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This article surveys a broad range of political philosophies that oppose the state and communism. For pro-communism usages, see libertarian socialism.

The terms "anarchy" and "anarchism" are derived from the Greek αναρχία ("without archons (rulers)"). Thus "anarchism," in its most general meaning, is the belief that the State should be abolished. The word "anarchy", as most anarchists use it, does not imply chaos or anomie, but rather a stateless society with voluntary social harmony. An advocacy of voluntary human interaction and opposition to aggression are the unvarying principles of anarchism.

"We are anarcho-capitalists. In other words, we believe that capitalism is the fullest expression of anarchism, and anarchism is the fullest expression of capitalism. Not only are they compatible, but you can't really have one without the other. True anarchism will be capitalism, and true capitalism will be anarchism." - Murray Rothbard

History of anarchism

Precursors of anarchism

Anarcho-primitivists assert that, for the longest period before recorded history, human society was organized on anarchist principles. They point to the lack of decreed law or rulers. Some anarchists have embraced Taoism, which developed in Ancient China, as a source of anarchistic attitudes . Similarly, anarchistic tendencies can be traced to the philosophers of Ancient Greece, such as Zeno, the founder of the Stoic philosophy, and Aristippus, who said that the wise should not give up their liberty to the state . Later movements – such as Stregheria in the 1300's, the Free Spirit in the Middle Ages, the Anabaptists, and The Diggers – have also expounded ideas that have been interpreted as anarchist.

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)".

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 many 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.

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. 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.

Modern anarchism

The first modern author to have published an essay explicitly advocating the absence of government was Edmund Burke in "A Vindication of Natural Society" (1756). 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". Godwin advocated an extreme type of individualism opposing every kind of cooperation among individuals. The term "anarchist" was used during the French Revolution as an insult against anti-monarchists, but Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, adopted the term to describe his own political philosophy in the 1840s. Since Proudhon was the first to adopt the term "anarchist" as a self-description, some claim Proudhon as the founder of modern anarchist theory.

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. The earliest anarcho-capitalist was Gustave de Molinari, who wrote about private defense agencies in The Production of Security (1849). This was the first attempt to solve the problem of security in a stateless manner. Previous thinkers had generally either assumed that statelessness would lead to a quick change in human nature, claimed personal justice would suffice, or simply avoided the issue. 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.

Later in the 19th century, Anarcho-socialist theorists like Mikhail Bakunin and Peter Kropotkin paralleled the Marxist critique of capitalism and synthesized it with their own critique of the state. Their rejection of private property, and the authoritarianism that implies, puts them outside the anarchist sphere. As Benjamin Tucker wrote in Liberty, "Anarchism is a word without meaning, unless it includes the liberty of the individual to control his product or whatever his product has brought him through exchange in a free market - that is, private property. Whoever denies private property is of necessity an Archist."

In the 1950's, the anti-war, anti-state Old Right defected from the new Cold War big-government Republicans, and alligned with segments of the New Left and radical Objectivists. Eventually this alliance evolved into the US Libertarian party and various anarcho-capitalist movements, sparked by the minarchist writings of Ayn Rand and the philosophical guidance and activism of Murray Rothbard ("The Libertarian Manifesto"). In the 21st century, the global growth and interest in anti-statist and secessionist beliefs have given anarchism a new life. Many anarchists believe that the internet and strong cryptography provide a technological advantage for freedom over statism.

Anarchism today

Anarchism is not constrained to political protest. Anarchists also engage in building parallel structures and organizations and alternatives to statist institutions (e.g. Habitat for Humanity). This is in line with the general anarchist concept of "building freedom" or creating "tending your own garden." The idea is to create voluntary alternatives to services currently provided by the State.

Some have said that recent technological developments have made the anarchist cause both easier to advance and more conceivable to people. Many people use cell phones or the Internet to form loose communities which could be said to be organized along anarchist lines. Anarchists are also excited about new technology. Digital anonymous currency provide non-statist money and a defense against State extortion (taxation.) Strong cryptography allows private communication and the ability to verify identity of trading partners. A non-statist infrastructure for trade is being created in cyberspace.

