User:Hogeye/Anarchism2

< User:Hogeye

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Hogeye (talk | contribs) at 17:19, 14 January 2006 (→The Russian Revolution). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Revision as of 17:19, 14 January 2006 by Hogeye (talk | contribs) (→The Russian Revolution)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)

Anarchism

Concepts

Issues

Schools of thought

Classical	Individualist Egoist Illegalist Naturist Philosophical Mutualist Social Collectivist Communist Magonist
Post-classical	Feminist Green Primitivist Social ecology Independence Insurrectionary Pacifist Religious Christian Buddhist Jewish Without adjectives
Contemporary	Black Free-market Postcolonial Post-anarchist Post-left Queer

Types of federation

Precursors of anarchism

Primitive cultures

Many anarchists, particularly anarcho-primitivists, assert that before recorded history, human society was organized on anarchist principles. They claim hunter-gatherer bands had an egalitarian structure, citing a lack of division of labour, accumulated wealth and decreed law as indicators of such indigenous "anarchist" systems. Others, however, question this, in particular in terms of a gender based division of labour.

Philosophical traces

Some anarchists have claimed that Taoism, which developed in Ancient China, was a source of anarchistic attitudes . Similarly, anarchistic tendencies can be traced to the philosophers of Ancient Greece, such as Zeno, the founder of the Stoic philosophy, Aristippus, who said that the wise should not give up their liberty to the state , and Diogenes of Sinope, the Cynic, who claimed to be a citizen of the world. Later movements — such as Stregheria in the 1300s, the Free Spirit in the Middle Ages, the Anabaptists, The Diggers, and the Ranters — have also expounded ideas that have been interpreted as anarchist.

Ancient Greece

The first known usage of the word anarchy appears in the play Seven Against Thebes by Aeschylus, dated 467 BC. There, Antigone openly refuses to abide by the rulers' decree to leave her brother Polyneices' body unburied, as punishment for his participation in the attack on Thebes, saying that "even if no one else is willing to share in burying him I will bury him alone and risk the peril of burying my own brother. Nor am I ashamed to act in defiant opposition to the rulers of the city (ekhous apiston tênd anarkhian polei)".

Ancient Greece also saw the first European instance of anarchism as a philosophical ideal, in the form of the stoic philosopher Zeno of Citium, who was, according to Kropotkin, "he best exponent of Anarchist philosophy in ancient Greece". As summarized by Kropotkin, Zeno "repudiated the omnipotence of the state, its intervention and regimentation, and proclaimed the sovereignty of the moral law of the individual". Within Greek philosophy, Zeno's vision of a free community without government or slavery is opposed to the state-Utopia of Plato's Republic. Zeno argued that although the necessary instinct of self-preservation leads humans to egotism, nature has supplied a corrective to it by providing man with another instinct — sociability. Like many modern anarchists, he believed that if people follow their instincts, they will have no need of law, courts, or police, no temples and no public worship, and use no money (a gift economy taking the place of the exchanges). Zeno's beliefs have only reached us as fragmentary quotations.

Anabaptists and Diggers

The Anabaptists of 16th century Europe are sometimes considered to be religious forerunners of modern anarchism. Bertrand Russell, in his History of Western Philosophy, writes that the Anabaptists "repudiated all law, since they held that the good man will be guided at every moment by the Holy Spirit...rom this premise they arrive at communism...." The novel Q by Luther Blissett provides a fictional depiction of this movement and its revolutionary ideology.

The Diggers or "True Levellers" were an early anarchistic and communistic movement during the time of the English Civil War. They are considered by some as forerunners of modern anarchism. The Diggers were engaged in the squatting of common land in England until eventual supression by local landowners and Cromwell's men. The Diggers and the Levellers (a more moderate liberal movement within the parliamentary New Model Army) benefitted from mass agitation made possible by the invention of the printing press. The Diggers spokesperson Gerrard Winstanley published pamphlets calling for communal ownership and social and economic organization in small agrarian communities in the 17th century:

"And let all men say what they will, so long as such are rulers as call the land theirs, upholding this particular propriety of mine and thine, the common people shall never have their liberty, nor the land be ever freed from troubles, oppressions, and complainings.." From The New Law of Righteouness (1649)

"Kingly government governs the earth by that cheating art of buying and selling, and thereby becomes a man of contention his hand is against every man, and every man's hand against him. And take this government at the best, it is a diseased government and the very City Babylon, full of confusion, and if it had not a club law to support it there would be no order in it, because it is the covetous and proud will of a conqueror, enslaving the conquered people." From The Law of Freedom (1652)

Age of Enlightenment

The first use of the term anarchy in the modern era to mean something other than chaos was by Louis-Armand, Baron de Lahontan in his Nouveaux voyages dans l'Amérique septentrionale, (1703), where he described the indigenous American society, which had no state, laws, prisons, priests, or private property, as being in anarchy . Russell Means, a leader in the American Indian Movement, has repeatedly stated that he is "an anarchist, and so are all ancestors."

