Anarchism: Encyclopedia II - Anarchism - History of anarchism

Anarchism - History of anarchism

see also Past and present anarchist communities

Anarchism - Chart of influences

Anarchism - Justice against the state

The first essay explicitly advocating the absence of government was "A Vindication of Natural Society" (1756) by Edmund Burke. The first positive theory of anarchism was William Godwin's An Enquiry Concerning Political Justice (1793). This was a very influential tract; though he did not use the word anarchism, some today regard him as the "founder of philosophical anarchism." The themes of his work, some of which he later retracted, would become central to the future development of anarchism. But at this point no anarchist movement yet existed, and the term anarchiste was known only as an insult hurled by the bourgeois Girondins at more radical elements in the revolution. (Some of whom, the Parisian Sans-culottes, are seen by many as the immediate predecessors of working-class anarchism.)

Anarchism - The first self-labelled anarchist

It is commonly held that it wasn't until Pierre-Joseph Proudhon published "What is Property?" in 1840 that the term "anarchist" was adopted as a self-description. It is for this reason that some claim Proudhon as the founder of modern anarchist theory. In What is Property Proudhon answers with the famous accusation "Property is theft." In this work he opposed the institution of "property" (propriété) in the special sense of idle and occupied land and other natural resources bestowed and enforced by state privilege. Proudhon opposed the idea of an individual having dominion over land that he was not using, as this would enable the owner to charge rent to others and thereby be paid without laboring. Besides opposing individual ownership of land itself, he opposed the idea of social ownership (as in communism) as well: "instead of inferring from this that property should be shared by all, I demand, as a measure of general security, its entire abolition." For Proudhon, individuals may rightfully "occupy and use" land (calling this "possession" rather than "property"), but not restrict others from using land or charge rent to use land that they are not themselves putting to use.

However, Proudhon did not oppose property in the sense of individual ownership of the produce of his labor. Proudhon's vision of anarchy, which he called mutualism (mutuellisme), involved an exchange economy where individuals and groups could trade the fruits of their labor by using labor-backed money (labor notes). The use of labor notes would insure that no one purchased a good with less of his own labor than the labor undertaken to produce the good he was purchasing. Hence, with labor notes, profitless transactions would be facilitated (However, Proudhon was not the first to advocate such an economic system). Proudhon's ideas began to exert some influence within French working class movements, and his followers were active in the Revolution of 1848 in France.

Anarchism - Egoism

Max Stirner is considered to be the first egoist of the individualist anarchists. Stirner considered the world and everything in it, including other persons, available to one's taking or use without moral constraint --that rights do not exist in regard to objects at all. Stirner is a supporter of property but holds that a right to property is an illusion, or "ghost"; property is only a matter of control --it is not based in any moral right but solely in the right of might: "Whoever knows how to take, to defend, the thing, to him belongs property." He sees no rationality in taking the interests of others into account unless doing so furthers one's self-interest, which he believed is the only legitimate reason for acting. His embrace of egoism is in stark contrast to Godwin's altruism. He denies society as being an actual entity, calling society a "spook" and that "the individuals are its reality" (The Ego and Its Own). Stirner argued that most commonly accepted social institutions - including property rights and the very notion of society itself - were mere illusions or ghosts, saying rather that "the individuals are its reality." He advocated a form of amoralism, in which individuals would unite in 'associations of egoists' only when it was in their self interest to do so.

The philosophy of Max Stirner, which he described as egoism is considered a form of individualist anarchism. Whether individualist anarchism is properly justified by self-interest (egoism) or natural law has been a subject of debate among later individualists. For example, Lysander Spooner argued that private property was based in natural law and espoused a labor theory of property, while Benjamin Tucker's ideas on property were founded on egoism, as he believed that property could only come about by self-interested parties contracting to establish it: "the right of might and the right of contract -are the only rights that ever have been or ever can be."

