Anarchism

Category: Theoretical approaches

Anarchism started as a philosophical and ideological approach to the political organization of human societies. Most proponents of anarchism have, historically, been opposed to political inequalities and hierarchies, and state authority, and its means of oppression – courts, laws, armies, police, etc. On the other hand, this point of view produced specific theoretical contributions to social sciences. Anarchists, also, differ among themselves on how they stand on issues of economy, their views on how to best implement anarchy (collectivism or individualism; peaceful transition versus violence), and on other cultural and social issues.

On the issue of the economy, there are anarchists who are proponents of anarcho-capitalism, in essence, capitalist organization of the economy, but without state and state intervention. Greatest proponents of this type of anarchism are American economist Murray Rothbard (1926-1995) and Robert Nozick. On the other hand, most anarchists, throughout history, and today, were and are against capitalist organization of the economy. Most of them support anarcho-communist or anarcho-syndicalist ideology. Among them most important are Max Stirner, Pierre Joseph Proudhon, Mikhail Bakunin, Peter Kropotkin, Ericco Malatesta, Noam Chomsky, Murray Bookchin, Emma Goldman and David Graeber.

Peter Kropotkin

Peter Kropotkin was one of the most famous advocates and fighters for anarchism. However, unlike other anarchists, Kropotkin believed that anarchist ideology must be based on the knowledge of natural and social sciences, because the anarchist organization of society, itself, must be based on the biological and anthropological predispositions of the human species. In the book Mutual Aid (1902), he presents the evolutionary theory of cooperation and solidarity in social animals. He concluded that mutual aid exists in all of the most successful species and that mutual aid is the most important factor in evolution. The struggle for survival takes place, above all, in relation to other species, and not within the species. The species that have the greatest cooperation and mutual support between its members will have the greatest chances of survival and advancement. Mutual assistance leads to several positive effects in any species - increasing the ability of individuals to reach old age and accumulate experience, which leads to greater intellectual development and an increase in the size and scope of social behavior, which, together, gives greater chances for survival and development. Both biological and social progress is achieved, mostly, through mutual support and cooperation, and not through conflicts and struggles. Social behavior originated, in the evolutionary sense, before the emergence of man, so man is naturally adapted to live in society without additional rules and regulations. Traditional societies, which lived in clans and tribes, possessed customs and taboos that ensured cooperation and mutual assistance between members of those societies.

Collectivist Anarchy

In line with this view of the social nature of man, Kropotkin advocated a collectivist and socialist (communist) form of anarchy. He believed that unlimited individualism was a product of the modern age, and especially of the capitalist race for profit. In his book The Conquest of Bread (2017, original in French 1892), Kropotkin presents a vision of the future economic order. He believes that industrial progress will enable the communist economy. He advocates communism that would function as a decentralized economic system in which people would be united in voluntary economic cooperatives, and where there would be great mutual assistance. Kropotkin also advocated for the economic self-sufficiency of local communities, that is, for the local production of what is needed.

States and Laws

In his essay The State (1897), Kropotkin states that the Roman Empire was a state, while the Greek polis and medieval city-republics were not states. Although the polises and medieval republics had systems of government, the author believes that these governments also had some positive sides, such as assemblies and civilian control of the army. In Europe, states reappeared only at the beginning of the sixteenth century, when they took precedence over free cities and their federations. The state, both in antiquity and in the modern age, served only the interests of the ruling minority. In addition, in contrast to the polises and medieval republics, the state territorially and functionally concentrated all social functions in the hands of a small number of people. In contrast to the state, Kropotkin puts anarchy as “a name given to a principle or theory of life and conduct under which society is conceived without government – harmony in such a society being obtained, not by the submission to law, or by obedience to any authority, but by free agreements concluded between the various groups, territorial and professional, freely constituted for the sake of production and consumption, as also for the satisfaction of the infinite variety of needs and aspirations of a civilized being.” (Kropotkin, 1897).

