anarchism Flashcards
(42 cards)
Anarchism
Anarchism is often misunderstood by those who have not studied its political ideas.
‘Anarchy’ is derived from the Greek anarkhos, which means ‘without rule’. However,
its most common usage in everyday speech is for a movement that propagates
disorder, violence, lawlessness, confusion and chaos.
Anarchists themselves would argue (with some justification) that this is a
misrepresentation of their ideas, which are positive and beneficial. Anarchism is
a collection of ideas and movements, but a core belief of all of them is that people
should be free from political authority in all forms, most notably state control.
There are two broad types of anarchism:
l Collectivist anarchism is committed to common ownership and a belief that
human nature is rational, altruistic and cooperative.
l Individualist anarchism argues for a society where self-interested individuals
are largely free to make judgements that they feel are in their best interests.
Rejection of the state
Anarchism is united in its loathing of the role of the state in governing humanity.
Democratic states offer only an illusion of freedom; the people are not sovereign —
power is given away at the ballot box as political sovereignty lies with the ruling
elite. As Emma Goldman (1869–1940) famously argued, ‘If voting changed
anything, they’d make it illegal.’
Authority is compulsory and the state’s laws must be obeyed under the coercive
threat of punishment. The state restricts liberty and is oppressive, as Pierre-Joseph
Proudhon (1809–65) argued:
‘To be governed is to be watched over, inspected, spied on, directed, legislated,
regimented, closed in, indoctrinated, preached at, controlled, assessed, evaluated,
censored, commanded all by creatures that have neither the right, nor the wisdom,
nor the virtue.’
Mikhail Bakunin (1814–76) argued that the state enslaves the governed and
that ‘every command slaps liberty in the face’. Max Stirner (1806–56) bluntly
stated, ‘We two, the state and I, are enemies.’ Anarchists are therefore clear that a
prerequisite for human society to thrive is that the state be removed. In the words
of Peter Kropotkin (1842–1921), ‘no ruling authorities … No government of man
by man, no crystallisation and immobility’. All would agree with Stirner’s sentiment
that ‘I am free in no State’.
Key terms - The state, Power
The state The authority
that is set up via a series
of institutions such as
sovereign, executive,
legislative and judiciary
to make laws and enforce
order. Anarchists argue
that the state uses its
powers coercively to deny
individuals their liberty.
Power Anarchists argue
that the exercise of
power by one person over
another is unacceptable.
The state uses its position
to exploit individuals and
this should be resisted.
Anarchists believe
individuals should be free
to exercise power over
themselves.
Power corrupts those who wield it
Anarchists have a broadly positive view of human
nature, but the state and power have a corrosive effect
on individuals, as Bakunin argued: ‘The best of men,
the most intelligent, unselfish, generous and pure,
will always inevitably be corrupted.’
The state/government is unjust and is based on
economic exploitation that reinforces and legitimises
economic inequality.
Liberty
Anarchism is united in the core idea that liberty can
be achieved only by abolishing the state, although
collectivist and individualist anarchists differ on
specific definitions of liberty.
Individualist anarchism’s version of liberty
Individualist (or egoist) anarchism views the liberty/
freedom of the individual from state interference
as of paramount importance. Stirner pioneered this
position in the nineteenth century, but anarcho-
capitalists in the twentieth century had more success
in popularising its ideas (Table 12.1).
Table 12.1 Egoist and anarcho-capitalist anarchism
Egoist - Max Stirner argued that individuals are self-interested egoists.
To be totally free, the individual must be utterly autonomous.
Individuals are sovereign, and for liberty to exist individuals must
be free of all external influence or obligation
Anarcho-capitalist - Murray Rothbard and David Friedman argue that liberty can be
experienced only through the abolition of the state, whereby
individuals can enjoy negative freedom (see Chapter 9) and an
atomistic society (see Chapter 10). The current functions of the
state, such as the welfare state and law and order, would all be
administered within an unregulated free market
Key terms - authority, government , autonomy, nihilistic, Insurrection
Authority The term is
related to government and
the state. Authority is the
right to exercise the power
granted to the state and
government to carry out
its duties. Anarchists view
the authority exercised by
the state as coercive, as
individuals should be free
to exercise authority over
themselves.