Anarchism - Individualist anarchism Liberal anarchism

See also: Individualist anarchism, American individualist anarchist, Mutual aid, Mutualism

In the early 1800s, Liberals were often labeled "anarchists" by monarchists, even though they did not generally call for the abolition of the State. Still, they did promote liberty, the idea of a minimal State, individual rights, and the responsibility of the people to judge their governments. "The Law" (1849) by Frederic Bastiat is a good example of an anti-statist liberal tract. The logic of laissez-faire economics, when taken to its logical conclusion, leads to anarchism. Thus, the French "économistes" were clear precursors of anarcho-capitalism, with Gustave de Molinari, who wrote about private defense agencies in The Production of Security (1849), the first outright anarcho-capitalist. This was the first attempt to solve the problem of security in a stateless manner. Previous thinkers had generally either assumed that statelessness would lead to a quick change in human nature, claimed personal justice would suffice, or simply avoided the issue. In the United States, anarchist thoughts were expressed in the writings of Henry David Thoreau (Civil Disobedience) and Josiah Warren.

In 1825, the American Josiah Warren had participated in a collectivist experiment headed by Robert Owen called "New Harmony" that failed in a few years amidst much internal conflict. Warren believed the failure was due to a lack of individual soveriegnty and private property. Warren also held that "by dispensing with government we shake off the greatest invader of human rights" (Equitable Commerce). He put his theories to practice by organizing anarchist colonies, including Utopia and Modern Times. Warren emphasized "the sovereignty of the individual," a key idea in American individualist anarchism.

In 1872 Benjamin Tucker first met Warren and William B. Greene in Boston at the New England Labor Reform League. He became familiar with Warren's ideas on the cost the limit of price (an application of the labor theory of value) and Greene's ideas on mutual banking. Tucker incorporated these ideas, as well as the market anarchism of Proudhon and Max Stirner's egoism, Herbert Spencer's "law of equal freedom," and other theorists, into what is seen as a formalized individualist anarchist theory. This form of individualist anarchism strongly supports "private property" (a right of an individual to exercise exclusive domain over the product of his labor, as opposed to this product being relegated to a collective pool shared equally by the community) and a market economy where this property may be bought and sold. Wage labor is also supported, as long as wages adhere to the labor theory of value. As capitalism is commonly understood to be a system where profit-making takes place, mutualism differs from capitalism. These labor-value individualists believed that in a laissez-faire system, the ability to make a profit would be nearly non-existent due to increased competition.

Other 19th century individualists include Lysander Spooner, Stephen Pearl Andrews, and Victor Yarros. While some individualists looked to natural law to justify individualism, many, in accordance with Stirner's "Egoism" hold that self-interest is the only legitimate justification for action. For example, Lysander Spooner holds that there are natural property rights, but egoists such as Benjamin Tucker agree with Stirner that there are no natural property rights, but rather come about by contract between individuals. The American author and tax resister Henry David Thoreau (1817 – 1862) was a quasi-anarchist. He wrote the influential essay Civil Disobedience (available at wikisource) on resistance to civil government. Though, early individualist anarchism is most often associated with the labor-value individualists, there were individualists who did not subscribe to the labor theory of value and therefore did not oppose profit.

Murray Bookchin notes that individualist anarchism was attacked by the anarcho-communists and anarcho-syndicalists in the early 19th century as being "petty-bourgeois exotica" and that "they often attacked it quite directly as a middle-class indulgence, rooted far more in liberalism than in anarchism." [7] Individualist anarchism was marginalized in the 20th century due to the popularity of anarcho-communism and syndicalism. According to political historian Carl Levy, in his MS Encarta Encyclopedia (UK) Anarchism article, "Since World War II, this tradition has been reborn and modified in the United States as anarcho-capitalism or libertarianism." [8] However, labor-value individualist anarchism is still extant today (being carried on in the philosophy of individuals such as Joe Peacott and Kevin Carson) in both the United States and around the world.

Anarchism - The International

In Europe, a period of harsh reaction followed the widespread revolutionary activity of 1848. The next major phase of revolutionary activity began almost twenty years later with the founding of the International Workingmen's Association, sometimes called the 'First International', in London in 1864.