The one of the first Enlightenment essays explicitly advocating the absence of government was "A Vindication of Natural Society" (1756) written anonymously by Edmund Burke. There is an ongoing historical dispute about whether this essay was serious or satirical; nevertheless, it was influential among some later anarchists such as William Godwin, Benjamin Tucker, and others who praised it. However Burke is considered as a founding father of modern conservativism and indeed disavowed this early essay (his first) as he started his career as a conservative Whig Member of Parliament. Karl Marx pilloried him as an opportunistic bourgeois politician.

History of anarchism

Chart of influences

File:AnarchismTree03.jpg

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.)

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.

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."

Individualist anarchism (Liberal anarchism)

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. Gustave de Molinari proposed private defense agencies in The Production of Security (1849), 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, or claimed personal justice would suffice.

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." 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." 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.

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'.

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.

File:PeterKropotkin.jpg

Peter Kropotkin

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:

"The Italian Federation considers the collective property of the products of labour as the necessary complement to the collectivist programme, the aid of all for the satisfaction of the needs of each being the only rule of production and consumption which corresponds to the principle of solidarity."

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.

Propaganda by the deed

File:JohannMost.jpg

Johann Most advocated assassination and terrorism to further the cause of anarchism

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 at work

The Russian Revolution

(Add platformism stuff in this section.)

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.

The fight against fascism

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:

Fascism is not just another form of government which, like all others, uses violence. It is the most authoritarian and the most violent form of government imaginable. It represents the utmost glorification of the theory and practice of the principle of authority.

In France, where the fascists came close to insurrection in the February 1934 riots, anarchists divided over a 'united front' policy. 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.

Anarcho-capitalism

See also: Anarcho capitalism

File:Murray Rothbard Smile.JPG

Murray Rothbard (1926-1995)

Anarcho-capitalism envisions a stateless society where private ownership of the means of production is supported, and economic decisions are made privately through the operation of a free market. They believe that all voluntary (non-coerced) transactions between consenting adults should be legal, so have no opposition to employment or interest. Anarcho-capitalism is an anti-state form of liberalism derived from classical liberal and Austrian economics, abolitionism and some topics from 19th century American individualist anarchism. Rather than adhering to a labor theory of value as many anarchists do, anarcho-capitalists tend to hold to the subjectivist theory of value, and as a consequence, do not oppose profit.

Much of the credit for the foundations of anarcho-capitalist theory has been granted to Murray Rothbard who formally synthesized classical liberalism with Austrian economics. Rothbard defines anarchism in terms of the non-aggression principle: "an anarchist society one where there is no legal possibility for coercive aggression against the person or property of any individual." However, individualist anarchism with no opposition to profit preceeded Rothbard but had not yet been termed "anarcho-capitalism." For example, Rothbard said that Gustave de Molinari, in the 19th century, was the first to theorize anarcho-capitalism. Jakob Mauvillon is another 18th century individualist who has been called an anarcho-capitalist. Auberon Herbert advocated anarcho-capitalism in the 19th century, calling it "voluntaryism." While Rothbard based his anarchism on Natural Law, David Friedman ("The Machinery of Freedom") based it on utilitarianism, and Jan Narveson on contractarianism. Other important anarcho-capitalists include Hans-Hermann Hoppe, Lew Rockwell, and Bryan Caplan. Some minarchists, such as Ayn Rand, Robert Nozick, and Robert A. Heinlein, have also contributed to the theory or popularity of anarcho-capitalism. Early influences on anarcho-capitalism include Gustave de Molinari, Herbert Spencer, Lysander Spooner, and Benjamin Tucker.