One of the main instrument that states used to subjugate society were laws, which always function only in the interest of the privileged classes. Customs and taboos that regulated relations in traditional societies have been replaced by laws in states. There are three types of laws: 1) laws that protect property - they serve to appropriate the products of workers and regulate relations between capitalists, 2) laws that protect the government - this category consists of constitutions and similar laws that establish administrative mechanisms of government to protect the interests of ruling classes, 3) laws that protect people - they are the most important because they serve to protect the security of the ruling classes. Kropotkin believes that most criminal acts are the product of those very laws and the authority behind them. Prisons are the worst product of government and law, because they not only do not reduce crime, but also serve to destroy the will of individuals, and it is not possible to improve them. He believes that the abolition of all types of laws, as well as prisons, will eliminate the causes of criminal acts. People who continue to behave anti-socially will be exposed to public pressure, so they will be forced, but also supported by society, to reform their behavior.

Kropotkin advocated that people, on their own, should determine the rules that everyone will respect together. Adherence to these rules will be ensured via censorship and solidarity, not laws and penalties. Kropotkin believed that a society free from the political domination and economic exploitation would be a truly free society guided by innate instincts of compassion, cooperation, and mutual assistance.

Emma Goldman

Russian-American political theorist Emma Goldman (1869-1940 contributed to the philosophical and ideological spread of anarchism, primarily by linking the ideas of anarchism with feminist and pacifist ideas. Her approach to anarchism was aimed at defending the individuality of individuals, so she claimed that only liberated individuals could achieve a free society. She was skeptical of the masses and emphasized their tendency to become dependent on leaders and their authority. It was the masses who allowed the freedom to be suppressed through authority and coercion. However, she believed that all human beings are capable of rejecting relationships of authority and achieving freedom. The way to realize that freedom is "communal individuality" (based on personal autonomy and voluntary cooperation), which will ensure the sovereignty of the individual, but also social harmony. In her essay What I Believe (1908), Goldman states that anarchism is a theory of the organic development of society. In order to achieve this organic development, it is necessary to reject the relationships of authority and the concept of ownership. The free society will be based on the voluntary cooperation of groups of producers, communities, and societies connected through federations. She saw the ideas and actions of the French trade unionists as an excellent start towards the ultimate goal - building an anarcho-communist society. Goldman advocated for methods of political assassinations, direct action, industrial sabotage, and general strikes, as she saw them as legitimate activities in the fight for a free society.

The emphasis on the freedom of the individual, as a goal, but also a precondition for a free society, became especially visible in Emma Goldman's writings written after her stay in the Soviet Union. Such sentiments are visible in her books My Disillusionment in Russia (1923) and The Place of the Individual in Society (1940). In the first book, she expressed distrust in the possibility of "class consciousness" being realized independently in the political sphere. The communist state has much greater potential to use the political apparatus of force to achieve economic dictatorship over individuals. The Communist Party in Russia did just that. It nationalized the economy, introduced rigid central planning, established a huge bureaucratic system, abolished freedom of speech, and conducted political purges while securing a privileged status for itself. The "dictatorship of the proletariat" proved worse, in the conditions of Stalin’s dictatorship, than the tsarist regime ever had. In the second mentioned book, Goldman emphasizes that individuality is the most important, while forced social uniformity and identity is what oppresses the individual the most.

Goldman was also a great opponent of patriotism and militarism because these values are great opponents of universal solidarity among all people on the planet. She also viewed the church as an institution that is as oppressive as the state. She saw the origin of religion in the inability of people to understand natural phenomena. The church has always acted as the greatest opponent of progress, so Goldman advocated atheism as a rejection of that oppressive system. Apart from the state, property, and religion, laws are another way of restricting freedom. In her opinion, laws are unnecessary, because crime is just a misdirected negative energy, while prisons are a real social crime that only reproduces anti-social behavior. Goldman also criticized the existing school system, which forcibly strives to create complete uniformity among young people. On the other hand, she advocated education that would allow free expression and stimulates empathy, and that would have no rules and regulations, and she was also in favor of introducing sex education.

