reality" — he supported property by force of might rather than moral right. Stirner preached self-assertion and foresaw "associations of egoists" where respect for ruthlessness drew people together.

A less radical form of individualist anarchism was advocated by the "Boston anarchists," American individualists who supported private property exchangeable in a free market. They advocated the protection of liberty and property by private contractors, and endorsed exchange of labor for wages,. They did not have a problem that "one man employ another" or that "he direct him," in his labor but demanded that "all natural opportunities requisite to the production of wealth be accessible to all on equal terms and that monopolies arising from special privileges created by law be abolished." They believed state monopoly capitalism (defined as a state-sponsored monopoly) prevented labor from being fully rewarded. Even among the nineteenth century American individualists, there was not a monolithic doctrine, as they disagreed amongst each other on various issues including intellectual property rights and possession versus property in land. A major cleft occurred later in the 19th century when Tucker and some others abandoned natural rights and converted to an "egoism" modeled upon Stirner's philosophy. Some "Boston anarchists", like Tucker, identified themselves as "socialist" – a term which at the time denoted a broad concept – by which he meant a commitment to solving "the labor problem" by radical economic reform.) By the turn of the 20th century, the heyday of individualist anarchism had passed, although it was later revived with modifications by Murray Rothbard and the anarcho-capitalists in the mid-twentieth century, as a current of the broader libertarian movement.

Social anarchism

Social anarchism is one of two different broad categories of anarchism, the other category being individualist anarchism. The term social anarchism is often used to identify communitarian forms of anarchism that emphasize cooperation and mutual aid. Social anarchism includes anarcho-collectivism, anarcho-communism, Libertarian socialism, anarcho-syndicalism, social ecology and sometimes mutualism.

Collectivist anarchism

Collectivist anarchism (a specific tendency not to be confused with the broad category sometimes called collectivist or communitarian anarchism) is a revolutionary form of anarchism commonly associated with Mikhail Bakunin and with Johann Most. Unlike mutualists, collectivist anarchists oppose all private ownership of the means of production, instead advocating that ownership be collectivized. This was to be initiated by small cohesive elite group through acts of violence, or " propaganda by the deed," which would inspire the workers as a whole to revolt and forcibly collectivize the means of production. However, collectivization was not to be extended to the distribution of income, as workers would be paid according to time worked, rather than receiving goods being distributed "according to need" as in anarcho-communism. Although the collectivist anarchists advocated compensation for labor, some held out the possibility of a post-revolutionary transition to a communist system of distribution according to need. Collectivist anarchism arose contemporaneously with Marxism but opposed the Marxist dictatorship of the proletariat, despite the stated Marxist goal of a collectivist stateless society.

Anarcho-communist Peter Kropotkin believed that in anarchy, workers would spontaneously self-organize to produce goods in common for all society.
Anarcho-communist Peter Kropotkin believed that in anarchy, workers would spontaneously self-organize to produce goods in common for all society.

Anarchist communism

Anarchist communists propose that a society composed of a number of self-governing communes with collective use of the means of production and direct democracy as the political organizational form, and related to other communes through federation would be the freest form of social organisation. However, some anarchist communists oppose the majoritarian nature of direct democracy, feeling that it can impede individual liberty and favour consensus democracy. In anarchist communism, individuals would not receive direct compensation for labour (through sharing of profits or payment), but would instead have free access to the resources and surplus of the commune. According to anarchist communist Peter Kropotkin and later Murray Bookchin, the members of such a society would spontaneously perform all necessary labour because they would recognize the benefits of communal enterprise and mutual aid. Kropotkin believed that private property was one of the causes of oppression and exploitation and called for its abolition, advocating instead common ownership.

The status of anarchist communism within anarchism is disputed, because it is seen by most individualist anarchists as incompatible with freedom. Some anarcho-syndicalists, such as the Spanish union CNT. saw an anarcho-communist society as their objective. Platformism is an anarchist communist tendency in the tradition of Nestor Makhno who argued for the "vital need of an organization which, having attracted most of the participants in the anarchist movement, would establish a common tactical and political line for anarchism and thereby serve as a guide for the whole movement." Some forms of anarchist communism are strongly Egoist in nature, and are strongly influenced by radical individualist philosophy, believing that anarcho-communism does not require a communitarian nature at all; anarchist communist Emma Goldman was influenced by both Max Stirner and Kropotkin and blended their philosophies together in her own.

Anarcho-syndicalism

A common anarcho-syndicalist flag.
A common anarcho-syndicalist flag.

In the early twentieth century anarcho-syndicalism arose as a distinct school of thought within anarchism. With greater focus on the labour movement than previous forms of anarchism, syndicalism posits radical trade unions as a potential force for revolutionary social change, replacing capitalism and the state with a new society, democratically self-managed by the workers. Anarcho-syndicalists seek to abolish the wage system and private ownership of the means of production, which they believe lead to class divisions. Important principles of syndicalism include workers' solidarity, direct action (such as general strikes and workplace recuperations), and workers' self-management. Anarcho-syndicalism and other branches of anarchism are not mutually exclusive: anarcho-syndicalists often subscribe to communist or collectivist anarchist economic systems.Its advocates propose labour organization as a means to create the foundations of a non-hierarchical anarchist society within the current system and bring about social revolution.

