Anarchism is a
political philosophyPolitical philosophy is the study of city, government, politics, liberty, justice, property, rights, law, and the enforcement of a legal code by authority: what they are, why they are needed, what makes a government legitimate, what rights and freedoms it should protect and why, what form it...
encompassing
theories and attitudesAnarchism is a political philosophy with many heterogeneous and diverse schools of thought, united by a common opposition to compulsory government. Anarchist schools of thought are characterised by "the belief that government is both harmful and unnecessary", but may differ fundamentally,...
which consider the
stateA sovereign state is a political association with effective internal and external sovereignty over a geographic area and population which is not dependent on, or subject to any other power or state...
, as compulsory
governmentA government is the body within a community, political entity or organization which has the authority to make and enforce rules, laws and regulations.....
, to be unnecessary, harmful, and/or undesirable, and favors the
absence of the stateStateless society describes a society without a government. It is generally the goal of anarchists who believe that government is both unnecessary and also directly harmful in that it infringes on the personal and economic freedoms of people....
(
anarchyAnarchy may refer to any of the following:* "No rulership or enforced authority." * "Absence of government; a state of lawlessness due to the absence or inefficiency of the supreme power; political disorder."...
).
Specific anarchists may have additional criteria for what constitutes anarchism, and they often disagree with each other on what these criteria are. According to
The Oxford Companion to PhilosophyThe Oxford Companion to Philosophy is a reference work in philosophy edited by Ted Honderich and published by Oxford University Press in 1995. A second edition was published in 2005 and included some 300 new entries. The new edition has over 2,200 entries and 291 contributors in 1,080...
, "there is no single defining position that all anarchists hold, and those considered anarchists at best share a certain
family resemblanceFamily resemblance is a philosophical idea proposed by Ludwig Wittgenstein, with the most well known exposition being given in the posthumously published book Philosophical Investigations . The idea itself takes its name from Wittgenstein's metaphorical description of a type of relationship he...
."
There are many types and traditions of anarchism, not all of which are mutually exclusive. Different versions of anarchism have been categorized as
socialist anarchismSocialist anarchism, anarcho-socialism, left-anarchism, communitarian anarchism, or social anarchism is an umbrella term used to differentiate two broad categories of anarchism, this one being the collectivist, with the other being individualist anarchism...
and
individualist anarchismIndividualist anarchism refers to several traditions of thought within the anarchist movement that emphasize the individual and his/her will over any kinds of external determinants such as groups, society, traditions, and ideological systems. Individualist anarchism is not a single philosophy but...
or similar dual classifications. Anarchism is often considered to be a
radical left-wingFar left and extreme left are terms used to discuss the position a group or person occupies within the political spectrum. The terms far left and far right are often used to imply that someone is an extremist....
ideology, and much of
anarchist economicsAnarchist economics is the set of theories and practices of economic activity within the political philosophy of anarchism. Anti-capitalist anarchists primarily oppose capitalism because they claim that its characteristic institutions promote and reproduce various forms of economic activity which...
and
anarchist legal philosophyAnarchist law refers to a series of ongoing debates within the various branches of anarchist theory regarding if and how norms of individual and/or collective behavior, decision-making and actions should be created and enforced. Although many anarchists would consider "anarchist law" simply...
reflect
anti-statistAnti-statism is opposition to state intervention into personal, social or economic affairs. Anti-statist views may reject the state completely as well as rulership in general , they may wish to reduce the size and scope of the state to a minimum , or they may advocate a stateless society as a...
interpretations of communism,
collectivismCollectivist anarchism is a revolutionary doctrine that advocated the abolition of the state and private ownership of the means of production, with the means of production instead being owned collectively and controlled and managed by the producers themselves.The collectivization of the means of...
,
syndicalismAnarcho-syndicalism is a branch of anarchism which focuses on the labour movement. Syndicalisme is a French word, ultimately derived from the Greek, meaning "trade unionism" hence, the "syndicalism" qualification. Syndicalism is an alternative co-operative economic system...
or
participatory economicsParticipatory economics, often abbreviated parecon, is an economic system proposed by activist and political theorist Michael Albert and radical economist Robin Hahnel. It uses participatory decision making as an economic mechanism to guide the production, consumption and allocation of resources in...
; however, anarchism has for some time included an economic and legal
individualistIndividualist anarchism refers to several traditions of thought within the anarchist movement that emphasize the individual and his/her will over any kinds of external determinants such as groups, society, traditions, and ideological systems. Individualist anarchism is not a single philosophy but...
strain, with that strain supporting an anarchist free-market economy and
private propertyPrivate property is the tangible and intangible things owned by individuals or firms over which their owners have exclusive and absolute legal rights, and can only be transferred with the owner's consent. Private property can take the form of real estate, homes, factories, automobiles, capital,...
(like old anarcho-individualism and today's
anarcho-capitalismAnarcho-capitalism is an individualist anarchist political philosophy that advocates the elimination of the state and the elevation of the sovereign individual in a free market...
).
Others, such as
panarchistsPanarchism is a political philosophy emphasizing each individual's right to freely join and leave the jurisdiction of any governments they choose, without being forced to move from their current locale. The word "panarchy" was invented and the concept proposed by a Belgian political economist, Paul...
and anarchists without adjectives, neither advocate nor object to any particular form of organization as long as it is not compulsory. Some
anarchist schools of thoughtAnarchism is a political philosophy with many heterogeneous and diverse schools of thought, united by a common opposition to compulsory government. Anarchist schools of thought are characterised by "the belief that government is both harmful and unnecessary", but may differ fundamentally,...
differ fundamentally, supporting anything from extreme
individualismIndividualism is the moral stance, political philosophy, ideology, or social outlook that stresses independence and self-reliance. Individualists promote the exercise of one's goals and desires, while opposing most external interference upon one's choices, whether by society, or any other group or...
to complete
collectivismCollectivism is a term used to describe any moral, political, or social outlook, that emphasizes the interdependence of every human in some collective group and the priority of group goals over individual goals. Collectivists focus on community and society, and seek to give priority to group goals...
. The central tendency of anarchism as a
social movementSocial movements are a type of group action. They are large informal groupings of individuals and/or organizations focused on specific political or social issues, in other words, on carrying out, resisting or undoing a social change....
have been represented by communist anarchism, with anarcho-individualism being primarily a
philosophical/literary phenomenonPhilosophical anarchism is an anarchist school of thought which contends that the State lacks moral legitimacy and -in contrast to revolutionary anarchism- does not advocate violent revolution to eliminate it but advocate peaceful evolution to superate it...
. Some anarchists fundamentally
oppose all forms of aggressionThe non-aggression principle is a deontological ethical stance associated with the Anarcho-capitalist school of Libertarianism...
, supporting
self-defenseSelf-defense is the act of defending oneself, one's property or the well-being of another from physical harm. The use of the right of self-defense as a legal justification for the use of force is available in many jurisdictions, but the interpretation varies widely...
or non-violence, while others have supported the use of some
coerciveCoercion is the practice of forcing another party to behave in an involuntary manner by use of threats, intimidation, trickery, or some other form of pressure or force. Such actions are used as leverage, to force the victim to act in the desired way...
measures, including violent revolution and
terrorismTerrorism is the systematic use of terror especially as a means of coercion.At present, there is no internationally agreed definition of terrorism...
, on the path to anarchy.
The term
anarchism derives from the
GreekGreek , an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages, is the language of the Greeks. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. In its ancient form, it is the language of classical...
ἀναρχος,
anarchos, meaning "without rulers", from the prefix ἀν- (
an-, "without") + ἄρχή (
archê, "sovereignty, realm, magistracy") + -ισμός (
-ismos, from a stem -ιζειν,
-izein). There is some ambiguity with the use of the terms "
libertarianismLibertarianism, from "libertarian" , may refer to:*Libertarianism, a variety of political philosophies or ideologies and social movements which emphasize individual liberty....
" and "libertarian" in writings about anarchism. Since the 1890s from France, the term "libertarianism" has often been used as a synonym for anarchism and was used almost exclusively in this sense until the 1950s in the United States; its use as a synonym is still common outside the U.S.
Accordingly, "
libertarian socialismLibertarian socialism is a group of political philosophies that aspire to create a society without political, economic, or social hierarchies, i.e...
" is sometimes used as a synonym for
socialist anarchismSocialist anarchism, anarcho-socialism, left-anarchism, communitarian anarchism, or social anarchism is an umbrella term used to differentiate two broad categories of anarchism, this one being the collectivist, with the other being individualist anarchism...
, to delineate it from "individualist libertarianism" (individualist anarchism). On the other hand, some use "
libertarianismLibertarianism is a term adopted by a broad spectrum of political philosophies which advocate the maximization of individual liberty and the minimization or even abolition of the state...
" to refer to individualistic free-market philosophy only, referring to free-market anarchism as "libertarian anarchism."
While some dictionaries define "anarchy" or "anarchism" as chaos and/or disorder this narrow scope of the term is not how it is used in this article.
Origins
Some claim anarchist themes can be found in the works of
TaoistDaoism refers to a variety of related philosophical and religious traditions and concepts that have influenced East Asia for over two millennia and the West for over two centuries. The word 道, Tao , means "path" or "way", although in Chinese folk religion and philosophy it has taken on more...
sages
LaoziLaozi was a philosopher of ancient China and is a central figure in Taoism . Laozi literally means "Old Master" and is generally considered an honorific...
and
ZhuangziZhuangzi was an influential Chinese philosopher who lived around the 4th century BCE during the Warring States Period, corresponding to the Hundred Schools of Thought philosophical summit of Chinese thought...
. 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 Nation." Diogenes of SinopeDiogenes of Sinope , also known as Diogenes the Cynic was a Greek philosopher, born in Sinope about 412 BC , and died in 323 BC, at Corinth...
and the
CynicThe Cynics were an influential group of philosophers from the ancient school of Cynicism. Their philosophy was that the purpose of life was to live a life of Virtue in agreement with Nature. This meant rejecting all conventional desires for wealth, power, health, and fame, and by living a life...
s, and their contemporary
Zeno of CitiumZeno of Citium was a Greek philosopher from Citium , Cyprus. Zeno was the founder of the Stoic school of philosophy which he taught in Athens, from about 300 BC. Based on the moral ideas of the Cynics, Stoicism laid great emphasis on the goodness and peace of mind which would arise from living a...
, the founder of
StoicismStoicism was a school of Hellenistic philosophy founded in Athens by Zeno of Citium in the early . The stoics considered destructive emotions to be the result of errors in judgment, and that a sage, or person of "moral and intellectual perfection," would not undergo such emotions...
, also introduced similar topics.
Modern anarchism, however, sprang from the secular or religious thought of the
EnlightenmentThe Age of Enlightenment, or simply The Enlightenment, is a term used to describe a time in Western philosophy and cultural life, centered upon the eighteenth century, in which reason was advocated as the primary source and legitimacy for authority....
, particularly
Jean-Jacques RousseauJean Jacques Rousseau was a major philosopher, writer, and composer of the eighteenth-century Enlightenment, whose political philosophy influenced the French Revolution and the development of modern political and educational thought.His novel, Emile: or, On Education, which he considered his most...
'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 WarThe English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists. The first and second civil wars pitted the supporters of King Charles I against the supporters of the Long Parliament, while the third war saw fighting between supporters of...
as a
term of abusePejoratives are terms which have a negative connotation. Sometimes a term may begin as a pejorative word and eventually be adopted in a non-pejorative sense...
used by
RoyalistsCavalier was the name used by Parliamentarians for a Royalist supporter of King Charles I during the English Civil War . Prince Rupert, commander of much of Charles I's cavalry, is often considered an archetypical Cavalier.-Early usage:...
to damn those who were fomenting disorder. By the time of the
French RevolutionThe French Revolution was a period of political and social upheaval and radical change in the history of France, during which the French governmental structure, previously an absolute monarchy with feudal privileges for the aristocracy and Catholic clergy, underwent radical change to forms based...
some, such as the
EnragésLes Enragés were a radical group active during the French Revolution of 1789 opposed to the Jacobins. Initiated by Jacques Roux, Théophile Leclerc, Jean Varlet and others, they believed that liberty for all meant more than mere constitutional rights...
, began to use the term positively, in opposition to
JacobinA Jacobin, in the context of the French Revolution, was a member of the Jacobin Club . At that time, the term was popularly applied to all promulgators of revolutionary opinions. In contemporary France it refers to the concept of a centralized Republic, with power concentrated in the national...
centralisation of power, seeing "revolutionary government" as
oxymoronAn oxymoron is a figure of speech that combines two normally contradictory terms...
ic.
