Anarchism - Key Thinkers

Question 1

1) Key thinker - Stirner - individualist anarchism (egoism)

Answer 1

• Nihilism - abolition of state and society
• Concept of self-interested ego - should replace ideology, state and society and its spread will challenge existing structures
• Opposed to religion and ideology also - socialism and Marxism etc are all denials of individual conscience - threats to egoism known as spooks or ghosts - shadowy illusions which appear to promote individual liberty but actually suppress it
• No state of permanent conflict between individuals - instead, would form unions of egoism which are cooperative groups that see their self-interest as mutual interest which would gradually replace the state
• Individual is entitled to anything they can find, and it is the right of one’s ego to use others for their own purposes
• Pessimistic view of human nature due to egoism but did state people could being altruistic but only if it is in their own interests (Rand?)
• Unrestrained individual liberty - no moral restraints and abolition of state and private property and any kind of restraint should be abolished

Question 2

2) Key thinker - Kropotkin (collectivist anarchism)

Answer 2

• Disillusioned with his class (born to Russian aristocracy) due to Jura Federation who showed cooperative production and living among a community with pooled profits
• Challenged social darwinism - under capitalism, people are engaged in a similar struggle as they would be in survival of the fittest, and so inequality was natural; but he argued that animals are cooperative not competitive and so mutualism is the best option for mankind
• Anarcho-communism - creation of natural communities where people are free to join whatever community they wish and are not subjected to any force - self-sufficient and prosperous - scarcity with no competition and without competition there would be no inequality

Question 3

3) Key thinker - Bakunin (collectivist)

Answer 3

• Early ideas resembled Marx - opposed capitalism and private property, seeing both as oppressive - state as an agent of capitalism, both must be abolished
• Objected to socialism because they were proposing the replacement of the capitalist state with a worker’s state, and despite plans for this to wither away Bakunin disliked the idea and established the key distinction between anarchism and socialism - anarchists should oppose any state, socialists only oppose capitalist ones
• Power corrupts people - both government and governed, and so any state will end in inequality (Soviet Union is evidence)
• Replace state with communes - common ownership of property, economic equality and direct democracy, not political rule - Paris Commune was an example of propaganda by deed
• Order can be achieved without a coercive state - no contradiction between ordered state and individual liberty - it is natural for people to obey the laws of nature and they do not need to be forced to do to maintain their freedom; laws of nature include sociability of mankind, natural empathy for each other, equality and respect for each other’s freedom
• Federalism - groups of workers join voluntary communities of any size and as long as people see themselves in these communities common ownership will prevail, and there will be equal distribution of property on a voluntary basis - relationship of mutual benefit and there is no capitalist market system which would promote inequality but rather a system of free negotiation and exchange on the basis of true values of goods and services

Question 4

4) Key thinker - Proudhon - ‘property is theft’ - bridge between collectivist and individualist anarchism

Answer 4

• Property is used to oppress workers and create inequality - workers own what they need to manage their own production (possessions) but he was unusual for proposing peaceful abolition of the state
• Bridge between socialism and anarchism (libertarian socialist) - means of production should be commonly owned and abolish capitalism, but also abolish any government type
• Proudhon rejected socialist ideas that the state creates and maintains workers rights as he stated it would become oppressive - decentralised socialism, communities of workers should come together to form cooperative working groups
• Collectivist because - proposed a federal system of communes (Kropotkin) backed by a ‘people’s bank’ which recycles surplus funds to these productive units
• Individualist because - saw workers and groups of workers freely entering contracts with one another for the exchange of labour and goods - looked for collective and individual interests becoming one set of interests
• Aspects of his mutualism can be seen in 20th century cooperative movements, commune movement of 60s and 70s and the fair trade movement
• Decentralisation can be seen in the aim of NGOs to promote subsistence production for developing countries to prevent producers being forced to produce for world commodity markets at prices that discriminate against them and force them into large, artificial productive units

Question 5

5) Key thinker - Goldman- preached assassination as a valid anarchist technique (anarcho-feminist)

Answer 5

• Involved in a number of social causes, such as the emancipation of women and the tolerance of homosexuality, championing the idea of free love - synthesised anarchism with feminism and women’s rights
• Attempted to form anarchist communes in Spanish Civil War and although this was short lived it was an important example of the genuine realisation of anarchist ideas
• Propaganda of the deed - the idea that the best way to inspire others to join the anarchist cause was to engage in acts of violence against the state and capitalist institutions
• Exposed exploitative nature of capitalism, oppressive state and the need for violent revolution to bring this down - rejected reform on the basis that power corrupts and so these systems should be abolished - negative philosophy
• Ability to popularise main ideas of anarchism is her main contribution - connected emancipation of the individual and replacement of exploitation with the idea of mutual love - once freed from oppression, the true nature of our loving feeling for one another can be released
• Was against every limiter of individual liberty - the state, religion, nationalism, Marxism, capitalism, patriarchy and bigotry of any kind - populist of the left