Rudolf Rocker was a leading early anarcho-syndicalist thinker who outlined a view of the origins of the movement, what it sought, and why it was important to the future of labour in his 1938 pamphlet Anarchosyndicalism. Although more frequently associated with labor struggles of the early twentieth century (particularly in France and Spain), many syndicalist organizations are active today, united across national borders by membership in the International Workers Association, including the SAC in Sweden, the USI in Italy, and the CNT in Spain.

Recently-developed schools of thought

Temporary Autonomous Zone theorist Hakim Bey is an influential figure in contemporary anarchist circles.
Temporary Autonomous Zone theorist Hakim Bey is an influential figure in contemporary anarchist circles.

Anarchism continues to generate many eclectic and syncretic philosophies and movements; since the revival of anarchism in the U.S. in the 1960s, a number of new movements and schools have emerged. Anarcho-capitalism developed out of radical anti-state libertarianism as a rejuvenated form of individualist anarchism, while the burgeoning feminist and environmentalist movements also produced anarchist offshoots. Post-left anarchy is a tendency which seeks to distance itself from the traditional " left" and to escape the confines of ideology in general. Post-leftists argue that anarchism has been weakened by its long attachment to contrary "leftist" movements and single issue causes and calls for a synthesis of anarchist thought and a specifically anti-authoritarian revolutionary movement outside of the leftist milieu. Post-anarchism is a theoretical move towards a synthesis of classical anarchist theory and poststructuralist thought developed by Saul Newman and associated with thinkers such as Todd May, Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari. It draws from a wide range of ideas including autonomism, post-left anarchy, situationism, postcolonialism and Zapatismo. Another recent form of anarchism critical of formal anarchist movements is insurrectionary anarchism which advocates informal organization and active resistance to the state; its proponents include Wolfi Landstreicher and Alfredo M. Bonanno.

Murray Rothbard (1926–1995), 20th century progenitor of anarcho-capitalism who asserted that "capitalism is the fullest expression of anarchism, and anarchism is the fullest expression of capitalism."
Murray Rothbard (1926–1995), 20th century progenitor of anarcho-capitalism who asserted that "capitalism is the fullest expression of anarchism, and anarchism is the fullest expression of capitalism."

Anarcho-capitalism

Anarcho-capitalism (or " free market anarchism") is "based on a belief in the freedom to own private property, a rejection of any form of governmental authority or intervention, and the upholding of the competitive free market as the main mechanism for social interaction." Because of the historically anti-capitalist nature of most anarchist thought, the status of anarcho-capitalism within anarchism is disputed, particularly by communist anarchists. Anarcho-capitalists distinguish between free market capitalism – peaceful voluntary exchange – from " state capitalism" which Murray Rothbard defined as a collusive partnership between big business and government that uses coercion to subvert the free market. Whether in its natural rights-based or utilitarian formulations, anarcho-capitalism has a theory of legitimacy that supports private property as long as it was obtained by labor, trade, or gift. In an anarcho-capitalist society, its proponents hold, voluntary market processes would result in the provision of social institutions such as law enforcement, defence and infrastructure by competing for-profit firms, charities or voluntary associations. rather than the state. In Rothbardian anarcho-capitalism, law (the non-aggression principle) is enforced by the market but not created by it, while according to David D. Friedman's utilitarian version, the law itself is produced by the market.

While the term "anarcho-capitalism" was coined by Rothbard and its origin is attributed to 1960's America, some historians, including Rothbard himself, trace the school as far back as the mid-19th century to market theorists such as Gustave de Molinari. Anarcho-capitalism has drawn influence from pro-market theorists such as Molinari, Frédéric Bastiat, and Robert Nozick, as well as American individualist thinkers such as Benjamin Tucker and Lysander Spooner. Considered a form of individualist anarchism, it differs from the individualism of the "Boston anarchists" of the 19th century in its rejection of the labor theory of value (and its normative implications) in favour of the neoclassical or Austrian School marginalist view. Anarcho-capitalist ideas have in turn contributed to the development of agorism, autarchism, and crypto-anarchism.

Anarcha-feminism

A purple and black flag is often used to represent Anarcha-feminism.
A purple and black flag is often used to represent Anarcha-feminism.

Anarcha-feminism is a synthesis of radical feminism and anarchism that views patriarchy (male domination over women) as a fundamental manifestation of involuntary hierarchy – to which anarchists are opposed. Anarcha-feminism was inspired in the late 19th century by the writings of early feminist anarchists such as Lucy Parsons, Emma Goldman and Voltairine de Cleyre. Anarcha-feminists, like other radical feminists, criticize and advocate the abolition of traditional conceptions of family, education and gender roles. Many Anarcha-feminists are especially critical of marriage. For instance, the feminist anarchist Emma Goldman has argued that marriage is a purely economic arrangement and that "... [woman] pays for it with her name, her privacy, her self-respect, her very life.". Anarcha-feminists by contrast view patriarchy as a fundamental problem in society and believe that the feminist struggle against sexism and patriarchy is an essential component of the anarchist struggle against the state and capitalism. L. Susan Brown expressed the sentiment that "as anarchism is a political philosophy that opposes all relationships of power, it is inherently feminist". There have been several male anarcha-feminists as well such as the Anarcho-communist Joseph Déjacque who opposed Proudhon's anti-feminist views."