Government The name
of the body that controls
the state. Governments
can be a traditional
monarchy, a dictatorship
or a democracy.
Anarchists view all forms
of government as corrupt,
to differing degrees, and
believe that governing
corrupts those who govern.
Government denies
individual autonomy.
Autonomy Represents
the absence of artificial
external constraints,
though not necessarily
the absence of internal
restraints. All anarchists
believe that humankind
should be able to exercise
autonomy.
Nihilistic Rejecting
all religious and moral
principles in the belief that
life is meaningless.
Insurrection A term used
by revolutionaries to
describe direct action. It
can be violent or a form of
passive resistance.
Key terms - Propaganda by the
deed, Altruistic, Anomie, Collectivisation
Propaganda by the
deed A tactic advocated
by most radical and
revolutionary anarchists.
When they challenge the
state via general strikes
or violent acts of protest,
the state will show its
true nature by practising
vehement oppression.
Altruistic Focused on
part of human nature that
leads individuals to care
for others and act in their
interests.
Anomie If isolated from
society, humans will feel
intense loneliness and
experience feelings of
emotional dislocation.
Collectivisation The
organisation of peasants
into large production units
where there is no private
property. Individuals
produce goods collectively
and equally share the
rewards for their labour.
Key thinker - Max Stirner (1806–56)
Johann Kasper Schmidt had a brief and unsuccessful career as a teacher and died in poverty
and obscurity. His contribution to anarchism was his book The Ego and its Own (1844), written
under the pseudonym Max Stirner, which cries out against the state’s distortion of our
perceptions. Stirner’s main ideas are as follows.
The ego
l Philosophical ideologies and concepts
such as the state, society and religion
are artificial constructs that act like
‘wheels in the head’, causing individuals
to misunderstand reality. These illusions
are as insubstantial as ‘spooks’ and yet
they haunt the individual as they distort
their experiences and perceptions.
l Stirner argues that individuals must cut
through the deceipt of state and society
to discover the truth: that the self-
interested and rational individual is the
centre of their own moral universe.
The union of egoists
l The state must cease to exist if the sovereignty of the individual is to be guaranteed.
Individual sovereignty would be achieved when people gain their personal ‘ownness’ and a
realisation of the state’s manipulations.
l Stirner’s strand of anarchism is the most individualistic and nihilistic. It argues for
insurrection, via withdrawal of labour, so that the state would wither and die.
l Stirner also argued for ‘propaganda by the deed’, as violence would help shake the delusion of
the state’s autonomy. Bakunin and Goldsmith also favoured this strategy.
debate - What are the similarities and differences in how collectivist
anarchists view liberty?
Collectivist anarchism views liberty/freedom very much as a communal
phenomenon, but there are several collectivist versions of liberty.
Mutualism
- Proudhon believed that as the human race developed it
became capable of rational thought and an innate sense
of justice. An individual’s liberty was curtailed by both
the state and religion - Liberty was a hybrid of socialism and individualism. The
socialist aspect envisaged an altruistic decentralised
society where individuals unite to form cooperative
working groups that together become communities
of workers. The individualist aspects made clear that
workers could freely enter into contracts in exchange for
labour and goods - Proudhon imagined a nationalistic element to liberty in
that native citizens would receive preferential treatment to
foreigners in all transactions - Proudhon’s idea of liberty was a very male-orientated vision
and would be described by feminists as patriarchal (see
Chapter 14) as he perceived women as inferior, subservient
and generally second to men
Collectivist anarchism
* Bakunin believed that individuals were born with equal
intelligence, moral sense and a capability for rational
thought. Individual development was dictated by
environment. The state threatened individual liberty by
distorting human nature and the natural arrangement of
society
* Bakunin argued that natural laws were grounded in a
belief in community. For Bakunin, society is ‘the tree of
freedom and liberty is its fruit’. All humans, regardless
of gender or nationality, are equally free. The society
that these state-emancipated individuals will choose will
be collective because humans are communal creatures
and suffer anomie if isolated. ‘Man is born into society,
just as an ant is born into an anthill or a bee into a hive.’
