Anarchism

Anarchism can refer to any of a range of political views, characterized by a rejection of authority in various forms.

History of anarchism

Precursors of anarchism

In the hunter-gatherer period before recorded history, human society lived mainly in super-families. Thus there was no State, little accumulated wealth or division of labour, and no decreed law or rulers. This is sometimes called primitive anarchy or primitive communism.

Related Topics:
History - State - Primitive communism

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Some anarchists have embraced Taoism, which developed in Ancient China, as a source of anarchistic attitudes http://www.toxicpop.co.uk/library/taoism.htm.

Related Topics:
Taoism - Ancient China

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The first known usage of the word anarchy appears in the play Seven Against Thebes by Aeschylus, dated 467 BC. There, Antigone openly refuses to abide by the rulers' decree to leave her brother Polyneices' body unburied, as punishment for his participation in the attack on Thebes, saying that "even if no one else is willing to share in burying him I will bury him alone and risk the peril of burying my own brother. Nor am I ashamed to act in defiant opposition to the rulers of the city (ekhous apiston tênd anarkhian polei)".

Related Topics:
Seven Against Thebes - Aeschylus - 467 BC - Antigone - Thebes

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Ancient Greece also saw the first western instance of anarchism as a philosophical ideal, in the form of the stoic philosopher Zeno of Citium, who was, according to Kropotkin, "he best exponent of Anarchist philosophy in ancient Greece". As summarized by Kropotkin, Zeno "repudiated the omnipotence of the state, its intervention and regimentation, and proclaimed the sovereignty of the moral law of the individual". Within Greek philosophy, Zeno's vision of a free community without government is opposed to the state-Utopia of Plato's Republic. Zeno argued that although the necessary instinct of self-preservation leads humans to egotism, nature has supplied a corrective to it by providing man with another instinct — sociability. Like some modern anarchists, he believed that if people follow their instincts, they will have no need of law, courts, or police, no temples and no public worship, and use no money (a gift economy taking the place of the exchanges). Zeno's beliefs have only reached us as fragmentary quotations. http://www.blackcrayon.com/page.jsp/library/britt1910.html Aristippus also claimed that the wise should not give up their liberty to the state http://www.blackcrayon.com/page.jsp/library/britt1910.html

Related Topics:
Stoic - Zeno of Citium - Kropotkin - Greek philosophy - Utopia - Plato's Republic - Egotism - Sociability - Courts - Police - Temple - Worship - Money - Gift economy - Aristippus - Liberty

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Later movements – such as Stregheria in the 1300's, the Free Spirit in the Middle Ages, the Anabaptists, The Diggers, and the Ranters, – have also expounded ideas that have been interpreted as anarchist.

Related Topics:
Stregheria - Free Spirit - Middle Ages - Anabaptist - The Diggers

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The Anabaptists of 16th century Europe are sometimes considered to be religious forerunners of modern anarchism. Bertrand Russell, in his History of Western Philosophy, writes that the Anabaptists "repudiated all law, since they held that the good man will be guided at every moment by the Holy Spirit...rom this premise they arrive at communism...." The novel Q provides a fictional depiction of this movement and its revolutionary ideology. In 1548 Étienne de la Boétie wrote The Politics of Obedience: The Discourse of Voluntary Servitude, an essay which explored the question of why people obey rulers. Gerrard Winstanley of The Diggers, who published a pamphlet calling for communal ownership and social and economic organization in small agrarian communities in the 17th century, is considered another of the forerunners of modern anarchism.

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It should be noted that an essay explicitly advocating the absence of government ("A Vindication of Natural Society") was written and published anonymously in 1756 by Edmund Burke -- a man widely acknowledged to be the founding-father of modern Conservatism. Upon discovery that he was the author of the anonymous essay, Burke dismissed the writing as satire. There is some conflict involved over the sincerity of Burke's dismissal of "Vindication..."; a most notable contribution to the debate is Murray Rothbard's 1958 essay "Edmund Burke, Anarchist." Other anarchists, such as Godwin and Tucker, have been known to consider the essay to be an important contribution to their philosophy.

Related Topics:
Edmund Burke - Conservatism

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Modern anarchism

In 1793 William Godwin published An Enquiry Concerning Political Justice, in which he presented his vision of a free society alongside a critique of government. Some consider this the first anarchist treatise, calling Godwin the "founder of philosophical anarchism"http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/godwin/. Other than the spontaneous association that may arise when individuals defend each other from aggressors, Godwin opposes every kind of cooperation in labor among individuals (even orchestras are opposed). He is an early proponent of liberalism, supporting a right of an individual to own property, defining it as "the empire to which every man is entitled over the produce of his own industry," but advocating that individuals voluntarily share their surplus property with those who have a need for it.