Green anarchism

Green and black flag of Green Anarchism.
Green and black flag of Green Anarchism.

Green anarchism is an anarchist school of thought which puts an emphasis on the environment. Anarcho-primitivism is a form of green anarchism that believes civilization and technology inevitably lead to inequality and are incompatible with anarchism and in effect must be abolished. Anarcho-primitivists often criticize traditional anarchism for supporting civilization and technology which they believe are inherently based on domination and exploitation and instead advocate the process of rewilding or reconnecting with the natural environment. Not all green anarchists are primitivists. There is a strong critique of technology among some green anarchists, though not all reject it entirely. Sometimes green anarchism is said to be techno-positive or techno-negative to differentiate between those who advocate use of advanced green technology to create and maintain an anarchist society and those who mainly see civilization and modern technology as something negative. Non-primitivist green anarchists, such as anthropologist Brian Morris, often draw influence from the social ecology of Murray Bookchin.

Anarchism without adjectives

"Anarchism without adjectives", in the words of historian George Richard Esenwein, "referred to an unhyphenated form of anarchism, that is, a doctrine without any qualifying labels such as communist, collectivist, mutualist, or individualist. For others,…[it] was simply understood as an attitude that tolerated the coexistence of different anarchist schools". "Anarchism without adjectives" emphasizes harmony among various anarchist factions and attempts to unite them around their shared anti-authoritarian beliefs. The position was first adopted in 1889 by Fernando Tarrida del Mármol as a call for toleration, after being troubled by the "bitter debates" among the different anarchist movements. Voltairine de Cleyre, Errico Malatesta, and Fred Woodworth are noteworthy exponents of the view.

Anarchism as a social movement

Anarchism as a social movement has regularly endured fluctuations in popularity. Its classical period, which scholars demarcate as from 1860 to 1939, is associated with the working-class movements of the nineteenth century and the Spanish Civil War-era struggles against fascism.

The First International

Collectivist anarchist Mikhail Bakunin opposed the Marxist aim of dictatorship of the proletariat in favour of universal rebellion, and allied himself with the anti-authoritarians in the First International before his expulsion by the Marxists.
Collectivist anarchist Mikhail Bakunin opposed the Marxist aim of dictatorship of the proletariat in favour of universal rebellion, and allied himself with the anti-authoritarians in the First International before his expulsion by the Marxists.

In Europe, harsh reaction followed the revolutions of 1848, but in 1864 the International Workingmen's Association (sometimes called the "First International") united diverse revolutionary currents including French followers of Proudhon, Blanquists, Philadelphes, English trade unionists, socialists and social democrats. Due to its links to active workers' movements, the International became a significant organization. Karl Marx became a leading figure in the International and a member of its General Council. Proudhon's followers, the mutualists, opposed Marx's state socialism, advocating political abstentionism and small property holdings. In 1868, following their unsuccessful participation in the League of Peace and Freedom (LPF), Mikhail Bakunin and his associates joined the First International – which had decided not to get involved with the LPF. They allied themselves with the anti-authoritarian socialist sections of the International, who advocated the revolutionary overthrow of the state and the collectivization of property. At first, the collectivists worked with the Marxists to push the First International in a more revolutionary socialist direction. Subsequently, the International became polarized into two camps, with Marx and Bakunin as their respective figureheads. Bakunin characterised Marx's ideas as authoritarian and predicted that, if a Marxist party came to power, its leaders would simply take the place of the ruling class they had fought against. In 1872, the conflict climaxed with a final split between the two groups at the Hague Congress, where Bakunin and James Guillaume were expelled from the International and its headquarters were transferred to New York. In response, the anti-authoritarian sections formed their own International at the St. Imier Congress, adopting a revolutionary anarchist program.

Anarchism and organized labor

Spanish anarcho-syndicalists successfully organized autonomous communities during the Spanish Revolution (1936–1939).
Spanish anarcho-syndicalists successfully organized autonomous communities during the Spanish Revolution (1936–1939).

The anti-authoritarian sections of the First International were the precursors of the anarcho-syndicalists, seeking to "replace the privilege and authority of the State" with the "free and spontaneous organization of labor." In 1886, the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions (FOTLU) of the United States and Canada unanimously set May 1, 1886, as the date by which the eight-hour work day would become standard. In response, unions across America prepared a general strike in support of the event. Upon May 3, in Chicago, a fight broke out when replacement workers attempted to cross the picket line. Police intervention led to the deaths of four men, enraging the workers of the city. The next day, May 4, anarchists staged a rally at Chicago's Haymarket Square. A bomb was thrown by an unknown party near the conclusion of the rally, killing an officer. In the ensuing panic, police opened fire on the crowd and each other. Seven police officers and at least four workers were killed. Eight anarchists directly and indirectly related to the organizers of the rally were arrested and charged with the murder of the deceased officer. The men became international political celebrities among the labor movement. Four of the men were executed and a fifth committed suicide prior to his own execution. The incident became known as the Haymarket affair, and was a setback for the labor movement and the struggle for the eight hour day. In 1890 a second attempt, this time international in scope, to organize for the eight hour day was made. The event also had the secondary purpose of memorializing workers killed as a result of the Haymarket affair. The celebration of International Workers' Day on May Day became an annual event the following year.

