Anarchism, libertarianism, stateless society

Anarchism is a political philosophy or group of doctrines and attitudes focused on rejecting any form of coercive rule (the state) and supporting its elimination. Anarchism in its most general sense is the belief that all forms of government are undesirable and should be abolished.

Anarchism, a highly ecumenical body of anti-authoritarian ideas, developed in tension between two fundamentally opposite tendencies: a personalistic commitment to individual autonomy and a collectivist commitment to social freedom. These tendencies have by no means been reconciled in the history of libertarian thought. Indeed, for most of the last century they simply co-existed in anarchism as a minimalist creed of opposition to the state, not as a maximalist creed formulating the type of new society to be created in its place. Which does not mean that the various schools of anarchism are not

advocate very specific forms of social organization, although often markedly different from each other. In essence, however, anarchism in general promoted what Isaiah Berlin called "negative freedom", i.e. formal "freedom from" rather than actual "freedom for". Indeed, anarchism has often celebrated its commitment to negative freedom as evidence of its own pluralism, ideological tolerance, or creativity—or even, as many recent postmodern proponents have argued, its inconsistency. Anarchism's failure to resolve these tensions, to articulate the relation of the individual to the collective, and to articulate the historical circumstances that made the stateless anarchist society possible, created problems in anarchist thought that remain unresolved to this day.

“In a broad sense, anarchism is the rejection of coercion and domination in all forms, including the forms of priests and plutocrats ... Anarchist ... hates all forms of authoritarianism, he is an enemy of parasitism, exploitation and oppression. The anarchist liberates himself from all that is holy and carries out a vast program of desecration."

Definition of anarchism: Mark Mirabello. Handbook for rebels and criminals. Oxford, England: Oxford Mandrake

Core values ​​in anarchism

Despite their differences, anarchists generally tend to:

(1) affirm freedom as a core value; some add other values ​​such as justice, equality, or human well-being;

(2) criticize the state as incompatible with freedom (and/or other values); as well as

(3) propose a program for building a better society without a state.

Much of the anarchist literature views the state as an instrument of oppression, usually manipulated by its leaders for their own benefit. The government is often, though not always, attacked in the same way as are the exploitative owners of the means of production in the capitalist system, autocratic teachers and overbearing parents. More broadly, anarchists consider unjustified any form of authoritarianism that is the use of one's position of power for one's own benefit, rather than for the benefit of those subject to authority. The anarchist emphasis on *freedom, *justice, and human *well-being stems from a positive view of human nature. Humans are generally considered to be capable of managing themselves rationally in a peaceful, cooperative and productive manner.

The term anarchism and the origin of anarchism

The term anarchism comes from the Greek ἄναρχος, anarchos, which means "without rulers", "without archons". There is some ambiguity in the use of the terms "libertarian" and "libertarian" in writings on anarchism. From the 1890s in France, the term "libertarianism" was often used as a synonym for anarchism, and was used almost exclusively in that sense until the 1950s in the United States; its use as a synonym is still common outside the United States.

Until the nineteenth century

Long before anarchism became a separate point of view, people lived in societies without government for thousands of years. It was not until the rise of hierarchical societies that anarchist ideas were formulated as a critical response and rejection of coercive political institutions and hierarchical social relations.

Anarchism as it is understood today has its roots in the secular political thought of the Enlightenment, especially in Rousseau's arguments about the moral centrality of freedom. The word "anarchist" was originally used as a swear word, but during the French Revolution some groups such as the Enrages began to use the term in a positive sense. It was in this political climate that William Godwin developed his philosophy, which is considered by many to be the first expression of modern thought. By the beginning of the XNUMXth century, the English word "anarchism" had lost its original negative connotation.

According to Peter Kropotkin, William Godwin, in his A Study in Political Justice (1973), was the first to formulate the political and economic concepts of anarchism, although he did not give that name to the ideas developed in his book. Strongly influenced by the sentiments of the French Revolution, Godwin argued that since man is a rational being, he should not be prevented from using his pure reason. Since all forms of government are irrational and therefore tyrannical, they must be swept away.

Pierre Joseph Proudhon

Pierre-Joseph Proudhon is the first self-proclaimed anarchist, a label he adopted in his 1840 treatise What is Property? It is for this reason that Proudhon is acclaimed by some as the founder of modern anarchist theory. He developed a theory of spontaneous order in society, according to which organizations arise without any central authority, "positive anarchy", in which order arises from the fact that each person does what he wants, and only what he wants. , and where only business transactions create social order. He viewed anarchism as a form of government in which public and private consciousness, shaped by the development of science and law, is in itself sufficient to maintain order and guarantee all freedoms. In it, as a result, police institutions, preventive and repressive methods, bureaucracy, taxation, etc. are minimized.

Anarchism as a social movement

First International

In Europe, a sharp reaction followed the revolutions of 1848. Twenty years later, in 1864, the International Workers' Association, sometimes referred to as the "First International", brought together several different European revolutionary currents, including French Proudhon followers, Blanquists, English trade unionists, socialists and social democrats. Through its genuine connections with active labor movements, the International became a significant organization. Karl Marx became the leading figure of the International and a member of its General Council. Proudhon's followers, the Mutualists, opposed Marx's state socialism, defending political abstractionism and petty ownership. In 1868, after an unsuccessful participation in the League of Peace and Freedom (LPF), Russian revolutionary Mikhail Bakunin and his fellow collectivist anarchists joined the First International (which decided not to associate with the LPF). They teamed up with the federalist 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 was divided into two camps, headed by Marx and Bakunin. In 1872 the conflict came to a head with the final split between the two groups at the Hague Congress, where Bakunin and James Guillaume were expelled from the International and its headquarters were moved to New York. In response, the federalist sections formed their own International at the Saint-Imier congress, adopting a revolutionary anarchist program.

