| Anarchist |
Article Index for Anarchist |
Shopping Anarchism |
Articles about Anarchism |
Website Links For Anarchism |
Information AboutAnarchist |
|
Anarchism is a ("without Archon s," "without rulers"). Anarchy Merriam-Webster's Online dictionary There are a variety of types and traditions of anarchism with various points of difference,Kropotkine, Petr Alekseevich. ''Anarchism: A Collection of Revolutionary Writings'', Courier Dover Publications, 2002, p.51 but not all of them are mutually exclusive.Sylvan, Richard. Anarchism. A Companion to Contemporary Political Philosophy, editors Goodwin, Robert E. and Pettit, Philip. Blackwell Publishing, 1995, p.231 Other than the description above, "there is no single defining position that all anarchists hold, and those considered anarchists at best share a certain Family Resemblance ."Anarchism. The Oxford Companion to Philosophy, Oxford University Press, 2005, p. 31 Different anarchists prefer several different economic systems. Many favor some form of Libertarian Communism , Collectivist Anarchism or Participatory Economics while others support Free Market systems such as Mutualism , Agorism or Anarcho-capitalism . Anarchists schools may differ from each other fundamentally, supporting anything from extreme Individualism to complete Collectivism .Carl Slevin "anarchism" The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Politics. Ed. Iain McLean and Alistair McMillan. Oxford University Press, 2003. Oxford Reference Online. Oxford University Press. ORIGINS See Also: History of anarchism Opposition to the state and hierarchical authority had a long history prior to the formation of the anarchist movement in nineteenth century Europe. Some claim that anarchist themes can be detected in works as old as those of the and the Cynics and their contemporary, Zeno Of Citium , the founder of Stoicism , also introduced topics which contain anarchist themes. is credited as one of the founders of modern anarchism.]] Anarchism in the modern sense, however, has its roots in the secular political thought of the Enlightenment , particularly Rousseau 's arguments for the moral centrality of freedom.''Anarchism'', Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia 2006 (UK version) http://uk.encarta.msn.com © 1997-2006 Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved The word "anarchist" was originally used as a term of , proposing that all sorts of cooperation in labor should be eliminated."everything understood by the term co-operation is in some sense an evil." – In ''Britannica Concise Encyclopedia''. Retrieved December 7 2006 , from Encyclopædia Britannica Online Godwin felt that discrimination on any grounds besides ability was intolerable. The first person to describe themself as an anarchist was in society, whereby organization emerges without any central authority, a "positive anarchy" in which order arises from every individual "doing what he wishes and only what he wishes" Proudhon, ''Solution to the Social Problem'', ed. H. Cohen (New York: Vanguard Press, 1927), p.45. and where "business transactions alone produce the social order."Proudon, Pierre-Joseph. The Federal Principle. "The notion of ''anarchy'' in politics is just as rational and positive as any other. It means that once industrial functions have taken over from political functions, then business transactions alone produce the social order." Like Godwin, Proudhon was a philosophical anarchist who opposed violent revolutionary action. He saw anarchy as: "a form of government or constitution in which public and private consciousness, formed through the development of science and law, is alone sufficient to maintain order and guarantee all liberties. In it, as a consequence, the institutions of the police, preventive and repressive methods, officialdom, taxation, etc., are reduced to a minimum. In it, more especially, the forms of monarchy and intensive centralization disappear, to be replaced by federal institutions and a pattern of life based on the commune."''Selected Writings'', Pierre-Joseph Proudhon SCHOOLS OF THOUGHT Pierre-Joseph Proudhon was the first self-described anarchist.]] Mutualism See Also: Mutualism (economic theory) Mutualism began in the English and French labor movements of the 18th century, and later took on an anarchist form mostly associated with Pierre-Joseph Proudhon in France and others in the