In 1907, the International Anarchist Congress of Amsterdam gathered delegates from 14 different countries, among which important figures of the anarchist movement, including Errico Malatesta, Pierre Monatte, Luigi Fabbri, Benoît Broutchoux, Emma Goldman, Rudolf Rocker, Christiaan Cornelissen, etc. Various themes were treated during the Congress, in particular concerning the organisation of the anarchist movement, popular education issues, the general strike or antimilitarism. A central debate concerned the relation between anarchism and syndicalism (or trade unionism). Malatesta and Monatte in particular opposed themselves on this issue, as the latter thought that syndicalism was revolutionary and would create the conditions of a social revolution, while Malatesta did not consider syndicalism by itself sufficient. Malatesta thought that trade-unions were reformist, and could even be, at times, conservative. Along with Cornelissen, he cited as example US trade-unions, where trade-unions composed of qualified workers sometimes opposed themselves to non-qualified workers in order to defend their relatively privileged position.

The Spanish Workers Federation in 1881 was the first major anarcho-syndicalist movement; anarchist trade union federations were of special importance in Spain. The most successful was the Confederación Nacional del Trabajo (National Confederation of Labour: CNT), founded in 1910. Before the 1940s, the CNT was the major force in Spanish working class politics and played a major role in the Spanish Civil War. The CNT was affiliated with the International Workers Association, a federation of anarcho-syndicalist trade unions founded in 1922, with delegates representing two million workers from 15 countries in Europe and Latin America. The largest organised anarchist movement today is in Spain, in the form of the Confederación General del Trabajo (CGT) and the CNT. CGT membership was estimated to be around 100,000 for the year 2003. Other active syndicalist movements include the US Workers Solidarity Alliance and the UK Solidarity Federation. The revolutionary industrial unionist Industrial Workers of the World, claiming 2,000 paying members, and the International Workers Association, an anarcho-syndicalist successor to the First International, also remain active.

The Russian Revolution

Anarchists Emma Goldman and Alexander Berkman opposed Bolshevik consolidation of power following the Russian Revolution (1917).
Anarchists Emma Goldman and Alexander Berkman opposed Bolshevik consolidation of power following the Russian Revolution (1917).

Anarchists participated alongside the Bolsheviks in both February and October revolutions, many anarchists initially supporting the Bolshevik coup. However, the Bolsheviks soon turned against the anarchists and other left-wing opposition, a conflict that culminated in the 1921 Kronstadt rebellion. Anarchists in central Russia were either imprisoned, driven underground or joined the victorious Bolsheviks. In the Ukraine, anarchists fought in the civil war against Whites and then the Bolsheviks as part of the Revolutionary Insurrectionary Army of Ukraine led by Nestor Makhno, who attempted to establish an anarchist society in the region for a number of months.

Expelled American anarchists Emma Goldman and Alexander Berkman were amongst those agitating in response to Bolshevik policy and the suppression of the Kronstadt uprising, before they left Russia. Both wrote accounts of their experiences in Russia, criticizing the amount of control the Bolsheviks exercised. For them, Bakunin's predictions about the consequences of Marxist rule that the rulers of the new "socialist” Marxist state would become a new elite had proved all too true.

The victory of the Bolsheviks in the October Revolution and the resulting Russian Civil War did serious damage to anarchist movements internationally. Many workers and activists saw Bolshevik success as setting an example; Communist parties grew at the expense of anarchism and other socialist movements. In France and the US, for example, certain members of the major syndicalist movements of the CGT and IWW left the organizations and joined the Communist International.

In Paris, the Dielo Truda group of Russian anarchist exiles, which included Nestor Makhno, concluded that anarchists needed to develop new forms of organisation in response to the structures of Bolshevism. Their 1926 manifesto, called the Organizational Platform of the General Union of Anarchists (Draft), was supported by some communist anarchists, though opposed by many others. Platformist groups active today include the Workers Solidarity Movement in Ireland and the North Eastern Federation of Anarchist Communists of North America.

The fight against fascism

Anti-fascist Maquis, who resisted Nazi and Francoist rule in Europe.
Anti-fascist Maquis, who resisted Nazi and Francoist rule in Europe.

In the 1920s and 1930s, the rise of fascism in Europe transformed anarchism's conflict with the state. Italy saw the first struggles between anarchists and fascists. Italian anarchists played a key role in the anti-fascist organisation Arditi del Popolo, which was strongest in areas with anarchist traditions and marked up numerous successful victories, including repelling Blackshirts in the anarchist stronghold of Parma in August 1922. In France, where the far right leagues came close to insurrection in the February 1934 riots, anarchists divided over a united front policy.