Historical examples

Various examples of societies which have been organized by anarchist principles, examples of societies which have been created in the event of anarchist revolution, and also uprisings, revolts and attempted revolutions that have involved anarchist and anti-authoritarians which have proved successful.

See Past and present anarchist communities

==Schools of anarchist thought==

From William Godwin's utilitarian anarchism to Pierre-Joseph Proudhon's mutualism, to Max Stirner's egoism, to Benjamin Tucker's radical individualism, to Peter Kropotkin's anarchist communism, the roots of anarchist thought in modern political philosophy are varied, with many different views of what a society without government should be like. Primitivism, advocating the dissolution of civilization, is reminiscent of, if not inspired by, the early 19th century Luddite movement. There are also a number of feminist anarchist theories, including anarcha-feminism, eco-feminism, and individualist feminism. Another tradition in anarchism follows from individuals like Errico Malatesta and Voltairine de Cleyre in claiming no adjective. These "anarchists without adjectives" seek to unify all anarchists around the basic shared principles of being anti-state, arguing that the diverse forms of anarchism can work together in relative harmony.

Contemporary anarchists often will not accept the label of one school or another. Rather than disparate sects, these "schools" should be thought of as specific applications of anarchist theory to certain topics. Anarcha-feminism, for example, is the application of anarchist theory to feminist issues.

Anarcho-capitalism

Main article: Anarcho-Capitalism

Also known as "market anarchism" and "right anarchism," anarcho-capitalism envisions a stateless society with predominantly sticky (neo-Lockean) property arrangements. This is an anathema to the libertarian socialist schools of "anarchism" which hold an exploitation theory with regard to rent and wage labor. Instead of the anarcho-socialist labor theory of value, anarcho-capitalists tend to hold to the subjectivist theory of value propounded by the Austrian School of economics. Much of the credit for melding classical liberalism with anti-statism goes to Murray Rothbard. While Rothbard based his anarchism on Natural Law, David Friedman ("The Machinery of Freedom") based it on utilitarianism, and Jan Narvison on contractarianism. Other important anarcho-capitalists include Hans-Hermann Hoppe, Lew Rockwell, and Bryan Caplan. Early influences on anarcho-capitalism include Gustave de Molinari, Lysander Spooner, Benjamin Tucker, and Herbert Spencer.

Individualist anarchism

Main articles: Individualist anarchism, American individualist anarchism

Individualist anarchism, having as its precursors the European individualists William Godwin, Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, and Max Stirner became relatively formalized in 19th century America. America's Josiah Warren is commonly regarded to be the first individualist anarchist. Some other notable figures include Lysander Spooner and Benjamin Tucker. These 19th century individualists espoused the ideas of "self-ownership", a right to retain as private property the product of one's labor, a market economy unfettered by coercion (free market) where individuals may trade their private property and labor, private ownership of land (with the caveat that the land must be put into use by the owner), and a right to labor for wages as long wages adhered to their labor theory of value. However, these individualists opposed profit as being exploitative and this is their basis for opposing capitalism. Though they saw profit as unjust they opposed coercively interfering in the contractual relationships of others, prefering instead to compete with alternative business models (see mutualism (economic theory)) as well as educate through philosophy. These individuals tended to reject the notion that the collectivist schools such as anarcho-communism and anarcho-syndicalism were in fact anarchism. Contemporary individuals who claim the the individualist anarchist title include Robert Anton Wilson, Joe Peacott, and Wendy McElroy. Contemporary individualist anarchist of the anticapitalism tradition, Joe Peacott, regards anarcho-capitalism to be a form of individualist anarchistm . Wendy Mcelroy, an anarcho-capitalist, also considers herself to be an individualist anarchist.