United States."A member of a community," ''The Mutualist''; this 1826 series criticized Owen's proposals, and has been attributed to Josiah Warren or another dissident Owenite in the same circles; Wilbur, Shawn, 2006, "More from the 1826 "Mutualist"?" This influenced individualist anarchists in the United States such as Benjamin Tucker and William B. Greene . Mutualist and individualist anarchism are characterised by a dedication to free association, voluntary contract/federation, and sometimes democratically-run mutualist banks. Many mutualists believe that a market without government intervention would drive prices to labor-costs, eliminating profit, rent, and interest, as predicted by the Labor Theory Of Value , because firms would be forced to compete over workers just as workers compete over firms, which would raise wages. {Link without Title} Some see mutualism as an intermediate form between individualist and collectivist anarchism.Avrich, Paul. ''Anarchist Voices: An Oral History of Anarchism in America'', Princeton University Press 1996 ISBN 0-691-04494-5, p.6 Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Political Thought, Blackwell Publishing 1991 ISBN 0-631-17944-5, p.11 This sense seems confirmed by the mutualists' own writings. In ''What Is Property?'', Proudhon develops a concept of "liberty", equivalent to "anarchy", which is the dialectical "synthesis of communism and property."Proudhon, Pierre-Joseph ''What is Property?'' (1840), p. 281 Greene, influenced by Pierre Leroux , sought mutualism in the synthesis of three philosophies — communism, capitalism and socialism.Greene, William B. "Communism — Capitalism — Socialism", ''Equality'' (1849)[http://www.libertarian-labyrinth.org/greene/wbg-css.html], p. 59. Although later individualist anarchists used the term mutualism to describe their economic philosophy, they retained little if any of this emphasis on synthesis. Proudhon emphasises associations amongst producers, and Dyer D. Lum emphasised labor unionism. Even before Proudhon introduced Proudhon's works to the United States. Greene adapted Proudhon's mutualism to American conditions and introduced it to Benjamin R. Tucker .Tucker, Benjamin R., "On Picket Duty", Liberty (Not the Daughter but the Mother of Order) (1881-1908); 5 January 1889 ; 6, 10; APS Online pg. 1 Individualist anarchism See Also: Individualist anarchism ]] Individualist anarchism is an anarchist philosophical tradition that has a strong emphasis on and Pierre Proudhon , and the Natural Rights theory of Classical Liberalism . who gave lectures on his thought.3 In the United States, 1913 . They also advocated that protection of liberty and property should be provided by private contractors voluntarily funded in a Free Market rather than by the state. Benjamin Tucker , "defense is a service like any other service; that it is labor both useful and desired, and therefore an economic commodity subject to the law of supply and demand; that in a free market this commodity would be furnished at the cost of production; that, competition prevailing, patronage would go to those who furnished the best article at the lowest price; that the production and sale of this commodity are now monopolized by the State; and that the State, like almost all monopolists, charges exorbitant prices" "Instead of a Book" (1893) "Anarchism does not exclude prisons, officials, military, or other symbols of force. It merely demands that non-invasive men shall not be made the victims of such force. Anarchism is not the reign of love, but the reign of justice. It does not signify the abolition of force-symbols but the application of force to real invaders." Tucker, Benjamin. ''Liberty'' October 19 1891 . Like Marxists and 1888 ), and that by eliminating the state and having a truly free economy would remove these monopolies. Many 19th century individualist anarchists supported the Labour Theory Of Value and the basic idea of performing labour in exchange for wages" carrying on business for themselves or from assuming relations between themselves as employer and employee if they prefer." Tucker, Benjamin. ''Liberty or Authority'', and believed that in a perfectly free market, non-labour income would vanish through competition; however, they were against the monopolies of wage labour by capitalists which existed in their time. The nineteenth century individualists disagreed on various issues. For example, Spooner supported intellectual property rightsSpooner, Lysander. ''The Law of Intellectual Property'' and permitted absentee ownership of land.Watner, Carl. in The Libertarian Forum. March 1975. Volume VII, No 3. ISSN 0047-4517. pp. 5-6. proponents and the Stirnerite egoists led by Tucker. Today, individualist anarchism is expressed by the "anarcho-capitalists,"Ostergaard, Geoffrey. 