3
Anarchism is a political theory which aims to create anarchy, "the
4
absence of a master, of a sovereign." [P-J Proudhon, What is Property ,
5
p. 264] In other words, anarchism is a political theory which aims to
6
create a society within which individuals freely co-operate together as
7
equals. As such anarchism opposes all forms of hierarchical control -
8
be that control by the state or a capitalist - as harmful to the
9
individual and their individuality as well as unnecessary.
11
In the words of anarchist L. Susan Brown:
13
"While the popular understanding of anarchism is of a violent,
14
anti-State movement, anarchism is a much more subtle and nuanced
15
tradition then a simple opposition to government power. Anarchists
16
oppose the idea that power and domination are necessary for society,
17
and instead advocate more co-operative, anti-hierarchical forms of
18
social, political and economic organisation." [The Politics of
19
Individualism, p. 106]
21
However, "anarchism" and "anarchy" are undoubtedly the most
22
misrepresented ideas in political theory. Generally, the words are used
23
to mean "chaos" or "without order," and so, by implication, anarchists
24
desire social chaos and a return to the "laws of the jungle."
26
This process of misrepresentation is not without historical parallel.
27
For example, in countries which have considered government by one
28
person (monarchy) necessary, the words "republic" or "democracy" have
29
been used precisely like "anarchy," to imply disorder and confusion.
30
Those with a vested interest in preserving the status quo will
31
obviously wish to imply that opposition to the current system cannot
32
work in practice, and that a new form of society will only lead to
33
chaos. Or, as Errico Malatesta expresses it:
35
"since it was thought that government was necessary and that without
36
government there could only be disorder and confusion, it was
37
natural and logical that anarchy, which means absence of government,
38
should sound like absence of order." [Anarchy, p. 16]
40
Anarchists want to change this "common-sense" idea of "anarchy," so
41
people will see that government and other hierarchical social
42
relationships are both harmful and unnecessary:
44
"Change opinion, convince the public that government is not only
45
unnecessary, but extremely harmful, and then the word anarchy, just
46
because it means absence of government, will come to mean for
47
everybody: natural order, unity of human needs and the interests of
48
all, complete freedom within complete solidarity." [Op. Cit., pp.
51
This FAQ is part of the process of changing the commonly-held ideas
52
regarding anarchism and the meaning of anarchy. But that is not all. As
53
well as combating the distortions produced by the "common-sense" idea
54
of "anarchy", we also have to combat the distortions that anarchism and
55
anarchists have been subjected to over the years by our political and
56
social enemies. For, as Bartolomeo Vanzetti put it, anarchists are "the
57
radical of the radical -- the black cats, the terrors of many, of all
58
the bigots, exploiters, charlatans, fakers and oppressors. Consequently
59
we are also the more slandered, misrepresented, misunderstood and
60
persecuted of all." [Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, The Letters
61
of Sacco and Vanzetti, p. 274]
63
Vanzetti knew what he was talking about. He and his comrade Nicola
64
Sacco were framed by the US state for a crime they did not commit and
65
were, effectively, electrocuted for being foreign anarchists in 1927.
66
So this FAQ will have to spend some time correcting the slanders and
67
distortions that anarchists have been subjected to by the capitalist
68
media, politicians, ideologues and bosses (not to mention the
69
distortions by our erstwhile fellow radicals like liberals and
70
Marxists). Hopefully once we are finished you will understand why those
71
in power have spent so much time attacking anarchism -- it is the one
72
idea which can effectively ensure liberty for all and end all systems
73
based on a few having power over the many.
75
A.1.1 What does "anarchy" mean?
77
The word "anarchy" is from the Greek, prefix an (or a), meaning "not,"
78
"the want of," "the absence of," or "the lack of", plus archos, meaning
79
"a ruler," "director", "chief," "person in charge," or "authority." Or,
80
as Peter Kropotkin put it, Anarchy comes from the Greek words meaning
81
"contrary to authority." [Anarchism, p. 284]
83
While the Greek words anarchos and anarchia are often taken to mean
84
"having no government" or "being without a government," as can be seen,
85
the strict, original meaning of anarchism was not simply "no
86
government." "An-archy" means "without a ruler," or more generally,
87
"without authority," and it is in this sense that anarchists have
88
continually used the word. For example, we find Kropotkin arguing that
89
anarchism "attacks not only capital, but also the main sources of the
90
power of capitalism: law, authority, and the State." [Op. Cit., p. 150]
91
For anarchists, anarchy means "not necessarily absence of order, as is
92
generally supposed, but an absence of rule." [Benjamin Tucker, Instead
93
of a Book, p. 13] Hence David Weick's excellent summary:
95
"Anarchism can be understood as the generic social and political
96
idea that expresses negation of all power, sovereignty, domination,
97
and hierarchical division, and a will to their dissolution. . .
98
Anarchism is therefore more than anti-statism . . . [even if]
99
government (the state) . . . is, appropriately, the central focus of
100
anarchist critique." [Reinventing Anarchy, p. 139]
102
For this reason, rather than being purely anti-government or
103
anti-state, anarchism is primarily a movement against hierarchy. Why?