In Spain, the CNT initially refused to join a popular front electoral alliance and abstention by CNT supporters led to a right wing election victory. But in 1936, the CNT changed its policy and anarchist votes helped bring the popular front back to power. Months later, the ruling class responded with an attempted coup, and the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939) was underway. In response to the army rebellion, an anarchist-inspired movement of peasants and workers, supported by armed militias, took control of Barcelona and of large areas of rural Spain where they collectivized the land. But even before the eventual fascist victory in 1939, the anarchists were losing ground in a bitter struggle with the Stalinists, who controlled the distribution of military aid to the Republican cause from the Soviet Union. According to George Orwell and other foreign observers, Stalinist-led troops suppressed the collectives and persecuted both dissident Marxists and anarchists.

Internal issues and debates

The efficacy and legitimacy of using violence to political ends have been controversial issues amongst anarchists.
The efficacy and legitimacy of using violence to political ends have been controversial issues amongst anarchists.

Anarchism is a philosophy which embodies many diverse attitudes, tendencies and schools of thought; as such, disagreement over questions of values, ideology and tactics is common. The compatibility of capitalism, nationalism and religion with anarchism is widely disputed. Similarly, anarchism enjoys a complex relationship with ideologies such as Marxism, communism and anarcho-capitalism. Anarchists may be motivated by humanism, divine authority, enlightened self-interest or any number of alternative ethical doctrines.

Phenomena such as civilization, technology (e.g. within Anarcho-primitivism and insurrectionary anarchism), and the democratic process may be sharply criticized within some anarchist tendencies and simultaneously lauded in others. Anarchist attitudes towards race, gender and the environment have changed significantly since the modern origin of the philosophy in the eighteenth century.

On a tactical level, while propaganda of the deed was a tactic used by anarchists in the 19th century (e.g. the Nihilist movement), contemporary anarchists espouse alternative methods such as nonviolence, counter-economics and anti-state cryptography to bring about an anarchist society. The diversity in anarchism has led to widely different use of identical terms among different anarchist traditions, which has led to many definitional concerns in anarchist theory.

