Jump to content

Anarchism: Difference between revisions

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Content deleted Content added
rv to 17:16, 9 November 2005 Bengalski - vandalism, purposeful misconstruing of individualism
m Disambiguating links to Rojava (link changed to Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria) using DisamAssist.
 
Line 1: Line 1:
{{Short description|Political philosophy and movement}}
{{Anarchism}}
{{Other uses|Anarchy|Anarchism (disambiguation)|Anarchist (disambiguation)}}
:''Anarchism, in its most general meaning, is the belief that rulership is unnecessary and should be abolished. This page focuses on the most popular interpretation of what it means to abolish rulership: the elimination of all forms coercive authority, such as government and social hierarchy. For information about movements which do not reject social hierarchy, see [[anarcho-capitalism]].''
{{Pp-semi-indef}}
{{Good article}}
{{Use British English|date=August 2021}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2024}}
{{Use shortened footnotes|date=May 2023}}
{{Anarchism sidebar}}


'''Anarchism''' is a [[political philosophy]] and [[Political movement|movement]] that is against all forms of authority and seeks to abolish the institutions it claims maintain unnecessary coercion and [[Social hierarchy|hierarchy]], typically including the [[state (polity)|state]] and [[capitalism]]. Anarchism advocates for the replacement of the state with [[Stateless society|stateless societies]] and voluntary [[Free association (communism and anarchism)|free associations]]. A historically left-wing movement, anarchism is usually described as the [[libertarian]] wing of the [[socialist movement]] ([[libertarian socialism]]).
'''Anarchism''' is a generic term describing various [[political philosophy|political philosophies]] and [[social movement]]s that advocate the elimination of all forms of [[government]] and [[social hierarchy]]. In place of centralized political structures, capitalist ownership of the means of production, and exploitative economic institutions such as [[Economic_rent|rent]] and [[profit]], these movements favor social relations based upon voluntary interaction and self-management, and aspire to a society characterised by autonomy and freedom. These philosophies use ''[[anarchy]]'' to mean a [[society]] based on [[volunteer|voluntary]] interaction of [[freedom (political)|free]] individuals, and the idea that communities and individuals have a say in decisions to the degree that they are affected by their outcomes.


Although traces of anarchist ideas are found all throughout history, modern anarchism emerged from the [[Age of Enlightenment|Enlightenment]]. During the latter half of the 19th and the first decades of the 20th century, the anarchist movement flourished in most parts of the world and had a significant role in [[Labour movement|workers' struggles]] for [[emancipation]]. [[#Schools of thought|Various anarchist schools of thought]] formed during this period. Anarchists have taken part in [[List of revolutions and rebellions|several revolutions]], most notably in the [[Paris Commune]], the [[Russian Civil War]] and the [[Spanish Civil War]], whose end marked the end of the [[classical era of anarchism]]. In the last decades of the 20th and into the 21st century, the anarchist movement has been resurgent once more, growing in popularity and influence within [[anti-capitalist]], [[anti-war]] and [[anti-globalisation]] movements.
While opposition to coercive institutions and socially constructed hierarchies are primary tenets of anarchism, anarchism is also a positive vision of how a voluntary society would work. There is considerable variation amongst anarchist philosophies. Opinions differ in various areas, such as whether [[violence]] should be employed to foster anarchism, what type of economic system should exist, questions on the environment and industrialism, and anarchists' roles in other movements.


Anarchists employ [[diversity of tactics|diverse approaches]], which may be generally divided into [[revolutionary]] and [[evolutionary strategies]]; there is significant overlap between the two. Evolutionary methods try to simulate what an anarchist society might be like, but revolutionary tactics, which have historically taken a [[Violent extremism|violent]] turn, aim to overthrow authority and the state. Many facets of [[Civilization|human civilization]] have been influenced by anarchist theory, critique, and [[Praxis (process)|praxis]].
The terms "anarchy" and "anarchism" are derived from the [[Greek language|Greek]] ''[[Wiktionary:αναρχία|αναρχία]]'' ("without [[archon]]s (rulers)"). Thus "anarchism," in its most general meaning, is the belief that rulership is unnecessary and should be abolished. The word "anarchy", as most anarchists use it, does not imply [[chaos]] or [[anomie]], but rather a stateless society with voluntary social relations.
{{Toc limit|3}}


== Etymology, terminology, and definition ==
{{Main|Definition of anarchism and libertarianism}}
{{See also|Glossary of anarchism}}
[[File:WilhelmWeitling.jpg|thumb|[[Wilhelm Weitling]] is an example of a writer who added to anarchist theory without using the exact term.{{Sfn|Carlson|1972|pp=22–23}}]]
The [[Etymology|etymological]] origin of ''anarchism'' is from the [[Ancient Greek]] ''anarkhia'' (ἀναρχία), meaning "without a ruler", composed of the [[prefix]] ''an-'' ("without") and the word ''arkhos'' ("leader" or "ruler"). The [[suffix]] ''[[-ism]]'' denotes the ideological current that favours anarchy.{{Sfnm|1a1=Bates|1y=2017|1p=128|2a1=Long|2y=2013|2p=217}} ''Anarchism'' appears in English from 1642 as ''anarchisme'' and ''anarchy'' from 1539; early English usages emphasised a sense of disorder.{{Sfnm|1a1=Merriam-Webster|1y=2019|1loc="Anarchism"|2a1=''Oxford English Dictionary''|2y=2005|2loc="Anarchism"|3a1=Sylvan|3y=2007|3p=260}} Various factions within the [[French Revolution]] labelled their opponents as ''anarchists'', although few such accused shared many views with later anarchists. Many revolutionaries of the 19th century such as [[William Godwin]] (1756–1836) and [[Wilhelm Weitling]] (1808–1871) would contribute to the anarchist doctrines of the next generation but did not use ''anarchist'' or ''anarchism'' in describing themselves or their beliefs.{{Sfn|Joll|1964|pp=27–37}}


The first [[List of political philosophers|political philosopher]] to call himself an ''anarchist'' ({{Langx|fr|link=no|anarchiste}}) was [[Pierre-Joseph Proudhon]] (1809–1865),{{Sfn|Kahn|2000}} marking the formal birth of anarchism in the mid-19th century. Since the 1890s and beginning in France,{{Sfn|Nettlau|1996|p=162}} ''[[libertarianism]]'' has often been used as a synonym for anarchism;{{Sfn|Guérin|1970|loc="The Basic Ideas of Anarchism"}} its use as a synonym is still common outside the United States.{{Sfnm|1a1=Ward|1y=2004|1p=62|2a1=Goodway|2y=2006|2p=4|3a1=Skirda|3y=2002|3p=183|4a1=Fernández|4y=2009|4p=9}} Some usages of ''libertarianism'' refer to [[individualistic]] [[free-market]] philosophy only, and [[free-market anarchism]] in particular is termed ''libertarian anarchism''.{{Sfn|Morris|2002|p=61}}
== Precursors of anarchism ==