Anarchism and organized labor

The anti-authoritarian sections of the First International were the forerunners of the anarcho-syndicalists, who sought to "replace the privilege and authority of the state" with "a free and spontaneous organization of labor."

The Confederation Generale du Travail (General Confederation of Labor, CGT), created in France in 1985, was the first major anarcho-syndicalist movement, but was preceded by the Spanish Workers' Federation in 1881. The largest anarchist movement today is in Spain, in the form of the CGT and the CNT (National Confederation of Labor). Other active syndicalist movements include the US Workers Solidarity Alliance and the UK Solidarity Federation.

Anarchism and the Russian Revolution

Anarchists participated with the Bolsheviks in both the February and October Revolutions and were initially enthusiastic about the Bolshevik Revolution. However, the Bolsheviks soon turned against the anarchists and other left-wing opposition, a conflict that culminated in the Kronstadt uprising of 1921, which was put down by the new government. Anarchists in central Russia were either imprisoned or driven underground, or they joined the victorious Bolsheviks; anarchists from Petrograd and Moscow fled to Ukraine. There, in the Free Territory, they fought in a civil war against the Whites (a grouping of monarchists and other opponents of the October Revolution), and then the Bolsheviks as part of the Revolutionary Insurgent Army of Ukraine, led by Nestor Makhno, who created an anarchist society in the region for several months.

Exiled American anarchists Emma Goldman and Alexander Berkman were among those who campaigned in response to Bolshevik policies and the suppression of the Kronstadt uprising before they left Russia. Both wrote accounts of their experiences in Russia, criticizing the degree of control exercised by the Bolsheviks. For them, Bakunin's predictions about the consequences of Marxist rule, that the rulers of the new "socialist" Marxist state would become a new elite, proved too true.

Anarchism in the 20th century

In the 1920s and 1930s, the rise of fascism in Europe transformed anarchism's conflict with the state. Italy witnessed the first clashes between anarchists and fascists. Italian anarchists played a key role in the Arditi del Popolo anti-fascist organization, which was strongest in areas with anarchist traditions, and achieved some success in their activities, such as rebuffing the Blackshirts in the anarchist stronghold of Parma in August 1922. anarchist Luigi Fabbri was one of the first critical theorists of fascism, calling it a "preventive counter-revolution". In France, where the far-right leagues were close to revolt during the February 1934 riots, the anarchists were divided over the policy of the united front.

In Spain, the CNT initially refused to join the Popular Front's electoral alliance, and abstaining from CNT supporters resulted in an electoral victory for the right. But in 1936 the CNT changed its policy, and anarchist voices helped the Popular Front return to power. Months later, the former ruling class responded with an attempted coup d'état that sparked the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939). In response to the army uprising, an anarchist-inspired movement of peasants and workers, supported by armed militias, took control of Barcelona and large areas of rural Spain, where they collectivized the land. But even before the Nazi victory in 1939, the anarchists were losing ground in a bitter struggle with the Stalinists, who controlled the distribution of military aid to the republican cause from the Soviet Union. Stalinist-led troops suppressed collectives and persecuted dissident Marxists and anarchists alike. Anarchists in France and Italy actively participated in the Resistance during World War II.

Although anarchists were politically active in Spain, Italy, Belgium, and France, especially in the 1870s, and in Spain during the Spanish Civil War, and although anarchists formed an anarcho-syndicalist alliance in the United States in 1905, there was not a single significant, successful anarchist communities of any size. Anarchism experienced a renaissance in the 1960s and early 1970s in the work of such proponents as Paul Goodman (1911–72), perhaps best known for his writings on education, and Daniel Guérin (1904–88), who develops a communitarian type anarchism that builds on nineteenth-century anarcho-syndicalism, which is now obsolete but transcends.

Problems in anarchism

Goals and means

Generally, anarchists favor direct action and oppose voting in elections. Most anarchists believe that real change is not possible through voting. Direct action can be violent or non-violent. Some anarchists do not view the destruction of property as an act of violence.

Capitalism

Most anarchist traditions reject capitalism (which they see as authoritarian, coercive, and exploitative) along with the state. This includes giving up wage labor, boss-worker relationships, being authoritarian; and private property, similarly as an authoritarian concept.

Globalization

All anarchists oppose the use of coercion associated with international trade, which is carried out through institutions such as the World Bank, the World Trade Organization, the G8 and the World Economic Forum. Some anarchists see neoliberal globalization in such coercion.

Communism

Most schools of anarchism have recognized the distinction between libertarian and authoritarian forms of communism.

democracy

For individualist anarchists, the system of majority decision democracy is considered invalid. Any encroachment on the natural rights of man is unjust and is a symbol of the tyranny of the majority.

Gender

Anarcha-feminism likely sees patriarchy as a component and symptom of interconnected systems of oppression.

Race

Black anarchism opposes the existence of the state, capitalism, the subjugation and domination of people of African descent, and advocates a non-hierarchical organization of society.

религия

Anarchism has traditionally been skeptical of and opposed to organized religion.

definition of anarchism

Anarcho-syndicalism