Related Topics:
1793 - William Godwin - Liberalism

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Pierre-Joseph Proudhon of France, author of "What is Property?" in 1840 was the first individual to call himself an "anarchist." Proudhon advocated a non-coercive market economy where individuals would trade the produce of their labor. Exchange value of goods within such an economy was to be determined by the amount of labor exerted in their production. Proudhon did not use the term "property" in a consistent way. While he is famous for saying "property is theft" in early writings, at that time he was defining property as anything that was not the product of labor (e.g. unused land) that was held by individuals and was protected by government force. Titles granted to land that was not in use by the owner would allow individuals to charge rent to others who wished to use it, which Proudhon opposed. Later, he began using the term "property" to refer to the ownership of produce of labor, which he strongly supported. Proudhon held that property was an essential element of liberty: "Where shall we find a power capable of counter-balancing the... State? There is none other than property... The absolute right of the State is in conflict with the absolute right of the property owner. Property is the greatest revolutionary force which exists" (Theory of Property) He opposed profit in all economic transactions, viewing it as being paid without laboring --labor being the sole source of legitimate property. He coined the term "mutualism" to label the theoretical economic system where goods and services would be traded without profit. He preferred the abolition of government, but he did not believe that its total elimination was possible, so advocated its minimization: "...the institutions of the police, preventative and repressive methods officialdom, taxation etc., are reduced to a minimum..."

Related Topics:
Pierre-Joseph Proudhon - France - 1840 - Mutualism

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Josiah Warren, an American, and a coeval of Proudhon's, authored an individualistic philosophy of a similar nature to Proudon's that explicitly opposed the existence of government (though they worked without apparent knowledge of each other). Warren had been writing about and practicing an economic system based on the labor theory of value by which exchange was facilitated by the medium of "labor notes." This was the practical exercise of the mutualist economic system that Proudhon later theorized. Many consider the periodical that Warren published and edited beginning in 1833, called The Peaceful Revolutionist, to be the first anarchist periodical. Individualists, taking much from the writings of Max Stirner, among others, emphasized to the utmost extent the liberty of the individual. While some individualists looked to natural law to justify individualism, Stirner's "Egoism" held that self-interest is the only legitimate justification for action.

Related Topics:
Josiah Warren - Labor theory of value - Labor notes - Max Stirner - Liberty - Natural law - Self-interest

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Liberals were often labeled "anarchists" by monarchists, even though they did not call for the abolition of the State. Still, they did promote the idea of a minimal State, individual rights, and the responsibility of the people to judge their governments, which provided a groundwork for the development of anarchist thought. "The Law" (1849) by Frederic Bastiat is a good example of an anti-statist liberal tract. A clear precursor of anarcho-capitalism was Gustave de Molinari, who wrote about private defense agencies in The Production of Security (1849). This was one of the first attempts to solve the problem of security in a stateless manner. In the United States, anarchist thoughts were expressed in the writings of Henry David Thoreau (Civil Disobedience), Josiah Warren, and Benjamin Tucker. Individualist anarchists such as Tucker were influenced by the writings of Herbert Spencer and Max Stirner, among others. The American tradition of individualist anarchism is firmly in support of individual sovereignty, private property, wages, and a free market economy. However, they see violations of "cost the limit of price" (based in the labor theory of value) as exploitative, and as a result oppose profit in all economic relations. Nevertheless, they will allow it to occur if the result of contract --contract being the ultimate source of law. Their position on profit is that it would be near impossible if government ceased to exist, due to release of privileged capital and proliferation of competition.

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Later in the 19th century, anarchist theorists like Mikhail Bakunin and Anarchist communists like Peter Kropotkin took a slightly different stance on how to establish the utmost liberty of the individual. They drew from the Marxist critique of capitalism and came to the conclusion that workplaces and economic production under capitalism were unavoidably authoritarian and exploitative, suppressing the liberty of the individual just as much, if not more than the State. They argued that both capitalism and the State needed to be abolished and replaced with more democratic ways of living and producing. Furthermore, they argued that gift economies were preferable to free market systems, although Bakunin was less ardent about this point than about workplace democracy (see cooperative).