Liberty can only be found with the solidarity of others,
as there is an innate ‘mutual interdependence’ that
manifests as a kind of communal individuality
* Bakunin’s intense belief in the sociability of individuals saw
him advocate an idea of society where private property was
replaced by collectivisation. This collectivist anarchism
essentially saw liberty in socialist terms and has
sometimes been described as socialism without a state
Mutual aid —
anarcho-communism
- Kropotkin argued that human nature is positive and
predisposed to cooperation or, as he dubbed it, mutual
aid. Liberty was rooted in nature and the dominant
characteristic of all creatures within a society was solidarity - Kropotkin’s anarchist theories were underpinned by
anthropological empirical research of successful species.
He argued that mutual aid was present in early settlements
to the free cities of the Middle Ages. However, the rise of
the state and capitalism distorted this natural condition,
crushing ‘individual and local life’ - Once the state was abolished, liberty would be celebrated
in an anarcho-communist society of voluntary associations
in the form of communes, governed with equality, direct
democracy and high levels of participation. Communes would
be small, allowing individuals to have regular interactions and
to avoid large, impersonal, centralised entities. Individuals
would be free to join whatever community they wished - Goldman preferred a communal individuality that echoed
Kropotkin and Proudhon, whereby liberty exists via
cooperation but acknowledges individualism - Goldman also viewed liberty in feminist terms, rejecting
gender stereotypes and ‘refusing to be a servant of God,
the state, society, the husband, the family, etc.’ - Goldman advocated free love, sex outside marriage and
non-conventional relationships such as ménage-à-trois
and lesbianism. Such behaviour was taboo at the time
and saw her isolated from other contemporary feminists
Key term - mutual aid
Mutual aid A term used by
many anarchists to mean
that communities should
cooperate with each other,
largely in terms of trade,
on mutually beneficial
terms rather than through
a free-market mechanism.
Key thinker - Pierre-Joseph Proudhon (1809–65)
A brewer’s son, Proudhon is credited with the first
use of the word ‘anarchist’ in a positive sense. In his
seminal text What Is Property? (1840), he asserted
that ‘property is theft’. Proudhon’s main ideas are as
follows.
l Proudhon distinguished between property, which the
elite used to exploit others, and the ‘possessions’ of
ordinary peasants and workers.
l Proudhon has been described as a libertarian
socialist. His contractual system of mutualism
balanced individual liberty with the rights of the
commune. These ideas saw him oppose as oppressive
the collectivisation favoured by Bakunin.
The rejection and overthrow of the state
l Proudhon is unique among the key thinkers as he argued for a peaceful transition to a new
society rather than transition by revolutionary means.
l Proudhon’s mutualist society would exist in the shell of the existing state, with
interconnected institutions such as a people’s bank and a federation of communities
cooperating with each other. Rather like Marx, he saw this as a temporary arrangement and
he expected the state to decline and die as mutualism took root.
Key thinker - Emma Goldman (1869–1940)
Emma Goldman was born in Russia in 1869. Her
sympathy for anarchism was ignited when four
anarchists were convicted (and executed) for
throwing a bomb into a crowd of policemen during
a workers’ rally at Haymarket Square in Chicago in
1886. The judge openly conceded that there was
no evidence against them but that they were on trial
simply because they were anarchists. Goldman’s key
work was Anarchism and Other Essays (1910). Her
main ideas are as follows.
l Goldman viewed the state as a cold monster at
the core of societal violence through the twin
evils of militarism and patriotism.
l Militarism includes the state’s use of the police
to threaten violence or imprisonment to those
who dare question its law; Goldman deemed
soldiers the state’s indoctrinated killers.
l Patriotism fuels militarism, leading to war between competing states and ‘the road to
internal slaughter’. Goldman argued patriotism should therefore be replaced by universal
brotherhood and sisterhood.
Political participation in the state and society is corrupting and futile
l Goldman argued that all political participation by the state towards society was corrupting.