The International Workingmen's Association, at its founding, was an alliance of diverse groups, including French Mutualists, Blanquists, English Owenites, Italian followers of Mazzini and other socialists of various persuasions. Over its short life it grew into a major movement, with local federations in many countries developing strong bases of working class activism. Karl Marx was a constant, and leading, figure from the start - he was elected to every succeeding General Council of the association.

Due to the wide variety of philosophies present in the First International, there was conflict from the start. The first objections to Marx's came from the Mutualists who opposed communism and statism. However, shortly after Mikhail Bakunin and his followers (called Collectivists while in the International) joined in 1868, the First International became polarised into two camps, with Marx and Bakunin as their respective figureheads. Perhaps the clearest differences between the groups emerged over their proposed strategies for achieving their visions of socialism. The anarchists grouped around Bakunin favoured (in Kropotkin's words) "direct economical struggle against capitalism, without interfering in the political parliamentary agitation." Marxist thinking, at that time, focused on parliamentary activity. For example, when the new German Empire of 1871 became the first country to introduce manhood suffrage, many German socialists became active in the Marxist Social Democratic Party of Germany.

Bakunin characterised Marx's ideas as authoritarian, and predicted that if a Marxist party gained to power its leaders would end up as bad as the ruling class they had fought against (notably in his Statism and Anarchy.) In 1872, the conflict in the First International climaxed with a final split between the two groups at the Hague Congress. This clash is often cited as the origin of the long-running conflict between anarchists and Marxists. From then on, the authoritarian and libertarian currents of socialism had distinct organisations, at various points including rival 'internationals'.

Anarchism - Anarchist Communism

Main article: Anarchist communism

Unlike Marxism, anarchism has never had one central set of texts or authorities. But in the last three decades of the nineteenth century the anarchism of many of Bakunin's followers did gradually develop into a clearer position embracing an idea of communism. (Although Bakunin himself was not a communist - his view, sometimes called collectivism, combined collective ownership of the means of production with support for private possession of the produce of labour.)

An early proponent of anarchist communism was Joseph Déjacque. In 1857 Déjacque, who was initially a follower of Proudhon, wrote to Proudhon arguing that: "it is not the product of his or her labor that the worker has a right to, but to the satisfaction of his or her needs, whatever may be their nature." Déjacque propagated his views through his journal called Le Libertaire, published in the United States from 1858-1861. Déjacque is also notable as the first person to describe himself as a "libertarian", and the 1857 letter contains the first appearance of the term in print.[9][10]

The Italian federation of the First International, which overwhelmingly took the Bakuninist line, was perhaps the first organisation to set out an explicit vision of communist anarchism. The Italian anarchists included Carlo Cafiero, Errico Malatesta, Andrea Costa and other ex-Mazzinian Republicans. At its Florence Conference of 1876, their federation stated its principles as follows:

In his Anarchie et Communisme, Cafiero argued that private property even in the product of labor (Mutualist 'possession') will lead to unequal accumulation of capital, and therefore to class distinctions.

Perhaps the most important theorist of anarchist communism was Peter Kropotkin. In a number of works including The Conquest of Bread and Fields, Factories and Workshops, Kropotkin plotted his views of what anarchist communist society might look like and how it might be achieved. Kropotkin's anarchist communism was closely linked to his scientific theory based on evolution in which co-operation equaled or surpassed competition in importance, as illustrated in Mutual Aid: A Factor in Evolution (1897).

Subsequent figures in the theory of anarchist communism include Emma Goldman and Alexander Berkman. The anarcho-syndicalist movements (see below) generally saw anarchist communism as their objective. Isaac Puente's 1932 Comunismo Libertario was adopted by the Spanish CNT as its manifesto for an anarchist communist society.