1991. Resisting the Nation State: The Pacifist and Anarchist Traditions. Peace Pledge Union. ISBN 0902680358 after modifying the 19th century American form,Levy, Carl. Anarchism. Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia 2007. http://uk.encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761568770_1/Anarchism.html, agorists, modern mutualists, geoanarchists, and others. Collectivist anarchism See Also: Collectivist anarchism Collectivist anarchism is most commonly associated with Mikhail Bakunin and the anti-authoritarian section of the First International (1864-1876). Unlike mutualists, collectivist anarchists oppose all private ownership of the means of production, instead advocating that ownership be collectivized. Workers would be compensated for their work on the basis of the amount of time they contributed to production, rather than goods being distributed "according to need" as in anarcho-communism. By the early 1880s, most of the European anarchist movement had adopted an Anarcho-communist position, advocating the abolition of wage labour and distribution according to need rather than labor, although the Early Anarchist Movement In Spain is sometimes associated with collectivism. Although the collectivist anarchists advocated compensation for labor, some held out the possibility of a post-revolutionary transition to a communist system of distribution according to need.Bakunin's associate, James Guillaume , put it this way in his essay, '' Ideas on Social Organization ''(1876): Collective anarchism arose contemporaneously with Marxism but opposed the Marxist Dictatorship Of The Proletariat , despite Marxism striving for a collectivist stateless society.Bakunin, Mikhail; '' Statism and Anarchism '': Some collectivist anarchists do not oppose the use of currency. Some support workers being paid based on the amount of time they contributed to production. These salaries would be used to purchase commodities in a communal market.Bakunin, Mikhail. Bakunin on Anarchism. Black Rose Books. 1980. p. 369 This contrasts with Anarcho-communism where wages would be abolished, and where individuals would take freely from a storehouse of goods "to each according to his need." Many modern-day collectivist anarchists hold their form of anarchism as a permanent society rather than a carryover to anarcho-communism or a gift economy. Some collectivist anarchists such as proponents of Participatory Economics believe in Remuneration and a form of credit but do not believe in money or markets. Anarchist communism See Also: Anarchist communism Anarchist communists propose that a society composed of a number of ) Other important anarchist communists include Peter Kropotkin , Emma Goldman , Alexander Berkman and Errico Malatesta . believed that in Anarchy , workers would spontaneously self-organize to produce goods in common for all society.]] In anarchist communism, individuals would not receive direct Compensation for labour (through sharing of Profit s or payment), but would instead have free access to the resources and surplus of the Commune .Miller. ''Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Political Thought'', Blackwell Publishing (1991) ISBN 0-631-17944-5, p. 12 Anarchist communists believe that the value of labor cannot be measured, since the value of every creation is relative to the creator, and the creation of all products is made possible by the labor of past generations. They believe everyone should be free to consume without the restraint of arbitrary measurement of the worth of their labor. According to Kropotkin and later Murray Bookchin , the members of such a society will spontaneously perform all necessary labour because they will recognize the benefits of communal enterprise and mutual aid. Kropotkin in particular, on the basis of his Biological research and experimentation, believed that humans and human society are more inclined towards efforts for mutual benefit than toward competition and strife.