Related Topics:
19th century - Mikhail Bakunin - Anarchist communists - Peter Kropotkin - Marxist - Cooperative

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In short, Bakunin and Kropotkin emphasized the importance of a communal perspective to maintain individual liberty in a social context, and the critical role of workers self-managed organs of production and creation. The International Workingmen's Association was an organisation of workers, including both anarchists and Marxists. Both sides had a common aim (stateless communism) and common political opponents (conservatives and other right-wing elements). But each was critical of the other, and the inherent conflict between the two groups soon embodied itself in an ongoing argument between Mikhail Bakunin, representative of anarchist ideas, and Karl Marx himself. Generally Marx wanted to work within the system, use hierarchical organizational structures, and run people in elections. Bakunin hated these ideas, and predicted that if a revolution were won under a Marxist revolutionary party, they would end up being as bad as the ruling class that they fought against. However, Mikhail Bakunin saw a need to defend the working class against oppression and overthrow the ruling class, and he predicted that democratic committes would arise in future revolutionary periods and fulfill this role. Nevertheless, in 1872, the conflict in the First International climaxed with the expulsion of Bakunin and those who had become known as the "Bakuninists" when they were outvoted and outmanouvered by the Marx's supporters at the Hague Congress. This is often cited as the origins of the conflict between anarchists and Marxists.

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Peter Kropotkin's anarchist communism developed from his scientific theory based on evolution in which co-operation equalled or surpassed competition in importance, as illustrated in ' (1897).

Related Topics:
Peter Kropotkin - Anarchist communism - Scientific - Evolution - 1897

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Some revolutionaries of this time such as the Nihilists encouraged acts of political violence such as bombings and the assassinations of heads of state to further anarchism. However, these actions were regarded by many anarchists as counter-productive or ineffective (see "Violence and non-violence", below).

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In the late 19th century, anarcho-syndicalism developed as the industrialized form of libertarian communism, emphasizing industrial actions, especially the general strike, as the primary strategy to achieve anarchist revolution, and "build the new society in the shell of the old".

Related Topics:
19th century - Anarcho-syndicalism - Industrial action - General strike

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Anarchists played a major role in many of the labour movements, uprisings, and revolutions of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, including the Russian Revolution of 1917. In the United States, many new immigrants were anarchists; an especially notable group was the large number of Jewish immigrants who had left Russia and Eastern Europe during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. These groups were disrupted by the Red Scare of 1919. Emma Goldman was a very influential anarchist and feminist during this period. She traveled the country and the world spreading anarchist ideas and attempting to live an anarchist life.

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The anarcho-syndicalist orientation of many early American labor unions played a large part in the formation of the American political spectrum. The United States is the only industrialized former British colony to not have a labor-based political party. In Mexico, anarcho-syndicalists like Ricardo Flores Magón led various revolts and uprisings that would help overthrow the dictator Diaz, lead the way for the growth of anarchism in Latin America, and also go on to influence the modern day Zapatista rebellion.

Related Topics:
Political spectrum - Ricardo Flores Magón - Latin America - Zapatista

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In Europe, in the first quarter of the 20th century, anarchist movements achieved relative, if short-lived, successes and were violently repressed by states. In the United States anarchist organisations were given a crushing blow during the "Red Scare" (1919-20). However, in the 1920s and 1930s the conflict between anarchism and the state was eclipsed by the one between liberal democracy, fascism and stalinism, which ended with the defeat of the Axis Powers in World War II.

Related Topics:
Europe - Red Scare - Liberal democracy - Fascism - Stalinism - Axis Powers - World War II

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In Spain, years of social, political and religious turmoil coupled with decades of anarchist agitation and organisation led to class conflict. The old ruling class (church, army and monarchy) and capitalists were horrified by the new freedoms and social changes within the Second Spanish Republic. So an army rebellion or coup d'état was initiated so as to regain control of the country. The Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) as it became known, pitched the ruling class and fascists against the middle-class liberals and politicised workers. In reponse to the army rebellion an anarchist-inspired peasant and workers movement (supported by militias initially tolerated by the republic) took control of huge areas of urban and rural Spain (including most major cities) in 1936-1937 and collectivized the land. Along with the POUM, they were eventually suppressed by the Stalinist-controlled republican army, which later lost to Franco's army in 1939. In the Soviet Union from 1918 and in Europe during the World War, thousands of anarchists were killed or sent to prisons and concentration camps.

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A surge of popular interest in anarchism occurred during the 1960s and 1970s. In the UK this was associated with the punk rock movement; the band Crass is celebrated for its anarchist and pacifist ideas. In Denmark, the Freetown Christiania was created in downtown Copenhagen. The housing and employment crisis in most of Western Europe led to the formation of communes and squatter movements like the one still thriving in Barcelona, in Catalonia. Militant resistance to neo-Nazi groups in places like Germany, and the uprisings of autonomous Marxism, situationist, and Autonomist groups in France and Italy also helped to give popularity to anti-authoritarian, non-capitalist ideas.