While the term ''libertarian'' has been largely synonymous with anarchism,{{Sfnm|1a1=Marshall|1y=1992|1p=641|2a1=Cohn|2y=2009|2p=6}} its meaning has more recently been diluted by wider adoption from ideologically disparate groups,{{Sfn|Marshall|1992|p=641}} including both the [[New Left]] and [[libertarian Marxists]], who do not associate themselves with [[authoritarian socialists]] or a [[vanguard party]], and extreme [[cultural liberals]], who are primarily concerned with [[civil liberties]].{{Sfn|Marshall|1992|p=641}} Additionally, some anarchists use ''[[libertarian socialist]]''{{Sfnm|1a1=Marshall|1y=1992|1p=641|2a1=Cohn|2y=2009|2p=6|3a1=Levy|3a2=Adams|3y=2018|3p=104}} to avoid anarchism's negative connotations and emphasise its connections with [[socialism]].{{Sfn|Marshall|1992|p=641}} ''Anarchism'' is broadly used to describe the [[anti-authoritarian]] wing of the [[socialist movement]].{{Sfn|Levy|Adams|2018|p=104}}{{Refn|In ''Anarchism: From Theory to Practice'' (1970),{{Sfn|Guérin|1970|p=12}} anarchist historian [[Daniel Guérin]] described it as a synonym for [[libertarian socialism]], and wrote that anarchism "is really a synonym for socialism. The anarchist is primarily a socialist whose aim is to abolish the exploitation of man by man. Anarchism is only one of the streams of socialist thought, that stream whose main components are concern for liberty and haste to abolish the State."{{Sfn|Arvidsson|2017}} In his many works on anarchism, historian [[Noam Chomsky]] describes anarchism, alongside [[libertarian Marxism]], as the [[libertarian]] wing of [[socialism]].{{Sfn|Otero|1994|p=617}}|group=nb}} Anarchism is contrasted to socialist forms which are [[State socialism|state-oriented]] or from above.{{Sfn|Osgood|1889|p=1}} Scholars of anarchism generally highlight anarchism's socialist credentials{{Sfn|Newman|2005|p=15}} and criticise attempts at creating dichotomies between the two.{{Sfn|Morris|2015|p=64}} Some scholars describe anarchism as having many influences from liberalism,{{Sfn|Marshall|1992|p=641}} and being both liberal and socialist but more so.{{Sfn|Walter|2002|p=44}} Many scholars reject [[anarcho-capitalism]] as a misunderstanding of anarchist principles.{{Sfnm|1a1=Marshall|1y=1992|1pp=564–565|2a1=Jennings|2y=1993|2p=143|3a1=Gay|3a2=Gay|3y=1999|3p=15|4a1=Morris|4y=2008|4p=13|5a1=Johnson|5y=2008|5p=169|6a1=Franks|6y=2013|6pp=393–394}}{{Refn|[[Herbert L. Osgood]] claimed that anarchism is "the extreme antithesis" of [[authoritarian communism]] and [[state socialism]].{{Sfn|Osgood|1889|p=1}} [[Peter Marshall (author)|Peter Marshall]] states that "[i]n general anarchism is closer to socialism than liberalism. ... Anarchism finds itself largely in the socialist camp, but it also has outriders in liberalism. It cannot be reduced to socialism, and is best seen as a separate and distinctive doctrine."{{Sfn|Marshall|1992|p=641}} According to [[Jeremy Jennings]], "[i]t is hard not to conclude that these ideas", referring to [[anarcho-capitalism]], "are described as anarchist only on the basis of a misunderstanding of what anarchism is." Jennings adds that "anarchism does not stand for the untrammelled freedom of the individual (as the 'anarcho-capitalists' appear to believe) but, as we have already seen, for the extension of individuality and community."{{Sfn|Jennings|1999|p=147}} [[Nicolas Walter]] wrote that "anarchism does derive from liberalism and socialism both historically and ideologically. ... In a sense, anarchists always remain liberals and socialists, and whenever they reject what is good in either they betray anarchism itself. ... We are liberals but more so, and socialists but more so."{{Sfn|Walter|2002|p=44}} Michael Newman includes anarchism as one of many [[socialist traditions]], especially the more socialist-aligned tradition following Proudhon and [[Mikhail Bakunin]].{{Sfn|Newman|2005|p=15}} [[Brian Morris (anthropologist)|Brian Morris]] argues that it is "conceptually and historically misleading" to "create a dichotomy between socialism and anarchism."{{Sfn|Morris|2015|p=64}}|group=nb}}
===Primitive cultures===
[[Anarcho-primitivists]] assert that, for the longest period before recorded [[history]], human society was organized on anarchist principles. They point to the egalitarian structure of hunter-gatherer bands, to the lack of division of labour and accumulated wealth, non-hierarchal political organization, and the lack of decreed law, as indicators of such indigenous anarchist systems. Examples of indigenous societies with Anarchist political systems include the [[Nuer]] of East Africa, the [[Iroquois ]] (and by some accounts most native people) in [[North America]]. Russel Means, a leader in the [[American Indian Movement]], has repeatedly stated that he is "an anarchist, and so are all [his] ancestors." Other prominent Native Americans, including [[Ward Churchill]] support this position.


While [[Anti-statism|opposition to the state]] is central to anarchist thought, defining ''anarchism'' is not an easy task for scholars, as there is a lot of discussion among scholars and anarchists on the matter, and various currents perceive anarchism slightly differently.{{Sfn|Long|2013|p=217}}{{Refn|One common definition adopted by anarchists is that anarchism is a cluster of political philosophies opposing [[authority]] and [[hierarchical organisation]], including [[Anarchism and capitalism|capitalism]], [[Anarchism and nationalism|nationalism]], the [[State (polity)|state]], and all associated institutions, in the conduct of all [[human relations]] in favour of a society based on [[decentralisation]], [[freedom]], and [[voluntary association]]. Scholars highlight that this definition has the same shortcomings as the definition based on anti-authoritarianism (''[[a posteriori]]'' conclusion), anti-statism (anarchism is much more than that),{{Sfnm|1a1=McLaughlin|1y=2007|1p=166|2a1=Jun|2y=2009|2p=507|3a1=Franks|3y=2013|3pp=386–388}} and etymology (negation of rulers).{{Sfnm|1a1=McLaughlin|1y=2007|1pp=25–29|2a1=Long|2y=2013|2pp=217}}|group=nb}} Major definitional elements include the will for a non-coercive society, the rejection of the state apparatus, the belief that [[human nature]] allows humans to exist in or progress toward such a non-coercive society, and a suggestion on how to act to pursue the ideal of anarchy.{{Sfn|McLaughlin|2007|pp=25–26}}
===Philosophical traces===
Some anarchists have embraced [[Taoism]], which developed in [[History of China|Ancient China]], as a source of anarchistic attitudes [http://www.toxicpop.co.uk/library/taoism.htm]. Similarly, anarchistic tendencies can be traced to the philosophers of [[Ancient Greece]], such as [[Zeno of Citium| Zeno]], the founder of the [[Stoic philosophy]], and [[Aristippus]], who said that the wise should not give up their [[liberty]] to the state [http://www.blackcrayon.com/page.jsp/library/britt1910.html].
Later movements – such as [[Stregheria]] in the 1300's, the [[Free Spirit]] in the [[Middle Ages]],
the [[Anabaptist]]s, [[The Diggers]], and the Ranters,
– have also expounded ideas that have been interpreted as anarchist.


===Ancient Greece===
== History ==
{{Main|History of anarchism}}
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 (Greece)|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'')".