Some is a anarchist communist tendency in the tradition of Nestor Makhno who argued for the "vital need of an organization which, having attracted most of the participants in the anarchist movement, would establish a common tactical and political line for anarchism and thereby serve as a guide for the whole movement."4 Some anarcho-communists are strongly influenced by radical individualist and egoist philosophy and believe that anarcho-communism does not require a communitarian nature at all. Forms of Libertarian Communism such as Situationism are strongly Egoist in nature.see, for example, Christopher Gray, ''Leaving the Twentieth Century'', p. 88. Anarcho-communist Emma Goldman was influenced by both Stirner and Kropotkin and blended their philosophies together in her own, as shown in books of hers such as ''Anarchism And Other Essays''.Emma Goldman, ''Anarchism and Other Essays'', p. 50. Anarcho-syndicalism See Also: Syndicalism Anarcho-syndicalism In the early twentieth century anarcho-syndicalism arose as a distinct school of thought within anarchism. More heavily focused on the labour movement than previous forms of anarchism, syndicalism posits radical Trade Union s as a potential force for revolutionary social change, replacing capitalism and the state with a new society, democratically self-managed by the workers. Anarcho-syndicalists seek to abolish the wage system and private ownership of the means of production, which they believe lead to class divisions. Important principles of syndicalism include workers' solidarity, Direct Action (such as General Strike s and Workplace Recuperations ), and Workers' Self-management . Anarcho-syndicalism and other branches of anarchism are not mutually exclusive: anarcho-syndicalists often subscribe to communist or collectivist anarchism. Its advocates propose labour organization as a means to create the foundations of a non-hierarchical anarchist society within the current system and bring about social revolution. 2006 Although more frequently associated with labor struggles of the early twentieth century (particularly in France and Spain ), many syndicalist organizations are active today. Anarcho-capitalism See Also: Anarcho-capitalism Anarchism and anarcho-capitalism ]] Anarcho-capitalism (also referred to as ''private property anarchism'' or a type of ''free-market anarchism''"This volume honors the foremost contemporary exponent of free-market anarchism. One contributor describes Murray Rothbard as 'the most ideologically committed zero-State academic economist on earth'." Review by Lawrence H. White of Man, Economy, and liberty: Essays in honor of Murray N. Rothbard, published in Journal of Economic Literature, Vol XXVIII, June 1990, page 664) is a political philosophy (whose status within anarchism is disputedMost anarchists today are anti-capitalist, and therefore reject anarcho-capitalism, sometimes as a form of anarchism altogether. For example,
However, others acknowledge anarcho-capitalism to be a form of anarchism, and some classify it to be related to, or a form of, individualist anarchism. Sources discussing this include:
Although anarcho-capitalism was also influenced by Tucker and " which he defined as a collusive partnership between business and government that uses coercion to subvert the free market.Murray Rothbard, A Future of Peace and Capitalism; Murray Rothbard, Left and Right: The Prospects for Liberty. Anarcho-capitalism has a theory of 1972 ) Market left-libertarianism See Also: left-libertarianism Some market-oriented anarchist philosophies are considered left-libertarian. with Austrian Economics . Agorism , an anarchist tendency founded Samuel Edward Konkin III advocates Counter-economics , working in untaxed Black or Grey Market s, and boycotting as much as possible the unfree taxed market with the intended result that private voluntary institutions emerge and outcompete statist ones. Geoanarchism , an anarchist form of Henry George 's philosophy, is considered left-libertarian because it assumes land to be initially owned in common, so that when land is privately appropriated the proprietor pays rent to the community. These philosophies share similar concerns and are collectively known as left-libertarianism."Left" in its political sense has various and shifting usages. In the seminal agorist work, The New Libertarian Manifesto , agorism is repeatedly described as left, presumably because it opposes the Old Order and is critical of political capitalism. Also, the agorist-inspired coalition Movement for the Libertarian Left and related groups use "left" in this manner. Similarly, Kevin Carson's Mutualism.org self-identifies as left libertarian, e.g. "Other anarchist subgroups, and the libertarian left generally, share these ideas to some extent."