The individualists were particularly adamant about a right of private property. Spooner supported a "right to acquire property...as one of the natural, inherent, inalienable rights of men one which government has no power to infringe " (Spooner 1843) He also supported the freedom of individuals to charge interest for loans free of government regulation: "All legislative restraints upon the rate of interest, are arbitrary and tyrannical restraints upon a man's natural capacity amid natural right to hire capital, upon which to bestow his labor." (Spooner 1846) Spooner was staunchly against government interference in private economic matters, and he was particularly vocal in opposing collusion between banks and government. Spooner's ideas were widely reprinted in early libertarian journals, particularly his individualist critique of the state, arguing for the right to ignore or withdraw from it. (Spooner 1867) Benjamin Tucker supported private ownership of all wealth produced by an individual, and as a staunch advocate of private property, a market economy, and anarchism in the American tradition, he says in an essay in The New Freewoman: "Anarchism is a word without meaning, unless it includes the liberty of the individual to control his product or whatever his product has brought him through exchange in a free market—that is, private property." These individualists also advocated "free banking" where any individual or group of individuals would be allowed to lend private currency for interest and enter into competition with each other. With mutual banks, they hoped increased competition would eventually drive interest rates on loans down to a negligible level.

T19th century individualist anarchists described their economic and political positions as a radicalization of the classical liberal defense of free markets and civil society — Tucker, for example, described his individualist conception of anarchism as "consistent Manchesterism" (Tucker 1926) and anarchists as "unterrified Jeffersonian Democrats" (Tucker 1888). According to political historian Carl Levy, in his MS Encarta Encyclopedia Anarchism article, "Since World War II, this tradition has been reborn and modified in the United States as anarcho-capitalism or libertarianism."

Geoanarchism

Geoanarchism (aka Georgism and Geoism) is an individualist philosophy that supports private property in the product of labor but opposes ownership of unused land. However, unlike classical individualist anarchism, geoanarchists believe that using land necessitates that the rest of the community should be compensated by paying them rent for its use. In the case of geoanarchism, rent would be collected by private associations with the opportunity to secede from a geocommunity (and not receive the geocommunity's services) if desired.

Anarchism as a Social Movement

Individualist anarchism does not represent the majority of anarchists, as most anarchists favor some form of communitarianism or collectivism. Advocacy of collectivism and violent revolution dominated mainstream anarchism from the days of the First International until the destruction of anarchism as a mass movement at the end of the Spanish Civil War.

The First International

In Europe, harsh reaction followed the revolutions of 1848. Twenty years later in 1864 the International Workingmen's Association, sometimes called the 'First International', united some diverse European revolutionary currents, including French followers of Proudhon, Blanquists, English trade unionists, socialists and social democrats. Due to its genuine links to active workers' movements, the International became a significant organization.

Karl Marx became a leading figure in the International and a member of its General Council. Proudhon's followers, the Mutualists, opposed Marx's state socialism, advocating political abstentionism and small property holdings. Mikhail Bakunin joined in 1868, allying with the anti-authoritarian socialist sections of the International, who advocated the revolutionary overthrow of the state and the collectivization of property. At first, the collectivists worked with the Marxists to push the First International in a more revolutionary socialist direction. Subsequently, the International became polarized into two camps, with Marx and Bakunin as their respective figureheads.

Bakunin characterised Marx's ideas as authoritarian and predicted that, if a Marxist party came to power, its leaders would simply take the place of the ruling class they had fought against. In 1872, the conflict climaxed with a final split between the two groups, when, at the Hague Congress, Marx engineered the expulsion of Bakunin and James Guillaume from the International and had its headquarters transferred to New York. In response, the anti-authoritarian sections formed their own International at the St. Imier Congress, adopting a revolutionary anarchist program.

Anarchism and organized labor

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."

The Confédération Générale du Travail (General Confederation of Labour, CGT), formed in France in 1895, was the first major anarcho-syndicalist movement, but it had been preceded by the Spanish Workers Federation in 1881. Anarchist trade union federations were of special importance in Spain. The most successful was the Confederación Nacional del Trabajo (National Confederation of Labour: CNT), founded in 1910. Before the 1940s, the CNT was the major force in Spanish working class politics and played a major role in the Spanish Civil War. The CNT was affiliated with the International Workers Association, a federation of anarcho-syndicalist trade unions founded in 1922, with delegates representing two million workers from 15 countries in Europe and Latin America.