From this climate
William GodwinWilliam Godwin was an English journalist, political philosopher and novelist. He is considered one of the first exponents of utilitarianism, and one of the first modern proponents of anarchism...
developed what many consider the first expression of
modern anarchist thoughtAnarchism is a political philosophy with many heterogeneous and diverse schools of thought, united by a common opposition to compulsory government. Anarchist schools of thought are characterised by "the belief that government is both harmful and unnecessary", but may differ fundamentally,...
. Godwin was, according to
Peter KropotkinPeter Alexeyevich Kropotkin was a geographer, a zoologist, and one of Russia's foremost anarchists. One of the first advocates of anarchist communism, Kropotkin advocated a communist society free from central government. Because of his title of prince, he was known by some as "the Anarchist...
, "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", while Godwin attached his anarchist ideas to an early
Edmund BurkeEdmund Burke PC was an Anglo-Irish statesman, author, orator, political theorist, and philosopher who, after relocating to England, served for many years in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom as a member of the Whig party. He is mainly remembered for his opposition to the French Revolution...
. Instead,
Benjamin TuckerBenjamin Ricketson Tucker was a leading proponent of American individualist anarchism in the 19th century, and editor and publisher of the individualist anarchist periodical Liberty.-Summary:...
credits
Josiah WarrenJosiah Warren was an individualist anarchist, inventor, socialist, musician, and author in the United States. Biographer William Bailie regarded him as the first American anarchist, and the four-page weekly paper he edited during 1833, The Peaceful Revolutionist, was the first anarchist periodical...
, an American who promoted stateless and
voluntary communitiesA voluntary society, voluntary community or voluntary city is one in which all property and all services are provided through voluntary means, such as private or cooperative ownership...
where all goods and services were
privatePrivatization is the incidence or process of transferring ownership of a business, enterprise, agency or public service from the public sector to the private sector...
, with being "the first man to expound and formulate the doctrine now known as Anarchism." The first to describe himself as an anarchist was
Pierre-Joseph ProudhonPierre-Joseph Proudhon was a French politician, mutualist philosopher and socialist. He was a member of the French Parliament, and he was the first to call himself an anarchist. He is considered among the most influential of anarchist writers and organisers. After the events of 1848 he began to...
, a French philosopher and politician, which led some to call him the founder of modern anarchist theory.
Schools of thought
Anarchist ideas have only occasionally inspired political movements of any size, and "the tradition is mainly one of individual thinkers, but they have produced an important body of theory." Anarchist schools of thought had been generally grouped in two main historical traditions, individualist and collectivist ones, which have some different origins, values and evolution.
The individualist wing of anarchism emphasises
negative libertyThe concept of negative liberty refers to freedom from interference by other people. According to Thomas Hobbes, "a free man is he that in those things which by his strength and wit he is able to do is not hindered to do what he hath the will to do." The concept of negative liberty refers to...
, i.e. opposition to state or
social controlSocial control includes social mechanisms that regulate individual and group behavior, leading to conformity and compliances to the rules of a given society or social group. Many mechanisms of social control are cross-cultural, if only in the control mechanisms used to prevent the establishment of...
over the individual, while those in the collectivist wing emphasise
positive libertyPositive liberty refers to having the power and resources to act to fulfill one's own potential, as opposed to negative liberty, which refers to freedom from restraint. Inherent to positive liberty is the idea that liberty is the ability of citizens to participate in their government, or in...
to achieve one's potential and argue that humans have needs that society ought to fulfill, "recognizing equality of entitlement". In chronological and theorical sense there are classical -those created throughout the 19th century- and post-classical anarchist schools -those created since the mid-20th century and after.
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 socialist/collectivist/communitarian wing which advocates
common ownershipCommon ownership is a principle according to which the assets of an enterprise or other organization are held indivisibly rather than in the names of the individual members or by the government. Thus, rather than being “owners” of the enterprise, its members are held to be trustees of it and its...
. Individualist anarchism has been espoused by individuals such as
Max StirnerJohann Kaspar Schmidt , better known as Max Stirner , was a German philosopher, who ranks as one of the literary fathers of nihilism, existentialism, post-modernism and anarchism, especially of individualist...
,
Stephen Pearl AndrewsStephen Pearl Andrews was an American individualist anarchist and author of several books on the topic.-Early life and work:...
,
William GodwinWilliam Godwin was an English journalist, political philosopher and novelist. He is considered one of the first exponents of utilitarianism, and one of the first modern proponents of anarchism...
,
Henry David ThoreauHenry David Thoreau was an American author, poet, naturalist, tax resister, development critic, surveyor, historian, philosopher, and leading transcendentalist...
,
Josiah WarrenJosiah Warren was an individualist anarchist, inventor, socialist, musician, and author in the United States. Biographer William Bailie regarded him as the first American anarchist, and the four-page weekly paper he edited during 1833, The Peaceful Revolutionist, was the first anarchist periodical...
,
Albert Jay NockAlbert Jay Nock was an influential American libertarian author, educational theorist, and social critic of the early and middle 20th century.- Life and work :...
and
Murray RothbardMurray Newton Rothbard was an American intellectual, individualist anarchist, author, and economist of the Austrian School who helped define modern libertarianism and popularized a form of free-market anarchism he termed "anarcho-capitalism"...
.
Philosophical anarchism
Philosophical anarchism is a component especially of individualist anarchism which contends that the
StateA sovereign state is a political association with effective internal and external sovereignty over a geographic area and population which is not dependent on, or subject to any other power or state...
lacks moral legitimacy but does not advocate revolution to eliminate it. Though philosophical anarchism does not necessarily imply any action or desire for the elimination of the State, philosophical anarchists do not believe that they have an obligation or duty to obey the State, or, conversely, that the State has a right to command. Philosophical anarchists may accept the existence of a
minimal stateIn civics, minarchism refers to a political ideology which maintains that the state's only legitimate function is the protection of individuals from aggression...
as unfortunate, and usually temporary, "necessary evil" but argue that citizens do not have a
moral obligationThe term moral obligation has a number of meanings in moral philosophy, in religion, and in layman's terms. Generally speaking, when someone says of an act that it is a "moral obligation," they refer to a belief that the act is one prescribed by their set of values.Moral philosophers differ as to...
to obey the state when its laws conflict with individual autonomy.
Philosophical anarchists of historical note include
William GodwinWilliam Godwin was an English journalist, political philosopher and novelist. He is considered one of the first exponents of utilitarianism, and one of the first modern proponents of anarchism...
,
Max StirnerJohann Kaspar Schmidt , better known as Max Stirner , was a German philosopher, who ranks as one of the literary fathers of nihilism, existentialism, post-modernism and anarchism, especially of individualist...
,
Herbert SpencerHerbert Spencer was an English philosopher, prominent classical liberal political theorist, and sociological theorist of the Victorian era....
,
Benjamin TuckerBenjamin Ricketson Tucker was a leading proponent of American individualist anarchism in the 19th century, and editor and publisher of the individualist anarchist periodical Liberty.-Summary:...
, and
Henry David ThoreauHenry David Thoreau was an American author, poet, naturalist, tax resister, development critic, surveyor, historian, philosopher, and leading transcendentalist...
. Contemporary philosophical anarchists include
Robert Paul WolffRobert Paul Wolff is a contemporary American political philosopher and professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Wolff has written widely on many topics in political philosophy such as Marxism, tolerance, liberalism, political justification and democracy...
. According to scholar
Allan AntliffAllan W. Antliff is an anarchist activist, art critic and author who has written extensively on the topics of anarchism and art in North America....
,
Benjamin TuckerBenjamin Ricketson Tucker was a leading proponent of American individualist anarchism in the 19th century, and editor and publisher of the individualist anarchist periodical Liberty.-Summary:...
coined the term "philosophical anarchism," to distinguish peaceful evolutionary anarchism from revolutionary variants.
As conceived by
William GodwinWilliam Godwin was an English journalist, political philosopher and novelist. He is considered one of the first exponents of utilitarianism, and one of the first modern proponents of anarchism...
, it requires individuals to act in accordance with their own judgments and to allow every other individual the same liberty; conceived egoistically as by
Max StirnerJohann Kaspar Schmidt , better known as Max Stirner , was a German philosopher, who ranks as one of the literary fathers of nihilism, existentialism, post-modernism and anarchism, especially of individualist...
, it implies that 'the unique one' who truly 'owns himself' recognizes no duties to others; within the limit of his might, he does what is right for him.
William Godwin's rationalism
In 1793, William Godwin, who has often been cited as the first anarchist, wrote
Political JusticeEnquiry Concerning Political Justice and its Influence on Modern Morals and Manners outlines the political philosophy of the eighteenth-century philosopher William Godwin....
, which some consider to be the first expression of anarchism. Godwin, a philosophical anarchist, from a rationalist and utilitarian basis opposed revolutionary action and saw a
minimal stateLimited government is a government where any more than minimal governmental intervention in personal liberties and the economy is not usually allowed by law, usually in a written Constitution. It is closely related to libertarianism, recntliberalism, and some tendencies of liberalism and...
as a present "necessary evil" that would become increasingly irrelevant and powerless by the gradual spread of knowledge.
Godwin advocated extreme
individualismIndividualism is the moral stance, political philosophy, ideology, or social outlook that stresses independence and self-reliance. Individualists promote the exercise of one's goals and desires, while opposing most external interference upon one's choices, whether by society, or any other group or...
, proposing that all cooperation in labor be eliminated on the premise that this would be most conducive with the general good. Godwin was a utilitarian who believed that all individuals are not of equal value, with some of us "of more worth and importance" than others depending on our utility in bringing about social good. Therefore he does not believe in equal rights, but the person's life that should be favored that is most conducive to the general good.
Godwin opposed government because he saw it as infringing on the individual's right to "private judgement" to determine which actions most maximize utility, but also makes a critique of all authority over the individual's judgement. This aspect of Godwin's philosophy, stripped of utilitarian motivations, was developed into a more extreme form later by Stirner.
Egoism
The most extreme form of individualist anarchism, called "egoism," was expounded by one of the earliest and best-known proponents of individualist anarchism, Max Stirner. Stirner's
The Ego and Its OwnThe Ego and Its Own is a philosophical work by German philosopher Max Stirner , first published in 1844.-Synopsis:...
, published in 1844, is a founding text of the philosophy. According to Stirner's conception, the only limitation on the rights of the individual is their power to obtain what they desire, without regard for God, state, or moral rules.
To Stirner, rights were
spooks1846 "act of materializing" from L re, stem of res "thing"Reification may refer to:*Reification , making a data model for a previously abstract concept*Reification , fallacy of treating an abstraction as if it were a real thing...
in the mind, and he held that society does not exist but "the individuals are its reality" he supported a concept of property held by force of might rather than moral right. By "property" he is not referring only to things but to other people as well. Stirner advocated self-assertion and foresaw "associations of egoists" where respect for ruthlessness drew people together. Even murder is permissible "if it is right for me."
Stirner saw the state as illegitimate but did not see individuals as having a duty to eliminate it nor does he recommend that they try to eliminate it; rather, he advocates that they disregard the state when it conflicts with their autonomous choices and go along with it when doing so is conducive to their interests. However, while he thought there was no duty to eliminate the state, he did think that it would eventually collapse as a result of the spread of egoism.
"Egoism" has inspired many interpretations of Stirner's philosophy. It was re-discovered and promoted by German philosophical anarchist and
LGBTLGBT is an initialism referring collectively to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people. In use since the 1990s, the term “LGBT” is an adaptation of the initialism “LGB” which itself started replacing the phrase “gay community” which many within LGBT communities felt did not represent...
activist
John Henry MackayJohn Henry Mackay was an individualist anarchist, thinker and writer. Born in Scotland and raised in Germany, Mackay was the author of Die Anarchisten and Der Freiheitsucher . Mackay was published in the United States in his friend Benjamin Tucker's magazine, Liberty...
. Individualist anarchism inspired by Stirner attracted a small following of European bohemian artists and intellectuals. Stirner's philosophy has been seen as a precedent of
existentialismLike “rationalism” and “empiricism,” “existentialism” is a term that belongs to intellectual history. Its definition is thus to some extent one of historical convenience...
with other thinkers like
Friedrich NietzscheFriedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche was a 19th- century German philosopher and classical philologist. He wrote critical texts on religion, morality, contemporary culture, philosophy and science, using a distinctive German-language style and displaying a fondness for metaphor, irony and...
, or even Sören Kierkegaard.