Citations

  1. ^ Anarchy Merriam-Webster's Online dictionary
  2. ^ Errico Malatesta, " Towards Anarchism", MAN!. Los Angeles: International Group of San Francisco. OCLC 3930443.
  3. ^ Agrell, Siri ( 2007- 05-14). " Working for The Man". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved on 2008- 04-14. 
  4. ^ " Anarchism". Encyclopædia Britannica. 2006. Encyclopædia Britannica Premium Service. 29 August 2006
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  6. ^ Bakunin, Mikhail, God and the State, pt. 2.; Tucker, Benjamin, State Socialism and Anarchism.; Kropotkin, Piotr, Anarchism: its Philosophy and Ideal; Malatesta, Errico, Towards Anarchism; Bookchin, Murray, Anarchism: Past and Present, pt. 4; An Introduction to Anarchism by Liz A. Highleyman
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  12. ^ Colin Moynihan (2007). "Book Fair Unites Anarchists. In Spirit, Anyway". New York Times (April 16). 
  13. ^ Dennis Roddy (2003). "Anarchists: Can they get it together?". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (February 02). 
  14. ^ Joseph Kahn (2000). "Anarchism, the Creed That Won’t Stay Dead; The Spread of World Capitalism Resurrects a Long-Dormant Movement". The New York Times (August 5). 
  15. ^ Milstein, Cindy (2003- 10-28). " Anarchism's Promise for Anti-Capitalist Resistance". [[Institute for Social Ecology ]]. Retrieved on 2008- 07-09.
  16. ^ "Anarchism". The Oxford Companion to Philosophy, Oxford University Press, 2007, p. 31
  17. ^ Fowler, R.B. "The Anarchist Tradition of Political Thought". The Western Political Quarterly, Vol. 25, No. 4. (Dec., 1972), pp. 743–744
  18. ^ a b c Peter Kropotkin, "Anarchism", Encyclopædia Britannica 1910
  19. ^ Murray Rothbard. " Concepts of the role of intellectuals in social change toward laissez faire".
  20. ^ Cynics entry in the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy by Julie Piering
  21. ^ "Anarchism", Encarta Online Encyclopedia 2006 (UK version)
  22. ^ a b c d e "Anarchism", BBC Radio 4 program, In Our Time, Thursday December 7, 2006. Hosted by Melvyn Bragg of the BBC, with John Keane, Professor of Politics at University of Westminster, Ruth Kinna, Senior Lecturer in Politics at Loughborough University, and Peter Marshall, philosopher and historian.
  23. ^ Sheehan, Sean. Anarchism, London: Reaktion Books Ltd., 2004. pg. 85
  24. ^ a b William Godwin entry in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy by Mark Philip, 2006- 05-20
  25. ^ Godwin himself attributed the first anarchist writing to Edmund Burke's Vindication of Natural Society. "Most of the above arguments may be found much more at large in Burke's Vindication of Natural Society; a treatise in which the evils of the existing political institutions are displayed with incomparable force of reasoning and lustre of eloquence…" – footnote, Ch. 2 Political Justice by William Godwin.
  26. ^ Godwin, William [1793] (1796). Enquiry Concerning Political Justice and its Influence on Modern Morals and Manners. G.G. and J. Robinson. OCLC 2340417. 
  27. ^ Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Retrieved December 7, 2006, from Encyclopædia Britannica Online
  28. ^ Daniel Guerin, Anarchism: From Theory to Practice (New York: Monthly Review Press, 1970).
  29. ^ Proudhon, Solution to the Social Problem, ed. H. Cohen (New York: Vanguard Press, 1927), p.45.
  30. ^ Proudhon, Pierre-Joseph (1979). The Principle of Federation. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. ISBN 0802054587. “The notion of anarchy in politics is just as rational and positive as any other. It means that once industrial functions have taken over from political functions, then business transactions alone produce the social order.” 
  31. ^ Proudhon, Pierre-Joseph (1969). Selected Writings. Garden City, New York: Anchor Books. OCLC 221546850. 
  32. ^ Bernstein, Samuel. 1984. French Political and Intellectual. History. Transaction Publishers. p. 174
  33. ^ "A member of a community," The Mutualist; this 1826 series criticized Robert Owen's proposals, and has been attributed to a dissident Owenite, possibly from the Friendly Association for Mutual Interests of Valley Forge; Wilbur, Shawn, 2006, "More from the 1826 "Mutualist"?"
  34. ^ Dana, Charles A. Proudhon and his "Bank of the People" (1848).
  35. ^ Tucker, Benjamin R., "On Picket Duty", Liberty (Not the Daughter but the Mother of Order) (1881–1908); 5 January 1889; 6, 10; APS Online pg. 1
  36. ^ "Communism versus Mutualism", Socialistic, Communistic, Mutualistic and Financial Fragments. (Boston: Lee & Shepard, 1875) William Batchelder Greene: "Under the mutual system, each individual will receive the just and exact pay for his work; services equivalent in cost being exchangeable for services equivalent in cost, without profit or discount; and so much as the individual laborer will then get over and above what he has earned will come to him as his share in the general prosperity of the community of which he is an individual member."
  37. ^ Avrich, Paul. Anarchist Voices: An Oral History of Anarchism in America, Princeton University Press 1996 ISBN 0–691–04494–5, p.6
    Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Political Thought, Blackwell Publishing 1991 ISBN 0–631–17944–5, p.11
  38. ^ Pierre-Joseph Proudhon. What Is Property? Princeton, MA: Benjamin R. Tucker, 1876. p. 281.
  39. ^ Ward, Colin. Anarchism: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press, 2004, p. 2
  40. ^ Heywood, Andrew, Key Concepts in Politics, Palgrave, ISBN 0–312–23381–7, 2000, p. 46
  41. ^ Freeden, Michael. Ideologies and Political Theory: A Conceptual Approach. Oxford University Press. ISBN 019829414X. pp. 314
  42. ^ a b Woodcock, George. 2004. Anarchism: A History Of Libertarian Ideas And Movements. Broadview Press. p. 20