The largest organised anarchist movement today is in Spain, in the form of the Confederación General del Trabajo (CGT) and the CNT. CGT membership was estimated to be around 100,000 for the year 2003. Other active syndicalist movements include the US Workers Solidarity Alliance and the UK Solidarity Federation. The revolutionary industrial unionist Industrial Workers of the World, claiming 2,000 paying members, and the International Workers Association, an anarcho-syndicalist successor to the First International, also remain active.

The Russian Revolution

Anarchists participated alongside the Bolsheviks in both February and October revolutions, many anarchists initially supporting the Bolshevik coup. However, the Bolsheviks soon turned against the anarchists and other left-wing opposition, a conflict that culminated in the 1921 Kronstadt rebellion. Anarchists in central Russia were either imprisoned or driven underground or joined the victorious Bolsheviks. In the Ukraine, anarchists fought in the civil war against Whites and then the Bolsheviks as part of the Makhnovshchina peasant army led by Nestor Makhno.

Expelled American anarchists Emma Goldman and Alexander Berkman were amongst those agitating in response to Bolshevik policy and the suppression of the Kronstadt uprising, before they left Russia. Both wrote classic accounts of their experiences in Russia, aiming to expose the reality of Bolshevik control. For them, Bakunin's predictions about the consequences of Marxist rule had proved all too true.

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

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

The fight against fascism

In the 1920s and 1930s, the familiar dynamics of anarchism's conflict with the state were transformed by the rise of fascism in Europe. Italy saw the first struggles between anarchists and fascists. Anarchists played a key role in the anti-fascist organisation Arditi del Popolo. This group was strongest in areas with anarchist traditions and marked up numerous successful victories, including driving back Blackshirts in the anarchist stronghold of Parma in August 1922. In France, where the fascists came close to insurrection in the February 1934 riots, anarchists divided over a 'united front' policy. In Spain, the CNT initially refused to join a popular front electoral alliance and abstention by CNT supporters led to a right wing election victory. But in 1936, the CNT changed its policy and anarchist votes helped bring the popular front back to power. Months later, the ruling class responded with an attempted coup, and the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) was underway.

In response to the army rebellion, an anarchist-inspired movement of peasants and workers, supported by armed militias, took control of Barcelona and of large areas of rural Spain where they collectivized the land. But even before the eventual fascist victory in 1939, the anarchists were losing ground in a bitter struggle with the Stalinists. The CNT leadership often appeared confused and divided, with some members controversially entering the government. According to George Orwell and other foreign observers, Stalinist-led troops suppressed the collectives and persecuted both dissident Marxists and anarchists.

Issues in anarchism

Ends and means

In general, anarchists advocate direct action and oppose voting in elections. Most anarchists feel that real change is not possible through voting. Further, many argue that voting amounts to condoning the state, while others argue for a more pragmatic approach including voting in referendums.

Direct action may be violent or non-violent. While some anarchists argue that violence is justified in overthrowing existing authority, most anarchists reject terrorism as authoritarian. Mikhail Bakunin and Errico Malatesta, for example, wrote of violence as necessary in revolutionary settings, but denounced terrorism as counter-revolutionary.

Anarchists have often been portrayed as dangerous and violent, due mainly to a number of high-profile violent acts, including riots, assassinations, insurrections, and terrorism by some anarchists, as well as persistently negative media portrayal . Many anarchists do not see the destruction of property as a violent act. Anarchists see war, however, as an activity in which the state seeks to gain and consolidate power, both domestically and in foreign lands, and subscribe to Randolph Bourne's view that "war is the health of the state."

Anarchists also engage in building parallel structures and organizations, such as Food Not Bombs, radical labor unions, alternative media and radical social centers. This is in line with the general anarchist concept of creating Dual Power, creating the structures for a new anti-authoritarian society in the shell of the old, hierarchical one.