104
Because hierarchy is the organisational structure that embodies
105
authority. Since the state is the "highest" form of hierarchy,
106
anarchists are, by definition, anti-state; but this is not a sufficient
107
definition of anarchism. This means that real anarchists are opposed to
108
all forms of hierarchical organisation, not only the state. In the
109
words of Brian Morris:
111
"The term anarchy comes from the Greek, and essentially means 'no
112
ruler.' Anarchists are people who reject all forms of government or
113
coercive authority, all forms of hierarchy and domination. They are
114
therefore opposed to what the Mexican anarchist Flores Magon called
115
the 'sombre trinity' -- state, capital and the church. Anarchists
116
are thus opposed to both capitalism and to the state, as well as to
117
all forms of religious authority. But anarchists also seek to
118
establish or bring about by varying means, a condition of anarchy,
119
that is, a decentralised society without coercive institutions, a
120
society organised through a federation of voluntary associations."
121
["Anthropology and Anarchism," pp. 35-41, Anarchy: A Journal of
122
Desire Armed, no. 45, p. 38]
124
Reference to "hierarchy" in this context is a fairly recent development
125
-- the "classical" anarchists such as Proudhon, Bakunin and Kropotkin
126
did use the word, but rarely (they usually preferred "authority," which
127
was used as short-hand for "authoritarian"). However, it's clear from
128
their writings that theirs was a philosophy against hierarchy, against
129
any inequality of power or privileges between individuals. Bakunin
130
spoke of this when he attacked "official" authority but defended
131
"natural influence," and also when he said:
133
"Do you want to make it impossible for anyone to oppress his
134
fellow-man? Then make sure that no one shall possess power." [The
135
Political Philosophy of Bakunin, p. 271]
137
As Jeff Draughn notes, "while it has always been a latent part of the
138
'revolutionary project,' only recently has this broader concept of
139
anti-hierarchy arisen for more specific scrutiny. Nonetheless, the root
140
of this is plainly visible in the Greek roots of the word 'anarchy.'"
141
[Between Anarchism and Libertarianism: Defining a New Movement]
143
We stress that this opposition to hierarchy is, for anarchists, not
144
limited to just the state or government. It includes all authoritarian
145
economic and social relationships as well as political ones,
146
particularly those associated with capitalist property and wage labour.
147
This can be seen from Proudhon's argument that "Capital . . . in the
148
political field is analogous to government . . . The economic idea of
149
capitalism, the politics of government or of authority, and the
150
theological idea of the Church are three identical ideas, linked in
151
various ways. To attack one of them is equivalent to attacking all of
152
them . . . What capital does to labour, and the State to liberty, the
153
Church does to the spirit. This trinity of absolutism is as baneful in
154
practice as it is in philosophy. The most effective means for
155
oppressing the people would be simultaneously to enslave its body, its
156
will and its reason." [quoted by Max Nettlau, A Short History of
157
Anarchism, pp. 43-44] Thus we find Emma Goldman opposing capitalism as
158
it meant "that man [or woman] must sell his [or her] labour" and,
159
therefore, "that his [or her] inclination and judgement are
160
subordinated to the will of a master." [Red Emma Speaks, p. 50] Forty
161
years earlier Bakunin made the same point when he argued that under the
162
current system "the worker sells his person and his liberty for a given
163
time" to the capitalist in exchange for a wage. [Op. Cit., p. 187]
165
Thus "anarchy" means more than just "no government," it means
166
opposition to all forms of authoritarian organisation and hierarchy. In
167
Kropotkin's words, "the origin of the anarchist inception of society .
168
. . [lies in] the criticism . . . of the hierarchical organisations and
169
the authoritarian conceptions of society; and . . . the analysis of the
170
tendencies that are seen in the progressive movements of mankind." [Op.
171
Cit., p. 158] For Malatesta, anarchism "was born in a moral revolt
172
against social injustice" and that the "specific causes of social ills"
173
could be found in "capitalistic property and the State." When the
174
oppressed "sought to overthrow both State and property -- then it was
175
that anarchism was born." [Errico Malatesta: His Life and Ideas, p. 19]
177
Thus any attempt to assert that anarchy is purely anti-state is a
178
misrepresentation of the word and the way it has been used by the
179
anarchist movement. As Brian Morris argues, "when one examines the
180
writings of classical anarchists. . . as well as the character of
181
anarchist movements. . . it is clearly evident that it has never had
182
this limited vision [of just being against the state]. It has always
183
challenged all forms of authority and exploitation, and has been
184
equally critical of capitalism and religion as it has been of the
185
state." [Op. Cit., p. 40]
187
And, just to state the obvious, anarchy does not mean chaos nor do
188
anarchists seek to create chaos or disorder. Instead, we wish to create
189
a society based upon individual freedom and voluntary co-operation. In
190
other words, order from the bottom up, not disorder imposed from the
191
top down by authorities. Such a society would be a true anarchy, a
192
society without rulers.
194
While we discuss what an anarchy could look like in [1]section I, Noam
195
Chomsky sums up the key aspect when he stated that in a truly free
196
society "any interaction among human beings that is more than personal
197
-- meaning that takes institutional forms of one kind or another -- in
198
community, or workplace, family, larger society, whatever it may be,
199
should be under direct control of its participants. So that would mean
200
workers' councils in industry, popular democracy in communities,
201
interaction between them, free associations in larger groups, up to
202
organisation of international society." [Anarchism Interview] Society
203
would no longer be divided into a hierarchy of bosses and workers,
204
governors and governed. Rather, an anarchist society would be based on
205
free association in participatory organisations and run from the bottom
206
up. Anarchists, it should be noted, try to create as much of this
207
society today, in their organisations, struggles and activities, as
210
A.1.2 What does "anarchism" mean?