Russian anarchists like
Lev ChernyiPável Dimítrievich Turchanínov , known by the pseudonym Lev Chernyi, was a Russian anarchist theorist, activist and poet, and a leading figure of the Third Russian Revolution. His early thought was individualist, rejecting anarcho-communism as a threat to individual liberty...
were also attracted by Stirner's ideas, as well as were a few lone wolves who found self-expression in crime and violence. They rejected organizing, believing that only unorganized individuals were safe from coercion and domination, and that this kept them true to the ideals of anarchism. This type of individualist anarchism inspired noted anarcho-feminist
Emma GoldmanEmma Goldman was an anarchist known for her political activism, writing and speeches. She played a pivotal role in the development of anarchist political philosophy in North America and Europe in the first half of the twentieth century.Born in Kovno in the Russian Empire , Goldman emigrated to the...
. Though Stirner's egoism is individualist, it has also influenced some anarcho-communists. "For Ourselves Council for Generalized Self-Management" discusses Stirner and speaks of a "communist egoism," which is said to be a "synthesis of individualism and collectivism," and says that "greed in its fullest sense is the only possible basis of communist society.
Free-market individualism
Another form of individualist anarchism was found in the United States, as advocated by the "Boston anarchists." By default American individualists didn't have any 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 capitalismThe theory of state monopoly capitalism was initially a Marxist doctrine popularised after World War II. Lenin had claimed in 1916 that World War I had transformed laissez-faire capitalism into monopoly capitalism, but he did not publish any extensive theory about the topic...
(defined as a state-sponsored monopoly) prevented labor from being fully rewarded.
Voltairine de CleyreVoltairine de Cleyre was an American anarchist activist.-Life:Born in the small town of Leslie, Michigan, she was placed as a teenager into a Catholic convent by her father, because he thought it would give her a better education. This experience had the effect of pushing her towards atheism...
, summed up the philosophy by saying that the anarchist individualists "are firm in the idea that the system of employer and employed, buying and selling, banking, and all the other essential institutions of Commercialism, centered upon private property, are in themselves good, and are rendered vicious merely by the interference of the State."
Even among the nineteenth century American individualists, there was not a monolithic doctrine, as they disagreed amongst each other on various issues including
intellectual propertyIntellectual property is a number of distinct types of legal monopolies over creations of the mind, both artistic and commercial, and the corresponding fields of law...
rights and possession versus
propertyProperty is any physical or intangible entity that is owned by a person or jointly by a group of persons. Depending on the nature of the property, an owner of property has the right to consume, sell, rent, mortgage, transfer, exchange or destroy his or her property, and/or to exclude others from...
in land. A major schism occurred later in the 19th century when Tucker and some others abandoned their traditional support of natural rights -as expoused by
Lysander SpoonerLysander Spooner was an American individualist anarchist, entrepreneur, political philosopher, abolitionist, supporter of the labor movement, and legal theorist of the nineteenth century. He is also known for competing with the U.S. Post Office with his American Letter Mail Company, which was...
- and converted to an "egoism" modeled upon
Stirner's philosophyThe philosophy of Max Stirner is credited as an influence on the development of nihilism, existentialism, post-modernism and anarchism, especially of individualist anarchism, postanarchism and post-left anarchy...
.
Some "Boston anarchists", including Benjamin Tucker, identified themselves as "socialists" which in the 19th century was often used in the broad sense of a commitment to improving conditions of the working class (i.e. "
the labor problem"The labor problem" is an economics term widely used toward the turn of the twentieth century with various applications. It has been defined in various ways, such as "the problem of improving the conditions of employment of the wage-earning classes."...
"). By the turn of the 20th century, the heyday of individualist anarchism had passed, although the individualist anarchist tradition was later revived with modifications by
Murray RothbardMurray Newton Rothbard was an American intellectual, individualist anarchist, author, and economist of the Austrian School who helped define modern libertarianism and popularized a form of free-market anarchism he termed "anarcho-capitalism"...
and his
anarcho-capitalismAnarcho-capitalism is an individualist anarchist political philosophy that advocates the elimination of the state and the elevation of the sovereign individual in a free market...
in the mid-twentieth century, as a current of the broader
libertarianLibertarianism is a term adopted by a broad spectrum of political philosophies which advocate the maximization of individual liberty and the minimization or even abolition of the state...
movement.
Mutualism
Mutualism began in 18th century English and French labor movements before taking an anarchist form associated with
Pierre-Joseph ProudhonPierre-Joseph Proudhon was a French politician, mutualist philosopher and socialist. He was a member of the French Parliament, and he was the first to call himself an anarchist. He is considered among the most influential of anarchist writers and organisers. After the events of 1848 he began to...
in France and others in the United States. Proudhon proposed
spontaneous orderSpontaneous order is the spontaneous emergence of order out of seeming chaos; the emergence of various kinds of social order from a combination of self-interested individuals who are not intentionally trying to create order. The evolution of life on Earth, language, Wikipedia, and a free market...
, 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. Proudhon's famous declaration that "
Property is Theft!Property is theft! is a slogan coined by French anarchist Pierre-Joseph Proudhon in his 1840 book What is Property? Or, an Inquiry into the Principle of Right and of Government....
," along with his less famous declaration that "Property is Liberty," inspired different
anarchist economic modelsAnarchist economics is the set of theories and practices of economic activity within the political philosophy of anarchism. Anti-capitalist anarchists primarily oppose capitalism because they claim that its characteristic institutions promote and reproduce various forms of economic activity which...
throughout the 19th and 20th centuries.
Proudhon's ideas were introduced by
Charles A. DanaCharles Anderson Dana was an American journalist, author, and government official, best known for his association with Ulysses S. Grant during the American Civil War and his aggressive political advocacy after the war....
, to individualist anarchists in the United States including
Benjamin TuckerBenjamin Ricketson Tucker was a leading proponent of American individualist anarchism in the 19th century, and editor and publisher of the individualist anarchist periodical Liberty.-Summary:...
and
William Batchelder GreeneWilliam Batchelder Greene was a 19th century individualist anarchist, Unitarian minister, soldier and promotor of free banking in the United States. He was the son of Democratic journalist and Boston post-master Nathaniel Greene.Greene graduated from the Harvard Divinity School in 1845...
. Mutualist anarchism is concerned with
reciprocity-Social sciences and humanities:*Ethic of reciprocity, the "Golden Rule" principle in ethics and religion*Norm of reciprocity, social norm of in-kind responses to the behavior of others...
, 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 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."
Socialist anarchism
Socialist anarchism is one of two different broad categories of anarchism, the other category being individualist anarchism. The term socialist anarchism is often used to identify communitarian forms of anarchism that emphasize cooperation and mutual aid. Old socialist anarchism includes anarcho-collectivism, anarcho-communism,
platformismPlatformism is a tendency within the wider anarchist movement which shares an affinity with organising in the tradition of Dielo Truda's Organizational Platform of the General Union of Anarchists ...
and
anarcho-syndicalismAnarcho-syndicalism is a branch of anarchism which focuses on the labour movement. Syndicalisme is a French word, ultimately derived from the Greek, meaning "trade unionism" hence, the "syndicalism" qualification. Syndicalism is an alternative co-operative economic system...
. More recently developments includes the anarchist factions from
social ecologySocial Ecology is a philosophy developed by Murray Bookchin in the 1960s.It holds that present ecological problems are rooted in deep-seated social problems, particularly in dominatory hierarchical political and social systems. These have resulted in an uncritical acceptance of an overly...
,
inclusive democracyInclusive Democracy is a political theory and political project that aim for direct democracy, economic democracy in a stateless, moneyless and marketless economy, self-management and ecological democracy...
and
participatory economicsParticipatory economics, often abbreviated parecon, is an economic system proposed by activist and political theorist Michael Albert and radical economist Robin Hahnel. It uses participatory decision making as an economic mechanism to guide the production, consumption and allocation of resources in...
.
Collectivist anarchism
Collectivist anarchism, also referred to as
revolutionary socialism or a form of such, is a revolutionary form of anarchism, commonly associated with
Mikhail BakuninMikhail Alexandrovich Bakunin was a well-known Russian revolutionary and theorist of collectivist anarchism.Born in the Russian Empire to a family of Russian nobles, Bakunin spent his youth as a junior officer in the Russian army but resigned his commission in 1835...
and
Johann MostJohann Joseph "John" Most was a German-American anarchist and orator, who in the late 19th century began to advocate the use of violence to achieve revolutionary political and social change...
. It is a specific tendency, not to be confused with the broad category sometimes called collectivist or communitarian anarchism. Unlike mutualists, collectivist anarchists oppose all private ownership of the means of production, instead advocating that ownership be collectivized.
This was to be achieved through violent revolution, first starting with a small cohesive 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. This position was criticised by later anarcho-communists as effectively "uphold[ing] the wages system".
Anarchist communist and collectivist ideas were not mutually exclusive; 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
MarxismMarxism is the political philosophy and economic worldview based upon a materialist interpretation of history, a Marxist analysis of capitalism, a theory of social change, and an atheist view of human liberation derived from the work of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels; three primary aspects of...
but opposed the Marxist
dictatorship of the proletariatIn Marxism, the dictatorship of the proletariat denotes the transitional socialist State between the capitalist class society and the classless communist society...
, despite the stated Marxist goal of a collectivist stateless society.
Anarchist communism
Anarchist communists propose that the freest form of
social organisationSocial organization or social institution, refers to a group of social positions, connected by social relations, performing a social role. It can also be defined in a narrower sense as any institution in a society that works to socialize the groups or people in it...
would be a society composed of
self-governingSelf-governance is an abstract concept that refers to several scales of organization. It may refer to personal conduct or family units but more commonly refers to larger scale activities, i.e., professions, industry bodies, religions and political units, up to and including autonomous regions and...
communesTraditionally, the revolutionary left sees the commune as a populist replacement for the elitist parliament. The far-left, despite their differences, agree that the commune would have several features...
with collective use of the
means of productionMeans of production , are things used byhuman labourers to create products. They include two broad categories of objects: instruments of labour and subjects of labour...
, organized by
direct democracyDirect democracy, classically termed pure democracy, comprises a form of democracy and theory of civics wherein sovereignty is lodged in the assembly of all citizens who choose to participate...
, and related to other communes through
federationA federation , also known as a federal state, is a type of sovereign state characterized by a union of partially self-governing states or regions united by a central government...
. However, some anarchist communists oppose the majoritarian nature of direct democracy, feeling that it can impede individual liberty and favor
consensus democracyConsensus democracy is the application of consensus decision making to the process of legislation in a democracy. It is characterised by a decision-making structure which involves and takes into account as broad a range of opinions as possible, as opposed to systems where minority opinions can...
.
In anarchist communism, as money would be abolished, individuals would not receive direct
compensationRemuneration is pay or salary, typically a monetary payment for services rendered, as in an employment. Usage of the word is considered formal.-Types:Renumeration can include:*Commission*Compensation methods...
for labour (through sharing of
profitsIn economics, economic profit is the difference between a company's total revenue and its opportunity costs. It is the increase in wealth that an investor has from making an investment, taking into consideration all costs associated with that investment including the opportunity cost of...
or payment) but would have free access to the resources and surplus of the commune. According to anarchist communist
Peter KropotkinPeter Alexeyevich Kropotkin was a geographer, a zoologist, and one of Russia's foremost anarchists. One of the first advocates of anarchist communism, Kropotkin advocated a communist society free from central government. Because of his title of prince, he was known by some as "the Anarchist...
and later
Murray BookchinMurray Bookchin was an American libertarian socialist, political and social philosopher, environmentalist/conservationist, atheist, speaker, and writer. For much of his life he called himself an anarchist, although as early as 1995 he privately renounced his identification with the anarchist...
, 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
propertyProperty is any physical or intangible entity that is owned by a person or jointly by a group of persons. Depending on the nature of the property, an owner of property has the right to consume, sell, rent, mortgage, transfer, exchange or destroy his or her property, and/or to exclude others from...
was one of the causes of oppression and exploitation and called for its abolition, advocating instead common ownership. Kropotkin said that "houses, fields, and factories will no longer be private property, and that they will belong to the commune or the nation and money, wages, and trade would be abolished." Kropotkin's work
Mutual Aid criticized
social DarwinismSocial Darwinism refers to various ideologies based on a concept that competition among all individuals, groups, nations, or ideas drives social evolution in human societies....
, arguing that cooperation is more natural than competition.
Conquest of Bread was essentially a handbook on the organization of a society after the
social revolutionThe term social revolution may have different connotations depending on the speaker.In the Trotskyist movement, the term "social revolution" refers to an upheaval in which existing property relations are smashed...
.