Many anarchists, social and individualist, deny that anarcho-capitalism is a form of anarchism, arguing that authoritarian institutions are integral to and are inevitable in any capitalist system thus negating its claims of aspiration to statelessness. On the other hand, there are American individualist anarchists that do regard it as a form of anarchism. Moreoever, anarcho-capitalists Wendy McElroy and Guglielmo Piombini regard their philosophy as "individualist anarchism." Anarcho-capitalism is compared and contrasted with classical individualist anarchism in the article Individualist anarchism and anarcho-capitalism.

Issues

Interest Groups

Conceptions of an anarchist society

See also: Anarchism and Society

Many political philosophers justify support of the state as a means of regulating violence, so that the destruction caused by human conflict is minimized and fair relationships are established. Anarchists argue that pursuit of these ends does not justify the establishment of a state, and in fact many argue that the state is incompatible with those goals. Anarchists argue that the state helps to create a monopoly on violence, and uses force and violence to expand and protect elite interests. Much effort has been dedicated to explaining how anarchist societies would handle criminality.

Neo-imperialism and Globalization

Neo-imperialism refers to the process of persuading rulers of (generally) lesser developed countries (LDCs) to alter political and economic policies in exchange for receiving loans from other states or, more commonly, through loans by state cartels such as the World Bank. In effect, third world rulers give concessions and coercive monopolies to foreign corporations in return for monetary bribes that they often use to consolidate their own power. In most cases, much of the money loaned to these LDCs is returned to the privileged foreign corporations. Thus, these foreign loans amount to subsidies to crony corporations favored by the loaner nation's rulers. This collusion is sometimes referred to as the corporatocracy. All anarchists oppose neo-imperialism and the state cartels which carry it out, including the World Bank, World Trade Organization and Group of Eight, and the World Economic Forum.

Since the late 1990s, anarchists have been known for their involvement in protests against World Trade Organization and other cartels listed above. One of the more successful anti-globalization mobilizations was the protest against the WTO Meeting of 1999 in Seattle. At these large protests, anarchist organizing of various activist and collective organizations has taken place, often with tens of thousands of people. This organization without any central hierarchy or leadership, takes place through the use of affinity groups, and spokescouncils, which work using delegates to speak for larger collectives. Anarchists also engage in medical teams, indymedia work, and are most known however for the black bloc tactic.

Anarchists have also been active in protesting and organizing against the war on terror, and most importantally the war on iraq. Anarchists have been largely at the forefront of the counter recruiting movement, which works to teach the realities of military recruiting to those interested in joining the military.

Technology

See also: Crypto-anarchism and Cypherpunk.

Some have said that recent technological developments have made the anarchist cause both easier to advance and more conceivable to people. Public key cryptography and the Internet have made anonymous digital currencies such as e-gold an alternative to statist fiat money. Many people use cell phones or the Internet to form loose communities that could be said to be organized along anarchist lines. Some of these communities have as their purpose the production of information in a non-commodified or use-value format, a goal made attainable by the availability of personal computing, desktop publishing, and digital media. These things have made it possible for individuals to share music files over the Internet. There are also open source programming communities, who donate their time and offer their product for free. Examples include Usenet, the free software movement (including the GNU/Linux community and the wiki paradigm), and Indymedia.

Some anarchists see information technology as the way to replace hierarchy, defeat monopoly, and prevent war, and support culture jamming in particular as a way to do so. Some writers — particularly Iain M. Banks, who has written quite extensively in the science fiction genre about The Culture, a futuristic society which has disposed of government — have theorised that anarchism would be inevitable with the technological advances that would make travelling and living in space plausible . The Electro-anarchy Collective poses a similar theory that technological power will naturally overthrow human government (although some question their anarchist credentials, claiming that technological governance is no less oppressive than human governance).

It has also been argued that the free software movement is an example of anarchic organization, this being an example not of hierarchical business, but of voluntary association for the production of a good.

Pacifism

Some anarchists consider Pacifism (opposition to war) to be inherent in their philosophy. Some anarchists take it further and follow Leo Tolstoy's belief in non-violence (note, however, that these anarcho-pacifists are not necessarily Christian anarchists as Tolstoy was), advocating non-violent resistance as the only method of achieving a truly anarchist revolution.

Anarchist literature often portrays war as an activity in which the state seeks to gain and consolidate power, both domestically and in foreign lands. Many anarchists subscribe to Randolph Bourne's view that "war is the health of the state". Anarchists believe that if they were to support a war they would be strengthening the state — indeed, Peter Kropotkin was alienated from other anarchists when he expressed support for the British in World War I.