=== Pre-modern era ===
Ancient Greece also saw the first western instance of anarchism as a philosophical ideal, in the form of the [[stoicism|stoic]] philosopher [[Zeno of Citium]], who was, according to [[Peter Kropotkin|Kropotkin]], "[t]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 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 — [[socialization|sociability]]. Like many modern anarchists, he believed that if people follow their instincts, they will have no need of law, [[courts]], or [[police]], no [[temple]]s 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. [http://www.blackcrayon.com/page.jsp/library/britt1910.html]
[[File:Paolo Monti - Servizio fotografico (Napoli, 1969) - BEIC 6353768.jpg|thumb|upright=.7|[[Zeno of Citium]] ({{Circa|334|262 BC}}), whose ''[[Republic (Zeno)|Republic]]'' inspired [[Peter Kropotkin]]{{Sfn|Marshall|1993|p=70}}]]
The most notable precursors to anarchism in the ancient world were in [[History of China#Ancient China|China]] and [[Ancient Greece|Greece]]. In China, [[philosophical anarchism]] (the discussion on the legitimacy of the state) was delineated by [[Taoism|Taoist]] philosophers [[Zhuang Zhou]] and [[Laozi]].{{Sfnm|1a1=Coutinho|1y=2016|2a1=Marshall|2y=1993|2p=54}} Alongside [[Stoicism]], Taoism has been said to have had "significant anticipations" of anarchism.{{Sfn|Sylvan|2007|p=257}}


Anarchic attitudes were also articulated by [[Tragedy|tragedians]] and [[Philosophy|philosophers]] in Greece. [[Aeschylus]] and [[Sophocles]] used the myth of [[Antigone]] to illustrate the conflict between laws imposed by the state and personal [[autonomy]]. [[Socrates]] questioned [[Athens|Athenian]] authorities constantly and insisted on the right of individual [[freedom of conscience]]. [[Cynicism (philosophy)|Cynics]] dismissed human law (''[[Nomos (sociology)|nomos]]'') and associated authorities while trying to live according to nature (''[[physis]]''). [[Stoics]] were supportive of a society based on unofficial and friendly relations among its citizens without the presence of a state.{{Sfn|Marshall|1993|pp=4, 66–73}}
===The Anabaptists===
The [[Anabaptist]]s of [[16th century]] Europe are sometimes considered to be religious forerunners of modern anarchism. [[Bertrand Russell]], in his ''[[history of Western philosophy|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]]...[f]rom this premise they arrive at communism...." The novel [[Q_(novel)|Q]] by [[Luther Blissett (nom de plume)|Luther Blissett]] provides a fictional depiction of this movement and its revolutionary ideology. [[Gerrard Winstanley]] of [[The Diggers]], who published a pamphlet calling for communal ownership and social and economic organization in small agrarian communities in the [[17th century]], is considered another of the forerunners of modern anarchism.


In [[Middle Ages|medieval Europe]], there was no anarchistic activity except some ascetic religious movements. These, and other Muslim movements, later gave birth to [[Anarchism and religion|religious anarchism]]. In the [[Sasanian Empire]], [[Mazdak]] called for an [[egalitarian]] society and the [[abolition of monarchy]], only to be soon executed by Emperor [[Kavad I]].{{Sfn|Marshall|1993|p=86}} In [[Basra]], religious sects preached against the state.{{Sfn|Crone|2000|pp=3, 21–25}} In Europe, various religious sects developed anti-state and libertarian tendencies.{{Sfn|Nettlau|1996|p=8}}
==History of anarchism==


Renewed interest in antiquity during the [[Renaissance]] and in private judgment during the [[Reformation]] restored elements of anti-authoritarian [[secularism]] in Europe, particularly in France.{{Sfn|Marshall|1993|p=108}} [[Age of Enlightenment|Enlightenment]] challenges to intellectual authority (secular and religious) and the [[List of revolutions and rebellions|revolutions of the 1790s and 1848]] all spurred the ideological development of what became the era of classical anarchism.{{Sfn|Levy|Adams|2018|p=307}}
===Justice against the state===


=== Modern era ===
[[William Godwin]], in [http://web.bilkent.edu.tr/Online/www.english.upenn.edu/jlynch/Frank/Godwin/pjtp.html An Enquiry Concerning Political Justice]" ([[1793]]) wrote what would become core anarchist critiques of government, economics, and society; though he did not use the word ''anarchism'', some today regard him as the "founder of philosophical anarchism"
During the [[French Revolution]], partisan groups such as the [[Enragés]] and the {{Lang|fr|[[sans-culottes]]}} saw a turning point in the fermentation of anti-state and federalist sentiments.{{Sfn|Marshall|1993|p=4}} The first anarchist currents developed throughout the 18th century as [[William Godwin]] espoused [[philosophical anarchism]] [[Anarchism in the United Kingdom|in England]], morally delegitimising the state, [[Max Stirner]]'s thinking paved the way to [[Individualist anarchism|individualism]] and [[Pierre-Joseph Proudhon]]'s theory of [[Mutualism (economic theory)|mutualism]] found fertile soil [[Anarchism in France|in France]].{{Sfn|Marshall|1993|pp=4–5}} By the late 1870s, various anarchist schools of thought had become well-defined and a wave of then-unprecedented [[globalisation]] occurred from 1880 to 1914.{{Sfn|Levy|2011|pp=10–15}} This era of [[classical anarchism]] lasted until the end of the [[Spanish Civil War]] and is considered the golden age of anarchism.{{Sfn|Marshall|1993|pp=4–5}}


[[File:Bakunin.png|thumb|upright|Mikhail Bakunin opposed the Marxist aim of [[dictatorship of the proletariat]] and allied himself with the federalists in the First International before his expulsion by the Marxists.]]
By "political justice" Godwin meant "the adoption of any principle of morality and truth into the practice of a community," and his characteristically anarchist conclusion was that government in fact inhibits rather than fosters justice.
Drawing from mutualism, [[Mikhail Bakunin]] founded [[collectivist anarchism]] and entered the [[International Workingmen's Association]], a class [[Working class|worker]] [[Trade union|union]] later known as the [[International Workingmen's Association|First International]] that formed in 1864 to unite diverse revolutionary currents. The International became a significant political force, with [[Karl Marx]] being a leading figure and a member of its General Council. Bakunin's faction (the [[Jura Federation]]) and Proudhon's followers (the mutualists) opposed [[state socialism]], advocating political [[abstentionism]] and small property holdings.{{Sfnm|1a1=Dodson|1y=2002|1p=312|2a1=Thomas|2y=1985|2p=187|3a1=Chaliand|3a2=Blin|3y=2007|3p=116}} After bitter disputes, the Bakuninists were expelled from the International by the [[Marxists]] at the [[1872 Hague Congress]].{{Sfnm|1a1=Graham|1y=2019|1pp=334–336|2a1=Marshall|2y=1993|2p=24}} Anarchists were treated similarly in the [[Second International]], being ultimately expelled in 1896.{{Sfn|Levy|2011|p=12}} Bakunin predicted that if revolutionaries gained power by Marx's terms, they would end up the [[Dictatorship of the proletariat|new tyrants of workers]]. In response to their expulsion from the First International, anarchists formed the [[St. Imier International]]. Under the influence of [[Peter Kropotkin]], a Russian philosopher and scientist, [[anarcho-communism]] overlapped with [[Collectivist anarchism|collectivism]].{{Sfn|Marshall|1993|p=5}} Anarcho-communists, who drew inspiration from the 1871 [[Paris Commune]], advocated for free federation and for the distribution of goods [[From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs|according to one's needs]].{{Sfn|Graham|2005|p=xii}}