[http://www.mutualist.org/] Green anarchism See Also: Green Anarchism 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 , although when primitivism emerged it was influenced more directly by the works of theorists such as the Frankfurt School Marxists Theodor Adorno and Herbert Marcuse ; Anthropologists Marshall Sahlins and Richard Lee ; and others such as Lewis Mumford , Jean Baudrillard and Gary Snyder . Many advocates of green anarchism and primitivism consider Fredy Perlman as the modern progenitor of their views. Some green anarchists, identifying themselves as primitivists, advocate a complete process of ' Rewilding ' and a return to Nomadic Hunter-gatherer lifestyles while many green anarchists only wish to see an end to industrial society and do not necessarily 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. Still, many green anarchists decide to skirt these issues entirely, focusing not on a post-revolutionary future, but on defense of the earth and social revolution in the present. Today there is disagreement between primitivists and followers of more traditional forms of anarchism, such as the Social Ecology of Murray Bookchin and Class Struggle anarchism, although many green anarchists do advocate class struggle. Anarchism without adjectives See Also: Anarchism without adjectives ]] ''Anarchism without adjectives'', in the words of historian George Richard Esenwein, "referred to an Unhyphenated form of anarchism, that is, a doctrine without any qualifying labels such as Communist , Collectivist , Mutualist , or Individualist . For others, ... was simply understood as an attitude that tolerated the coexistence of different anarchist schools".Esenwein, George Richard "Anarchist Ideology and the Working Class Movement in Spain, 1868-1898" [p. 135 ''Anarchism without adjectives'' emphasizes harmony between various anarchist factions and attempts to unite them around their shared anti-authoritarian beliefs. The expression was coined by Cuba n-born Fernando Tarrida Del Mármol , who used it in Barcelona in November 1889 as a call for Tolerance , after being troubled by the "bitter debates" between the different movements.Avrich, Paul. ''Anarchist Voices: An Oral History of Anarchism in America''. Princeton University Press, 1996, p. 6 To these anarchists the economic preferences are considered to be of "secondary importance" to abolishing all authority, with free experimentation the one rule of a free society. Rudolf Rocker said that the different types of anarchism presented "only different methods of economy, the practical possibilities of which have yet to be tested, and that the first objective is to secure the personal and social Freedom of men no matter upon which economics basis this is to be accomplished."Quoted in Avrich, Paul. ''Anarchist Voices: An Oral History of Anarchism in America''. Princeton University Press, 1996, p. 7 Voltairine De Cleyre was an anarchist without adjectives who initially identified herself as an individualist anarchist but later espoused a collectivist form of anarchism,"The best thing ordinary workingmen or women could do was to organise their industry to get rid of money altogether . . . Let them produce together, co-operatively rather than as employer and employed; let them fraternise group by group, let each use what he needs of his own product, and deposit the rest in the storage-houses, and let those others who need goods have them as occasion arises." Voltairine De Cleyre, "Why I Am an Anarchist" while refusing to identify herself with any of the contemporary schools. She commented that "Socialism and Communism both demand a degree of joint effort and administration which would beget more regulation than is wholly consistent with ideal Anarchism; Individualism and Mutualism, resting upon property, involve a development of the private policeman not at all compatible with my notion of freedom" although she stopped short of denouncing these tendencies as un-anarchistic."There is nothing un-Anarchistic about any of systems until the element of compulsion enters and obliges unwilling persons to remain in a community whose economic arrangements they do not agree to." Errico Malatesta was another proponent of anarchism without adjectives, stating that " is not right for us, to say the least, to fall into strife over mere hypotheses."quoted by Max Nettlau, ''A Short History of Anarchism'' [p. 198-9 Fred Woodworth is a contemporary anarchist without adjectives."I have no prefix or adjective for my anarchism. I think syndicalism can work, as can free-market Anarcho-capitalism , Anarcho-communism , even anarcho-hermits, depending on the situation. But I do have a strong Individualist streak. – From an essay by Fred Woodworth in Anarchist Voices: An Oral History of Anarchism in American by Paul Avrich (2006). Page 475 ANARCHISM AS A SOCIAL MOVEMENT The First International See Also: International Workingmen's Association Anarchism and Marxism In Europe, harsh reaction followed the Revolutions Of 1848 , but in 1864 the International Workingmen's Association , sometimes called the "First International," united diverse revolutionary currents, including French followers of Proudhon , Blanquists , English trade unionists, Socialists and Social Democrats . Due to its 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.5 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 See Also: Anarcho-syndicalism Anarchism in Spain 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." Resolutions from the St. Imier Congress, in ''Anarchism: A Documentary History of Libertarian Ideas'', Vol. 1, p.100 {Link without Title} during the Spanish Revolution (1936 – 1939).]] The . 