212
To quote Peter Kropotkin, Anarchism is "the no-government system of
213
socialism." [Anarchism, p. 46] In other words, "the abolition of
214
exploitation and oppression of man by man, that is the abolition of
215
private property [i.e. capitalism] and government." [Errico Malatesta,
216
Towards Anarchism,", p. 75]
218
Anarchism, therefore, is a political theory that aims to create a
219
society which is without political, economic or social hierarchies.
220
Anarchists maintain that anarchy, the absence of rulers, is a viable
221
form of social system and so work for the maximisation of individual
222
liberty and social equality. They see the goals of liberty and equality
223
as mutually self-supporting. Or, in Bakunin's famous dictum:
225
"We are convinced that freedom without Socialism is privilege and
226
injustice, and that Socialism without freedom is slavery and
227
brutality." [The Political Philosophy of Bakunin, p. 269]
229
The history of human society proves this point. Liberty without
230
equality is only liberty for the powerful, and equality without liberty
231
is impossible and a justification for slavery.
233
While there are many different types of anarchism (from individualist
234
anarchism to communist-anarchism -- see [2]section A.3 for more
235
details), there has always been two common positions at the core of all
236
of them -- opposition to government and opposition to capitalism. In
237
the words of the individualist-anarchist Benjamin Tucker, anarchism
238
insists "on the abolition of the State and the abolition of usury; on
239
no more government of man by man, and no more exploitation of man by
240
man." [cited by Eunice Schuster, Native American Anarchism, p. 140] All
241
anarchists view profit, interest and rent as usury (i.e. as
242
exploitation) and so oppose them and the conditions that create them
243
just as much as they oppose government and the State.
245
More generally, in the words of L. Susan Brown, the "unifying link"
246
within anarchism "is a universal condemnation of hierarchy and
247
domination and a willingness to fight for the freedom of the human
248
individual." [The Politics of Individualism, p. 108] For anarchists, a
249
person cannot be free if they are subject to state or capitalist
250
authority. As Voltairine de Cleyre summarised:
252
"Anarchism . . . teaches the possibility of a society in which the
253
needs of life may be fully supplied for all, and in which the
254
opportunities for complete development of mind and body shall be the
255
heritage of all . . . [It] teaches that the present unjust
256
organisation of the production and distribution of wealth must
257
finally be completely destroyed, and replaced by a system which will
258
insure to each the liberty to work, without first seeking a master
259
to whom he [or she] must surrender a tithe of his [or her] product,
260
which will guarantee his liberty of access to the sources and means
261
of production. . . Out of the blindly submissive, it makes the
262
discontented; out of the unconsciously dissatisfied, it makes the
263
consciously dissatisfied . . . Anarchism seeks to arouse the
264
consciousness of oppression, the desire for a better society, and a
265
sense of the necessity for unceasing warfare against capitalism and
266
the State." [Anarchy! An Anthology of Emma Goldman's Mother Earth,
269
So Anarchism is a political theory which advocates the creation of
270
anarchy, a society based on the maxim of "no rulers." To achieve this,
271
"[i]n common with all socialists, the anarchists hold that the private
272
ownership of land, capital, and machinery has had its time; that it is
273
condemned to disappear: and that all requisites for production must,
274
and will, become the common property of society, and be managed in
275
common by the producers of wealth. And. . . they maintain that the
276
ideal of the political organisation of society is a condition of things
277
where the functions of government are reduced to minimum. . . [and]
278
that the ultimate aim of society is the reduction of the functions of
279
government to nil -- that is, to a society without government, to
280
an-archy" [Peter Kropotkin, Op. Cit., p. 46]
282
Thus anarchism is both positive and negative. It analyses and critiques
283
current society while at the same time offering a vision of a potential
284
new society -- a society that fulfils certain human needs which the
285
current one denies. These needs, at their most basic, are liberty,
286
equality and solidarity, which will be discussed in [3]section A.2.
288
Anarchism unites critical analysis with hope, for, as Bakunin (in his
289
pre-anarchist days) pointed out, "the urge to destroy is a creative
290
urge." One cannot build a better society without understanding what is
291
wrong with the present one.
293
However, it must be stressed that anarchism is more than just a means
294
of analysis or a vision of a better society. It is also rooted in
295
struggle, the struggle of the oppressed for their freedom. In other
296
words, it provides a means of achieving a new system based on the needs
297
of people, not power, and which places the planet before profit. To
298
quote Scottish anarchist Stuart Christie:
300
"Anarchism is a movement for human freedom. It is concrete,
301
democratic and egalitarian . . . Anarchism began -- and remains -- a
302
direct challenge by the underprivileged to their oppression and
303
exploitation. It opposes both the insidious growth of state power
304
and the pernicious ethos of possessive individualism, which,
305
together or separately, ultimately serve only the interests of the
306
few at the expense of the rest.
308
"Anarchism is both a theory and practice of life. Philosophically,
309
it aims for the maximum accord between the individual, society and
310
nature. Practically, it aims for us to organise and live our lives
311
in such a way as to make politicians, governments, states and their
312
officials superfluous. In an anarchist society, mutually respectful
313
sovereign individuals would be organised in non-coercive
314
relationships within naturally defined communities in which the
315
means of production and distribution are held in common.