By the turn of the 20th century, anarchism had spread all over the world.{{Sfn|Moya|2015|p=327}} It was a notable feature of the international [[Syndicalism|syndicalist]] movement.{{Sfn|Levy|2011|p=16}} In [[Anarchism in China|China]], small groups of students imported the [[Humanism|humanistic]] pro-science version of anarcho-communism.{{Sfn|Marshall|1993|pp=519–521}} [[Anarchism in Japan|Tokyo]] was a hotspot for [[rebellion|rebellious]] youth from East Asian countries, who moved to the Japanese capital to study.{{Sfnm|1a1=Dirlik|1y=1991|1p=133|2a1=Ramnath|2y=2019|2pp=681–682}} In Latin America, [[Anarchism in Argentina|Argentina]] was a stronghold for [[anarcho-syndicalism]], where it became the most prominent left-wing ideology.{{Sfnm|1a1=Levy|1y=2011|1p=23|2a1=Laursen|2y=2019|2p=157|3a1=Marshall|3y=1993|3pp=504–508}} During this time, a minority of anarchists adopted tactics of revolutionary [[political violence]], known as [[propaganda of the deed]].{{Sfn|Marshall|1993|pp=633–636}} The dismemberment of the French socialist movement into many groups and the execution and exile of many [[Communards]] to [[Penal colony|penal colonies]] following the suppression of the Paris Commune favoured individualist political expression and acts.{{Sfn|Anderson|2004}} Even though many anarchists distanced themselves from these terrorist acts, infamy came upon the movement and attempts were made to prevent [[Anarchism in the United States|anarchists immigrating to the US]], including the [[Immigration Act of 1903]], also called the Anarchist Exclusion Act.{{Sfnm|1a1=Marshall|1y=1993|1pp=633–636|2a1=Lutz|2a2=Ulmschneider|2y=2019|2p=46}} [[Illegalism]] was another strategy which some anarchists adopted during this period.{{Sfn|Bantman|2019|p=374}}
Godwin's philosophy was optimistic about the potential for human beings to develop and conduct social relations on the basis of reason and consent. He believed that there are no innate principles, and therefore no original propensity to evil. He considered that "our virtues and our vices may be traced to the incidents which make the history of our lives, and if these incidents could be divested of every improper tendency, vice would be extirpated from the world." The control of man by man in general, and the institution of government in particular, are detrimental to human development. "Government by its very nature counteracts the improvement of original mind."


[[File:Makhno group.jpg|thumb|right|Nestor Makhno seen with members of the anarchist [[Revolutionary Insurgent Army of Ukraine]]]]
Godwin's masterpiece was published in [[1793]], in the thick of the [[French Revolution]]. 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.)
Despite concerns, [[Anarchism in Russia|anarchists]] enthusiastically participated in the [[Russian Revolution]] in opposition to the [[White movement]], especially in the [[Makhnovshchina]]; however, they met harsh suppression after the [[Bolshevik government]] had stabilised, including during the [[Kronstadt rebellion]].{{Sfn|Avrich|2006|p=204}} Several anarchists from Petrograd and Moscow fled to Ukraine, before the Bolsheviks crushed the [[Anarchism in Ukraine|anarchist movement there]] too.{{Sfn|Avrich|2006|p=204}} With the anarchists being repressed in Russia, two new antithetical currents emerged, namely [[platformism]] and [[synthesis anarchism]]. The former sought to create a coherent group that would push for revolution while the latter were against anything that would resemble a political party. Seeing the victories of the [[Bolsheviks]] in the [[October Revolution]] and the resulting [[Russian Civil War]], many workers and activists turned to [[communist parties]], which grew at the expense of anarchism and other socialist movements. In France and the United States, members of major syndicalist movements such as the [[General Confederation of Labour (France)|General Confederation of Labour]] and the [[Industrial Workers of the World]] left their organisations and joined the [[Communist International]].{{Sfn|Nomad|1966|p=88}}


In the [[Spanish Civil War]] of 1936–39, anarchists and syndicalists ([[Confederación Nacional del Trabajo|CNT]] and [[Federación Anarquista Ibérica|FAI]]) once again allied themselves with various currents of leftists. A long tradition of [[Spanish anarchism]] led to anarchists playing a pivotal role in the war, and particularly in the [[Spanish Revolution of 1936]]. In response to the army [[rebellion]], an [[Anarchism in Spain|anarchist-inspired movement]] of peasants and workers, supported by armed militias, took control of [[Barcelona]] and of large areas of rural Spain, where they [[collectivised]] the land.{{Sfn|Bolloten|1984|p=1107}} The [[Soviet Union]] provided some limited assistance at the beginning of the war, but the result was a bitter fight between communists and other leftists in a series of events known as the [[May Days]], as [[Joseph Stalin]] asserted Soviet control of the [[Republican faction (Spanish Civil War)|Republican]] government, ending in another defeat of anarchists at the hands of the communists.{{Sfn|Marshall|1993|pp=xi, 466}}
===What is property?===


==== Post-WWII ====
[[Image:Proudhon-young.jpg|thumb|right|[[Pierre-Joseph Proudhon|Pierre Proudhon]] (1809-1865)]]
[[File:Rojava Sewing Cooperative.jpg|thumb|[[Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria|Rojava's]] support efforts for workers to form cooperatives is exemplified in this sewing cooperative.]]
It is commonly held that it wasn't until [[Pierre-Joseph Proudhon]] published "[http://ns52.super-hosts.com/~vaz1net/bill/anarchism/library/WhatIsProperty/ 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.
By the end of [[World War II]], the anarchist movement had been severely weakened.{{Sfn|Marshall|1993|p=xi}} The 1960s witnessed a revival of anarchism, likely caused by a perceived failure of [[Marxism–Leninism]] and tensions built by the [[Cold War]].{{Sfn|Marshall|1993|p=539}} During this time, anarchism found a presence in other movements critical towards both capitalism and the state such as the [[Anti-nuclear movement|anti-nuclear]], [[Environmental movement|environmental]], and [[peace movement]]s, the [[counterculture of the 1960s]], and the [[New Left]].{{Sfn|Marshall|1993|pp=xi, 539}} It also saw a transition from its previous revolutionary nature to provocative [[anti-capitalist reform]]ism.{{Sfn|Levy|2011|pp=5|p=}} Anarchism became associated with [[punk subculture]] as exemplified by bands such as [[Crass]] and the [[Sex Pistols]].{{Sfn|Marshall|1993|pp=493–494}} The established [[feminist]] tendencies of [[anarcha-feminism]] returned with vigour during the [[second wave of feminism]].{{Sfn|Marshall|1993|pp=556–557}} [[Black anarchism]] began to take form at this time and influenced anarchism's move from a [[Eurocentric]] demographic.{{Sfn|Williams|2015|p=680}} This coincided with its failure to gain traction in Northern Europe and its unprecedented height in Latin America.{{Sfn|Harmon|2011|p=70}}