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 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. Even though the organized labor movement has historically been most closely aligned with , Joseph Labadie , and Joe Hill were individualist anarchists. The Russian Revolution See Also: Russian Revolution of 1917 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 Revolutionary Insurrectionary Army Of Ukraine led by Nestor Makhno , who attempted to establish an anarchist society in the region for a number of months. 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"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) {Link without Title} 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, certain members of the major syndicalist movements of the CGT and IWW left the organizations and joined 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, called the Organizational Platform Of The General Union Of Anarchists (Draft) ,6 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 See Also: Anti-fascism Anarchism in Spain , 1936. Members of the CNT construct Armoured Car s to fight against the Fascist s in one of the Collectivised factories.]] In the 1920s and 1930s, the rise of Fascism in Europe transformed anarchism's conflict with the state. 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.Holbrow, Marnie, "Daring but Divided" (''Socialist Review'' November 2002) In France, where the fascists came close to insurrection in the February 1934 riots, anarchists divided over a 'united front' policy.Berry, David, "Fascism or Revolution" (''Le Libertaire'' August 1936) 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. Since the late 1970s some 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. DEBATES WITHIN ANARCHISM See Also: Issues in anarchism against the State is a controversial issue amongst anarchists.]] Anarchism is a diverse philosophy which embodies many diverse and heterogeneous attitudes, tendencies and schools of thought; as such, disagreement over questions of values, ideology and tactics is common. The compatibility of Capitalism , Nationalism and Religion with anarchism is widely disputed. Similarly, anarchism enjoys a complex relationship with ideologies such as Marxism , Communism and Anarcho-capitalism . Anarchists may be motivated by Humanism , Divine Authority , Enlightened Self-interest or any number of alternative ethical doctrines. Phenomena such as Civilisation , Technology (e.g. within Primitivism and Insurrectionary Anarchism ), and The Democratic Process may be sharply criticized within some anarchist tendencies and simultaneously lauded in others. Anarchist attitudes towards Race , Gender and The Environment have changed significantly since the modern origin of the philosophy in the eighteenth century. On a tactical level, while Propaganda Of The Deed was a tactic used by many anarchists in the 19th century (e.g. the Nihilist Movement ), many contemporary anarchists espouse Nonviolence , Counter-economics or Anti-state Cryptography to bring about an anarchist society. RECENT DEVELOPMENTS WITHIN ANARCHISM Anarchism generates many eclectic and Syncretic philosophies and movements. Since the 1960s and 1970s a number of new movements and schools have appeared:
's anarchist publication '' Dielo Truda '' originated the Platform model which would later influence the Especifismo tendency.]]
and Andrej Grubacic Hurricane Katrina Anarchist organizations have been active in Hurricane Katrina relief efforts, with Mayday DC , Food Not Bombs , BARHC , GNN , Infoshop.org , the Common Ground Collective , Prometheus Radio , various IndyMedia organizations, and others working conjunction and separately to provide relief and aid in accordance with principles of Mutual Aid , Solidarity , and Anti-authoritarianism . [http://www.commongroundrelief.org/ , [http://www.stlimc.org/newswire/display/629/index.php CRITICISMS OF ANARCHISM See Also: 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 Government s. 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. Others, including some adherents of Ayn Rand's Objectivism movement, claim that anarcho-capitalism is a contradiction in terms and that true Capitalism requires an ultraminimal government for a military, law enforcement, and an objective judiciary. Force, according to proponents of this argument, cannot be a market service. Also, while , the government's proper role is to create and enforce a framework of law that maximizes individual liberty, notably by prohibiting force and fraud. In '' Capitalism And Freedom '', economist Milton Friedman made the case for Economic Freedom as a precondition for Political Freedom , while claiming that "the need for government (...) arises because absolute freedom is impossible. However attractive anarchy may be as a philosophy, it is not feasible in a world of imperfect men". CULTURAL PHENOMENA (1928 — ) is a proponent of Libertarian Socialism .]] The kind of anarchism that is most easily encountered in popular culture is represented by well-known figures who publicly identify themselves as anarchists:
;Related articles
SEE ALSO Concepts
Lists
NOTES AND REFERENCES EXTERNAL LINKS
|
|
|