317
"Anarchists are not dreamers obsessed with abstract principles and
318
theoretical constructs . . . Anarchists are well aware that a
319
perfect society cannot be won tomorrow. Indeed, the struggle lasts
320
forever! However, it is the vision that provides the spur to
321
struggle against things as they are, and for things that might be .
324
"Ultimately, only struggle determines outcome, and progress towards
325
a more meaningful community must begin with the will to resist every
326
form of injustice. In general terms, this means challenging all
327
exploitation and defying the legitimacy of all coercive authority.
328
If anarchists have one article of unshakeable faith, it is that,
329
once the habit of deferring to politicians or ideologues is lost,
330
and that of resistance to domination and exploitation acquired, then
331
ordinary people have a capacity to organise every aspect of their
332
lives in their own interests, anywhere and at any time, both freely
335
"Anarchists do not stand aside from popular struggle, nor do they
336
attempt to dominate it. They seek to contribute practically whatever
337
they can, and also to assist within it the highest possible levels
338
of both individual self-development and of group solidarity. It is
339
possible to recognise anarchist ideas concerning voluntary
340
relationships, egalitarian participation in decision-making
341
processes, mutual aid and a related critique of all forms of
342
domination in philosophical, social and revolutionary movements in
343
all times and places."
344
[My Granny made me an Anarchist, pp. 162-3]
346
Anarchism, anarchists argue, is simply the theoretical expression of
347
our capacity to organise ourselves and run society without bosses or
348
politicians. It allows working class and other oppressed people to
349
become conscious of our power as a class, defend our immediate
350
interests, and fight to revolutionise society as a whole. Only by doing
351
this can we create a society fit for human beings to live in.
353
It is no abstract philosophy. Anarchist ideas are put into practice
354
everyday. Wherever oppressed people stand up for their rights, take
355
action to defend their freedom, practice solidarity and co-operation,
356
fight against oppression, organise themselves without leaders and
357
bosses, the spirit of anarchism lives. Anarchists simply seek to
358
strengthen these libertarian tendencies and bring them to their full
359
fruition. As we discuss in [4]section J, anarchists apply their ideas
360
in many ways within capitalism in order to change it for the better
361
until such time as we get rid of it completely. [5]Section I discusses
362
what we aim to replace it with, i.e. what anarchism aims for.
364
A.1.3 Why is anarchism also called libertarian socialism?
366
Many anarchists, seeing the negative nature of the definition of
367
"anarchism," have used other terms to emphasise the inherently positive
368
and constructive aspect of their ideas. The most common terms used are
369
"free socialism," "free communism," "libertarian socialism," and
370
"libertarian communism." For anarchists, libertarian socialism,
371
libertarian communism, and anarchism are virtually interchangeable. As
374
"After all we are socialists as the social-democrats, the
375
socialists, the communists, and the I.W.W. are all Socialists. The
376
difference -- the fundamental one -- between us and all the other is
377
that they are authoritarian while we are libertarian; they believe
378
in a State or Government of their own; we believe in no State or
379
Government." [Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, The Letters of
380
Sacco and Vanzetti, p. 274]
382
But is this correct? Considering definitions from the American Heritage
385
LIBERTARIAN: one who believes in freedom of action and thought; one
386
who believes in free will.
388
SOCIALISM: a social system in which the producers possess both
389
political power and the means of producing and distributing goods.
391
Just taking those two first definitions and fusing them yields:
393
LIBERTARIAN SOCIALISM: a social system which believes in freedom of
394
action and thought and free will, in which the producers possess
395
both political power and the means of producing and distributing
398
(Although we must add that our usual comments on the lack of political
399
sophistication of dictionaries still holds. We only use these
400
definitions to show that "libertarian" does not imply "free market"
401
capitalism nor "socialism" state ownership. Other dictionaries,
402
obviously, will have different definitions -- particularly for
403
socialism. Those wanting to debate dictionary definitions are free to
404
pursue this unending and politically useless hobby but we will not).