Just as they are critical and distrustful of most government endeavours, an*archists often view the stated reasons for war with a cynical eye. Since the Vietnam War protests in North America and, most recently, the protests against the war in Iraq, much anarchist activity has been anti-war based.

Many anarchists in the current movement however, reject complete pacifism, (although groups like Earth First!, and Food Not Bombs are based on principles of non-violence), and instead are in favor of self-defense, and sometimes violence against oppressive and authoritarian forces which they in fact also consider as defensive violence. Anarchists are skeptical however of winning a direct armed conflict with the state, and instead concern themselves mostly with organizing. Most anarchists however, do not consider the destruction of property to be violent, as do most activists who believe in non-violence.

In contrast, many in the anarchist movement see non-violence as only a tactical issue for each specific action, which relies on the nature and actions of your opponent and the context of the goal which they strive for. Relying on the critique of pacifism put forward by Ward Churchill, they recognize almost all successful liberation struggles have had armed or violent components, including the Indian Independence Movement, the United States Civil Rights Movement, the South African Civil Rights Movement, or the Zapatistas. In contrast, those without significant armed struggle factions when facing an oppressor willing to crush or annihiliate the rebelling faction fail horribly, such as Jewish pacifist resistance to the Holocaust.

Parliamentarianism

In general terms, the anarchist ethos opposes voting in elections, because voting amounts to condoning the state. However, there have been some anarchists who have run for office or advocated voting. The general opinion among anarchists is a general disrespect for the electoral process. Some individualist anarchists have been completely opposed to voting under all circumstances. Wendy McElroy, anarcho-feminist writer, expounded this view in her essay Why I Would Not Vote Against Hitler.

Voluntaryism is an anarchist school of thought which emphasizes "tending your own garden" and "neither ballots nor bullets." The anarchist case against voting is explained in The Ethics of Voting by George H. Smith. (Also see "Voting Anarchists: An Oxymoron or What?" by Joe Peacott, and writings by Fred Woodworth).

Cultural phenomena

The kind of anarchism that is most easily encountered in popular culture is represented by celebrities who publicly identify themselves as anarchists. Although some anarchists reject any focus on such famous living individuals as inherently élitist, the following figures are examples of prominent publicly self-avowed anarchists:

the MIT professor of Linguistics Noam Chomsky
the science fiction author Ursula K. Le Guin
the social historian Howard Zinn
entertainer and author Hans Alfredsson
the Avant-garde artist Nicolás Rosselló

In Denmark, the Freetown Christiania was created in downtown Copenhagen. The housing and employment crisis in most of Western Europe led to the formation of communes and squatter movements like the one still thriving in Barcelona, in Catalonia. Militant resistance to neo-Nazi groups in places like Germany, and the uprisings of autonomous Marxism, situationist, and Autonomist groups in France and Italy also helped to give popularity to anti-authoritarian, non-capitalist ideas.

In various musical styles, anarchism rose in popularity. Most famous for the linking of anarchist ideas and music has been punk rock, although in the modern age, hip hop, and folk music are also becoming important mediums for the spreading of the anarchist message. In the UK this was associated with the punk rock movement; the band Crass is celebrated for its anarchist and pacifist ideas. The Dutch punk band The Ex further exemplifies this expression. For further details, see anarcho-punk

External links

The overwhelming diversity and number of links relating to anarchism is extensively covered on the links subpage.

Anarchoblogs Blogs by Anarchists.
Anarchy Archives extensively archives information relating to famous anarchists. This includes many of their books and other publications.
Hundreds of anarchists are listed, with short bios, links & dedicated pages at the Daily Bleed's Anarchist Encyclopedia
Infoshop Online Anarchist Datebase
Industrial Workers of the World

Categories:

Misplaced Pages

Precursors of anarchism

Primitive cultures

Philosophical traces

Ancient Greece

Anabaptists and Diggers

Age of Enlightenment

History of anarchism

Chart of influences

Justice against the state

The first self-labelled anarchist

Egoism

Individualist anarchism (Liberal anarchism)

The International

Anarchist Communism

Propaganda by the deed

Anarchism at work

The Russian Revolution

The fight against fascism

Anarcho-capitalism

Issues

Interest Groups

Conceptions of an anarchist society

Neo-imperialism and Globalization

Technology

Pacifism

Parliamentarianism

Cultural phenomena

See also

Historical events

Books

Anarchism by region/culture

External links