In response to those criticizing Kropotkin for supporting expropriation of homes and means of production from those who did not wish to take part in anarcho-communism, he replied that if someone did not want to join the commune they would be left alone as long as they are a "peasant who is in possession of just the amount of land he can cultivate," or "a family inhabiting a house which affords them just enough space... considered necessary for that number of people" or an artisan "working with their own tools or handloom." arguing that "[t]he landlord owes his riches to the poverty of the peasants, and the wealth of the capitalist comes from the same source."
The status of anarchist communism within anarchism is disputed, because most individualist anarchists consider
communitarianismCommunitarianism, as a group of related but distinct philosophies, began in the late 20th century, opposing exalted forms of individualism while advocating phenomena such as civil society...
incompatible with political freedom. However, anarcho-communism does not always have a communitarian philosophy, Some forms of anarchist communism are
egoistEthical egoism or egotism is the normative ethical position that moral agents ought to do what is in their own self-interest. It differs from psychological egoism, which claims that people do only act in their self-interest. Ethical egoism also differs from rational egoism, which holds merely...
, and are very influenced by radical individualist philosophy, believing that anarcho-communism does not require a communitarian nature at all. Anarchist communist
Emma GoldmanEmma Goldman was an anarchist known for her political activism, writing and speeches. She played a pivotal role in the development of anarchist political philosophy in North America and Europe in the first half of the twentieth century.Born in Kovno in the Russian Empire , Goldman emigrated to the...
blended the philosophies of both Max Stirner and Kropotkin in her own.
PlatformismPlatformism is a tendency within the wider anarchist movement which shares an affinity with organising in the tradition of Dielo Truda's Organizational Platform of the General Union of Anarchists ...
is an anarchist communist tendency in the tradition of
Nestor MakhnoNestor Ivanovych Makhno was a Ukrainian anarcho-communist guerrilla leader turned army commander who led an independent anarchist army in Ukraine during the Russian Civil War....
, 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."
Anarcho-syndicalism
In the early 20th century, anarcho-syndicalism arose as a distinct school of thought within anarchism. With greater focus on the labour movement than previous forms of anarchism,
syndicalismSyndicalism is a type of economic system proposed as a replacement for capitalism and state socialism which uses federations of collectivized trade unions. For adherents, labor unions are the potential means of both overcoming economic aristocracy and running society fairly in the interest of the...
posits radical
trade unionA trade union is an organization of workers who have banded together to achieve common goals in key areas, such as working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labor contracts with employers...
s as a potential force for revolutionary social change, replacing capitalism and the state with a new society, democratically
self-managed by the workersWorker self-management is a form of workplace decision-making in which the workers themselves agree on choices instead of an owner or traditional supervisor telling workers what to do, how to do it and where to do it...
.
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 include workers' solidarity,
direct actionDirect action is politically motivated activity undertaken by individuals, groups, or governments to achieve political goals outside of normal social/political channels. Direct action can include nonviolent and violent activities which target persons, groups, or property deemed offensive to the...
(such as
general strikeA general strike is a strike action by a critical mass of the labour force in a city, region or country. While a general strike can be for political goals, economic goals, or both, it tends to gain its momentum from the ideological or class sympathies of the participants...
s and workplace recuperations), and
workers' self-managementWorker self-management is a form of workplace decision-making in which the workers themselves agree on choices instead of an owner or traditional supervisor telling workers what to do, how to do it and where to do it...
. This is compatible with other branches of anarchism, and anarcho-syndicalists often subscribe to
anarchist communistAnarchist communism is a theory of anarchism which advocates the abolition of the state, private property, and capitalism in favor of common ownership of the means of production, direct or consensus democracy and a horizontal network of voluntary associations, workers' councils, or a gift economy...
or collectivist anarchist
economic systemAn economic system is the system of production, distribution and consumption of goods and services of an economy. Alternatively, it is the set of principles and techniques by which problems of economics are addressed, such as the economic problem of scarcity through allocation of finite productive...
s.
Its advocates propose labour organization as a means to create the foundations of a trade union centered anarchist society within the current system and bring about social revolution. An early leading anarcho-syndicalist thinker was
Rudolf RockerJohann Rudolf Rocker was an anarcho-syndicalist writer and activist. A self-professed anarchist without adjectives, Rocker believed that anarchist schools of thought represented "only different methods of economy" and that the first objective for anarchists was "to secure the personal and social...
, whose 1938 pamphlet
Anarchosyndicalism outlined a view of the movement's origin, aims and importance to the future of labour.
Although more often associated with labor struggles of the early 20th century (particularly in
FranceAnarchism in France dates from the 18th century. Many anarchists such as the Egalitarians took part in the French Revolution. Thinker Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, who grew up during the Restoration was the first self-described anarchist...
and
SpainAnarchism has historically gained more support and influence in Spain than anywhere else, especially before Francisco Franco's victory in the Spanish Civil War of 1936-1939....
), many syndicalist organizations are active today, united across national borders by membership in the
International Workers AssociationThe International Workers' Association is an international anarcho-syndicalist federation of various labour unions from different countries...
, including the
Central Organisation of the Workers of SwedenCentral Organisation of the Workers of Sweden is an anarcho-syndicalist trade union federation in Sweden. Unlike other Swedish unions, SAC organizes people from all occupations, including the unemployed, students, and the retired...
(SAC) in
SwedenSweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe...
, the
Unione Sindacale ItalianaUnione Sindacale Italiana is an Italian trade union.-Early history:The USI was founded in 1912, after a group of workers, previously affiliated with the Confederazione Generale del Lavoro , met in Modena and declared themselves linked to the legacy of the First International, and later joined the...
(USI) in
ItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia. Italy shares its northern, Alpine boundary with France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia...
, the
CNTThe Confederación Nacional del Trabajo is a Spanish confederation of anarcho-syndicalist labor unions affiliated with the International Workers Association . When working with the latter group it is also known as CNT-AIT...
and the CGT in Spain, the Workers' Solidarity Movement (WSM) of Ireland, and the
Industrial Workers of the WorldThe Industrial Workers of the World is an international union currently headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA. At its peak in 1923 the organization claimed some 100,000 members in good standing, and could marshal the support of perhaps 300,000 workers. Its membership declined dramatically after a...
in the United States.
Anarchism without adjectives
"Anarchism without adjectives", in the words of historian George Richard Esenwein, "referred to an
unhyphenatedThe hyphen is a punctuation mark used to join words and to separate syllables of a single word. It is often confused with dashes , which are longer and have different uses, and with the minus sign which is also longer...
form of anarchism, that is, a doctrine without any qualifying labels such as
communistAnarchist communism is a theory of anarchism which advocates the abolition of the state, private property, and capitalism in favor of common ownership of the means of production, direct or consensus democracy and a horizontal network of voluntary associations, workers' councils, or a gift economy...
,
collectivistCollectivism is a term used to describe any moral, political, or social outlook, that emphasizes the interdependence of every human in some collective group and the priority of group goals over individual goals. Collectivists focus on community and society, and seek to give priority to group goals...
,
mutualistMutualism is an anarchist school of thought which can be traced to the writings of Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, who envisioned a society where each person might possess a means of production, either individually or collectively, with trade representing equivalent amounts of labor in the free market...
, or
individualistIndividualist anarchism refers to several traditions of thought within the anarchist movement that emphasize the individual and his/her will over any kinds of external determinants such as groups, society, traditions, and ideological systems. Individualist anarchism is not a single philosophy but...
. 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-authoritarianAnti-authoritarianism is opposition to authoritarianism, which is defined as a "political doctrine advocating the principle of absolute rule: absolutism, autocracy, despotism, dictatorship, totalitarianism." Anti-authoritarians usually believe in full equality before the law or redistributive...
beliefs.
The position was first adopted in 1889 by
Fernando Tarrida del MármolFernando Tarrida del Mármol , was a Cuban anarchist writer. He was born in Havana to a wealthy family of Catalan emigrants, and was the nephew of Cuban general Donato Mármol. He studied engineering in Barcelona, Toulouse and Madrid, becoming professor and director of the Polytechnic School of...
as a call for
tolerationToleration and tolerance are terms used in social, cultural and religious contexts to describe attitudes which are "tolerant" of practices or group memberships that may be disapproved of by those in the majority. In practice, "tolerance" indicates support for practices that prohibit ethnic and...
, after being troubled by the "bitter debates" among the different anarchist movements.
Voltairine de CleyreVoltairine de Cleyre was an American anarchist activist.-Life:Born in the small town of Leslie, Michigan, she was placed as a teenager into a Catholic convent by her father, because he thought it would give her a better education. This experience had the effect of pushing her towards atheism...
,
Errico MalatestaErrico Malatesta was an Italian anarcho-communist. He was an insurrectionary anarchist early in his life. He spent much of his life exiled from his homeland of Italy and in total spent more than ten years in prison...
, and
Fred WoodworthFred Woodworth is an anarchist and atheist writer based in the United States. He is an anarchist without adjectives, saying: "I have no prefix or adjective for my anarchism. I think syndicalism can work, as can free-market anarcho-capitalism, anarcho-communism, even anarcho-hermits, depending on...
are noteworthy exponents of the view.
Post-classical schools of thought
Anarchism continues to generate many eclectic and
syncreticSyncretic politics involves taking political positions that attempt to reconcile seemingly opposed ideological systems, usually by combining some elements associated with the left with some associated with the right. The term is derived from the older idea of syncretic religion.- Syncretic...
philosophies and movements; since the revival of anarchism in the
U.S.The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
in the 1960s, a number of new movements and schools have emerged.
Anarcho-capitalismAnarcho-capitalism is an individualist anarchist political philosophy that advocates the elimination of the state and the elevation of the sovereign individual in a free market...
developed from radical anti-state
libertarianismLibertarianism is a term adopted by a broad spectrum of political philosophies which advocate the maximization of individual liberty and the minimization or even abolition of the state...
as a rejuvenated form of
individualist anarchismIndividualist anarchism refers to several traditions of thought within the anarchist movement that emphasize the individual and his/her will over any kinds of external determinants such as groups, society, traditions, and ideological systems. Individualist anarchism is not a single philosophy but...
, it draws from ideas like
Austrian SchoolThe Austrian School is a school of economic thought that emphasizes the spontaneous organizing power of the price mechanism or price system...
,
law and economicsLaw and Economics, or economic analysis of law, is an approach to legal theory that applies methods of economics to law. It includes the use of economic concepts to explain the effects of laws, to assess which legal rules are economically efficient, and to predict which legal rules will be...
or public choice, while the burgeoning
feministThe term Feminism can be used to describe an academic discourse, or to describe a political, cultural or economic movement aimed at establishing more rights and legal protection for women...
and
environmentalistEnvironmentalism is a broad philosophy and social movement regarding concerns for environmental conservation and improvement of the state of the environment...
movements also produced anarchist offshoots.
Post-left anarchyPost-left anarchy is a recent current in anarchist thought that promotes a critique of anarchism's relationship to traditional leftism. Some post-leftists seek to escape the confines of ideology in general...
is a tendency which seeks to distance itself from the traditional "
LeftIn politics, left-wing, political left, leftist and the Left are terms used to describe a number of positions and ideologies. They are most commonly used to refer to support for changing traditional social orders or for creating a more egalitarian distribution of wealth and privilege...
" and to escape the confines of
ideologyAn ideology is a set of aims and ideas that directs one's goals, expectations, and actions. An ideology can be thought of as a comprehensive vision, as a way of looking at things , as in common sense and several philosophical tendencies , or a set of ideas proposed by the dominant class of a...
in general. Post-leftists argue that anarchism has been weakened by its long attachment to contrary "leftist" movements, single issue causes and calls for a synthesis of anarchist thought, and a specifically anti-authoritarian revolutionary movement outside the leftist milieu.
Post-anarchismPost-anarchism or postanarchism is the term used to represent anarchist philosophies developed since the 1980s using post-structuralist and postmodernist approaches. Some prefer to use the term post-structuralist anarchism, so as not to suggest having moved "past" anarchism...
is a theoretical move towards a synthesis of classical anarchist theory and poststructuralist thought developed by
Saul NewmanSaul Newman is a political theorist and central post-anarchist thinker.Newman coined the term "post-anarchism" as a general term for political philosophies filtering 19th century anarchism through a post-structuralist lens, and later popularized it through his 2001 book From Bakunin to Lacan...
and associated with thinkers such as
Todd MayTodd May is a political philosopher notable for his role in developing, alongside Saul Newman and Lewis Call, the theory of post-structuralist anarchism. He is currently Lemon Professor of Philosophy at Clemson University and contributes to CounterPunch...