Anarchism - Propaganda by the deed

Anarchists have often been portrayed as dangerous and violent, due mainly to a number of high-profile violent acts including riots, assassinations, insurrections, and terrorism by some anarchists. Some revolutionaries of the late 19th century encouraged acts of political violence, such as bombings and the assassinations of heads of state to further anarchism. Such actions have sometimes been called 'propaganda by the deed'.

One of the more outspoken advocates of this strategy was Johann Most, who said "the existing system will be quickest and most radically overthrown by the annihilation of its exponents. Therefore, massacres of the enemies of the people must be set in motion." Most's preferred method of terrorism, dynamite, earned him the moniker "Dynamost."

However, there is no consensus on the legitimacy or utility of violence in general. Mikhail Bakunin and Errico Malatesta, for example, wrote of violence as a necessary and sometimes desirable force. At the same time, they both denounced violence and terrorist acts (Malatesta in "On Violence" and Bakunin when he refuted Nechaev).

Other anarchists, sometimes identified as pacifist anarchists, share a belief in nonviolence. Leo Tolstoy, whose philosophy is often viewed as a form of Christian anarchism, believed that nonviolent resistance was the only method to achieve any lasting social change. For Tolstoy and other pacifists all violence is illegitimate, irrespective of whether it is perpetrated by the state or by its opponents. Some of Proudhon's French followers took a similar position: some saw strike action as coercive and refused to take part in such traditional socialist tactics. (citation needed) In addition, the American individualist anarchists were opposed to "propaganda by the deed," which was being advocated and committed in the name of communist anarchism; they sought to distinguish their philosophy as "the only school of modern sociologists who are in the line of true peace, progress, and good order." (Boston anarchists).

Anarchism - Anarchism at work

In the late 19th century, anarcho-syndicalism developed as a movement pursuing industrial actions, especially the general strike, as the primary strategy to achieve anarchist revolution, and "build the new society in the shell of the old". Most anarcho-syndicalists shared a belief in anarchist communism as the best form of the future society, although not all anarchist communists agreed with syndicalism.

Anarcho-syndicalism formed a new wave of anarchism in beginning in the 1890's and 1900's. Even more than the anarchism of the International, this was anarchism brought out of the philosophy books and embodied in the ongoing struggle of millions of working class people.

After the fall of the Paris Commune in 1871 French anarchists and socialists had suffered a dark period of repression similar to the aftermath of the 1848 revolution. Anarchism began to resurface in the 1880's and 1890's, and was a particular influence upon the Bourses de Travails of autonomous workers groups and trade unions. It was from this ground that the CGT trade union confederation, founded in 1895, was born. The CGT was the first major anarcho-syndicalist movement.

CGT members Emile Pataud and Emile Pouget wrote the classic syndicalist text in 1909. The fictionalised How we will bring about the revolution (Comment nous ferons la revolution) tells the story of the birth of libertarian communism in a French general strike. However the CGT soon veered away from anarchism, and after the Russian Revolution of 1917 fell into the Communist camp. (The CGT is still an important French trade union, though now thoroughly reformist in sympathy.)

In Chicago in June 1905, a convention of two hundred socialists, anarchists, and radical trade unionists from all over the United States founded the industrial union, the Industrial Workers of the World. According to the preamble to their constitution:

At its peak in 1923 the organization claimed some 100,000 members in good standing, and could marshal the support of perhaps 300,000 workers. The anarcho-syndicalist orientation of many early American labor unions played a large part in the formation of the American political spectrum. The United States is the only industrialized former British colony to not have a labor-based political party.

Anarchism had been introduced into Spain by followers of Bakunin in the late 1860's, and quickly established itself as the dominant force within the Spanish socialist and working class movements. (See also - Anarchism in Spain.) Spanish anarchist trade union federations were formed in the 1870's and in 1900. But the most famous and most successful was the Confederación Nacional del Trabajo founded in 1910. The CNT was to become the major force in Spanish working class politics - it had a membership of 1.58 million in 1934. The CNT played a major role in the Spanish Civil War (see below).