406
However, due to the creation of the Libertarian Party in the USA, many
407
people now consider the idea of "libertarian socialism" to be a
408
contradiction in terms. Indeed, many "Libertarians" think anarchists
409
are just attempting to associate the "anti-libertarian" ideas of
410
"socialism" (as Libertarians conceive it) with Libertarian ideology in
411
order to make those "socialist" ideas more "acceptable" -- in other
412
words, trying to steal the "libertarian" label from its rightful
415
Nothing could be further from the truth. Anarchists have been using the
416
term "libertarian" to describe themselves and their ideas since the
417
1850's. According to anarchist historian Max Nettlau, the revolutionary
418
anarchist Joseph Dejacque published Le Libertaire, Journal du Mouvement
419
Social in New York between 1858 and 1861 while the use of the term
420
"libertarian communism" dates from November, 1880 when a French
421
anarchist congress adopted it. [Max Nettlau, A Short History of
422
Anarchism, p. 75 and p. 145] The use of the term "Libertarian" by
423
anarchists became more popular from the 1890s onward after it was used
424
in France in an attempt to get round anti-anarchist laws and to avoid
425
the negative associations of the word "anarchy" in the popular mind
426
(Sebastien Faure and Louise Michel published the paper Le Libertaire --
427
The Libertarian -- in France in 1895, for example). Since then,
428
particularly outside America, it has always been associated with
429
anarchist ideas and movements. Taking a more recent example, in the
430
USA, anarchists organised "The Libertarian League" in July 1954, which
431
had staunch anarcho-syndicalist principles and lasted until 1965. The
432
US-based "Libertarian" Party, on the other hand has only existed since
433
the early 1970's, well over 100 years after anarchists first used the
434
term to describe their political ideas (and 90 years after the
435
expression "libertarian communism" was first adopted). It is that
436
party, not the anarchists, who have "stolen" the word. Later, in
437
[6]Section B, we will discuss why the idea of a "libertarian"
438
capitalism (as desired by the Libertarian Party) is a contradiction in
441
As we will also explain in [7]Section I, only a libertarian-socialist
442
system of ownership can maximise individual freedom. Needless to say,
443
state ownership -- what is commonly called "socialism" -- is, for
444
anarchists, not socialism at all. In fact, as we will elaborate in
445
[8]Section H, state "socialism" is just a form of capitalism, with no
446
socialist content whatever. As Rudolf Rocker noted, for anarchists,
447
socialism is "not a simple question of a full belly, but a question of
448
culture that would have to enlist the sense of personality and the free
449
initiative of the individual; without freedom it would lead only to a
450
dismal state capitalism which would sacrifice all individual thought
451
and feeling to a fictitious collective interest." [quoted by Colin
452
Ward, "Introduction", Rudolf Rocker, The London Years, p. 1]
454
Given the anarchist pedigree of the word "libertarian," few anarchists
455
are happy to see it stolen by an ideology which shares little with our
456
ideas. In the United States, as Murray Bookchin noted, the "term
457
'libertarian' itself, to be sure, raises a problem, notably, the
458
specious identification of an anti-authoritarian ideology with a
459
straggling movement for 'pure capitalism' and 'free trade.' This
460
movement never created the word: it appropriated it from the anarchist
461
movement of the [nineteenth] century. And it should be recovered by
462
those anti-authoritarians . . . who try to speak for dominated people
463
as a whole, not for personal egotists who identify freedom with
464
entrepreneurship and profit." Thus anarchists in America should
465
"restore in practice a tradition that has been denatured by" the
466
free-market right. [The Modern Crisis, pp. 154-5] And as we do that, we
467
will continue to call our ideas libertarian socialism.
469
A.1.4 Are anarchists socialists?
471
Yes. All branches of anarchism are opposed to capitalism. This is
472
because capitalism is based upon oppression and exploitation (see
473
sections [9]B and [10]C). Anarchists reject the "notion that men cannot
474
work together unless they have a driving-master to take a percentage of
475
their product" and think that in an anarchist society "the real workmen
476
will make their own regulations, decide when and where and how things
477
shall be done." By so doing workers would free themselves "from the
478
terrible bondage of capitalism." [Voltairine de Cleyre, "Anarchism",
479
Exquisite Rebel, p. 75 and p. 79]
481
(We must stress here that anarchists are opposed to all economic forms
482
which are based on domination and exploitation, including feudalism,
483
Soviet-style "socialism" -- better called "state capitalism" --,
484
slavery and so on. We concentrate on capitalism because that is what is
485
dominating the world just now).
487
Individualists like Benjamin Tucker along with social anarchists like
488
Proudhon and Bakunin proclaimed themselves "socialists." They did so
489
because, as Kropotkin put it in his classic essay "Modern Science and
490
Anarchism," "[s]o long as Socialism was understood in its wide,
491
generic, and true sense -- as an effort to abolish the exploitation of
492
Labour by Capital -- the Anarchists were marching hand-in-hands with
493
the Socialists of that time." [Evolution and Environment, p. 81] Or, in
494
Tucker's words, "the bottom claim of Socialism [is] that labour should
495
be put in possession of its own," a claim that both "the two schools of
496
Socialistic thought . . . State Socialism and Anarchism" agreed upon.
497
[The Anarchist Reader, p. 144] Hence the word "socialist" was
498
originally defined to include "all those who believed in the
499
individual's right to possess what he or she produced." [Lance Klafta,
500
"Ayn Rand and the Perversion of Libertarianism," in Anarchy: A Journal
501
of Desire Armed, no. 34] This opposition to exploitation (or usury) is
502
shared by all true anarchists and places them under the socialist
505
For most socialists, "the only guarantee not to be robbed of the fruits
506
of your labour is to possess the instruments of labour." [Peter
507
Kropotkin, The Conquest of Bread, p. 145] For this reason Proudhon, for
508
example, supported workers' co-operatives, where "every individual
509
employed in the association . . . has an undivided share in the
510
property of the company" because by "participation in losses and gains
511
. . . the collective force [i.e. surplus] ceases to be a source of
512
profits for a small number of managers: it becomes the property of all
513
workers." [The General Idea of the Revolution, p. 222 and p. 223] Thus,
514
in addition to desiring the end of exploitation of labour by capital,
515
true socialists also desire a society within which the producers own
516
and control the means of production (including, it should be stressed,
517
those workplaces which supply services). The means by which the
518
producers will do this is a moot point in anarchist and other socialist
519
circles, but the desire remains a common one. Anarchists favour direct
520
workers' control and either ownership by workers' associations or by
521
the commune (see [11]section A.3 on the different types of anarchists).