She viewed Soviet communism in these terms, as society was not voluntary but a
‘compulsory state communism’.
l The lack of liberty was also inherent in Western democracies, as Goldman saw the
corrosive corrupting effect of power on those who wielded it.
l Goldman advocated violence and civil disobedience, industrial sabotage and general
strikes, discounting reform in favour of revolution.
Anarchy is order
Anarchist society will be stateless (or, in Proudhon’s case, existing in the ‘shell of
the state’).
Table 12.2 Anarchists’ perceptions of order
Max Stirner - Once free of the artifice of the state, individuals would be free
to assert their own rational individualism, which would mean
self-realisation based on self-interest
Pierre-Joseph
Proudhon - Humans have an innate sense of justice and are naturally
inclined to cooperate. Mutualism combined collectivism and
individualism, allowing individuals to opt out if they so wished.
Proudhon thought this would be an irregular occurrence but
argued that a federal assembly could assemble (only when
required) to mediate disputes and then disband again. The
individuals of Proudhon’s society would have a ‘collective force’
and this would underpin the success of society
Peter Kropotkin - Mutual aid communes would be drawn to each other by similar
interests, becoming an ‘interwoven network, composed of an
infinite variety of groups’
Mikhail Bakunin - Bakunin only gave a sketch of how his collectivist anarchism
would work, but its foundation was built on an optimistic view
of human nature. He saw humans as naturally social beings,
who would experience communal individuality in a federation
of communes that were decentralised so no one had too much
power, practising collectivisation
Emma Goldman - Goldman never attempted to plan her anarchist society, but her
ideas were consistent with the Kropotkin and Proudhon strands
of anarcho-communism
Economic freedom
Economic freedom means different things to collectivist and individualist anarchists.
Collectivist anarchism
Proudhon argued that ‘property is theft’ and that the entire concept of property
is a social construct to exploit the masses. The vast majority of private property is
owned by the elite, while everyone else is forced to participate in an exploitative
capitalist system just to pay rent. Collective anarchists seek to abolish private
property for communal ownership. This would allow economic freedom to
flourish, as goods and services would be priced at their true labour value and
not their market value:
l Proudhon argued for mutualism (see page 364), where all the means of production
would be owned collectively by the workers and society would be organised
within small communities.
l Kropotkin argued for mutual aid, which although subtly different from
mutualism, required common ownership and a federation of communities.
l Bakunin viewed economic freedom via collectivisation (which limited individual
freedom too much for Proudhon and Kropotkin to favour).
l Anarcho-syndicalism (see page 365) would see the means of production controlled
by the workers rather than by individual exploitative owners.
In focus - Black blocs
Black bloc groupings are associated with anarchism and consist of individuals clad in black
to conceal their identities and to appear as a unified mass. Their tactics are consistent with
propaganda by the deed and include rioting and the destruction of property. Black blocs target
property associated with the state and capitalism, such as government buildings, banks, fast-
food outlets and the offices of multinational companies. Such protests have occurred all over
the world, most notably at G20 summits and Trump’s presidential inauguration.
Individualist anarchism
Egoism
Stirner’s egoism asserts that individuals possess a sovereignty akin to a nation state.
Individuals are materialists, who wish to satisfy their needs. Free of the exploitative
state, these rational individuals, of similar powers and abilities, will, as autonomous
creatures, reorganise the economy fairly as it will be in their self-interest to avoid
social conflict.
Anarcho-capitalism
Anarcho-capitalism, unlike collectivist anarchism, favours both private property
and the free market as this will ensure atomistic economic freedom. The free
market will provide (more efficaciously than the corrupt and incompetent state)
all public goods, including education, healthcare and infrastructure. Rational and
self-interested individuals are far better at deciding what is in their best interests
than the state is.
Key thinker - Mikhail Bakunin (1814–76)
Born an aristocrat, Bakunin became interested
in radical ideas as a young man. He was initially
influenced by Marx, but broke from socialism
as he disagreed with the concept of a worker’s
state (even if it was transitional), perceiving
such an arrangement as corrupting. He left no
detailed ideas of a perfect society, just a general
blueprint. His key work, God and the State, was
published after his death, in 1882. Bakunin’s
main ideas are as follows.