Around the turn of the 21st century, anarchism grew in popularity and influence within anti-capitalist, [[Anti-war movement|anti-war]] and [[anti-globalisation]] movements.{{Sfn|Rupert|2006|p=66}} Anarchists became known for their involvement in protests against the [[World Trade Organization]] (WTO), the [[Group of Eight]] and the [[World Economic Forum]]. During the [[protest]]s, ''ad hoc'' [[Leaderless resistance|leaderless]] anonymous cadres known as [[black bloc]]s engaged in rioting, [[property destruction]] and [[Violence|violent]] confrontations with the police. Other organisational tactics pioneered at this time include [[affinity group]]s, [[security culture]] and the use of decentralised technologies such as the Internet. A significant event of this period was the confrontations at the [[1999 Seattle WTO conference]].{{Sfn|Rupert|2006|p=66}} Anarchist ideas have been influential in the development of the [[Zapatista Army of National Liberation|Zapatistas]] in [[Anarchism in Mexico|Mexico]] and the Democratic Federation of Northern Syria, more commonly known as [[Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria|Rojava]], a ''de facto'' [[Permanent autonomous zone|autonomous region]] in northern [[Anarchism in Syria|Syria]].{{Sfn|Ramnath|2019|p=691}}
In ''What is Property'' Proudhon answers with the famous accusation "Property is theft." In this work he opposed the institution of property (''propriété'') involving full 'rights of use and abuse' as it exists in capitalism; but he supported a more limited right of 'possession' (''possession'') by individuals of the means and produce of their own labour. Proudhon's vision of anarchy, which he called mutualism (''mutuellisme''), thus involved a non-coercive exchange economy where individuals would trade the produce of their labour. This would be a market system without profit; goods would be traded on the basis of the labour time; a national bank would lend without interest to support production. Without property interests to protect, the state would become superfluous.


While having revolutionary aspirations, many contemporary forms of anarchism are not confrontational. Instead, they are trying to build an alternative way of [[social organization]] (following the theories of [[dual power]]), based on [[Mutual aid|mutual interdependence]] and voluntary cooperation. Scholar Carissa Honeywell takes the example of [[Food Not Bombs]] group of collectives, to highlight some features of how contemporary anarchist groups work: [[direct action]], working together and in solidarity with those left behind. While doing so, Food Not Bombs provides [[consciousness raising]] about the rising rates of world [[hunger]] and suggest policies to tackle hunger, ranging from [[Funding|de-funding]] the [[arms industry]] to addressing [[Monsanto]] [[Seed saving|seed-saving]] policies and [[patent]]s, helping [[farmer]]s, and resisting the [[commodification]] of food and housing.{{Sfn|Honeywell|2021|pp=34–44}} Honeywell also emphasizes that contemporary anarchists are interested in the flourishing not only of [[human]]s, but [[Animal|non-humans]] and the [[Environmentalism|environment]] as well.{{Sfn|Honeywell|2021|pp=1–2}} Honeywell argues that their analysis of capitalism and governments results in anarchists [[Anti-politics|rejecting]] [[representative democracy]] and the state as a whole.{{Sfn|Honeywell|2021|pp=1–3}}
Proudhon generally opposed violent expropriation of property; instead he tended to advocate schemes (including the formation of an interest-free community-owned bank, which would become the prototype for modern [[credit unions]]) whereby workers would create mutual organisations that could come to supplant capitalism and render the state superfluous. 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]]. However authoritarian socialist tendencies such as [[Blanquism]] were a stronger force in Proudhon's own time.


{{Anchor|Branches}}
Proudhon's work on property raised a central issue in the future development of anarchism. The question of property, and its place in an anarchist society, is sometimes seen as dividing anarchism thereafter into two major streams or tendencies which can loosely be called 'individualism' and 'collectivism'.


== Schools of thought ==
It should be noted that, like Godwin, Proudhon moved away from anarchism in later life. His later work ''Theory of Property'' (''Theorié de la Propriété'') gives a historical account in which property, in the full [[Roman Law]] sense, appears as an 'odious' but necessary evil counterbalancing the power of the state.
Anarchist schools of thought have been generally grouped into two main historical traditions, [[social anarchism]] and [[individualist anarchism]], owing to their different origins, [[Value (ethics and social sciences)|values]] and evolution.{{Sfnm|1a1=McLean|1a2=McMillan|1y=2003|1loc="Anarchism"|2a1=Ostergaard|2y=2003|2p=14|2loc="Anarchism"}} The individualist current emphasises [[negative liberty]] in opposing restraints upon the free individual, while the social current emphasises [[positive liberty]] in aiming to achieve the free potential of society through equality and [[social ownership]].{{Sfn|Harrison|Boyd|2003|p=251}} In a chronological sense, anarchism can be segmented by the classical currents of the late 19th century and the post-classical currents ([[anarcha-feminism]], [[green anarchism]], and [[post-anarchism]]) developed thereafter.{{Sfn|Levy|Adams|2018|p=9}}


Beyond the specific factions of anarchist movements which constitute political anarchism lies philosophical anarchism which holds that the state lacks [[Legitimacy (political)|moral legitimacy]], without necessarily accepting the imperative of revolution to eliminate it.{{Sfn|Egoumenides|2014|p=2}} A component especially of individualist anarchism,{{Sfnm|1a1=Ostergaard|1y=2003|1p=12|2a1=Gabardi|2y=1986|2pp=300–302}} philosophical anarchism may tolerate the existence of a [[minimal state]] but claims that citizens have no [[moral obligation]] to obey government when it conflicts with individual [[autonomy]].{{Sfn|Klosko|2005|p=4}} Anarchism pays significant attention to moral arguments since ethics have a central role in anarchist philosophy.{{Sfn|Franks|2019|p=549}} Anarchism's emphasis on [[anti-capitalism]], [[egalitarianism]], and for the extension of community and [[individual]]ity sets it apart from anarcho-capitalism and other types of [[economic libertarian]]ism.{{Sfnm|1a1=Marshall|1y=1992|1pp=564–565|2a1=Jennings|2y=1993|2p=143|3a1=Gay|3a2=Gay|3y=1999|3p=15|4a1=Morris|4y=2008|4p=13|5a1=Johnson|5y=2008|5p=169|6a1=Franks|6y=2013|6pp=393–394}}
===Individualism===


Anarchism is usually placed on the far-left of the political spectrum.{{Sfnm|1a1=Brooks|1y=1994|1p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=gHyUj9HFYBIC&pg=PP15 xi]|1ps=, "Usually considered to be an extreme left-wing ideology".}} Much of its [[Anarchist economics|economics]] and [[Anarchist law|legal philosophy]] reflect [[anti-authoritarian]], [[anti-statist]], [[libertarian]], and [[Radical politics|radical]] interpretations of left-wing and [[socialist]] politics{{Sfn|Guérin|1970|p=12}} such as [[Collectivist anarchism|collectivism]], [[anarchist communism|communism]], [[Individualist anarchism|individualism]], [[Mutualism (economic theory)|mutualism]], and [[Anarcho-syndicalism|syndicalism]], among other [[libertarian socialist]] economic theories.{{Sfn|Guérin|1970|p=35|loc="Critique of authoritarian socialism"}} As anarchism does not offer a fixed body of [[doctrine]] from a single particular [[worldview]],{{Sfn|Marshall|1993|pp=14–17}} many anarchist types and traditions exist and varieties of anarchy diverge widely.{{Sfn|Sylvan|2007|p=262}} One reaction against [[sectarianism]] within the anarchist milieu was [[anarchism without adjectives]], a call for [[toleration]] and unity among anarchists first adopted by [[Fernando Tarrida del Mármol]] in 1889 in response to the bitter debates of anarchist theory at the time.{{Sfn|Avrich|1996|p=6}} Belief in political [[nihilism]] has been espoused by anarchists.{{Sfn|Walter|2002|p=52}} Despite separation, the various anarchist schools of thought are not seen as distinct entities but rather as tendencies that intermingle and are connected through a set of shared principles such as autonomy, [[mutual aid]], [[anti-authoritarianism]] and [[Decentralization|decentralisation]].{{Sfnm|1a1=Marshall|1y=1993|1pp=1–6|2a1=Angelbeck|2a2=Grier|2y=2012|2p=551}}
''See also:'' [[Individualist anarchism]], [[mutualism]], [[Anarchism and capitalism]], [[Anarchist economics]]
[[Image:BenjaminTucker.jpg|thumb|right|[[Benjamin Tucker]]]]