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Beginning in the later part of the 20th century anarchist primitivists like John Zerzan began to proclaim that civilization — not just the state — would need to fall for anarchy to be achieved. A rejection of industrial technology is also prominent in the views of many green anarchists. This worldview was associated with the growth of the anti-roads movement in the UK, Earth First! and the Earth Liberation Front in the US, and the actions of Theodore Kaczynski (aka the "Unabomber").

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Through the 20th century anarchists were actively involved in the labour, animal-rights, radical ecological, feminist movements, and later in the fight against fascism. It should be noted that, in general, the anarchists participating in these movements opposed social hierarchy in general, and their activism came naturally out of this position. The influence of this on anarchist thought is apparent, as most of the traditional anarchist philosophies emphasize the economic implications of anarchism, or arrive at anarchism from economic arguments. Since the mid-1960s, anarchists have been involved in student protest movements, peace movements, squatter movements, and the anti-globalization movement, among others.

Related Topics:
20th century - 1960s - Peace movements - Anti-globalization

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Anarchism today

North American anarchism takes a strong influences from the American Civil Rights Movement and the movement against the Vietnam War. European anarchism has developed out of the labour movement, and both have incorporated animal rights and environmental activism from a direct action approach which gave growth to the anti-roads movement, and Reclaim the Streets. Globally, anarchism has been associated with the anti-war, anti-capitalist, and anti-globalization movements. Since the late 1990s, anarchists have been known for their involvement in protests against World Trade Organization and Group of Eight meetings, and the World Economic Forum -- protests that are generally portrayed in mainstream media coverage as violent riots. Some anarchists advocate the formation of black blocs at protests, in which participants of the bloc wear black and cover their faces to avoid police identification and to create one large solid mass. Bloc participants confront the police, set up barricades, and sometimes engage in the destruction of corporate property.

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Although black bloc anarchists are often the anarchists high-lighted by the media at large protests, large-scale protests are often constructed and organised through non-hierarchical structures. Affinity groupings, spokescouncils, and networking all have led to the success of various large-scale anti-war and anti-globalization mobilizations, most notably at the protests against the WTO Meeting of 1999 in Seattle. Anarchists have also been involved heavily with underground direct action movements such as the Animal Liberation Front, and the Earth Liberation Front, which are considered "eco-terrorist" by federal authorities and some liberal organizations. Anarchism (or at least non-hierarchical systems of organizing) is now largely seen to have about the same sway in modern revolutionary movements as Marxism had in the 1960's.

Related Topics:
Media - WTO Meeting of 1999 - Seattle - Eco-terrorist

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However, anarchism is not constrained to political protest. Many anarchists also work with others to build parallel structures and organizations, such as communes, eco-villages, infoshops and radical social centers, Food Not Bombs, radical labor unions, new education methods, and do-it-yourself media in various forms. They also emphasise equality and "horizontal" organizing within the movement, using such tools as consensus decision-making. This is in line with how anarchists interpret the idea of "dual-power", creating the new anti-authoritarian society "in the shell of the old", hierarchical one.

Related Topics:
Eco-villages - Food Not Bombs - Consensus

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Some have said that recent technological developments have made the anarchist cause both easier to advance and more conceivable to people. Public key cryptography and the Internet have made anonymous digital currencies such as e-gold an alternative to statist fiat money. Many people use cell phones or the Internet to form loose communities that could be said to be organized along anarchist lines. Some of these communities have as their purpose the production of information in a non-commodified or use-value format, a goal made attainable by the availability of personal computing, desktop publishing, and digital media. These things have made it possible for individuals to share music files over the Internet. There are also open source programming communities, who donate their time and offer their product for free. Examples include Usenet, the free software movement (including the GNU/Linux community and the wiki paradigm), and Indymedia.

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Most of these modern efforts mentioned above have been undertaken by anarchists who maintain an opposition to social hierarchy in general. For examples of major groupings of anarchist collectives and groups throughout the world, see the list of Anarchist organizations at the end of this article.

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Historical and contemporary examples

There are various examples of societies which have been organized by anarchist principles, ranging from the Thing system of classical Iceland to pirate cities.

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: See Past and present anarchist communities

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◄ Anarchism: Introduction

Anarchism: Schools of anarchist thought ►

~ Table of Content ~

►	Introduction
►	History of anarchism
►	Schools of anarchist thought
►	Issue and Movement Anarchisms
►	Conceptions of an anarchist society
►	Conflicts within anarchist thought
►	Criticism
►	See also
►	External links

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