Anarchism

As a radical theory, anarchism is a very controversial and often misunderstood topic. Before drastically changing anything on this page, you might want to consult the talk page.

Anarchism is a generic name given to political and philosophical theories which advocate the abolition of governmental authority. As Benjamin Tucker put it, anarchism is the philosophy that "all the affairs of men should be managed by individuals or voluntary associations, and that the state should be abolished." Variants may also oppose social hierarchy, the aristocracy, capitalism, totalitarianism and/or, militarism.

The word anarchism derives from the Greek roots an (no) and archi (rule, start or authority) as well as the suffix -ismos. In English, the term is taken to mean "no rulers" -- as opposed to "no rules", which some might see as the more correct translation. The first known usage of the word can be traced to the French Revolution, when it was used as a derogatory term against the left; the French philosopher Pierre-Joseph Proudhon then became the first to call himself an "anarchist", the first positive use of the term.

What is anarchism?

Because there is no central definition or authority on what anarchism is, there are a number of different versions of anarchist theory; while two people may both call themselves anarchists, their ideologies may differ immensely. Although anarchists (as libertarians) can generally be divided into "left" and "right", occupying positions in the conventional political spectrum, there are many different branches of anarchist thought.

To add to the confusion, the word "anarchist" is often used to describe a "trouble-maker" or violent individual -- a usage that stems from the French Revolution of the 1790s. Today, this comes partly form 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) -- and partly from the use of political violence and "propaganda by the deed" which a minority of anarchists have used and advocated to further their cause. Most anarchists today disagree with the more extreme tactics that have been used in the past, such as assassination, and will only advocate violence against property or in extreme circumstances. Other anarchists advocate pacifism and non-violence as the means of resisting state violence and working towards a peaceful revolution.

Anomie is not advocated by any of the anarchist traditions discussed below; they think that government is actually a source of disorder, and that society would be more orderly -- and less violent -- 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 if an anarchist revolution were to succeed. 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. Anomie has, however, been embraced by some countercultural elements in, for example, the punk rock movement.

While it might seem that "anarchism" implies a total lack of law, most anarchists believe that there should exist organised structures in society, but that these should be created in a way that no coercive hierarchies develop. 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.

Anarchist theories

This page will give a summary overview of the various anarchist theories and their interaction. For a more in-depth look at the principles, history and development of an individual theory, see the article specifically on that theory.

libertarian socialists intend anarchism to mean the replacement of all forms of hierarchy (political, economic, and otherwise) by democratically-controlled and collectively-owned organizations;
anarcho-capitalists envision a capitalist society with government functions replaced by capitalist institutions;
individualist anarchists insist above all on individual freedom from the state.

Among these three there are other branches of theory, mainly divided up by their focus on certain issues or tactics. One of the most significant of these is the labour-orientated anarcho-syndicalist movement, which focuses on labour issues, workers' rights, and unionization as strategies that will bring about an anarchist society. There are other anarchist tendencies which deal with special forms of repression -- for example, some anarchists focus on environmental issues, earning them the name green anarchists or eco-anarchists; some feminist anarchists talk specifically of anarchofeminism (or anarchafeminism).

The development of anarchism

Although anarchism is generally considered to be a development in Western philosophical and political thought, many would disagree. Rejection of coercive authority can be traced as far back as Ancient China, where Taoism is declared by some to have been the oldest example of anarchist doctrine. In the West, the same tendency can be traced to Ancient Greece, where the philosopher Zeno denied the morality of the State, as well as in movements such as the Free Spirit in the Middle Ages.

In fact, some anarchists assert that anarchism is not so much a movement as an historical tendency; indeed, Bakunin saw thought and rebellion as the principal tenets of human nature as well as of anarchism. However, there was certainly no coherent ideology that called itself "anarchism" until the nineteenth century, when anarchism -- then often referred to simply as "Revolutionary Socialism" -- sprouted from the growth of socialism and communism. This line of anarchist thought can be more accurately called libertarian socialism.

Libertarian socialism

Libertarian socialism calls for a system of socialism, with collective ownership of the 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.

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 anthropological perspective. Anarcho-syndicalists see labor unions as the critical organizing structures of an anarchist economy.

The theory and ideas behind libertarian socialism developed in Russia and Europe, and then extended to the Americas including Cuba and the United States, most notably through the migration of Spaniards, Italians and Russians. Since then the movement has grown, with anarchist groups and individuals appearing all over the world, in locations as far apart as Japan, South Africa and Argentina.

Major advocates of anarchism in the period before World War I included Leo Tolstoy, Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, Peter Kropotkin, and Mikhail Bakunin. Their writings revolved around atheism (with a few exceptions, like Tolstoy), and co-operative 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. Mikhail Bakunin, one of the first and most prominent libertarian socialists, was thrown out of the Communist International by Karl Marx: this began a long-lasting split between left-anarchists and authoritarian communists.

Anarcho-capitalism

Proponents of this theory believe the theory of anarchism, based on individualism and natural law, calls for the abolition of any government control or regulation, and promote capitalist private businesses to replace all of current government's activities. Adherents of this theory of anarchism call themselves anarcho-capitalists.

The Anarcho-capitalist movement has existed in its modern form at least since Gustave de Molinari in the 1840s, but has mostly flourished 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 -- to enforce law and order, for example.

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 situations such as the American Revolution, that precisely consisted of individuals sharing common views fighting together against people trying to impose their views on them.

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" referred 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.

Individualist anarchists, by contrast, do not generally have much interest in this debate. They believe the most important thing is to do away with government, and that how individuals choose to organise themselves and their social group economically is up to them. Debates such as this one, they feel, are a waste of time.

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 versus capitalism, they insist on individual liberty and absence of coercion from states.

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 versus 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 their own educated guess), as long as individual freedom is respected.

Anarchies functioning today

We define as anarchies the communities that operate using de facto anarchist law which does not use prison systems or violence, and in which enforcement generally happens by polite and rational discussion via media such as publicly archived mailing lists, so that even emotional coercion and manipulation are discouraged because they require secrecy in order to function.

According to this definition of anarchies, those functioning during the first decade of the 21st century include computer-based communities such as usenet, indymedia, the GNU/Linux community, the Wikipedia community itself, and other sub-societies which are generally networked using the Internet.