=== Classical ===
Individualists, taking much from the writings of [[Max Stirner]], among others, demanded the utmost respect for the [[liberty]] of the individual. While some individualists looked to [[natural law]] to justify individualism, Stirner's "Egoism" held that [[self-interest]] is the only legitimate justification for action. While its roots include William Godwin, Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, and Max Stirner, it is most often associated with the [[American individualist anarchism|American tradition of individualist anarchism]], which advocates private possession (individual ownership of the "full produce" of one's labor) and a [[market economy]] where this property may be bought and sold.
[[File:Portrait of Pierre Joseph Proudhon 1865.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Pierre-Joseph Proudhon]] is the primary proponent of [[Mutualism (economic theory)|mutualism]] and influenced many future [[Individualist anarchism|individualist anarchist]] and [[Social anarchism|social anarchist]] thinkers.{{Sfn|Wilbur|2019|pp=216–218}}]]
Inceptive currents among classical anarchist currents were [[Mutualism (economic theory)|mutualism]] and [[Individualist anarchism|individualism]]. They were followed by the major currents of social anarchism ([[Collectivist anarchism|collectivist]], [[anarchist communism|communist]] and [[Anarcho-syndicalism|syndicalist]]). They differ on [[Organization|organisational]] and economic aspects of their ideal society.{{Sfn|Levy|Adams|2018|p=2}}


Mutualism is an 18th-century economic theory that was developed into anarchist theory by Pierre-Joseph Proudhon. Its aims include "abolishing the state",<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |title=The Desk Encyclopedia of World History |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |date=2006 |isbn=978-0-7394-7809-7 |editor-last=Wright |editor-first=Edmund |location=New York |pages=20–21}}</ref> [[Reciprocity (cultural anthropology)|reciprocity]], [[Free association (Marxism and anarchism)|free association]], voluntary contract, federation and [[monetary reform]] of both credit and currency that would be regulated by a bank of the people.{{Sfn|Wilbur|2019|pp=213–218}} Mutualism has been retrospectively characterised as ideologically situated between individualist and collectivist forms of anarchism.{{Sfnm|1a1=Avrich|1y=1996|1p=6|2a1=Miller|2y=1991|2p=11}} In ''[[What Is Property?]]'' (1840), Proudhon first characterised his goal as a "third form of society, the synthesis of communism and property."{{Sfn|Pierson|2013|p=187}} Collectivist anarchism is a [[revolutionary socialist]] form of anarchism{{Sfn|Morris|1993|p=76}} commonly associated with [[Mikhail Bakunin]].{{Sfn|Shannon|2019|p=101}} Collectivist anarchists advocate [[collective ownership]] of the [[means of production]] which is theorised to be achieved through violent revolution{{Sfn|Avrich|1996|pp=3–4}} and that workers be paid according to time worked, rather than goods being distributed according to need as in communism. Collectivist anarchism arose alongside [[Marxism]] but rejected the [[dictatorship of the proletariat]] despite the stated Marxist goal of a collectivist [[stateless society]].{{Sfnm|1a1=Heywood|1y=2017|1pp=146–147|2a1=Bakunin|2y=1990}}
In the United States, anarchist thoughts were expressed in the writings of Josiah Warren, Benjamin Tucker, and Lysander Spooner. They espouse a [[labor theory of value]], and, as a result, they regard profit (and thus capitalism), as being exploitative. Wage labor is supported as long as wages adhere to the labor theory of value, hence, traditional individualists tend to advocate, and practice, an economic system called ''[[mutualism (economic theory)|mutualism]]'' as an alternative to capitalism and communism. The major tenets of mutualism are free association, mutualist credit, contract (or federation), and gradualism (or dual-power). Individualists oppose property titles to unused land, arguing that land must be possessed to be legitimate property. Individualism contrasts with collectivist forms of anarchism (anarcho-communism and anarcho-syndicalism), and the relationships between these groups of been characterized by varying degrees of antagonism and harmony throughout their history.


Anarcho-communism is a theory of anarchism that advocates a [[communist society]] with [[common ownership]] of the means of production,{{Sfn|Mayne|1999|p=131}} held by a [[federalism|federal]] network of [[voluntary association]]s,{{Sfn|Marshall|1993|p=327}} with production and consumption based on the guiding principle "[[From each according to his ability, to each according to his need]]."{{Sfnm|1a1=Marshall|1y=1993|1p=327|2a1=Turcato|2y=2019|2pp=237–238}} Anarcho-communism developed from radical socialist currents after the [[French Revolution]]{{Sfn|Graham|2005}} but was first formulated as such in the [[Anarchism in Italy|Italian]] section of the [[First International]].{{Sfn|Pernicone|2009|pp=111–113}} It was later expanded upon in the theoretical work of [[Peter Kropotkin]],{{Sfn|Turcato|2019|pp=239–244}} whose specific style would go onto become the dominating view of anarchists by the late 19th century.{{Sfn|Levy|2011|p=6}} Anarcho-syndicalism is a branch of anarchism that views [[labour syndicate]]s as a potential force for revolutionary social change, replacing capitalism and the state with a new society democratically self-managed by workers. The basic principles of anarcho-syndicalism are [[direct action]], workers' [[solidarity]] and [[workers' self-management]].{{Sfn|Van der Walt|2019|p=249}}
Many also consider Henry David Thoreau as an individualist anarchist due to his position that individuals should not be governed and his belief that all should be free to withdraw themselves from "any incorporated body." Noteworthy anarchist writer and poet John Henry Mackay is also considered an individualist anarchist. Contemporary individualist anarchists include [[Robert Anton Wilson]], and Joe Peacott.


Individualist anarchism is a set of several traditions of thought within the anarchist movement that emphasise the [[individual]] and their [[Will (philosophy)|will]] over any kinds of external determinants.{{Sfn|Ryley|2019|p=225}} Early influences on individualist forms of anarchism include [[William Godwin]], [[Max Stirner]], and [[Henry David Thoreau]]. Through many countries, individualist anarchism attracted a small yet diverse following of Bohemian artists and intellectuals{{Sfn|Marshall|1993|p=440}} as well as young anarchist outlaws in what became known as [[illegalism]] and [[individual reclamation]].{{Sfnm|1a1=Imrie|1y=1994|2a1=Parry|2y=1987|2p=15}}
===The International - Anarchism becomes a mass movement===


=== Post-classical and contemporary ===
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]].
{{Main|Contemporary anarchism}}
[[File:Jarach and Zerzan.JPG|thumb|Lawrence Jarach (left) and [[John Zerzan]] (right) are two prominent contemporary anarchist authors, with Zerzan being a prominent voice within [[anarcho-primitivism]] and Jarach a notable advocate of [[post-left anarchy]].]]
Anarchist principles undergird contemporary radical [[social movement]]s of the left. Interest in the anarchist movement developed alongside momentum in the anti-globalisation movement,{{Sfn|Evren|2011|p=1}} whose leading activist networks were anarchist in orientation.{{Sfn|Evren|2011|p=2}} As the movement shaped 21st century radicalism, wider embrace of anarchist principles signaled a revival of interest.{{Sfn|Evren|2011|p=2}} Anarchism has continued to generate many philosophies and movements, at times eclectic, drawing upon various sources and [[syncretic|combining disparate concepts]] to create new philosophical approaches.{{Sfn|Williams|2007|p=303}} The anti-capitalist tradition of classical anarchism has remained prominent within contemporary currents.{{Sfn|Williams|2018|p=4}}