Goldman wrote and fought for feminist goals. She rejected double gender standards and puritanical control over natural impulses. She believed that in the existing system, women were treated only as sexual objects, a means of giving birth and raising children, and a source of cheap labor. She believed that prostitution was a special form of exploitation of women, but also that all women were forced to sell their bodies. She opposed the women's suffrage movement, which was widespread in the early twentieth century in the United States because she thought that it would not solve unequal, repressive, and exploitative relations between the two sexes. The liberation of women must start from the emancipation of the individual, from the rejection of forced sexual and reproductive relations, and from the rejection of serving God, the state, the husband, and the family. She was a great critic of the institution of marriage and considered marriage and love to be incompatible. Marriage allows the church and the state to interfere in private relations between people, it serves as an economic relationship in which men become the owners of a woman's body and her ability to give birth to children, while women become dependent and helpless maids. She advocated free love and the right to choose in relation to motherhood, so she also promoted the right to contraception and abortion.

Noam Chomsky

Noam Chomsky approaches political, economic, and social issues from the anarchist standpoint, as he describes himself as a proponent of anarcho-sydicalism or libertarian socialism. He advocates for a radical change of capitalist societies from within and is very critical of American foreign policy. In his books American Power and the New Mandarins (1969), For Reasons of State (1973), Counter-Revolutionary Violence: Bloodbaths in Fact & Propaganda (1973), and The Political Economy of Human Rights (1979) Chomsky focuses on the war in Vietnam and American foreign policy toward other countries in South East Asia. In American Power and the New Mandarins, he blames the American technical and intellectual class in the government and universities, which are designated as New Mandarins, for atrocities that were perpetrated in Vietnam by the US government.

Chomsky, in the books, Manufacturing Consent (1988), Necessary Illusions (1989), Deterring Democracy (1991), and Letters from Lexington (1993) critically examines the relationship between US foreign policy, media, and propaganda. In Manufacturing Consent, he analyzes how the mass media manipulates public opinion and perpetuates the interests of those in power. The book, written by Chomsky and Edward S. Herman, was first published in 1988 and has since become a classic in the field of media studies.

The book argues that the mass media in the United States and other Western countries operates as a "propaganda model," in which a small group of powerful corporations and individuals control the flow of information and shape public opinion to align with their own interests. This is achieved through a combination of censorship, self-censorship, and the creation of a "filter" that screens out information that is inconvenient or contradicts the dominant narrative. Chomsky highlights five of those types of filters: ownership, advertising, sourcing, "flak", and "anti-communism".

One of the key components of the propaganda model is the "ownership" filter, which refers to the fact that a small number of large corporations control the majority of media outlets. These corporations have a vested interest in maintaining the status quo and promoting policies that benefit their bottom line, and they use their control over the media to shape public opinion in their favor. Another important component of the propaganda model is the "advertising" filter, which refers to media outlets relying heavily on advertising revenue to survive. This leads to a bias in favor of content that is friendly to advertisers, and a reluctance to report on stories that might be seen as critical of their interests. The "flak" filter refers to how powerful individuals and groups can use their influence to shape the media narrative. This can include things like threats of legal action, pressure from advertisers, or even direct censorship. The "anti-communism" filter refers to how the media has been shaped by the Cold War, particularly in its focus on the threat of communism and its portrayal of the Soviet Union as an enemy of the United States.

In many other later books, like Profit over People (1999) and Hegemony or Survival: America’s Quest for Global Dominance (2003) Chomsky continues to present one of the most detailed and vociferous critiques of American foreign politics and policy that includes political methods like propaganda, overthrows of foreign governments, direct military invasion, and economic methods like privatization, MMF and World Bank.

Relevant authors who are not in this encyclopedia: Bakunin, Mikhail; Bookchin, Murray; Feyerband, Paul; Graeber, David; Malatesta, Errico; Proudhon, Joseph-Pierre; Stirner, Max; Zerzan, John.

Books:

Bakunin, Mikhail. Statism and Anarchy (1873);

- God and the State (1882);

Bookchin, Murray. The Third Revolution: Popular Movements in the Revolutionary Era, 2 vols. (1998);

- Social Anarchism or Lifestyle Anarchism (1995);

Chomsky, Noam. Manufacturing Consent (1988);

Graeber, David. Fragments of an Anarchist Anthropology (2004);

- Direct Action: An Ethnography (2009);

- Debt: The First 5000 Years (2011);

- The Democracy Project: A History, a Crisis, a Movement (2013);

- The Utopia of Rules: On Technology, Stupidity, and the Secret Joys of Bureaucracy (2015);

- Bullshit Jobs: A Theory (2018);