523
Moreover, anarchists also reject capitalism for being authoritarian as
524
well as exploitative. Under capitalism, workers do not govern
525
themselves during the production process nor have control over the
526
product of their labour. Such a situation is hardly based on equal
527
freedom for all, nor can it be non-exploitative, and is so opposed by
528
anarchists. This perspective can best be found in the work of
529
Proudhon's (who inspired both Tucker and Bakunin) where he argues that
530
anarchism would see "[c]apitalistic and proprietary exploitation
531
stopped everywhere [and] the wage system abolished" for "either the
532
workman. . . will be simply the employee of the
533
proprietor-capitalist-promoter; or he will participate . . . In the
534
first case the workman is subordinated, exploited: his permanent
535
condition is one of obedience. . . In the second case he resumes his
536
dignity as a man and citizen. . . he forms part of the producing
537
organisation, of which he was before but the slave . . . we need not
538
hesitate, for we have no choice. . . it is necessary to form an
539
ASSOCIATION among workers . . . because without that, they would remain
540
related as subordinates and superiors, and there would ensue two. . .
541
castes of masters and wage-workers, which is repugnant to a free and
542
democratic society." [Op. Cit., p. 233 and pp. 215-216]
544
Therefore all anarchists are anti-capitalist ("If labour owned the
545
wealth it produced, there would be no capitalism" [Alexander Berkman,
546
What is Anarchism?, p. 44]). Benjamin Tucker, for example -- the
547
anarchist most influenced by liberalism (as we will discuss later) --
548
called his ideas "Anarchistic-Socialism" and denounced capitalism as a
549
system based upon "the usurer, the receiver of interest, rent and
550
profit." Tucker held that in an anarchist, non-capitalist, free-market
551
society, capitalists will become redundant and exploitation of labour
552
by capital would cease, since "labour. . . will. . . secure its natural
553
wage, its entire product." [The Individualist Anarchists, p. 82 and p.
554
85] Such an economy will be based on mutual banking and the free
555
exchange of products between co-operatives, artisans and peasants. For
556
Tucker, and other Individualist anarchists, capitalism is not a true
557
free market, being marked by various laws and monopolies which ensure
558
that capitalists have the advantage over working people, so ensuring
559
the latter's exploitation via profit, interest and rent (see
560
[12]section G for a fuller discussion). Even Max Stirner, the
561
arch-egoist, had nothing but scorn for capitalist society and its
562
various "spooks," which for him meant ideas that are treated as sacred
563
or religious, such as private property, competition, division of
564
labour, and so forth.
566
So anarchists consider themselves as socialists, but socialists of a
567
specific kind -- libertarian socialists. As the individualist anarchist
568
Joseph A. Labadie puts it (echoing both Tucker and Bakunin):
570
"It is said that Anarchism is not socialism. This is a mistake.
571
Anarchism is voluntary Socialism. There are two kinds of Socialism,
572
archistic and anarchistic, authoritarian and libertarian, state and
573
free. Indeed, every proposition for social betterment is either to
574
increase or decrease the powers of external wills and forces over
575
the individual. As they increase they are archistic; as they
576
decrease they are anarchistic." [Anarchism: What It Is and What It
579
Labadie stated on many occasions that "all anarchists are socialists,
580
but not all socialists are anarchists." Therefore, Daniel Guerin's
581
comment that "Anarchism is really a synonym for socialism. The
582
anarchist is primarily a socialist whose aim is to abolish the
583
exploitation of man by man" is echoed throughout the history of the
584
anarchist movement, be it the social or individualist wings.
585
[Anarchism, p. 12] Indeed, the Haymarket Martyr Adolph Fischer used
586
almost exactly the same words as Labadie to express the same fact --
587
"every anarchist is a socialist, but every socialist is not necessarily
588
an anarchist" -- while acknowledging that the movement was "divided
589
into two factions; the communistic anarchists and the Proudhon or
590
middle-class anarchists." [The Autobiographies of the Haymarket
593
So while social and individualist anarchists do disagree on many issues
594
-- for example, whether a true, that is non-capitalist, free market
595
would be the best means of maximising liberty -- they agree that
596
capitalism is to be opposed as exploitative and oppressive and that an
597
anarchist society must, by definition, be based on associated, not
598
wage, labour. Only associated labour will "decrease the powers of
599
external wills and forces over the individual" during working hours and
600
such self-management of work by those who do it is the core ideal of
601
real socialism. This perspective can be seen when Joseph Labadie argued
602
that the trade union was "the exemplification of gaining freedom by
603
association" and that "[w]ithout his union, the workman is much more
604
the slave of his employer than he is with it." [Different Phases of the
607
However, the meanings of words change over time. Today "socialism"
608
almost always refers to state socialism, a system that all anarchists
609
have opposed as a denial of freedom and genuine socialist ideals. All
610
anarchists would agree with Noam Chomsky's statement on this issue:
612
"If the left is understood to include 'Bolshevism,' then I would
613
flatly dissociate myself from the left. Lenin was one of the
614
greatest enemies of socialism." [Marxism, Anarchism, and Alternative
617
Anarchism developed in constant opposition to the ideas of Marxism,
618
social democracy and Leninism. Long before Lenin rose to power, Mikhail
619
Bakunin warned the followers of Marx against the "Red bureaucracy" that
620
would institute "the worst of all despotic governments" if Marx's
621
state-socialist ideas were ever implemented. Indeed, the works of
622
Stirner, Proudhon and especially Bakunin all predict the horror of
623
state Socialism with great accuracy. In addition, the anarchists were
624
among the first and most vocal critics and opposition to the Bolshevik
627
Nevertheless, being socialists, anarchists do share some ideas with
628
some Marxists (though none with Leninists). Both Bakunin and Tucker
629
accepted Marx's analysis and critique of capitalism as well as his
630
labour theory of value (see [13]section C). Marx himself was heavily
631
influenced by Max Stirner's book The Ego and Its Own, which contains a
632
brilliant critique of what Marx called "vulgar" communism as well as
633
state socialism. There have also been elements of the Marxist movement
634
holding views very similar to social anarchism (particularly the
635
anarcho-syndicalist branch of social anarchism) -- for example, Anton
636
Pannekoek, Rosa Luxembourg, Paul Mattick and others, who are very far
637
from Lenin. Karl Korsch and others wrote sympathetically of the
638
anarchist revolution in Spain. There are many continuities from Marx to
639
Lenin, but there are also continuities from Marx to more libertarian
640
Marxists, who were harshly critical of Lenin and Bolshevism and whose
641
ideas approximate anarchism's desire for the free association of
644
Therefore anarchism is basically a form of socialism, one that stands
645
in direct opposition to what is usually defined as "socialism" (i.e.