  43. ^ Johnson, Ellwood. The Goodly Word: The Puritan Influence in America Literature, Clements Publishing, 2005, p. 138.
    Encyclopaedia of the Social Sciences, edited by Edwin Robert Anderson Seligman, Alvin Saunders Johnson, 1937, p. 12.
  44. ^ a b Max Stirner entry in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy by David Leopold, 2006- 08-04
  45. ^ The Encyclopedia Americana: A Library of Universal Knowledge. Encyclopedia Corporation. p. 176
  46. ^ Miller, David. "Anarchism." 1987. The Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Political Thought. Blackwell Publishing. p 11
  47. ^ "What my might reaches is my property; and let me claim as property everything I feel myself strong enough to attain, and let me extend my actual property as fas as I entitle, that is, empower myself to take…" In Ossar, Michael. 1980. Anarchism in the Dramas of Ernst Toller. SUNY Press. p. 27
  48. ^ a b Levy, Carl. " Anarchism". Microsoft Encarta Online Encyclopedia 2007.
  49. ^ "Anarchism is a word without meaning, unless it includes the liberty of the individual to control his product or whatever his product has brought him through exchange in a free market – that is, private property. Whoever denies private property is of necessity an Archist." "Anarchism and Property", by Benjamin Tucker in The New Freewoman, November 15, 1913
  50. ^ Benjamin Tucker, "defense is a service like any other service; that it is labor both useful and desired, and therefore an economic commodity subject to the law of supply and demand; that in a free market this commodity would be furnished at the cost of production; that, competition prevailing, patronage would go to those who furnished the best article at the lowest price; that the production and sale of this commodity are now monopolized by the State; and that the State, like almost all monopolists, charges exorbitant prices" "Instead of a Book" (1893)
    "Anarchism does not exclude prisons, officials, military, or other symbols of force. It merely demands that non-invasive men shall not be made the victims of such force. Anarchism is not the reign of love, but the reign of justice. It does not signify the abolition of force-symbols but the application of force to real invaders." Tucker, Benjamin. Liberty October 19, 1891.
  51. ^ Tucker, Benjamin. " Labor and Its Pay", from Individual Liberty: Selections from the Writings of Benjamin T. Tucker
  52. ^ Madison, Charles A. "Anarchism in the United States". Journal of the History of Ideas, Vol 6, No 1, January 1945, p. 53.
  53. ^ Schwartzman, Jack. "Ingalls, Hanson, and Tucker: Nineteenth-Century American Anarchists". American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Vol. 62, No. 5 (November, 2003). p. 325
  54. ^ Spooner, Lysander. The Law of Intellectual Property
  55. ^ a b Watner, Carl (1977). Benjamin Tucker and His Periodical, Liberty PDF (868  KiB). Journal of Libertarian Studies, Vol. 1, No. 4, p. 308
  56. ^ Watner, Carl. " Spooner Vs. Liberty" PDF (1.20  MiB) in The Libertarian Forum. March 1975. Volume VII, No 3. ISSN 0047–4517. pp. 5–6.
  57. ^ Brooks, Frank H. 1994. The Individualist Anarchists: An Anthology of Liberty (1881–1908). Transaction Publishers. p. 75.
  58. ^ Avrich, Paul. 2006. Anarchist Voices: An Oral History of Anarchism in America. AK Press. p. 6
  59. ^ Miller, David. "Anarchism". The Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Political Thought 1987. p. 11
  60. ^ Morris, Christopher W. 1998. An Essay on the Modern State. Cambridge University Press. p 50. The collectivist category is also sometimes known as social, socialist, or communitarian anarchism category.
  61. ^ a b Patsouras, Louis. 2005. Marx in Context. iUniverse. p. 54
  62. ^ Avrich, Paul. 2006. Anarchist Voices: An Oral History of Anarchism in America. AK Press. p. 5
  63. ^ Guillaume, James, Ideas on Social Organization(1876)
  64. ^ Bakunin, Mikhail (1990). Statism and Anarchy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521361826. “They [the Marxists] maintain that only a dictatorship -- their dictatorship, of course -- can create the will of the people, while our answer to this is: No dictatorship can have any other aim but that of self-perpetuation, and it can beget only slavery in the people tolerating it; freedom can be created only by freedom, that is, by a universal rebellion on the part of the people and free organization of the toiling masses from the bottom up.” 
  65. ^ Puente, Isaac. "Libertarian Communism". The Cienfuegos Press Anarchist Review. Issue 6 Orkney 1982
  66. ^ Graeber, David and Grubacic, Andrej. Anarchism, Or The Revolutionary Movement Of The Twenty-first Century
  67. ^ Miller. Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Political Thought, Blackwell Publishing (1991) ISBN 0–631–17944–5, p. 12
  68. ^
    • Kropotkin, Peter Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution, 1998 paperback, London: Freedom Press. ISBN 0–900384–36–0, also at Project Gutenburg
    • Kropotkin, Peter The Conquest of Bread, first published 1892, also at Anarchy Archives
    • Kropotkin, Peter Fields, Factories and Workshops, available at Anarchy Archives
    • Bookchin, Murray Post Scarcity Anarchism (1971 and 2004) ISBN 1–904859–06–2.
  69. ^ a b Kropotkin, Peter (1907). The Conquest of Bread. New York: Putnam, p. 202. ISBN 7195197. 
  70. ^ Kropotkin, Peter. Words of a Rebel, p99.
  71. ^ Yarros, Victor S. "A Princely Paradox", Liberty, Vol 4. No. 19, Saturday, April 9, 1887, Whole Number 97; Tucker, Benjamin. "Labor and Its Pay"; Appleton, Henry. "Anarchism, True and False", Liberty 2.24, no. 50, 6 September 1884, p. 4; Swartz, Clarence Lee. What is Mutualism?; Rothbard, Murray. " The Death Wish of the Anarcho-Communists"
  72. ^ a b Dielo Trouda [1926] (2006). Organizational Platform of the General Union of Anarchists (Draft). Italy: FdCA. Retrieved on 2006- 10-24. 