Capitalism

Most anarchists traditions not only seek rejection of the state, but also seek rejection of capitalism, which they perceive as authoritarian. For mutualists, this opposition does not include opposition to the product of labor or capital goods ("means of production") run by individuals, but only "usary," i.e. rent, interest, and profit from other's labor. Thus individualist anarchists, even those who are not anarcho-capitalist, support individual sovereignty, free trade, free competition, and private property, like in mutualism and homesteading.

Globalization

The majority of anarchists oppose neoliberal globalization as an attempt to use coercion on a global scale, carried out through institutions such as the World Bank, World Trade Organization, Group of Eight and the World Economic Forum. Anarchist groups, such as Reclaim the Streets, were among the instigators of the so-called anti-globalisation movement. The Carnival Against Capitalism on 18 June 1999, is generally regarded as the first of the major anti-globalisation protests. Anarchists, such as the WOMBLES, often played a major role in planning, organising and participating in the subsequent protests. The protests tended to be organised on anarchist direct action principles with a general tolerance for a range of different activities ranging from those who engage in tactical frivolity to the black blocs.

Communism

While communism is proposed as a form of social and economic organisation by many anarchists, individualist anarchists oppose communism in all its forms. Individualist such as Benjamin Tucker, Victor Yarros, and Henry Appleton have denied that anarcho-communism is a genuine form of anarchism. They rejected its strategies and argued that it is inherently authoritarian. The socialist Proudhon also opposed communism, "whether of the utopian or the Marxist variety, that it destroyed freedom by taking away from the individual control over his means of production." Anarchist communists reject the criticism, pointing to the principle of voluntary association that underpins the theory.

Feminism and anti-racism

Anarcha-feminism is a kind of radical feminism that espouses the belief that patriarchy is a fundamental problem in society. However, it was not explicitly formulated as anarcha-feminism until early 1970s, during the second-wave feminist movement. Anarcha-feminism views patriarchy as the first manifestation of hierarchy in human history; thus, the first form of oppression occurred in the dominance of male over female.

Black anarchism opposes the existence of a state, capitalism, and subjugation and domination of people of color, and favors a non-hierarchical organization of society. Theorists include Ashanti Alston, Lorenzo Komboa Ervin, and Sam Mbah.

Since the late 1970s anarchists have been involved in fighting the rise of neo-fascist groups. In Germany and the United Kingdom some anarchists worked within militant anti-fascist groups alongside members of the Marxist left. They advocated directly combating fascists with physical force rather than relying on the state. Since the late 1990s, a similar tendency has developed within US anarchism.

The environment

The environment and sustainability have been an issue for anarchists from at least as far back as Kropotkin's 'Fields, Factories and Workshops, but since the late 1970s anarchists in Anglosphere and European countries have been agitating for the natural environment. Eco-anarchists or green anarchists believe in deep ecology. This is a worldview that embraces biodiversity and sustainability. Eco-anarchists often use direct action against what they see as earth-destroying institutions. Of particular importance is the Earth First! movement, that takes action such as tree sitting. The more militant Earth Liberation Front, which grew out of Earth First!, also has connections with the anarchist movement. Another important component is ecofeminism, which sees the domination of nature as a metaphor for the domination of women.

Anarcho-Primitivism is a predominantly Western philosophy that advocates a return to a pre-industrial and usually pre-agricultural society. It develops a critique of industrial civilization. In this critique technology and development have alienated people from the natural world. This philosophy develops themes present in the political action of the Luddites and the writings of Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Some primitivists advocate a complete process of 'rewilding' and a return to nomadic hunter-gatherer lifestyles while others only wish to see an end to industrial society and do not oppose domestication or agriculture. Key theorists in the former category include Derrick Jensen and John Zerzan while the 'Unabomber' Theodore Kaczynski belongs in the latter. Today there is much conflict between primitivists and followers of more traditional forms of class struggle anarchism, such as the social ecology of Murray Bookchin.

Religion

From Proudhon and Bakunin to the Spanish anarcho-syndicalists, Anarchists have traditionally been skeptical about and opposed to organized religion, believing that most organized religions are hierarchical in nature and, more often than not, aligned with contemporary power structures like state and capital. Nonetheless, there are those who reconcile anarchism with religion.