In Mexico, anarcho-syndicalists including Ricardo Flores Magón were key figures in the 1910-17 Mexican Revolution which overthrew the dictator Porfirio Diaz, exerting a strong influence on Anarchism throughout Latin America. his influence extends to the modern day Zapatista rebellion and the factory occupation movements in Argentina and elsewhere.

In Berlin in 1922 the CNT was amongst trade unions who joined together to form the International Workers Association, an anarcho-syndicalist successor to the First International.

In Mexico, anarcho-syndicalists including Ricardo Flores Magón were key figures in the 1910-17 Mexican Revolution which overthrew the dictator Porfirio Diaz, exerting a strong influence on Anarchism throughout Latin America. T

In other parts of the world, anarcho-syndicalism lives on - although it is far from the force it once was (see below). Whilst engaging in everyday workplace struggles, anarcho-syndicalist trade unions distance themselves from the methods of the dominant 'reformist' trade unions which in their view merely seek short-term and compromising improvements. Anarcho-syndicalists in general uphold principles of workers solidarity, direct action, and self-management (see Anarcho-syndicalism).

Anarchism - The Russian Revolution

The Russian Revolution of 1917 was a seismic event in the development of anarchism as a movement and as a philosophy.

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 which culminated in the 1918 Kronstadt rebellion. Anarchists in central Russia were imprisoned or driven underground, or joined the victorious Bolsheviks. In Ukraine anarchists fought in the civil war against both Whites and Bolsheviks within the Makhnovshchina peasant army led by Nestor Makhno).

Expelled American anarchists Emma Goldman and Alexander Berkman before leaving Russia were amongst those agitating in response to Bolshevik policy and the suppression of the Kronstadt uprising. 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 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, the major syndicalist movements of the CGT and IWW began to realign themselves away from anarchism and towards the Communist International.

In Paris, a group of Russian anarchist exiles around Nestor Makhno concluded that anarchists needed to develop new forms of organisation in response to the structures of Bolshevism. Their manifesto known as the platform, or the "Organizational Platform of Libertarian Communists", was supported by some Anarchist Communists, but opposed by many others.

Anarchism - The fight against fascism and the Spanish Civil War

In the 1920s and 1930s the familiar dynamics of anarchism's conflict with the state were transformed by the rise of fascism in Europe. In many cases, European anarchists faced difficult choices - should they join in popular fronts with reformist democrats and Soviet-led Communists against a common fascist enemy? Luigi Fabbri, an exile from Italian fascism, was amongst those arguing that fascism was something different:

In France, where the fascists came close to insurrection in the February 1934 riots, anarchists divided over a 'united front' policy.[12] 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 right responded with an attempted coup, and the Spanish Civil War was underway.

In Spain, years of social, political and religious turmoil coupled with decades of anarchist agitation and organisation led to class conflict. The old ruling class (church, army and monarchy) and capitalists were horrified by the new freedoms and social changes within the Second Spanish Republic. So an army rebellion or coup d'état was initiated so as to regain control of the country. The Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) as it became known, pitched the ruling class and fascists against the middle-class liberals and politicised workers. In reponse to the army rebellion an anarchist-inspired peasant and workers movement (supported by militias initially tolerated by the republic) took control of huge areas of urban and rural Spain (including most major cities) in 1936-1937 and collectivized the land.

However, some express disapproval at the methods of the anarchists, such as killing those who disagreed with them. Burnett Bolloten, in The Spanish Civil War, notes that "Thousands of members of the clergy and religious orders as well as of the properties classes were killed, but others, fearing arrest of execution, fled abroard, including many prominent liberal and moderate Republicans."

But even before the eventual fascist victory, the anarchists were losing ground in a bitter struggle with the Stalinists. The CNT leadership often appeared confused and divided, with some members entering the government. Stalinist-led troops suppressed the collectives, and persecuted both dissident marxists and anarchists. Along with the POUM, they were eventually suppressed by the Stalinist-controlled republican army, which later lost to Franco's army in 1939. In the Soviet Union from 1918 and in Europe during the World War, thousands of anarchists were killed or sent to prisons and concentration camps.