,
Gilles DeleuzeGilles Deleuze , was a French philosopher of the late 20th century. From the early 1960s until his death, Deleuze wrote many influential works on philosophy, literature, film, and fine art...
and
Félix GuattariPierre-Félix Guattari was a French militant, institutional psychotherapist and philosopher, a founder of both schizoanalysis and ecosophy...
. It draws from a wide range of ideas including post-modernism, autonomist marxism,
post-left anarchyPost-left anarchy is a recent current in anarchist thought that promotes a critique of anarchism's relationship to traditional leftism. Some post-leftists seek to escape the confines of ideology in general...
, situationism and
postcolonialismPostcolonialism is a specifically post-modern intellectual discourse that holds together a set of theories found among the texts and sub-texts of philosophy, film, political science and literature...
.
Another recent form of anarchism critical of formal anarchist movements is
insurrectionary anarchismInsurrectionary anarchism is a revolutionary theory, practice and tendency within the anarchist movement which opposes formal organizations such as labor unions and federations that are based on a political programme and periodic congresses...
, which advocates informal organization and active resistance to the state; its proponents include
Wolfi LandstreicherWolfi Landstreicher is the current nom de plume of a contemporary anarchist philosopher involved in theoretical and practical activity. He edited the anarchist publication Willful Disobedience, which was published from 1996 until 2005, and currently publishes a variety of anarchist, radical,...
and
Alfredo M. BonannoAlfredo Maria Bonanno is an insurrectionary anarchist from Italy who wrote essays such as Armed Joy , The Anarchist Tension and others. He is an editor of Anarchismo Editions and many other publications, only some of which have been translated into English...
.
Anarcho-capitalism
Anarcho-capitalism is "based on a belief in the freedom to own private
propertyProperty is any physical or intangible entity that is owned by a person or jointly by a group of persons. Depending on the nature of the property, an owner of property has the right to consume, sell, rent, mortgage, transfer, exchange or destroy his or her property, and/or to exclude others from...
, 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-capitalistAnti-capitalism describes a wide variety of movements, ideas, and attitudes which oppose capitalism. Anti-capitalists, in the strict sense of the word, are those who wish to completely replace capitalism with another system....
nature of much of anarchist thought, the status of
anarcho-capitalism within anarchismThis article discusses similarities and differences between anarcho-capitalism and other types of anarchism.- Economics and individualist anarchism :...
is disputed, particularly by
communist anarchistsAnarchist communism is a theory of anarchism which advocates the abolition of the state, private property, and capitalism in favor of common ownership of the means of production, direct or consensus democracy and a horizontal network of voluntary associations, workers' councils, or a gift economy...
. Conversely, anarcho-capitalists sometimes argue that socialist schools of anarchism are themselves logically impossible.
Anarcho-capitalists distinguish between
free marketA free market describes a market without economic intervention and regulation by government except to regulate against force or fraud. The terminology is used by economists and in popular culture. A free market requires protection of property rights, but no regulation, no subsidization, no single...
capitalism – peaceful voluntary exchange – from
state capitalismState capitalism, for Marxists and heterodox economists is a way to describe a society wherein the productive forces are owned and run by the state in a capitalist way, even if such a state calls itself socialist...
, which
Murray RothbardMurray Newton Rothbard was an American intellectual, individualist anarchist, author, and economist of the Austrian School who helped define modern libertarianism and popularized a form of free-market anarchism he termed "anarcho-capitalism"...
defined as a collusive partnership between
big businessBig Business is a term used to describe large corporations, in either an individual or collective sense. The term first came into use in a symbolic sense subsequent to the American Civil War, particularly after 1880, in connection with the combination movement that began in American business at...
and government that uses
coercionCoercion is the practice of forcing another party to behave in an involuntary manner by use of threats, intimidation, trickery, or some other form of pressure or force. Such actions are used as leverage, to force the victim to act in the desired way...
to subvert the free market. Whether in its natural rights-based, contractarian, 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.
Proponents argue that in an anarcho-capitalist society, voluntary market processes would result in the provision of social institutions such as
law enforcementA police service is a public force empowered to enforce the law and provide security through the legitimized use of force.The term is most commonly associated with police services of a state that are authorized to exercise the police power of that state within a defined legal or territorial area of...
,
defenceNational security is the requirement to maintain the survival of the nation-state through the use of economic, military and political power and the exercise of diplomacy.Measures taken to ensure national security include:...
and
infrastructureInfrastructure can be defined as the basic physical and organizational structures needed for the operation of a society or enterprise, or the services and facilities necessary for an economy to function....
by competing for-profit firms,
charitiesIn modern usage, the practice of charity means the giving of help to those in need who are not related to the giver.- Etymology :The word "charity" entered the English language through the Old French word "charité" which was derived from the Latin "caritas".Originally in Latin the word caritas...
or
voluntary associationsVoluntaryism, or voluntarism, is a philosophy that opposes anything that it sees as unjustifiably invasive and coercive. Voluntaryism regards government as coercive, and calls for its abolishment, but, unlike a number of other anarchist philosophies, it supports strong property rights which it...
rather than the
stateA sovereign state is a political association with effective internal and external sovereignty over a geographic area and population which is not dependent on, or subject to any other power or 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. FriedmanDavid Director Friedman is an American writer who became a leading figure in the anarcho-capitalist community with the publication of his book The Machinery of Freedom...
's utilitarian version, the law itself is produced by the market.
Although the term
anarcho-capitalism was coined by Rothbard, and its origin is attributed to 1960s
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, some historians, including Rothbard, trace the school of thought as far back as the mid-19th century, to market theorists such as
Gustave de MolinariGustave de Molinari was an economist born in the United Kingdom of the Netherlands associated with French laissez-faire liberal economists such as Frédéric Bastiat and Hippolyte Castille. Living in Paris, in the 1840s, he took part in the "Ligue pour la Liberté des Échanges" , animated by Frédéric...
. Anarcho-capitalism has drawn influence from pro-market theorists such as Molinari,
Frédéric BastiatClaude Frédéric Bastiat was a French classical liberal theorist, political economist, and member of the French assembly.-Biography:...
, and
Robert NozickRobert Nozick was an American philosopher and professor at Harvard University. He was educated at Columbia , where he studied with Sidney Morgenbesser, at Princeton , and Oxford as a Fulbright Scholar. He was a prominent American political philosopher in the 1970s and 1980s...
, as well as American individualist thinkers such as
Benjamin TuckerBenjamin Ricketson Tucker was a leading proponent of American individualist anarchism in the 19th century, and editor and publisher of the individualist anarchist periodical Liberty.-Summary:...
and
Lysander SpoonerLysander Spooner was an American individualist anarchist, entrepreneur, political philosopher, abolitionist, supporter of the labor movement, and legal theorist of the nineteenth century. He is also known for competing with the U.S. Post Office with his American Letter Mail Company, which was...
.
Considered a form of
individualist anarchismIndividualist anarchism refers to several traditions of thought within the anarchist movement that emphasize the individual and his/her will over any kinds of external determinants such as groups, society, traditions, and ideological systems. Individualist anarchism is not a single philosophy but...
, it differs from the individualism of the Boston anarchists of the 19th century in its rejection of the
labor theory of valueThe labour theories of value are economic theories of value according to which the values of commodities are related to the labour needed to produce them....
(and its
normativeIn the general sense of meaning, a norm is something to help depict a phenomenon or system by means of averaging or bordering e.g. people are normally heterosexual, or good people live without sin. Comparison, classification and measurement all require some normative factor, e.g...
implications) in favor of the
neoclassicalNeoclassical economics is a term variously used for approaches to economics focusing on the determination of prices, outputs, and income distributions in markets through supply and demand, often as mediated through a hypothesized maximization of income-constrained utility by individuals and of...
or
Austrian SchoolThe Austrian School is a school of economic thought that emphasizes the spontaneous organizing power of the price mechanism or price system...
marginalistMarginalism is the use of marginal concepts within economics. The central concept of marginalism proper is that of marginal utility, but marginalists following...
view. Anarcho-capitalist ideas have contributed to the development of
agorismAgorism is a political philosophy founded by Samuel Edward Konkin III and developed with contributions by J. Neil Schulman that holds as its ultimate goal bringing about a society in which all "relations between people are voluntary exchanges a free market." The term comes from the Greek word...
,
autarchismAutarchism is a political philosophy that upholds the principle of individual liberty, rejects compulsory government, and supports the elimination of government in favor of ruling yourself and no other...
,
voluntaryismVoluntaryism, or voluntarism, is a philosophy that opposes anything that it sees as unjustifiably invasive and coercive. Voluntaryism regards government as coercive, and calls for its abolishment, but, unlike a number of other anarchist philosophies, it supports strong property rights which it...
,
paleolibertarianismPaleolibertarianism is a school of thought within American libertarianism formerly associated with Lew Rockwell, the late economist Murray Rothbard, and the Ludwig von Mises Institute. It is based on a combination of radical libertarianism in politics and cultural conservatism in social thought...
, and
crypto-anarchismCrypto-anarchism is an ideology that expounds the use of strong public-key cryptography to enforce privacy and individual freedom. It was described by Vernor Vinge as a cyberspatial realization of anarcho-capitalism. Crypto-anarchists aim to create cryptographic software that can be used to evade...
. Institutes related to capitalist anarchism are
Center for Libertarian StudiesThe Center for Libertarian Studies is a libertarian and anarcho-capitalist oriented educational organization founded in 1976 by Murray Rothbard and Burton Blumert, which grew out of the Libertarian Scholars Conferences...
and
Ludwig von Mises InstituteThe Ludwig von Mises Institute , based in Auburn, Alabama, is a libertarian academic organization engaged in research and scholarship in the fields of economics, philosophy and political economy. Its scholarship is inspired by the work of Austrian School economist Ludwig von Mises...
in US, and
Libertarian AllianceThe Libertarian Alliance comprises two libertarian think tanks in Great Britain that promote free-market economics and civil liberties...
in UK.
Anarcha-feminism
Anarcha-feminism is a synthesis of
radical feminismRadical feminism is a "current" within feminism that focuses on the theory of patriarchy as a system of power that organizes society into a complex of relationships based on an assumption of "male supremacy" used to oppress women...
and anarchism that views
patriarchyPatriarchy is the structuring of family units based on the man, as father figure, having primary authority over the rest of the family members. Patriarchy also refers to the role of men in society more generally where men take primary responsibility over the welfare of the community as a whole...
(male domination over women) as a fundamental manifestation of compulsory government – to which anarchists are opposed. Anarcha-feminism was inspired in the late 19th century by the writings of early feminist anarchists such as
Lucy ParsonsLucy Eldine González Parsons was a radical American labor organizer, anarchist communist, and is remembered as a powerful orator.- Life :...
,
Emma GoldmanEmma Goldman was an anarchist known for her political activism, writing and speeches. She played a pivotal role in the development of anarchist political philosophy in North America and Europe in the first half of the twentieth century.Born in Kovno in the Russian Empire , Goldman emigrated to the...
and
Voltairine de CleyreVoltairine de Cleyre was an American anarchist activist.-Life:Born in the small town of Leslie, Michigan, she was placed as a teenager into a Catholic convent by her father, because he thought it would give her a better education. This experience had the effect of pushing her towards atheism...
, and even
Dora MarsdenDora Marsden was an English feminist editor of avant-garde literary journals, and an author of philosophical writings.-Youth:...
. Anarcha-feminists, like other radical feminists, criticize and advocate the abolition of traditional conceptions of family, education and
gender roleA gender role is defined as a set of perceived behavioral norms associated particularly with males or females, in a given social group or system. It can be a form of division of labour by gender. It is a focus of analysis in the social sciences and humanities...
s.
Many anarcha-feminists are especially critical of marriage. For instance, 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 view patriarchy as a fundamental problem in society and believe that the feminist struggle against
sexismSexism, a term coined in the mid-20th century, is the belief or attitude that one gender or sex is inferior to, less competent, or less valuable than the other. It can also refer to hatred of, or prejudice towards, either sex as a whole , or the application of stereotypes of masculinity in relation...
and patriarchy is an essential component of the anarchist struggle against the
stateA sovereign state is a political association with effective internal and external sovereignty over a geographic area and population which is not dependent on, or subject to any other power or state...
and
capitalismCapitalism is an economic and social system in which the means of production are privately controlled; labor, goods and capital are traded in a market; profits are distributed to owners or invested in technologies and industries; and wages are paid to labor...
.
Susan BrownL. Susan Brown is a Canadian anarcho-communist writer and theoretician.Brown is best-known for her germinal text The Politics of Individualism , in which she makes a distinction between "existential individualism" and "instrumental individualism" and examines how these forms are utilized in...