Christian anarchists believe that there is no higher authority than God, and oppose earthly authority such as government and established churches. They believe that Jesus' teachings and the practice of the early church were clearly anarchistic, but were corrupted when "Christianity" was declared the official religion of Rome. The most famous Christian anarchist was the Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy whose 'The Kingdom of God Is Within You' is considered a key christian anarchist text. The Catholic Worker Movement is a modern Christian anarchist organisation.

Chinese anarchism was most influential in the 1920s. Strands of Chinese anarchism included Taixu's Buddhist anarchism which was influenced by Tolstoy and the well-field system.

Recent Developments within Anarchism

Anarchism generates many eclectic and syncretic philosophies and movements. Since the Western social ferment in the 1960's and 1970's a number of new movements and schools have appeared. Most of these stances are limited to even smaller numbers than the schools and movements listed above.

• Post-left anarchy - Post-left anarchy seeks to distance itself from the traditional "left" - communists, socialists, social democrats, etc. - and to escape the confines of ideology in general. Post-leftists argue that anarchism has been weakened by its long attachment to contrary "leftist" movements and single issue causes (anti-war, anti-nuclear, etc.). It calls for a synthesis of anarchist thought and a specifically anti-authoritarian revolutionary movement outside of the leftist milieu. Important groups and individuals associated with Post-left anarchy include: CrimethInc, the magazine Anarchy: A Journal of Desire Armed and its editor Jason McQuinn, Bob Black, Hakim Bey and others.
• Post-Anarchism - The term post-anarchism was originated by Saul Newman, first receiving popular attention in his book From Bakunin to Lacan to refer to a theoretical move towards a synthesis of classical anarchist theory and poststructuralist thought. Subsequent to Newman's use of the term, however, it has taken on a life of its own and a wide range of ideas including autonomism, post-left anarchy, situationism, post-colonialism and Zapatismo. By its very nature post-anarchism rejects the idea that it should be a coherent set of doctrines and beliefs. As such it is difficult, if not impossible, to state with any degree of certainty who should or should not be grouped under the rubric. Nonetheless key thinkers associated with post-anarchism include Saul Newman, Todd May, Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari.
• Insurrectionary anarchism - Insurrectionary anarchism is a form of revolutionary anarchism critical of formal anarchist labor unions and federations. Insurrectionary anarchists advocate informal organization, including small affinity groups, carrying out acts of resistance in various struggles, and mass organizations called base structures, which can include exploited individuals who are not anarchists. Proponents include Wolfi Landstreicher and Alfredo M. Bonanno, author of works including "Armed Joy" and "The Anarchist Tension". This tendency is represented in the US in magazines such as Willful Disobedience and Killing King Abacus.
• Small 'a' anarchism - Small 'a' anarchism is a term used in two different, but not unconnected contexts. Dave Neal posited the term in opposition to big 'A' Anarchism in the article Anarchism: Ideology or Methodology?. While big 'A' Anarchism referred to ideological Anarchists, small 'a' anarchism was applied to their methodological counterparts; those who viewed anarchism as "a way of acting, or a historical tendency against illegitimate authority." As an anti-ideological position, small 'a' anarchism shares some similarities with post-left anarchy. David Graeber and Andrej Grubacic offer an alternative use of the term, applying it to groups and movements organising according to or acting in a manner consistent with anarchist principles of decentralisation, voluntary association, mutual aid, the network model, and crucially, "the rejection of any idea that the end justifies the means, let alone that the business of a revolutionary is to seize state power and then begin imposing one's vision at the point of a gun."

Criticisms of anarchism

The theory and practice of anarchism has been controversial since it came to prominence in the 19th century. Some of the criticisms made of anarchism come from the interests it opposes, such as governments. Other criticisms have been made internally of other anarchists or by political movements that appear to share similar goals, such as Marxism. Many question the idealist nature of anarchism, and have misgivings about its practical application in the real world. Some point to anarchism's inability to establish a viable anti-state. Some social scientists note that hierarchies appear to be synonymous with human civilization, although others note that many indigenous societies have been largely egalitarian.

Cultural phenomena

The kind of anarchism that is most easily encountered in popular culture is represented by well-known figures who publicly identify themselves as anarchists. The following figures are examples of prominent publicly self-avowed anarchists:

• the MIT professor of linguistics Noam Chomsky
• the social historian Howard Zinn
• author Edward Abbey
• author and speaker Murray Bookchin
• author Robert Anton Wilson
• graphic novelist Alan Moore
• UFC fighter and champion Jeff Monson
• feminist, author and critic Germaine Greer
• Hans Alfredson, actor, film director, writer and comedian.

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. Although not always explicitly anarchist, 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.

In various musical styles, anarchism rose in popularity. Most famous for the linking of anarchist ideas and music has been punk rock, although in the modern age, hip hop, and folk music are also becoming important mediums for the spreading of the anarchist message. In the UK this was associated with the punk movement; the band Crass is celebrated for its anarchist and pacifist ideas. For further details, see anarcho-punk and list of anarchist musicians.

Recent technological developments have made the anarchist cause both easier to advance and more conceivable to people. Many people use the Internet to form on-line communities. Intellectual property has been undermined to some extent and a gift-culture supported by sharing music files, collaborative software development, and free software (also called open-source software) has arisen. These cyber-communities include those that support GNU, Linux, Indymedia, and Wikis. Others use technology to remain anonymous, communicate securely using public key cryptography, and maintain financial privacy through digital currency. See also: Crypto-anarchism and Cypherpunk.

See also

There are many concepts relevant to the topic of anarchism, this is a brief summary. There is also a more extensive list of anarchist concepts.

• individualist anarchism, anarcho-communism, anarcho-syndicalism, anarcho-capitalism, mutualism, Christian anarchism, anarcha-feminism, green anarchism, nihilist anarchism, black anarchism, post-anarchism, post-left anarchism
• Libertarian socialism
• Anarchist symbolism
• List of anarchists
• List of anarchist organizations
• Major conflicts within anarchist thought
• Criticisms of anarchism
• Past and present anarchist communities
• Anarchism/historical
• Origins of anarchism

Historical events

• Paris Commune (1871)
• Haymarket Riot (1886)
• High Treason Incident (1910)
• Ukrainian Revolution (1918-1922) (see also The Free Territory)
• Kronstadt rebellion (1921)
• Amakasu Incident (1923)
• Shinmin Free Province (1929-1931)
• Spanish Revolution (1936) (see also Anarchism in Spain)
• May 1968, France (1968)
• WTO Meeting in Seattle (1999)
• Argentine riots (2001)

Anarchism by region

• Anarchism in Africa
• Anarchism in China
• Anarchism in France
• Anarchism in Greece
• Anarchism in Mexico
• Anarchism in Spain
• Anarchism in the United States

Anarchism by culture

• Anarchism in the English tradition
• Chinese anarchism
• Buddhist anarchism
• Islam and anarchism
• Jewish anarchism
• Russian anarchism

Books

• Mikhail Bakunin, God and the State
• Emma Goldman, Anarchism & Other Essays
• Peter Kropotkin, Mutual Aid
• Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, What is Property?
• Rudolf Rocker, Anarcho-Syndicalism
• Murray Rothbard, Man, Economy, and State
• Max Stirner, The Ego And Its Own
• Leo Tolstoy, The Kingdom of God is Within You
• John Zerzan, Future Primitive