  73. ^ Christopher Gray, Leaving the Twentieth Century, p. 88.
  74. ^ Emma Goldman, Anarchism and Other Essays, p. 50.
  75. ^ Berry, David, A History of the French Anarchist Movement, 1917–1945 p.134
  76. ^ a b (2008) "Are there different types of social anarchism?", in Iain Mckay: An Anarchist FAQ. Stirling: AK Press. ISBN 1902593901. OCLC 182529204. 
  77. ^ Anarchosyndicalism by Rudolf Rocker, retrieved 7 September 2006
  78. ^ Williams, Leonard (September 2007). "Anarchism Revived". New Political Science 29 (3): 297–312. doi: 10.1080/07393140701510160. 
  79. ^ " Exclusive Interview With Murray Rothbard" The New Banner: A Fortnightly Libertarian Journal. 25 February 1972.
  80. ^ "This volume honors the foremost contemporary exponent of market anarchism. One contributor describes Murray Rothbard as 'the most ideologically committed zero-State academic economist on earth'." Review by Lawrence H. White of "Man, Economy, and Liberty: Essays in honour of Murray N. Rothbard", published in Journal of Economic Literature, Vol XXVIII, June 1990, page 664
  81. ^ "Anarcho-capitalism." Oxford English Dictionary. 2004. Oxford University Press.
  82. ^ Jainendra, Jha. 2002. "Anarchism". Encyclopedia of Teaching of Civics and Political Science. p. 52. Anmol Publications.
  83. ^ Rothbard, Murray N. "A Future of Peace and Capitalism". Modern Political Economy. James H. Weaver (ed.). pp 419. Allyn and Bacon.
  84. ^ Murray Rothbard, A Future of Peace and Capitalism; Murray Rothbard, Left and Right: The Prospects for Liberty.
  85. ^ Rothbard, Murray (1969) Confiscation and the Homestead Principle PDF (580  KiB) The Libertarian Forum Vol. I, No. VI ( June 15, 1969) Retrieved 5 August 2006
  86. ^ Hess, Karl. " The Death of Politics". Playboy Magazine, March 1969
  87. ^ Raico, Ralph (2004) Authentic German Liberalism of the 19th Century Ecole Polytechnique, Centre de Recherce en Epistemologie Appliquee, Unité associée au CNRS
  88. ^ Rothbard, Murray. Preface. The Production of Security. By Gustave Molinari. 1849, 1977.
  89. ^ DeLeon, David. The American as Anarchist: Reflections on Indigenous Radicalism. Johns Hopkins University Press, 1978, p. 127
  90. ^ Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Political Thought, 1987, ISBN 0–631–17944–5, p. 290: "A student and disciple of the Austrian economist Ludwig von Mises, Rothbard combined the laissez-faire economics of his teacher with the absolutist views of human rights and rejection of the state he had absorbed from studying the individualist American anarchists of the nineteenth century such as Lysander Spooner and Benjamin Tucker. (Rothbard himself is on the anarchist wing of the movement.)"
  91. ^ Adams, Ian. 2002. Political Ideology Today. p. 135. Manchester University Press; Ostergaard, Geoffrey. 2003. "Anarchism". The Blackwell Dictionary of Modern Social Thought. W. Outwaite ed. Blackwell Publishing. p. 14.
  92. ^ Konkin, Samuel Edward. New Libertarian Manifesto. KoPubCo year = 2006. ISBN 9780977764921. 
  93. ^ Vernor Vinge, James Frankel. True Names: And the Opening of the Cyberspace Frontier (2001), Tor Books, p.44
  94. ^ Goldman, "Marriage and Love", Red Emma Speaks, p. 205
  95. ^ Brown, Susan. "Beyond Feminism: Anarchism and Human Freedom" Anarchist Papers 3 Black Rose Books (1990) p. 208
  96. ^ Anarchist-Communism by Alain Pengam
  97. ^ Esenwein, George Richard "Anarchist Ideology and the Working Class Movement in Spain, 1868–1898" [p. 135]
  98. ^ Avrich, Paul. Anarchist Voices: An Oral History of Anarchism in America. Princeton University Press, 1996, p. 6
  99. ^ Voltairine De Cleyre, "Why I Am an Anarchist"
  100. ^ Nettlau, Max. A Short History of Anarchism [p. 198–9]
  101. ^ Anarchist Voices: An Oral History of Anarchism in America, Paul Avrich (2006). p. 475
  102. ^ Jonathan Purkis and James Bowen, "Introduction: Why Anarchism Still Matters", in Jonathan Purkis and James Bowen (eds), Changing Anarchism: Anarchist Theory and Practice in a Global Age (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2004), p.3.
  103. ^ a b " On the International Workingmen's Association and Karl Marx" in Bakunin on Anarchy, translated and edited by Sam Dolgoff, 1971
  104. ^ Bakunin, Mikhail [1873] (1991). Statism and Anarchy. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0–521–36973–8. 
  105. ^ Graham, Robert ' 'Anarchism (Montreal: Black Rose Books 2005) ISBN 1–55164–251–4
  106. ^ Resolutions from the St. Imier Congress, in Anarchism: A Documentary History of Libertarian Ideas, Vol. 1, p.100
  107. ^ " How May Day Became a Workers' Holiday". The Guide to Life, The Universe and Everything. bbc.co.uk ( 4 October 2001). Retrieved on 2008- 01-19. “(It is) Resolved ... that eight hours shall constitute a legal day's labor from and after May 1, 1886, and that we recommend to labor organizations throughout this district that they so direct their laws so as to conform to this resolution by the time named.”
  108. ^ " How May Day Became a Workers' Holiday". The Guide to Life, The Universe and Everything. bbc.co.uk ( 4 October 2001). Retrieved on 2008- 01-19.
  109. ^ Avrich. The Haymarket Tragedy, p. 193. 
  110. ^ " Patrolman Mathias J. Degan". The Officer Down Memorial Page, Inc. Retrieved on 2008- 01-19.
  111. ^ Chicago Tribune, June 27, 1886, quoted in Avrich. The Haymarket Tragedy, p. 209. 
  112. ^ " Act II: Let Your Tragedy Be Enacted Here". The Dramas of Haymarket. Chicago Historical Society (2000). Retrieved on 2008- 01-19.
  113. ^ Foner. May Day, p. 42. 
  114. ^ Extract of Malatesta's declaration (French)
  115. ^ Carley, Mark "Trade union membership 1993–2003" (International:SPIRE Associates 2004)
  116. ^ Holbrow, Marnie, "Daring but Divided" (Socialist Review November 2002)
  117. ^ Berry, David. "Fascism or Revolution". Le Libertaire. August 1936)

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