Propaganda by the deed
l Bakunin believed in propaganda by the deed to
bring about revolution. This direct action would
take the form of general strikes, non-payment
of taxes and rent, as well as violent acts.
Human sociability
l Bakunin argued that humans are naturally sociable. He proposed abolishing society and
forming collectivised communes with total economic equality.
l He believed in the concept of natural law to which all people are subject. In a stateless
society, natural law would take over.
l He advocated a system of federalism in which workers and peasants would band together
in voluntary communities (communes) that would vary in size.
l Communes would trade with each other on mutually negotiated terms, based on the labour
value of goods instead of their market value.
Collectivist anarchism
Collectivist anarchism is committed to common economic ownership, which will
nurture the altruistic and cooperative aspects of human nature that have so far been
distorted by the oppressive state. This would end the ‘surplus value’ exploitation
(see Chapter 11) that had oppressed workers in the capitalist system.
Collectivist anarchists believe that the free market associated with capitalism,
coupled with the oppressive hierarchal nature of state/society, reinforces
inequality and oppression. The free market determines the value of labour in
the form of wages via supply and demand, which fails to recognise the intrinsic
worth of an individual’s labour. This ‘exchange value’ is exploitative as the
state’s capitalist class (who own and control the means of production) reaps the
benefits of economic activity while workers receive substantially smaller rewards.
Collectivist anarchism has three variations: anarcho-communism, mutualism and
anarcho-syndicalism.
Different types of anarchism
There are several distinct subdivisions within the two broad categories of anarchism:
collectivist and individualist.
Anarcho-communism
Kropotkin opposed private property and viewed communism as the most natural
form of economic society, as wealth results from a collective effort. Thus ‘all
belongs to all’ and ‘anarchy leads to communism and communism leads to anarchy’.
Kropotkin’s anthropological expertise informed his political ideas, as he made
scientifically derived parallels between state/society/economy and the natural
world. Kropotkin disputed Darwin’s ‘survival of the fittest’ hypothesis and argued
the reverse: that the species that cooperated thrived, whereas those that did not
struggled to survive. This conclusion allowed Kropotkin to rebut Social Darwinists,
such as Herbert Spencer, who had argued that the competitive nature of society and
the economy was a natural state.
Kropotkin dubbed such cooperation ‘mutual aid’ and argued that this form
of existence occurred both in Ancient Greece and in the city states of medieval
Europe before capitalism corrupted human nature. He argued that if both the state
and capitalism ceased to exist, the human race would revert to its natural state of
altruistic mutual aid and communal solidarity.
l Kropotkin, viewing private property as theft and a means of exploitation,
would therefore replace it with common ownership. Communes of voluntary
associations practising mutual aid would band together and then form an
‘interwoven network’ of a wide variety of different groups.
l Unions of communes would produce a network of cooperation that would replace
the state. Laws would no longer be necessary, as a combination of customs and
free agreements would create a common consensus.
l Direct democracy would produce unanimous decisions, but if it did not and the
minority felt oppressed, they would be free to leave and start a new community.
l Kropotkin argued that there would be a free availability of goods and services
and no compulsion to work, though he believed that mutual aid and the feeling
of community would make such free-riding unlikely.
Key thinker - Peter Kropotkin (1842–1921)
Kropotkin was an aristocrat who grew up to despise
the cruel autocracy of the tsarist state. In 1872 he
converted to anarchism after observing the Jura
Federation’s watchmaker community, who pooled
resources to live in collective harmony. His ideas
were described in Fields, Factories and Workshops
(1898) and Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution
(1902). Kropotkin’s main ideas are as follows:
l Kropotkin, a respected geographer/biologist,
argued from scientific observation that much
of the animal kingdom was cooperative and not
competitive.
l He argued that the state was beyond gradual
reforms and nothing short of revolution could
transform society and economy.
l The state would be abolished. It would become
an anarcho-communist society of voluntary
association in the form of communes governed with equality, direct democracy and high
levels of popular participation.
l Law would be replaced by regulated relationships within the commune, where customs and
free agreements would ensure harmony.
l The means of production would be collectively owned by the commune, and private
property and the wage system would be abolished.
l Goods and services would be freely available and based on individual need.