Contemporary news coverage which emphasizes [[black bloc]] demonstrations has reinforced anarchism's historical association with chaos and violence. Its publicity has also led more scholars in fields such as [[anthropology]] and [[Historian|history]] to engage with the anarchist movement, although contemporary anarchism favours actions over [[Academy|academic]] theory.{{Sfnm|1a1=Williams|1y=2010|1p=110|2a1=Evren|2y=2011|2p=1|3a1=Angelbeck|3a2=Grier|3y=2012|3p=549}} Various anarchist groups, tendencies, and schools of thought exist today, making it difficult to describe the contemporary anarchist movement.{{Sfn|Franks|2013|pp=385–386}} While theorists and activists have established "relatively stable constellations of anarchist principles", there is no consensus on which principles are core and commentators describe multiple ''anarchisms'', rather than a singular ''anarchism'', in which common principles are shared between schools of anarchism while each group prioritizes those principles differently. [[Gender equality]] can be a common principle, although it ranks as a higher priority to anarcha-feminists than anarcho-communists.{{Sfn|Franks|2013|p=386}}
The [[International Workingmen's Association]], at its founding, was an alliance of diverse socialist groups, including French [[Mutualism|Mutualists]], English [[Owenism|Owenites]], and others. Over its short life it grew into a major movement, with local federations in many countries developing strong bases of working class [[activism]]. But at the same time the IWA began to polarise into two camps, with [[Karl Marx]] and [[Mikhail Bakunin]] as their respective figureheads.


Anarchists are generally committed against coercive authority in all forms, namely "all centralized and [[Hierarchical organization|hierarchical]] forms of government (e.g., monarchy, representative democracy, state socialism, etc.), economic class systems (e.g., capitalism, [[Bolshevism]], [[feudalism]], [[slavery]], etc.), autocratic religions (e.g., [[Islamic fundamentalism|fundamentalist Islam]], [[Catholic Church|Roman Catholicism]], etc.), [[patriarchy]], [[heterosexism]], [[white supremacy]], and [[imperialism]]."{{Sfn|Jun|2009|pp=507–508}} Anarchist schools disagree on the methods by which these forms should be opposed.{{Sfn|Jun|2009|p=507}} The principle of [[equal liberty]] is closer to anarchist political ethics in that it transcends both the liberal and socialist traditions. This entails that liberty and equality cannot be implemented within the state, resulting in the questioning of all forms of domination and hierarchy.{{Sfn|Egoumenides|2014|p=91}}
Both sides had a stated common aim (stateless communism), and common political opponents (the [[ruling class]]). But each was critical of the other, and the conflict between the two groups intensified. Perhaps the clearest differences emerged over 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. (Particularly when the new [[German Empire]] of 1871 became the first country to introduce manhood suffrage, leading many German socialists to focus their energies within the then Marxist [[Social Democratic Party of Germany]].)


== Tactics ==
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 the expulsion of Bakunin and those who had become known as the "Bakuninists" when they were outvoted by the Marxists at the [[Hague Congress (1872)|Hague Congress]]. This is often cited as the origin of the long-running [[Anarchist_objections_to_marxism|conflict between anarchists and Marxists]]. From then on, the ''[[authoritarian]]'' and ''[[Libertarianism|libertarian]]'' currents of socialism had distinct organisations, at various points including rival [[List of left-wing internationals|'internationals'.]]
Anarchists' tactics take various forms but in general serve two major goals, namely, to first oppose [[the Establishment]] and secondly to promote anarchist ethics and reflect an anarchist vision of society, illustrating the [[Instrumental and intrinsic value|unity of means and ends]].{{Sfn|Williams|2019|pp=107–108}} A broad categorisation can be made between aims to destroy oppressive states and institutions by revolutionary means on one hand and aims to change society through evolutionary means on the other.{{Sfn|Williams|2018|pp=4–5}} Evolutionary tactics embrace [[nonviolence]] and take a gradual approach to anarchist aims, although there is significant overlap between the two.{{Sfn|Kinna|2019|p=125}}


Anarchist tactics have shifted during the course of the last century. Anarchists during the early 20th century focused more on strikes and militancy while contemporary anarchists use a [[Diversity of tactics|broader array of approaches]].{{Sfn|Williams|2019|p=112}}
Unfortunately, many of the debates between the opposing camps became heated to the point of abusiveness. Bakunin did not restrain himself from hurling [[anti-German]] and [[anti-semitic]] slurs at Marx.


===The theory of anarchist communism===
=== Classical era ===
[[File:McKinleyAssassination.jpg|thumb|right|The relationship between [[anarchism and violence]] is a controversial subject among anarchists as shown by anarchist [[Leon Czolgosz]] [[Assassination of William McKinley|assassinating]] [[William McKinley]].]]
During the classical era, anarchists had a militant tendency. Not only did they confront state armed forces, as in Spain and Ukraine, but some of them also employed terrorism as [[propaganda of the deed]]. Assassination attempts were carried out against [[Head of state|heads of state]], some of which were successful. Anarchists also took part in revolutions.{{Sfn|Williams|2019|pp=112–113}} Many anarchists, especially the [[Galleanists]], believed that these attempts would be the impetus for a revolution against capitalism and the state.{{Sfn|Norris|2020|pp=7–8}} Many of these attacks were done by individual assailants and the majority took place in the late 1870s, the early 1880s and the 1890s, with some still occurring in the early 1900s.{{Sfnm|1a1=Levy|1y=2011|1p=13|2a1=Nesser|2y=2012|2p=62}} Their decrease in prevalence was the result of further judicial power and of targeting and cataloging by state institutions.{{Sfn|Harmon|2011|p=55}}


Anarchist perspectives towards violence have always been controversial.{{Sfn|Carter|1978|p=320}} [[Anarcho-pacifism|Anarcho-pacifists]] advocate for non-violence means to achieve their stateless, nonviolent ends.{{Sfn|Fiala|2017|loc=section 3.1}} Other anarchist groups advocate [[direct action]], a tactic which can include acts of [[sabotage]] or [[terrorism]]. This attitude was quite prominent a century ago when seeing the state as a [[tyrant]] and some anarchists believing that they had every right to oppose its oppression by any means possible.{{Sfn|Kinna|2019|pp=116–117}} [[Emma Goldman]] and [[Errico Malatesta]], who were proponents of limited use of violence, stated that violence is merely a reaction to state violence as a [[necessary evil]].{{Sfn|Carter|1978|pp=320–325}}
''See also:'' [[Anarchist communism]]


Anarchists took an active role in strike actions, although they tended to be antipathetic to formal [[syndicalism]], seeing it as [[reformist]]. They saw it as a part of the movement which sought to overthrow the state and capitalism.{{Sfn|Williams|2019|p=113}} Anarchists also reinforced their propaganda [[Anarchism and the arts|within the arts]], some of whom practiced [[naturism]] and [[nudism]]. Those anarchists also built communities which were based on friendship and were involved in the news media.{{Sfn|Williams|2019|p=114}}
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.