646
state ownership and control). Instead of "central planning," which many
647
people associate with the word "socialism," anarchists advocate free
648
association and co-operation between individuals, workplaces and
649
communities and so oppose "state" socialism as a form of state
650
capitalism in which "[e]very man [and woman] will be a wage-receiver,
651
and the State the only wage payer." [Benjamin Tucker, The Individualist
652
Anarchists, p. 81] Thus anarchists reject Marxism (what most people
653
think of as "socialism") as just "[t]he idea of the State as
654
Capitalist, to which the Social-Democratic fraction of the great
655
Socialist Party is now trying to reduce Socialism." [Peter Kropotkin,
656
The Great French Revolution, vol. 1, p. 31] The anarchist objection to
657
the identification of Marxism, "central planning" and State
658
Socialism/Capitalism with socialism will be discussed in [14]section H.
660
It is because of these differences with state socialists, and to reduce
661
confusion, most anarchists just call themselves "anarchists," as it is
662
taken for granted that anarchists are socialists. However, with the
663
rise of the so-called "libertarian" right in the USA, some
664
pro-capitalists have taken to calling themselves "anarchists" and that
665
is why we have laboured the point somewhat here. Historically, and
666
logically, anarchism implies anti-capitalism, i.e. socialism, which is
667
something, we stress, that all anarchists have agreed upon (for a
668
fuller discuss of why "anarcho"-capitalism is not anarchist see
671
A.1.5 Where does anarchism come from?
673
Where does anarchism come from? We can do no better than quote The
674
Organisational Platform of the Libertarian Communists produced by
675
participants of the Makhnovist movement in the Russian Revolution (see
676
[16]Section A.5.4). They point out that:
678
"The class struggle created by the enslavement of workers and their
679
aspirations to liberty gave birth, in the oppression, to the idea of
680
anarchism: the idea of the total negation of a social system based
681
on the principles of classes and the State, and its replacement by a
682
free non-statist society of workers under self-management.
684
"So anarchism does not derive from the abstract reflections of an
685
intellectual or a philosopher, but from the direct struggle of
686
workers against capitalism, from the needs and necessities of the
687
workers, from their aspirations to liberty and equality, aspirations
688
which become particularly alive in the best heroic period of the
689
life and struggle of the working masses.
691
"The outstanding anarchist thinkers, Bakunin, Kropotkin and others,
692
did not invent the idea of anarchism, but, having discovered it in
693
the masses, simply helped by the strength of their thought and
694
knowledge to specify and spread it."
697
Like the anarchist movement in general, the Makhnovists were a mass
698
movement of working class people resisting the forces of authority,
699
both Red (Communist) and White (Tsarist/Capitalist) in the Ukraine from
700
1917 to 1921. As Peter Marshall notes "anarchism . . . has
701
traditionally found its chief supporters amongst workers and peasants."