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, such as the Anarcho-communist
Joseph DéjacqueJoseph Déjacque was a French anarcho-communist poet and writer. He sought to abolish "personal property, property in land, buildings, workshops, shops, property in anything that is an instrument of work, production or consumption."Déjacque was the first to employ the term libertarian in a...
who opposed Proudhon's
anti-feministFor the Japanese band, see Anti Feminism.Antifeminism is opposition to feminism in some or all of its forms.- Antifeminist claims and ideas :...
views." Recently,
Wendy McElroyWendy McElroy is a Canadian individualist anarchist and individualist feminist.-Political views:Among feminists, she identifies herself as being sex-positive: defending the availability of pornography and condemning anti-pornography feminism campaigns...
has defined a position (she describes it as "ifeminism" or "individualist feminism") that combines feminism with anarcho-capitalism or libertarianism, arguing that a pro-capitalist, anti-state position implies
equal rightsEqual rights can refer to:*Human rights, when such rights are held in common by all people*Civil rights, when such rights are held in common by all citizens of a nation*Women's rights, when such rights are held in common by both men and women...
and
empowermentEmpowerment refers to increasing the spiritual, political, social or economic strength of individuals and communities. It often involves the empowered developing confidence in their own capacities.-Definitions:...
for women. Individualist anarchist feminism has grown from the
USThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
-based
individualist anarchismIndividualist anarchism refers to several traditions of thought within the anarchist movement that emphasize the individual and his/her will over any kinds of external determinants such as groups, society, traditions, and ideological systems. Individualist anarchism is not a single philosophy but...
movement.
Green anarchism
Green anarchism (or eco-anarchism) is a school of thought within anarchism which puts an emphasis on environmental issues. Important contemporary currents are
anarcho-primitivismAnarcho-primitivism is an anarchist critique of the origins and progress of civilization. According to anarcho-primitivism, the shift from hunter-gatherer to agricultural subsistence gave rise to social stratification, coercion, and alienation...
and
social ecologySocial Ecology is a philosophy developed by Murray Bookchin in the 1960s.It holds that present ecological problems are rooted in deep-seated social problems, particularly in dominatory hierarchical political and social systems. These have resulted in an uncritical acceptance of an overly...
. Many advocates of green anarchism and primitivism consider
Fredy PerlmanFredy Perlman was an author, publisher and activist. His most popular work, the book Against His-Story, Against Leviathan!, details the rise of state domination with a retelling of history through the Hobbesian metaphor of the Leviathan. The book remains a major source of inspiration for...
as the modern progenitor of their views.
Notable contemporary writers espousing green anarchism include
Murray BookchinMurray Bookchin was an American libertarian socialist, political and social philosopher, environmentalist/conservationist, atheist, speaker, and writer. For much of his life he called himself an anarchist, although as early as 1995 he privately renounced his identification with the anarchist...
,
Janet BiehlJanet Biehl is one of the premier authors on social ecology. In 1986 she attended the Institute for Social Ecology and there began a collaborative relationship with Murray Bookchin, working intensively with him over the next two decades in the further formulation, definition, and explication of...
, Daniel Chodorkoff, anthropologist
Brian MorrisBrian Morris is emeritus professor of anthropology at Goldsmiths College at the University of London. He is a specialist on folk taxonomy, ethnobotany and ethnozoology, and on religion and symbolism....
, and people around
Institute for Social EcologyThe Institute for Social Ecology is an educational institution in the United States offering courses related to social ecology, an anti-capitalist and anti-authoritarian strain of ecology that is a form of libertarian socialism. It was founded in 1974 by Murray Bookchin and Daniel Chodorkoff...
; those critical of technology such as
Derrick JensenDerrick Jensen is an American author and environmental activist living in Crescent City, California. Jensen has published several books questioning and critiquing contemporary society and its values, including A Language Older Than Words, The Culture of Make Believe, and Endgame. He holds a B.S...
, George Draffan, and
John ZerzanJohn Zerzan is an American anarchist and primitivist philosopher and author. His works criticize agricultural civilization as inherently oppressive, and advocate drawing upon the ways of life of prehistoric humans as an inspiration for what a free society should look like...
; and others including
Alan CarterAlan Brian Carter is the Professor of Moral Philosophy at the University of Glasgow.He earned a BA at the University of Kent at Canterbury, an MA at the University of Sussex and a DPhil at St Cross College at the University of Oxford.Carter's first academic position was Lecturer in Political...
, and Stewart Davidson
Social ecologists, considered also a kind of socialist anarchists, often criticize the main currents of anarchism for their focus and debates about politics and economics, instead of a focus on eco-system (human and environmental) like they do. This theory promote
libertarian municipalismLibertarian municipalism is a term first used by the well-known libertarian socialist theorist Murray Bookchin, and is used to describe a system in which libertarian institutions of directly democratic assemblies would oppose and replace the state with a confederation of free...
and green technology. Anarcho-primitivists often criticize mainstream anarchism for supporting
civilizationA civilization is a complex society or culture group characterized by dependence upon agriculture, long-distance trade, state form of government, occupational specialization, population, and class stratification.-Definition:...
and modern
technologyTechnology is a broad concept that deals with human as well as other animal species' usage and knowledge of tools and crafts, and how it affects a species' ability to control and adapt to its environment...
which they believe are inherently based on domination and exploitation. They instead advocate the process of
rewildingRewilding is the process of creating permanently wild human cultures beyond domestication. In green anarchism and anarcho-primitivism, humans are said to be "civilized" or "domesticated" by civilization. Supporters of such human rewilding argue that through the process of domestication, human...
or reconnecting with the natural environment.
VeganarchismVeganarchism or vegan anarchism, is the political philosophy of veganism and anarchism, creating a combined praxis that's designed to be a means for social revolution. This encompasses viewing the state as unnecessary and harmful to animals, both human and non-human, whilst practising a vegan diet...
is the political philosophy of
veganismVeganism is a diet and lifestyle that seeks to exclude the use of animals for food, clothing, or any other purpose. Vegans endeavor not to use or consume animal products of any kind. The most common reasons for becoming a vegan are ethical commitment or moral conviction concerning animal rights,...
(more specifically
animal liberationAnimal liberation may refer to:Philosophies*Animal rights, animals being considered as legal persons*Abolitionism , an abolitionist approach to animal rights*Veganarchism, a combined theory of animal liberation and anarchism...
) and green anarchism. This encompasses viewing the
stateA sovereign state is a political association with effective internal and external sovereignty over a geographic area and population which is not dependent on, or subject to any other power or state...
as unnecessary and harmful to both human and animals, whilst practising a vegan diet.
As a social movement
Anarchism as a
social movementSocial movements are a type of group action. They are large informal groupings of individuals and/or organizations focused on specific political or social issues, in other words, on carrying out, resisting or undoing a social change....
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 WarThe Spanish Civil War was a major conflict that devastated Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939. It began after an attempted coup d'état by a group of Spanish Army generals against the government of the Second Spanish Republic, then under the leadership of president Manuel Azaña...
-era struggles against
fascismFascism, , comprises a radical and authoritarian nationalist political ideology and a corporatist economic ideology developed in Italy. Fascists believe that nations and/or races are in perpetual conflict whereby only the strong can survive by being healthy, vital, and by asserting themselves in...
. Also, anarchists were specially active in the
abolition of slaveryAbolitionism was a movement to end the slave trade and emancipate slaves in western Europe and the Americas. The slave system aroused little protest until the 18th century, when rationalist thinkers of the Enlightenment criticized it for violating the rights of man, and Quaker and other evangelical...
, and have been active in the labor movement,
civil rightsThe Civil Rights Movement was a worldwide political movement for equality before the law occurring between approximately 1950 and 1980. It was accompanied by much civil unrest and popular rebellion. The process was long and tenuous in many countries, and most of these movements did not achieve or...
, women's liberation, both anti-capitalism and pro-capitalism (with varying definitions of capitalism), the anti-war movement,
LGBT rightsLesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender social movements share inter-related goals of social acceptance of sexuality and gender minorities. Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people and their allies have a long history of campaigning for what is generally called LGBT rights, also called gay...
, both
anti-globalizationCriticism of globalization is skepticism of the claimed benefits of the globalization of capitalism. Many of these views are held by the anti-globalization movement however other groups also are critical of the policies of globalization....
and pro-
globalizationGlobalization describes an ongoing process by which regional economies, societies, and cultures have become integrated through a globe-spanning network of communication and exchange....
(with varying definitions of globalization),
tax resistanceTax resistance is the refusal to willingly pay a tax because of opposition to the institution that is imposing the tax, or to some of that institution’s policies....
, and other forms of anarchist activism.
The First International
In Europe, harsh reaction followed the
revolutions of 1848The European Revolutions of 1848, known in some countries as the Spring of Nations, Springtime of the Peoples or the Year of Revolution, were a series of political upheavals throughout the European continent...
, wherein ten countries experienced brief or long-term social upheaval as groups carried out nationalist revolutions. After most of these attempts at systematic change ended in failure, conservative elements took advantage of the divided groups of socialists, anarchists, liberals, and nationalists, to prevent further revolt. In 1864 the
International Workingmen's AssociationThe International Workingmen's Association , sometimes called the First International, was an international socialist organization which aimed at uniting a variety of different left-wing political groups and trade union organizations that were based on the working class and class struggle. It was...
(sometimes called the "First International") united diverse revolutionary currents including French followers of
ProudhonPierre-Joseph Proudhon was a French politician, mutualist philosopher and socialist. He was a member of the French Parliament, and he was the first to call himself an anarchist. He is considered among the most influential of anarchist writers and organisers. After the events of 1848 he began to...
,
BlanquistsIn left-wing discourse, Blanquism refers to a conception of revolution generally attributed to Louis Auguste Blanqui which holds that socialist revolution should be carried out by a relatively small group of highly organised and secretive conspirators. Having taken power, the revolutionaries would...
,
PhiladelphesThe Philadelphes was an irregular masonic lodge founded in France in the 1750s and which became a centre for conspiratorial revolutionary activity...
, English trade unionists, socialists and social democrats.
Due to its links to active workers' movements, the International became a significant organization.
Karl MarxKarl Heinrich Marx was a Germanphilosopher, political economist, historian, political theorist, sociologist, communist and revolutionary, whose ideas are credited as the foundation of modern communism...
became a leading figure in the International and a member of its General Council. Proudhon's followers, the
mutualistsMutualism is an anarchist school of thought which can be traced to the writings of Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, who envisioned a society where each person might possess a means of production, either individually or collectively, with trade representing equivalent amounts of labor in the free market...
, opposed Marx's
state socialismState socialism, broadly speaking, is any variety of socialism which relies on control of the means of production by the state, either through state ownership or regulation....
, advocating political
abstentionismAbstentionism is standing for election to a deliberative assembly while refusing to take up any seats won or otherwise participate in the assembly's business. Abstentionism differs from an election boycott in that abstentionists participate in the election itself...
and small property holdings.
In 1868, following their unsuccessful participation in the
League of Peace and FreedomThe Inaugural Congress of the League of Peace and Freedom was originally planned for September 5, 1867 in Geneva. Emile Acollas set up the League’s Organising Committee which enlisted the support of John Stuart Mill, Elisée Reclus and his brother Élie Reclus....
(LPF),
Mikhail BakuninMikhail Alexandrovich Bakunin was a well-known Russian revolutionary and theorist of collectivist anarchism.Born in the Russian Empire to a family of Russian nobles, Bakunin spent his youth as a junior officer in the Russian army but resigned his commission in 1835...
and his associates joined the First International – which had decided not to get involved with the LPF. They allied themselves with the
federalistThe term "'federalist'" describes several political beliefs around the world. It also has reference to the concept of federalism or the type of government called a federation.-Latin America:...
socialist sections of the International, who advocated the revolutionary overthrow of the state and the collectivization of property.
At first, the
collectivistsCollectivist anarchism is a revolutionary doctrine that advocated the abolition of the state and private ownership of the means of production, with the means of production instead being owned collectively and controlled and managed by the producers themselves.The collectivization of the means of...
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 centralist and predicted that, if a Marxist party came to power, its leaders would simply take the place of the
ruling classThe term ruling class refers to the social class of a given society that decides upon and sets that society's political policy - assuming there is one such particular class in the given society...
they had fought against.
In 1872, the conflict climaxed with a final split between the two groups at the
Hague CongressThe Hague Congress was the Fifth congress of the International Workingmen's Association held in in The Hague, Holland, which anarchists consider as null and void....