Anarchism - Religion

See also: Christian anarchism, Anarchism and religion

Christian anarchism is the belief that there is only one source of authority to which Christians are ultimately answerable, the authority of God as embodied in the teachings of Jesus. Christian anarchists therefore feel that earthly authority such as government, or indeed the established church do not and should not have power over them. Christian anarchists are pacifists and oppose the use of all physical force, both proactive and reactive.

Christian anarchists believe that freedom from earthly authority will only be guided by the grace of God if individuals display compassion for others and turn the other cheek when confronted by violence. Its adherents believe this quest for freedom is justified spiritually and quote the teachings of Jesus, some of whom are critical of the existing establishment and church. They believe all individuals can directly communicate with God and will eventually unify in peace under this one God.

The most famous advocate of Christian anarchism was Leo Tolstoy, author of The Kingdom of God is Within You, who called for a society based on compassion, nonviolent principles and freedom.

Some Christian pacifists oppose war and other statist aggression through tax resistance, while others submit to taxation. Adin Ballou wrote that if the act of resisting taxes requires physical force to withhold what a government tries to take, then it is important to submit to taxation. Ammon Hennacy, who like Ballou also believed in nonresistance, managed to resist taxes without using force. Many Christian anarchists are vegetarian or vegan.

Spiritual Anarchism, or Divine Anarchy, was originally expressed by the political revolutionary, poet and yogi Sri Aurobindo during the First World War in a series of articles published in the Arya, and later made available in two books, The Human Cycle and The Ideal of Human Unity. The exaggerations of both individualistic and communistic streams of anarchist thought are harmonized by going beyond the vital and intellectual foundations of most other schools of anarchism and rooting itself firmly in the spiritual realization and dynamic perfection of the individual and universal godhead in the race.

A spiritual anarchist holds that a perfect form of social organization can only be achieved by governing our individual and collective life by a higher light than the intellectual reason, a deeper law of solidarity and oneness than emotional or mental bonds of association. Although it has deviated significantly from its course, the international township of Auroville was originally intended to be organized as a Divine Anarchy, and may well one day fulfill its purpose.

Other forms of religious Anarchism include the Buddhist Anarchism of Tai-Xu which was strongly influenced by Tolstoy, but also looked to the ancient well-field system for inspiration. Buddhist Anarchism is one of several types of Chinese Anarchism which was influential in mainland China in the 1920's.

Anarchism - Anarchism and feminism

See also: Anarcha-Feminism

Anarcha-feminism is a kind of radical feminism that espouses the belief that patriarchy is a fundamental problem in society. While anarchist feminism has existed for more than a hundred years, its explicit formulation as anarcha-feminism dates back to the early 70s [13], during the second-wave feminist movement. Anarcha-feminism, views patriarchy as the first manifestation of hierarchy in human history; thus, the first form of oppression occurred in the dominance of male over female. Anarcha-feminists then conclude that if feminists are against patriarchy, they must also be against all forms of hierarchy, and therefore must reject the authoritarian nature of the state and capitalism.

Anarcho-primitivists see the creation of gender roles and patriarchy a creation of the start of civilization, and therefore consider primitivism to also be an anarchist school of thought that addresses feminist concerns. Eco-feminism is often considered a feminist variant of green anarchist feminist thought.

Anarcha-feminism is most often associated with early 20th-century authors and theorists such as Emma Goldman and Voltairine de Cleyre, although even early first-wave feminist Mary Wollstonecraft held proto-anarchist views, and William Godwin is often considered a feminist anarchist precursor. In the Spanish Civil War, an anarcha-feminist group, "Free Women", organized to defend both anarchist and feminist ideas.

In the modern day anarchist movement, many anarchists, male or female, consider themselves feminists, and anarcha-feminist ideas are growing. The publishing of Quiet Rumors, an anarcha-feminist reader, has helped to spread various kinds of anti-authoritarian and anarchist feminist ideas to the broader movement.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "History of anarchism", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki