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Anarchism

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Anarchism is a name taken by various political theories which advocate the abolition of some or all forms of authority. The word anarchism derives from Greek roots an (no) and archos (ruler).

These theories have radically different visions of what anarchism means: libertarian socialists intend anarchism to mean the replacement of all forms of hierarchy (political, economic, and otherwise) by democratically-controled and collectively-owned organizations; anarcho-capitalists envision a capitalist society with governments replaced by capitalist institutions; individualist anarchists insist above all on individual freedom from state.

Although in different places, "anarchism" is variously understood as being either socialist or capitalist, when unadorned, however, anarchism popularly denotes libertarian socialism.

While it might seem that "anarchism" implies a total lack of law, many "anarchists" believe that there should exist organised structures in society, but that these should be created by contract rather than state monopoly. This is reflected in the phrase: Anarchy means no rulers, not no rules. This is why anarchist legal systems exist de facto in anarchies functioning today.

Libertarian socialism

This theory of anarchism calls for a system of socialism, with collective ownership of means of production and democratic control of all organizations, without the need for any government authority or coercion.

Adherents of this view sometimes call themselves libertarian socialists, libertarian communists, left-anarchists, or anarcho-communists.

While some historians trace the roots of European anarchism to movements such as the Free Spirit in the middle ages, there was no cohesive ideology until the nineteenth century. Major advocates of anarchism in that era included Leo Tolstoy, Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, Peter Kropotkin, and Mikhail Bakunin. Their writings revolved around atheism (with a few exceptions), and cooperative economics based on mutual aid. Anarchist labor unions were a significant element in the social struggles of that era, and many experiments in cooperative living, education, and other institutions were made. Bakunin was thrown out of the International by Karl Marx, which began a long-lasting split between left-anarchists and communists.

Late in the 19th century, anarchist labor unions began to use the tactic of general strike. This was often met with violence and some of the strikes even resulted in massacres.

In this climate, a minority of anarchists began to advocate terrorism, which they referred to as "propaganda of the deed." United States President William McKinley, among others, was assassinated by an anarchist.

This has left a lasting public impression that libertarian socialists are violent terrorists, a prejudice not aided by events such as the Haymarket Riot, where anarchists were (probably wrongly) blamed for throwing a bomb at police who came to break up a public meeting in Chicago. Nowadays the illegitimate use terrorism is condemned by all libertarian socialists, but there is still no consensus on the legitimacy or utility of violence. The Tolstoian tradition of non-violent resistance is prevalent among most anarchists; the rest believe that violence (especially self-defense and property damage) is justified as the way to provoke social upheaval which could lead to a social revolution.

The idea that anarchists are particularly violent takes another blow when one looks further into anarchist theory: notably, Emma Goldman included in her definition of Anarchism the observation that all governments rest on violence, and this is one of the many reasons they should be opposed.

Similarly, there is no consensus on what type of socialism libertarian socialists advocate. Many libertarian socialists employ criticisms of capitalism which are similar to those advocated by Marxists. Others focus on mutual aid from an anthropoligical perspective. Anarcho-syndicalists see labor unions as the critical organizing structures of an anarchist economy.

Anarcho-capitalism

The theory of anarchism, based on individualism and natural law, calls for the abolition of any government control or regulation, and promotes capitalist private businesses to replace all of current government's activities.

Adherents of this theory of anarchism call themselves anarcho-capitalists.

Anarcho-capitalism has existed in its modern form at least since Gustave de Molinari in the 1840s, but has mostly been flourishing since it organized in the 1950s in the USA. Anarcho-capitalists consider themselves as radical members of the classical liberal tradition ('libertarianism' as it is now called in the USA), and trace their explicit roots back to Locke and the seventeenth century english Whigs. All classical liberals believe in 'as little government as possible'; anarchists among them believe governments can and must be done without completely, whereas minarchists believe or accept that some government be necessary for e.g. enforcing law and order.

Anarcho-capitalists, like classical liberals in general, tend to loathe violent action and revolutions as a "normal" way to promote or impose their views, even in presence of governments they hate. However, they do support, e.g. the american revolution, that precisely consisted in individuals sharing common views fighting together, against people trying to impose their views on them.

Individualist anarchism

There are several anarchist thinkers, such as Benjamin Tucker, Lysander Spooner and Max Stirner who are known as individualist anarchists. Beyond economic issues of collectivism vs capitalism, they insist on individual liberty and absence of coercion from state.

Like libertarian socialists, they loathe government-supported capitalism, and reject several essential principles of capitalism in general. Like anarcho-capitalists, they put an emphasis on individual rights and liberty, and on market-based approaches. They are thus acknowledged both by libertarian socialists and anarcho-capitalists, although each side accepts or criticizes differently the works of these thinkers. See individualist anarchism for a discussion of this issue.

On the debate of capitalism vs socialism, the reply of modern individualist anarchism is to let each individual choose the system he is willing to adhere to, and, with experience, each will choose what suits him best; to them, it doesn't matter which system will majoritarily prevail (which doesn't prevent each of them from making one's own educated guess), as long as individual freedom is respected.

Anarchy as Anomie

The popular meaning of anarchy as absolute chaos and disorder, what some scholars call by Durkheim's sociological term "anomie" (absence of standards, values or order), is rejected by all the above anarchist traditions - they think that government is actually a source of disorder, and that society would be more orderly without any. Anarchy and anomie in this context are most often not intended situations, and are more an extension of what the opponents of anarchy imagine would result from if anarchists of any kind were to take power.

This usage has strong negative connotations, and has historically been used as a slur by political groups against their opponents, most notably by monarchists against republicans in past centuries. However, anomie has also been embraced by countercultural elements such as punk rock.

Libertarian socialism vs. Anarcho-capitalism

Both libertarian socialists and anarcho-capitalists share an opposition to states and governments; but beyond that they disagree vehemently. Libertarian socialists consider that an employer-employee relationship is based on coercion by the employer, and that all coercion should be prevented, even if oppressed employees are passively consenting out of weakness and ignorance. Anarcho-capitalists consider an employer-employee relationship to be an elaborate and mutually profitable form of voluntary association, and that any external power capable of preventing it is itself oppression.

Some commentators frame this debate as follows:

  • Anarcho-socialists (Libertarian Socialists) believe that all forms of hierarchy must be eliminated. Anarcho-capitalists believe that all coercive forms of hierarchy must be eliminated, thus employer / employee relationships may be preserved, as they are freely entered into contracts.
  • Anarcho-socialists counter that as no ordinary (as opposed to someone who is independently wealthy) person can refuse to work, there is no freedom involved in the negotiation of a contract with an employer (the "weakness and ignorance" refered to above, or the wage slave concept referred to in socialist literature).
  • Anarcho-capitalists in return argue that, no matter what social organization may or may not exist, social organizations will never eliminate the basic human requirement to work in order to support themselves. Therefore an objection based on a constraint that cannot be overcome is useless to argue about, and not a rational objection at all.

Anarchies functioning today

Anarchies functioning during the first decade of the 21st century include the usenet, indymedia, the GNU/Linux community, the Misplaced Pages community itself, and other sub-societies which are generally networked using the internet.

They operate using de facto anarchist law which does not use prison systems, does not use violence, and in which enforcement generally happens by polite and rational discussion on publicly archived mailing lists, so that even emotional coercion and manipulation are discouraged because they require secrecy in order to function.


A Few Famous Anarchists

Here is a small selection of some well known figures in anarchist history and thought. For others, see in various categories.

Anarchist musicians

In the past few decades, anarchism has been associated with the punk rock movement, and has grown because of that association (whatever other effects that has had on the movement and the prejudiced pictures of it). Following is some of the more famous anarchist musicians; that is, musicians who happen to be vocally anarchist.


See also: nihilism, syndicalism, libertarianism, situationism, primitivism