702
[Demanding the Impossible, p. 652]
704
Anarchism was created in, and by, the struggle of the oppressed for
705
freedom. For Kropotkin, for example, "Anarchism . . . originated in
706
everyday struggles" and "the Anarchist movement was renewed each time
707
it received an impression from some great practical lesson: it derived
708
its origin from the teachings of life itself." [Evolution and
709
Environment, p. 58 and p. 57] For Proudhon, "the proof" of his
710
mutualist ideas lay in the "current practice, revolutionary practice"
711
of "those labour associations . . . which have spontaneously . . . been
712
formed in Paris and Lyon . . . [show that the] organisation of credit
713
and organisation of labour amount to one and the same." [No Gods, No
714
Masters, vol. 1, pp. 59-60] Indeed, as one historian argues, there was
715
"close similarity between the associational ideal of Proudhon . . . and
716
the program of the Lyon Mutualists" and that there was "a remarkable
717
convergence [between the ideas], and it is likely that Proudhon was
718
able to articulate his positive program more coherently because of the
719
example of the silk workers of Lyon. The socialist ideal that he
720
championed was already being realised, to a certain extent, by such
721
workers." [K. Steven Vincent, Pierre-Joseph Proudhon and the Rise of
722
French Republican Socialism, p. 164]
724
Thus anarchism comes from the fight for liberty and our desires to lead
725
a fully human life, one in which we have time to live, to love and to
726
play. It was not created by a few people divorced from life, in ivory
727
towers looking down upon society and making judgements upon it based on
728
their notions of what is right and wrong. Rather, it was a product of
729
working class struggle and resistance to authority, oppression and
730
exploitation. As Albert Meltzer put it:
732
"There were never theoreticians of Anarchism as such, though it
733
produced a number of theoreticians who discussed aspects of its
734
philosophy. Anarchism has remained a creed that has been worked out
735
in action rather than as the putting into practice of an
736
intellectual idea. Very often, a bourgeois writer comes along and
737
writes down what has already been worked out in practice by workers
738
and peasants; he [or she] is attributed by bourgeois historians as
739
being a leader, and by successive bourgeois writers (citing the
740
bourgeois historians) as being one more case that proves the working
741
class relies on bourgeois leadership." [Anarchism: Arguments for and
744
In Kropotkin's eyes, "Anarchism had its origins in the same creative,
745
constructive activity of the masses which has worked out in times past
746
all the social institutions of mankind -- and in the revolts . . .
747
against the representatives of force, external to these social
748
institutions, who had laid their hands on these institutions and used
749
them for their own advantage." More recently, "Anarchy was brought
750
forth by the same critical and revolutionary protest which gave birth
751
to Socialism in general." Anarchism, unlike other forms of socialism,
752
"lifted its sacrilegious arm, not only against Capitalism, but also
753
against these pillars of Capitalism: Law, Authority, and the State."
754
All anarchist writers did was to "work out a general expression of
755
[anarchism's] principles, and the theoretical and scientific basis of
756
its teachings" derived from the experiences of working class people in
757
struggle as well as analysing the evolutionary tendencies of society in
758
general. [Op. Cit., p. 19 and p. 57]
760
However, anarchistic tendencies and organisations in society have
761
existed long before Proudhon put pen to paper in 1840 and declared
762
himself an anarchist. While anarchism, as a specific political theory,
763
was born with the rise of capitalism (Anarchism "emerged at the end of
764
the eighteenth century . . .[and] took up the dual challenge of
765
overthrowing both Capital and the State." [Peter Marshall, Op. Cit., p.
766
4]) anarchist writers have analysed history for libertarian tendencies.
767
Kropotkin argued, for example, that "from all times there have been
768
Anarchists and Statists." [Op. Cit., p. 16] In Mutual Aid (and
769
elsewhere) Kropotkin analysed the libertarian aspects of previous
770
societies and noted those that successfully implemented (to some
771
degree) anarchist organisation or aspects of anarchism. He recognised
772
this tendency of actual examples of anarchistic ideas to predate the
773
creation of the "official" anarchist movement and argued that:
775
"From the remotest, stone-age antiquity, men [and women] have
776
realised the evils that resulted from letting some of them acquire
777
personal authority. . . Consequently they developed in the primitive
778
clan, the village community, the medieval guild . . . and finally in
779
the free medieval city, such institutions as enabled them to resist
780
the encroachments upon their life and fortunes both of those
781
strangers who conquered them, and those clansmen of their own who
782
endeavoured to establish their personal authority." [Anarchism, pp.
785
Kropotkin placed the struggle of working class people (from which
786
modern anarchism sprung) on par with these older forms of popular
787
organisation. He argued that "the labour combinations. . . were an
788
outcome of the same popular resistance to the growing power of the few
789
-- the capitalists in this case" as were the clan, the village
790
community and so on, as were "the strikingly independent, freely
791
federated activity of the 'Sections' of Paris and all great cities and
792
many small 'Communes' during the French Revolution" in 1793. [Op. Cit.,
795
Thus, while anarchism as a political theory is an expression of working
796
class struggle and self-activity against capitalism and the modern
797
state, the ideas of anarchism have continually expressed themselves in
798
action throughout human existence. Many indigenous peoples in North
799
America and elsewhere, for example, practised anarchism for thousands
800
of years before anarchism as a specific political theory existed.
801
Similarly, anarchistic tendencies and organisations have existed in
802
every major revolution -- the New England Town Meetings during the
803
American Revolution, the Parisian 'Sections' during the French
804
Revolution, the workers' councils and factory committees during the
805
Russian Revolution to name just a few examples (see Murray Bookchin's
806
The Third Revolution for details). This is to be expected if anarchism
807
is, as we argue, a product of resistance to authority then any society
808
with authorities will provoke resistance to them and generate
809
anarchistic tendencies (and, of course, any societies without
810
authorities cannot help but being anarchistic).
812
In other words, anarchism is an expression of the struggle against
813
oppression and exploitation, a generalisation of working people's
814
experiences and analyses of what is wrong with the current system and
815
an expression of our hopes and dreams for a better future. This
816
struggle existed before it was called anarchism, but the historic
817
anarchist movement (i.e. groups of people calling their ideas anarchism
818
and aiming for an anarchist society) is essentially a product of
819
working class struggle against capitalism and the state, against
820
oppression and exploitation, and for a free society of free and equal
825
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