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Section A - What is Anarchism?
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Modern civilisation faces three potentially catastrophic crises: (1)
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social breakdown, a shorthand term for rising rates of poverty,
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homelessness, crime, violence, alienation, drug and alcohol abuse,
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social isolation, political apathy, dehumanisation, the deterioration
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of community structures of self-help and mutual aid, etc.; (2)
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destruction of the planet's delicate ecosystems on which all complex
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forms of life depend; and (3) the proliferation of weapons of mass
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destruction, particularly nuclear weapons.
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Orthodox opinion, including that of Establishment "experts," mainstream
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media, and politicians, generally regards these crises as separable,
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each having its own causes and therefore capable of being dealt with on
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a piecemeal basis, in isolation from the other two. Obviously, however,
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this "orthodox" approach isn't working, since the problems in question
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are getting worse. Unless some better approach is taken soon, we are
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clearly headed for disaster, either from catastrophic war, ecological
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Armageddon, or a descent into urban savagery -- or all of the above.
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Anarchism offers a unified and coherent way of making sense of these
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crises, by tracing them to a common source. This source is the
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principle of hierarchical authority, which underlies the major
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institutions of all "civilised" societies, whether capitalist or
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"communist." Anarchist analysis therefore starts from the fact that all
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of our major institutions are in the form of hierarchies, i.e.
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organisations that concentrate power at the top of a pyramidal
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structure, such as corporations, government bureaucracies, armies,
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political parties, religious organisations, universities, etc. It then
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goes on to show how the authoritarian relations inherent in such
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hierarchies negatively affect individuals, their society, and culture.
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In the first part of this FAQ (sections A to E) we will present the
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anarchist analysis of hierarchical authority and its negative effects
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It should not be thought, however, that anarchism is just a critique of
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modern civilisation, just "negative" or "destructive." Because it is
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much more than that. For one thing, it is also a proposal for a free
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society. Emma Goldman expressed what might be called the "anarchist
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question" as follows: "The problem that confronts us today. . . is how
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to be one's self and yet in oneness with others, to feel deeply with
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all human beings and still retain one's own characteristic qualities."
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[Red Emma Speaks, pp. 158-159] In other words, how can we create a
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society in which the potential for each individual is realised but not
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at the expense of others? In order to achieve this, anarchists envision
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a society in which, instead of being controlled "from the top down"
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through hierarchical structures of centralised power, the affairs of
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humanity will, to quote Benjamin Tucker, "be managed by individuals or
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voluntary associations." [Anarchist Reader, p. 149] While later
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sections of the FAQ (sections I and J) will describe anarchism's
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positive proposals for organising society in this way, "from the bottom
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up," some of the constructive core of anarchism will be seen even in
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the earlier sections. The positive core of anarchism can even be seen
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in the anarchist critique of such flawed solutions to the social
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question as Marxism and right-wing "libertarianism" (sections F and H,
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As Clifford Harper elegantly puts it, "[l]ike all great ideas,
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anarchism is pretty simple when you get down to it -- human beings are
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at their best when they are living free of authority, deciding things
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among themselves rather than being ordered about." [Anarchy: A Graphic
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Guide, p. vii] Due to their desire to maximise individual and therefore
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social freedom, anarchists wish to dismantle all institutions that
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"Common to all Anarchists is the desire to free society of all
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political and social coercive institutions which stand in the way of
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the development of a free humanity." [Rudolf Rocker,
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Anarcho-Syndicalism, p. 9]
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As we'll see, all such institutions are hierarchies, and their
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repressive nature stems directly from their hierarchical form.
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Anarchism is a socio-economic and political theory, but not an
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ideology. The difference is very important. Basically, theory means you
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have ideas; an ideology means ideas have you. Anarchism is a body of
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ideas, but they are flexible, in a constant state of evolution and
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flux, and open to modification in light of new data. As society changes
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and develops, so does anarchism. An ideology, in contrast, is a set of
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"fixed" ideas which people believe dogmatically, usually ignoring
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reality or "changing" it so as to fit with the ideology, which is (by
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definition) correct. All such "fixed" ideas are the source of tyranny
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and contradiction, leading to attempts to make everyone fit onto a
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Procrustean Bed. This will be true regardless of the ideology in
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question -- Leninism, Objectivism, "Libertarianism," or whatever -- all
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will all have the same effect: the destruction of real individuals in
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the name of a doctrine, a doctrine that usually serves the interest of
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some ruling elite. Or, as Michael Bakunin puts it:
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"Until now all human history has been only a perpetual and bloody
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immolation of millions of poor human beings in honour of some
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pitiless abstraction -- God, country, power of state, national
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honour, historical rights, judicial rights, political liberty,
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public welfare." [God and the State, p. 59]
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Dogmas are static and deathlike in their rigidity, often the work of
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some dead "prophet," religious or secular, whose followers erect his or
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her ideas into an idol, immutable as stone. Anarchists want the living
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to bury the dead so that the living can get on with their lives. The
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living should rule the dead, not vice versa. Ideologies are the nemesis
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of critical thinking and consequently of freedom, providing a book of
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rules and "answers" which relieve us of the "burden" of thinking for
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In producing this FAQ on anarchism it is not our intention to give you
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the "correct" answers or a new rule book. We will explain a bit about
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what anarchism has been in the past, but we will focus more on its
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modern forms and why we are anarchists today. The FAQ is an attempt to
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provoke thought and analysis on your part. If you are looking for a new
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ideology, then sorry, anarchism is not for you.
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While anarchists try to be realistic and practical, we are not
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"reasonable" people. "Reasonable" people uncritically accept what the
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"experts" and "authorities" tell them is true, and so they will always
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remain slaves! Anarchists know that, as Bakunin wrote:
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"[a] person is strong only when he stands upon his own truth, when
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he speaks and acts from his deepest convictions. Then, whatever the
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situation he may be in, he always knows what he must say and do. He
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may fall, but he cannot bring shame upon himself or his causes."
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[quoted in Albert Meltzer, I couldn't Paint Golden Angels, p. 2]
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What Bakunin describes is the power of independent thought, which is
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the power of freedom. We encourage you not to be "reasonable," not to
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accept what others tell you, but to think and act for yourself!
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One last point: to state the obvious, this is not the final word on
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anarchism. Many anarchists will disagree with much that is written
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here, but this is to be expected when people think for themselves. All
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we wish to do is indicate the basic ideas of anarchism and give our
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analysis of certain topics based on how we understand and apply these
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ideas. We are sure, however, that all anarchists will agree with the
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core ideas we present, even if they may disagree with our application
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of them here and there.
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