Notes and references

1. Johnston, Larry. Politics: An Introduction to the Modern Democratic State, Broadview Press (2001), pp. 146-147
2. "Anarchism." Encyclopædia Britannica, from Encyclopaedia Britannica 2003 Ultimate Reference Suite CD-ROM. Copyright © 1994-2002 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. May 30 2002.
3. Bakunin, Mikhail (1991) . Statism and Anarchy. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-36973-8.
4. Cite error: The named reference Graham-05 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
5. Resolutions from the St. Imier Congress, in Anarchism: A Documentary History of Libertarian Ideas, Vol. 1, p.100
6. Carley, Mark "Trade union membership 1993-2003" (International:SPIRE Associates 2004)
7. "You can see quite well that behind all the democratic and socialistic phrases and promises in Marx’s program for the State lies all that constitutes the true despotic and brutal nature of all states, regardless of their form of government." Bakunin, Mikhail (1872) "On the International Workingmen's Association and Karl Marx" (Bakunin on Anarchy, translated and edited by Sam Dolgoff, 1971)
8. Dielo Trouda group (1997) . Organizational Platform of the Libertarian Communists. Ireland: Workers' Solidarity Movement. Retrieved 2006-05-30.
9. Holbrow, Marnie "Daring but Divided" (Socialist Review Nov 2002)
10. Berry, David "Fascism or Revolution" (Le Libertaire August, 1936)
11. *Peacott, Joe, "Voting Anarchists: An Oxymoron or What?" BAD Broadside #8, Boston Anarchist Drinking Brigade 1992
    • Ward, Colin "The Case Against Voting", originally published in New Society 15 May 1987; reprinted in Freedom Vol 48 No 6 June 1987.
    • Choose and Lose - The anarchist case against voting and electoralism infoshop.org
12. Thinking about anarchism - Referendums Workers Solidarity No 69, published in March 2002 retrieved 7 September 2006
13. Bakunin, "The Program of the International Brotherhood" (1869) and Malatesta, "Violence as a Social Factor" (1895).
14. Albert, Michael Anarchism?!, Z Communications retrieved 6 September 2006
15. War is the Health of the State
16. Madison, Charles A. (1945). "Anarchism in the United States". Journal of the History of Ideas. 6 (1): 46–66.
17. Madison, Charles A. (1943). "Benjamin R. Tucker: Individualist and Anarchist". New England Quarterly. 16 (3): 444–467.
18. Reclaim the Streets Donnacha DeLong, RTÉ News Online 2002 retrieved 5 September 2006
19. The New Anarchists David Graeber, New Left Review 13, January-February 2002 retrieved 6 September 2006
20. G8 Summit - J18: Global Carnival Against Corporate Tyranny, London, England C. L. Staten, EmergencyNet News journalist, writing for RTÉ's website in 2002 retrieved 5 September 2006
21. Anarchism as a Scapegoat of the 21st century: violence, anarchism and anti-globalisation protests Thrall issue #21, 2001 retrieved 5 September 2006
22. WOMBLES wandering free Josie Appleton, spiked-politics, 2002 retrieved 5 September 2006
23. For instance, Benjamin Tucker says, "Yes, genuine Anarchism is consistent Manchesterism, and Communistic or pseudo-Anarchism is inconsistent Manchesterism." Victor Yarros says, "There is no logical justification, no rational explanation, and no scientific reasoning has been, is, will be, or can be advanced in defence of that unimaginable impossibility, Communistic Anarchism." Henry Appleton says, "All Communism, under whatever guise, is the natural enemy of Anarchism, and a Communist sailing under the flag of Anarchism is as false a figure as could be invented."
24. Brooks, Frank H. (ed) (1994) The Individualist Anarchists: An Anthology of Liberty (1881-1908), Transaction Publishers, p.76
25. From Encyclopedia Britannica article "Proudhon, Pierre-Joseph" (2006)
26. Anarcho-Feminism - Two Statements - Who we are: An Anarcho-Feminist Manifesto
27. Anarchism, Or The Revolutionary Movement Of The Twenty-first Century by David Graeber and Andrej Grubacic
28. "Something of an anarchist," War is the Health of the State: An Interview with Howard Zinn, 2003

External links

An overwhelming diversity and number of links relating to anarchism exist. Below are but a few.

• "An Anarchist FAQ" version 11.7 at Infoshop.org - "An Anarchist FAQ" written by a group of anarchists.
• "Anarchist Theory FAQ" - a FAQ written by anarcho-capitalist economics professor Bryan Caplan.
• Anarchy Archives extensively archives information relating to famous anarchists. This includes many of their books and other publications.
• 1,500+ anarchists listed, with short bios, links & dedicated pages at the Daily Bleed's Anarchist Encyclopedia

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• Anarchism
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