, where Bakunin and
James GuillaumeJames Guillaume was a leading member of the Jura federation of the First International, the anarchist wing of the International. Later, Guillaume would take an active role in the founding of the Anarchist St...
were expelled from the International and its headquarters were transferred to New York. In response, the federalist sections formed their own International at the
St. Imier CongressThe Anarchist St. Imier International was an international anarchist organization formed in 1872 when the anarchist sections were expelled from the First International after the Hague Congress .The St...
, adopting a revolutionary anarchist program.
Organized labor
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 UnionsThe Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions of the United States and Canada was a federation of labor unions created on November 15, 1881, in Terre Haute, Indiana...
(FOTLU) of the United States and Canada unanimously set 1 May 1886, as the date by which the
eight-hour work dayThe eight-hour day movement or 40-hour week movement, also known as the short-time movement, had its origins in the Industrial Revolution in Britain, where industrial production in large factories transformed working life and imposed long hours and poor working conditions. With working conditions...
would become standard.
In response, unions across America prepared a general strike in support of the event. Upon 3 May, 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, 4 May, 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 affairThe Haymarket affair was a disturbance that took place on Tuesday May 4, 1886, at the Haymarket Square in Chicago, and began as a rally in support of striking workers. An unknown person threw a bomb at police as they dispersed the public meeting...
, 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' DayInternational Workers' Day is a celebration of the social and economic achievements of the international labor movement...
on
May DayMay Day occurs on May 1 and refers to several public holidays. In many countries, May Day is synonymous with International Workers' Day, or Labour Day, a day of political demonstrations and celebrations organised by the unions and socialist groups....
became an annual event the following year.
In 1907, the
International Anarchist Congress of AmsterdamThe International Anarchist Congress of Amsterdam took place from 24 August to 31 August, 1907. It gathered delegates from 14 different countries, among which important figures of the anarchist movement, including Errico Malatesta, Luigi Fabbri, Benoît Broutchoux, Pierre Monatte, Amédée Dunois,...
gathered delegates from 14 different countries, among which important figures of the anarchist movement, including
Errico MalatestaErrico Malatesta was an Italian anarcho-communist. He was an insurrectionary anarchist early in his life. He spent much of his life exiled from his homeland of Italy and in total spent more than ten years in prison...
,
Pierre MonattePierre Monatte was a French trade unionist who worked in the printing industry . He was the responsible of the Confédération générale du travail at the beginning of the 20th century, and founded its journal La Vie ouvrière on 5 October, 1909...
,
Luigi FabbriLuigi Fabbri , was an Italian anarchist, writer, agitator and propagandist who was charged with defeatism during the World War I. He was the father of Luce Fabbri....
,
Benoît BroutchouxBenedict Broutchoux was a French anarchist opposed to the reformist Emile Basly during a strike in the north of France, in 1902.- Biography :...
,
Emma GoldmanEmma Goldman was an anarchist known for her political activism, writing and speeches. She played a pivotal role in the development of anarchist political philosophy in North America and Europe in the first half of the twentieth century.Born in Kovno in the Russian Empire , Goldman emigrated to the...
,
Rudolf RockerJohann Rudolf Rocker was an anarcho-syndicalist writer and activist. A self-professed anarchist without adjectives, Rocker believed that anarchist schools of thought represented "only different methods of economy" and that the first objective for anarchists was "to secure the personal and social...
,
Christiaan CornelissenChristiaan Gerardus Cornelissen was a Dutch syndicalist writer, economist, and trade unionist.Cornelissen was the second of five children of Johannes Cornelissen, carpenter in Den Bosch, Noord Brabant, and Mechelina van Wijk. He became a primary school teacher in Middelburg, Zeeland...
, etc. Various themes were treated during the Congress, in particular concerning the organisation of the anarchist movement,
popular educationPopular education is at the crossroads between politics and pedagogy, and strongly relies on the democratic ideal of the Enlightenment, which considered public education as a main tool of individual and collective emancipation, and thus the necessary conditions of autonomy, in accordance to...
issues, the
general strikeA general strike is a strike action by a critical mass of the labour force in a city, region or country. While a general strike can be for political goals, economic goals, or both, it tends to gain its momentum from the ideological or class sympathies of the participants...
or
antimilitarismAntimilitarism is a doctrine commonly found in the anarchist and, more globally, in the socialist movement, which may both be characterized as internationalist movements. It relies heavily on a critical theory of nationalism and imperialism, and was an explicit goal of the First and Second...
.
A central debate concerned the relation between anarchism and
syndicalismSyndicalism is a type of economic system proposed as a replacement for capitalism and state socialism which uses federations of collectivized trade unions. For adherents, labor unions are the potential means of both overcoming economic aristocracy and running society fairly in the interest of the...
(or
trade unionA trade union is an organization of workers who have banded together to achieve common goals in key areas, such as working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labor contracts with employers...
ism). 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
revolutionA revolution is a fundamental change in power or organizational structures that takes place in a relatively short period of time.Aristotle described two types of political revolution:...
, while Malatesta did not consider syndicalism by itself sufficient. Malatesta thought that trade-unions were
reformistReformism is the belief that gradual democratic changes in a society can ultimately change a society's fundamental economic relations and political structures...
, and could even be, at times,
conservativeConservatism is the diverse political and social philosophy that supports tradition and the status quo, or that calls for a return to the values and society of an earlier age, the status quo ante. However, the term has been used by politicians and political commentators with a variety of meanings...
. Along with Cornelissen, he cited as example
US trade-unionsLabor unions in the United States are legally recognized as representatives of workers in many industries. The most prominent unions are among public sector employees such as teachers and police...
, 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 TrabajoThe Confederación Nacional del Trabajo is a Spanish confederation of anarcho-syndicalist labor unions affiliated with the International Workers Association . When working with the latter group it is also known as CNT-AIT...
(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 WarThe Spanish Civil War was a major conflict that devastated Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939. It began after an attempted coup d'état by a group of Spanish Army generals against the government of the Second Spanish Republic, then under the leadership of president Manuel Azaña...
. 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
CNTThe Confederación Nacional del Trabajo is a Spanish confederation of anarcho-syndicalist labor unions affiliated with the International Workers Association . When working with the latter group it is also known as CNT-AIT...
. CGT membership was estimated to be around 100,000 for the year 2003. Other active syndicalist movements include the US
Workers Solidarity AllianceWorkers Solidarity Alliance is a United States political activist group whose politics are rooted in anarcho-syndicalism and class struggle. WSA is not a trade union or proto-union....
and the UK
Solidarity FederationThe Solidarity Federation is a federation of class struggle anarchists active in Britain. The organisation advocates a strategy of anarcho-syndicalism as a method of abolishing capitalism and the state...
. The revolutionary industrial unionist
Industrial Workers of the WorldThe Industrial Workers of the World is an international union currently headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA. At its peak in 1923 the organization claimed some 100,000 members in good standing, and could marshal the support of perhaps 300,000 workers. Its membership declined dramatically after a...
, claiming 2,000 paying members, and the
International Workers AssociationThe International Workers' Association is an international anarcho-syndicalist federation of various labour unions from different countries...
, an anarcho-syndicalist successor to the First International, also remain active.
Russian Revolution
Anarchists participated alongside the
BolshevikThe Bolsheviks, originally also Bolshevists were a faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party which split apart from the Menshevik faction at the Second Party Congress in 1903...
s in both
FebruaryThe February Revolution of 1917 was the first of two revolutions in Russia in 1917. It occurred March 8–12 and its immediate result was the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II, the collapse of Imperial Russia and the end of the Romanov dynasty. The non-Communist Russian Provisional Government under...
and
October revolutionsTheOctober Revolution , also known as the Soviet Revolution or Bolshevik Revolution, was a political revolution and a part of the Russian Revolution. It began with an armed insurrection in Petrograd traditionally dated to 25 October 1917 Julian calendar...
, 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 rebellionThe Kronstadt rebellion was an unsuccessful uprising of Soviet sailors, soldiers and civilians led by Stepan Petrichenko against the government of the early Russian SFSR in March 1921 during a period of left-wing uprisings against the Bolsheviks....
. Anarchists in central Russia were either imprisoned, driven underground or joined the victorious Bolsheviks. In the
UkraineThe Free Territory , , svobodnaya territoriya; or Makhnowia , or Anarchist Ukraine was the territory controlled by the Revolutionary Insurrectionary Army of Nestor Makhno where an attempt was made to form a stateless anarchist society in part of the territory of modern Ukraine during the Ukrainian...
, anarchists fought in the
civil warThe Russian Civil War was a multi-party war that occurred within the former Russian Empire after the Russian provisional government collapsed and the Soviets under the domination of the Bolshevik party assumed power, first in Petrograd The Russian Civil War (1917–1923) was a multi-party war that...
against Whites and then the Bolsheviks as part of the
Revolutionary Insurrectionary Army of UkraineThe Revolutionary Insurrectionary Army of Ukraine , popularly called Makhnovchina and also known as the Black Army, was an anarchist army formed largely of Ukrainian and Crimean peasants and workers under the command of the famous anarchist Nestor Makhno during the Russian Civil War.-Nestor Makhno...
led by
Nestor MakhnoNestor Ivanovych Makhno was a Ukrainian anarcho-communist guerrilla leader turned army commander who led an independent anarchist army in Ukraine during the Russian Civil War....
, who attempted to establish an anarchist society in the region for a number of months.
Expelled American anarchists
Emma GoldmanEmma Goldman was an anarchist known for her political activism, writing and speeches. She played a pivotal role in the development of anarchist political philosophy in North America and Europe in the first half of the twentieth century.Born in Kovno in the Russian Empire , Goldman emigrated to the...
and
Alexander BerkmanAlexander Berkman was an anarchist known for his political activism and writing. He was a leading member of the anarchist movement in the early 20th century....
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'sMikhail Alexandrovich Bakunin was a well-known Russian revolutionary and theorist of collectivist anarchism.Born in the Russian Empire to a family of Russian nobles, Bakunin spent his youth as a junior officer in the Russian army but resigned his commission in 1835...
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 partiesA political party described as a communist party includes those that advocate the application of the social principles of communism through a communist form of government. The name originates from the 1848 tract Manifesto of the Communist Party by Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels...
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
CGTThe General Confederation of Labour is a national trade union center, the first of the five major French confederations of trade unions.It is the largest in terms of votes , and second largest in terms of membership numbers.Its membership decreased to 650,000 members in 1995-96 The General...
and
IWWThe Industrial Workers of the World is an international union currently headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA. At its peak in 1923 the organization claimed some 100,000 members in good standing, and could marshal the support of perhaps 300,000 workers. Its membership declined dramatically after a...
left the organizations and joined the
Communist InternationalThe Comintern was an international Communist organization founded in Moscow in March 1919...
.
In Paris, the
Dielo TrudaDielo Truda , was an anarchist publication released by the Group of Russian Anarchists Abroad from 1925-1928, as well as the group itself, made up of anarchists exiled from Russia after the Russian Revolution of 1917. In 1926, the group published a pamphlet entitled Organizational Platform of the...
group of Russian anarchist exiles, which included
Nestor MakhnoNestor Ivanovych Makhno was a Ukrainian anarcho-communist guerrilla leader turned army commander who led an independent anarchist army in Ukraine during the Russian Civil War....
, 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. Platformist groups active today include the
Workers Solidarity MovementThe Workers Solidarity Movement is an anarchist organisation in Ireland broadly in the platformist tradition of Nestor Makhno. It was set up in 1984 and publishes the paper Workers Solidarity and the magazine Red and Black Revolution....
in Ireland and the
North Eastern Federation of Anarchist CommunistsNEFAC is a platformist anarchist communist organization of member collectives in Canada and the United States. Founded in 2000, it is one of the largest anarchist organizations in North America...
of North America.
Fight against fascism
In the 1920s and 1930s, the rise of
fascismFascism, , comprises a radical and authoritarian nationalist political ideology and a corporatist economic ideology developed in Italy. Fascists believe that nations and/or races are in perpetual conflict whereby only the strong can survive by being healthy, vital, and by asserting themselves in...
in Europe transformed anarchism's conflict with the state. Italy saw the first struggles between anarchists and fascists.
Italian anarchists-The roots of Italian Anarchism :Italian anarchism as a movement came out of the International Revolutionary Brotherhood, a secret society formed by Mikhail Bakunin. Giuseppe Fanelli, who was later involved in the Spanish Revolution, and Giuseppe Fanelli were the earliest faces of the movement...
played a key role in the
anti-fascistAnti-fascism is the opposition to fascist ideologies, organizations, governments and individuals. Most major resistance movements during World War II were anti-fascist....
organisation
Arditi del PopoloThe Arditi del Popolo was an Italian militant anti-fascist group founded at the end of June 1921 to resist the rise of Benito Mussolini's National Fascist Party and the violence of the Blackshirts paramilitaries...
, which was strongest in areas with anarchist traditions and marked up numerous successful victories, including repelling
BlackshirtsThe Blackshirts were Fascist paramilitary groups in Italy during the period immediately following World War I and until the end of World War II...
in the anarchist stronghold of
ParmaParma is a city in the Italian region of Emilia-Romagna famous for its architecture and the fine countryside around it. It is the home of the University of Parma, one of the oldest universities in the world....
in August 1922. In France, where the
far right leaguesThe Far right leagues were several French far right movements opposed to parliamentarism, which mainly dedicated themselves to military parades, street brawls, demonstrations and riots. The term ligue was often used in the 1930s to distinguish these political movements from parliamentary parties...
came close to insurrection in the
February 1934 riotsThe 6 February 1934 crisis refers to an anti-parliamentarist demonstration organised in Paris by far-right leagues , which finished in a riot on Place de la Concorde near the seat of the National Assembly...
, anarchists divided over a
united frontThe united front is a form of struggle that may be pursued by revolutionaries. The basic theory of the united front tactic was first developed by the Comintern, an international socialist organisation created by revolutionaries in the wake of the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution.According to the theses of...
policy.
In Spain, the
CNTThe Confederación Nacional del Trabajo is a Spanish confederation of anarcho-syndicalist labor unions affiliated with the International Workers Association . When working with the latter group it is also known as CNT-AIT...
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 former ruling class responded with an attempted coup causing the
Spanish Civil WarThe Spanish Civil War was a major conflict that devastated Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939. It began after an attempted coup d'état by a group of Spanish Army generals against the government of the Second Spanish Republic, then under the leadership of president Manuel Azaña...
(1936–1939). In response to the army rebellion, an
anarchist-inspiredAnarchism has historically gained more support and influence in Spain than anywhere else, especially before Francisco Franco's victory in the Spanish Civil War of 1936-1939....
movement of peasants and workers, supported by armed militias, took control of
BarcelonaBarcelona is the capital, most populous city of the Autonomous Community of Catalonia and the second largest city in Spain, with a population of 1,615,908 in 2008. It is the 11th-most populous municipality in the European Union and sixth-most populous urban area in the European Union after Paris,...
and of large areas of rural Spain where they
collectivizedCollective farming is an organization of agricultural production in which the holdings of several farmers are run as a joint enterprise. A collective farm is essentially an agricultural production cooperative in which members-owners engage jointly in farming activities...
the land.
But even before the fascist victory in 1939, the anarchists were losing ground in a bitter struggle with the
StalinistsStalinism was the political system and ideology of the Soviet Union under the leadership of Joseph Stalin, leader of the Soviet Union from 1928–1953...
, who controlled the distribution of military aid to the Republican cause from the
Soviet UnionThe Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. The name is a translation of the , tr. Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik, abbreviated СССР, SSSR. The common short name is Soviet Union, from , Sovetskiy Soyuz...
. According to
George OrwellEric Arthur Blair , better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English novelist and journalist...
and other foreign observers, Stalinist-led troops suppressed the collectives and persecuted both
dissident MarxistsThe POUM or Partido Obrero Unificación Marxista was a Spanish communist political party formed during the Second Republic, and mainly active around the time of the Spanish Civil War...
and anarchists.
Internal issues and debates
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
capitalismThis article examines anarchism vis a vis capitalism. Some anarchists advocate free-market, laissez-faire capitalism,, while other anarchists oppose it....
, nationalism and
religionAnarchists have traditionally been skeptical of and opposed to organized religion. Many organized religions are hierarchical and are aligned with contemporary power structures similar to those found in state hierarchies...
with anarchism is widely disputed. Similarly, anarchism enjoys a complex relationship with ideologies such as
MarxismAnarchism and Marxism are related political philosophies which emerged in the nineteenth century. While Anarchism and Marxism are both complex movements riven by internal conflict, as ideological movements their primary attention has been on human liberation achieved through political action...
, communism and
capitalismThis article examines anarchism vis a vis capitalism. Some anarchists advocate free-market, laissez-faire capitalism,, while other anarchists oppose it....
. Anarchists may be motivated by
humanismHumanism is a perspective common to a wide range of ethical stances that attaches importance to human dignity, concerns, and capabilities, particularly rationality. Although the word has many senses, its meaning comes into focus when contrasted to the supernatural or to appeals to authority...
,
divine authorityChristian anarchism is any of several traditions which combine anarchism with Christianity. Christian anarchists believe that freedom is justified spiritually through the teachings of Jesus. This has caused them to be critical of government and Church authority. Some believe all individuals can...
,
enlightened self-interestEthical egoism or egotism is the normative ethical position that moral agents ought to do what is in their own self-interest. It differs from psychological egoism, which claims that people do only act in their self-interest. Ethical egoism also differs from rational egoism, which holds merely...
or any number of alternative ethical doctrines.
Phenomena such as
civilizationA civilization is a complex society or culture group characterized by dependence upon agriculture, long-distance trade, state form of government, occupational specialization, population, and class stratification.-Definition:...
,
technologyTechnology is a broad concept that deals with human as well as other animal species' usage and knowledge of tools and crafts, and how it affects a species' ability to control and adapt to its environment...
(e.g. within
anarcho-primitivismAnarcho-primitivism is an anarchist critique of the origins and progress of civilization. According to anarcho-primitivism, the shift from hunter-gatherer to agricultural subsistence gave rise to social stratification, coercion, and alienation...
and
insurrectionary anarchismInsurrectionary anarchism is a revolutionary theory, practice and tendency within the anarchist movement which opposes formal organizations such as labor unions and federations that are based on a political programme and periodic congresses...
), 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 18th century.
On a tactical level, while
propaganda of the deedPropaganda of the deed is a concept that promotes physical violence against political enemies as a way of inspiring the masses and catalyzing revolution. Propaganda of the deed may take many forms, but in many cases utilizes violence against people seen as threats to the working class...
was a tactic used by anarchists in the 19th century (e.g. the
Nihilist movementThe Nihilist movement was a Russian anarchist movement in the 1860s which rejected all authorities. It is derived from the Latin word "nihil", which means "nothing"...
), contemporary anarchists espouse alternative
direct actionDirect action is politically motivated activity undertaken by individuals, groups, or governments to achieve political goals outside of normal social/political channels. Direct action can include nonviolent and violent activities which target persons, groups, or property deemed offensive to the...
methods such as
nonviolenceNonviolence is a philosophy and strategy for social change that rejects the use of violence. As such, nonviolence is an alternative to passive acceptance of oppression and armed struggle against it...
,
counter-economicsCounter-economics is a term originally used by Samuel Edward Konkin III and J. Neil Schulman, radical libertarian activists and theorists. Konkin defined it as "the study and/or practice of all peaceful human action which is forbidden by the State." The term is short for "counter-establishment...
and
anti-state cryptographyCrypto-anarchism is an ideology that expounds the use of strong public-key cryptography to enforce privacy and individual freedom. It was described by Vernor Vinge as a cyberspatial realization of anarcho-capitalism. Crypto-anarchists aim to create cryptographic software that can be used to evade...
to bring about an anarchist society. About the scope of an anarchist society, some anarchists advocate a
globalGlobal is a synonym of worldwide and means of, or relating to, or involving the entire world, in the general sense or as the planet Earth....
one, while others do so by
localLocal may refer to:* Local, local anesthesia* Local, a.k.a. union local or local union* Local, a.k.a. public house* Local In computing:* Local variable in programming languages* .local, network address component- See also :...
ones. 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.
Further reading
- Anarchism. A Documentary History of Libertarian Ideas. Robert Graham
Robert Graham is a Canadian anarchist historian and writer. He is the editor of Anarchism: A Documentary History of Libertarian Ideas, a three-volume collection of anarchist writings from ancient China to the present day. Volume One, subtitled "From Anarchy to Anarchism", covers the period from...
, editor.
- Volume One: From Anarchy to Anarchism (300CE to 1939) Black Rose Books, Montréal and London 2005. ISBN 1551642506.
- Volume Two: The Anarchist Current (1939–2006) Black Rose Books, Montréal 2007. ISBN 9781551643113.
- Anarchism, George Woodcock
George Woodcock was a prolific Canadian writer of poetry, essays, criticism, biographies and historical works. He was also the founder the journal Canadian Literature—the first journal dedicated to Canadian writing...
(Penguin Books, 1962). .
- Anarchy: A Graphic Guide, Clifford Harper
Beginning in the early 1970s he became a prolific illustrator for many anarchist, radical, alternative and mainstream publications, organisations, groups and individuals including Freedom Press, Undercurrents, Respect For Animals, Bit Newsletter, Arts Lab Newsletter, Idiot International, 1977...
(Camden Press, 1987): An overview, updating Woodcock's classic, and illustrated throughout by Harper's woodcut-style artwork.
- The Anarchist Reader, George Woodcock (ed.) (Fontana/Collins 1977; ISBN 0006340113): An anthology of writings from anarchist thinkers and activists including Proudhon
Pierre-Joseph Proudhon was a French politician, mutualist philosopher and socialist. He was a member of the French Parliament, and he was the first to call himself an anarchist. He is considered among the most influential of anarchist writers and organisers. After the events of 1848 he began to...
, KropotkinPeter Alexeyevich Kropotkin was a geographer, a zoologist, and one of Russia's foremost anarchists. One of the first advocates of anarchist communism, Kropotkin advocated a communist society free from central government. Because of his title of prince, he was known by some as "the Anarchist...
, BakuninMikhail Alexandrovich Bakunin was a well-known Russian revolutionary and theorist of collectivist anarchism.Born in the Russian Empire to a family of Russian nobles, Bakunin spent his youth as a junior officer in the Russian army but resigned his commission in 1835...
, MalatestaErrico Malatesta was an Italian anarcho-communist. He was an insurrectionary anarchist early in his life. He spent much of his life exiled from his homeland of Italy and in total spent more than ten years in prison...
, BookchinMurray Bookchin was an American libertarian socialist, political and social philosopher, environmentalist/conservationist, atheist, speaker, and writer. For much of his life he called himself an anarchist, although as early as 1995 he privately renounced his identification with the anarchist...
, GoldmanEmma Goldman was an anarchist known for her political activism, writing and speeches. She played a pivotal role in the development of anarchist political philosophy in North America and Europe in the first half of the twentieth century.Born in Kovno in the Russian Empire , Goldman emigrated to the...
, and many others.
- Anarchy and the Law: The Political Economy of Choice, Edward Stringham (Transaction Publishers, 2007; ISBN 1412805791): An overview of the major arguments and historical studies about private property anarchism.
- Anarchy as Order: The History and Future of Civic Humanity, Mohammed Bamyeh (Rowan & Littlefield, 2009).
General resources
- "An Anarchist FAQ Webpage"An Anarchist FAQ
"An Anarchist FAQ" is an online FAQ written by an international work group of social anarchists connected through the internet. It documents anarchist theory and ideas while presenting arguments in favor of anarchism. It also explores debates internal to the anarchist movement, and counters common...
- Anarchist Theory FAQby Bryan Caplan
Bryan Caplan is a professor of economics at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia. He received his B.S. in economics from University of California, Berkeley and his Ph.D. from Princeton University. His professional work has been devoted to the philosophies of libertarianism and free-market...
- Anarchism Pagefaqs, library, resources
- Infoshop.orgInfoshop.org
- History :Infoshop was founded in January 1995 as the Mid-Atlantic Infoshop by Chuck Munson. Munson had been working as a system librarian at University of Maryland-College Park, one of the perks of which was a free web account...
; anarchist news, information, and online library.
- Anarchism.neta pluralist resource on anarchism
Biographical and bibliographical
- Daily Bleed's Anarchist Encyclopedia700+ entries, with short bios, links and dedicated pages.
- Anarchy ArchivesAnarchy Archives
The Anarchy Archives project is a self-described online research center on the history and theory of anarchism. It was created in September 1995 by Dana Ward, a Professor of Political Studies at Pitzer College...
; information relating to famous anarchists including their writings.
- KateSharpleyLibrary.netwebsite of the Kate Sharpley Library
The Kate Sharpley Library is a library dedicated to anarchist texts and history. Started in 1979 and reorganized in 1991, it currently holds around ten thousand English language volumes, pamphlets and periodicals...
, containing many historical documents pertaining to socialist anarchism.
- They Lie We Dieanarchist virtual library containing 768 books, booklets and texts about socialist anarchism.
- Anarchy: Libertarian StudiesMises Institute; online collection of classical books and works about libertarian anarchism.
- About Market AnarchismMolinari Institute; online booklets and texts about market anarchism.