=== Revolutionary ===
[[Image:Kropotkin.jpg|thumb|left]]
[[File:Black bloc at RNC running.jpg|thumb|Black bloc protesters parading anarcho-communism imagery such as the motto "[[No War but the Class War]]"]]
In the current era, [[Anarchism in Italy|Italian anarchist]] [[Alfredo Bonanno]], a proponent of [[insurrectionary anarchism]], has reinstated the debate on violence by rejecting the nonviolence tactic adopted since the late 19th century by Kropotkin and other prominent anarchists afterwards. Both Bonanno and the French group [[The Invisible Committee]] advocate for small, informal affiliation groups, where each member is responsible for their own actions but works together to bring down oppression using [[sabotage]] and other violent means against state, capitalism, and other enemies. [[Tarnac Nine|Members of The Invisible Committee were arrested in 2008]] on various charges, terrorism included.{{Sfn|Kinna|2019|pp=134–135}}


Overall, contemporary anarchists are much less violent and militant than their ideological ancestors. They mostly engage in confronting the police during demonstrations and riots, especially in countries such as [[Anarchism in Canada|Canada]], [[Anarchism in Greece|Greece]], and [[Anarchism in Mexico|Mexico]]. Militant black bloc protest groups are known for clashing with the police;{{Sfn|Williams|2019|p=115}} however, anarchists not only clash with state operators, they also engage in the struggle against [[Fascism|fascists]] and [[Racism|racists]], taking [[anti-fascist]] action and mobilizing to prevent hate rallies from happening.{{Sfn|Williams|2019|p=117}}
The Italian federation of the [[First International]], which overwhelmingly took the Bakuninist line, was 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-[[Giuseppe Mazzini|Mazzinian]] Republicans. At its Florence Conference of 1876, their federation stated its principles as follows:


=== Evolutionary ===
:''"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."''
Anarchists commonly employ [[direct action]]. This can take the form of disrupting and protesting against unjust hierarchy, or the form of self-managing their lives through the creation of counter-institutions such as [[Intentional community|communes]] and non-hierarchical collectives.{{Sfn|Williams|2018|pp=4–5}} Decision-making is often handled in an anti-authoritarian way, with everyone having [[Group decision-making|equal say in each decision]], an approach known as [[horizontalidad|horizontalism]].{{Sfn|Williams|2019|pp=109–117}} Contemporary-era anarchists have been engaging with various [[grassroots]] movements that are more or less based on horizontalism, although not explicitly anarchist, respecting personal autonomy and participating in mass activism such as strikes and demonstrations. In contrast with the "big-A Anarchism" of the classical era, the newly coined term "small-a anarchism" signals their tendency not to base their thoughts and actions on classical-era anarchism or to refer to classical anarchists such as Peter Kropotkin and Pierre-Joseph Proudhon to justify their opinions. Those anarchists would rather base their thought and praxis on their own experience, which they will later theorize.{{Sfn|Kinna|2019|pp=145–149}}


The concept of [[prefigurative politics]] is enacted by many contemporary anarchist groups, striving to embody the principles, organization and tactics of the changed social structure they hope to bring about. As part of this the decision-making process of small anarchist affinity groups plays a significant tactical role.{{Sfn|Williams|2019|pp=109, 119}} Anarchists have employed various methods to build a rough consensus among members of their group without the need of a leader or a leading group. One way is for an individual from the group to play the role of [[facilitator]] to help achieve a [[Consensus decision-making|consensus]] without taking part in the discussion themselves or promoting a specific point. Minorities usually accept rough consensus, except when they feel the proposal contradicts anarchist ethics, goals and values. Anarchists usually form small groups (5–20 individuals) to enhance autonomy and friendships among their members. These kinds of groups more often than not interconnect with each other, forming larger networks. Anarchists still support and participate in strikes, especially [[Wildcat strike action|wildcat strikes]] as these are leaderless strikes not organised centrally by a syndicate.{{Sfn|Williams|2019|pp=119–121}}
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.


As in the past, newspapers and journals are used, and anarchists have gone online to spread their message. Anarchists have found it easier to create websites because of distributional and other difficulties, hosting electronic libraries and other portals.{{Sfn|Williams|2019|pp=118–119}} Anarchists were also involved in developing various software that are available for free. The way these [[Hacktivism|hacktivists]] work to develop and distribute resembles the anarchist ideals, especially when it comes to preserving users' privacy from [[Mass surveillance|state surveillance]].{{Sfn|Williams|2019|pp=120–121}}
Anarchist communists advocate an egalitarian society without markets or wages, based on the principle of "from each according to their ability, to each according to need." Decisions would be made through [[workers councils]] and assemblies. There would be direct [[worker control]] of production, and self-management of community institutions. Communities, groups and workplaces would be connected together through [[federation]]s and [[social network|networks]] created by [[free association]] and popular affinity.


Anarchists organize themselves to [[Squatting|squat]] and reclaim [[public space]]s. During important events such as protests and when spaces are being occupied, they are often called [[Temporary Autonomous Zone]]s (TAZ), spaces where art, poetry, and [[surrealism]] are blended to display the anarchist ideal.{{Sfnm|1a1=Kinna|1y=2019|1p=139|2a1=Mattern|2y=2019|2p=596|3a1=Williams|3y=2018|3pp=5–6}} As seen by anarchists, [[squatting]] is a way to regain urban space from the capitalist market, serving pragmatical needs and also being an exemplary direct action.{{Sfnm|1a1=Kinna|1y=2012|1p=250|2a1=Williams|2y=2019|2p=119}} Acquiring space enables anarchists to experiment with their ideas and build social bonds.{{Sfn|Williams|2019|p=122}} Adding up these tactics while having in mind that not all anarchists share the same attitudes towards them, along with various forms of protesting at highly symbolic events, make up a [[carnivalesque]] atmosphere that is part of contemporary anarchist vividity.{{Sfn|Morland|2004|pp=37–38}}
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 [[science|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]]).


== Key issues ==
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.


<!-- In the interest of restricting article length, these overview summaries are meant to be brief. Thank you. -->
===Propaganda by the deed===
As anarchism is a philosophy that embodies many diverse attitudes, tendencies, and schools of thought, disagreement over questions of values, ideology, and [[Tactic (method)|tactics]] is common. Its diversity has led to widely different uses of identical terms among different anarchist traditions which has created a number of [[definitional concerns in anarchist theory]]. The compatibility of [[Anarchism and capitalism|capitalism]],{{Sfnm|1a1=Marshall|1y=1993|1p=565|2a1=Honderich|2y=1995|2p=31|3a1=Meltzer|3y=2000|3p=50|4a1=Goodway|4y=2006|4p=4|5a1=Newman|5y=2010|5p=53}} [[Anarchism and nationalism|nationalism]], and [[Anarchism and religion|religion]] with anarchism is widely disputed, and anarchism enjoys complex relationships with ideologies such as communism, [[Collectivist anarchism|collectivism]], Marxism, and [[trade unionism]]. Anarchists may be motivated by [[humanism]], [[God|divine authority]], [[enlightened self-interest]], [[Veganarchism|veganism]], or any number of alternative ethical doctrines. Phenomena such as [[civilisation]], technology (e.g. within anarcho-primitivism), and the [[Anarchism and statist democracy|democratic process]] may be sharply criticised within some anarchist tendencies and simultaneously lauded in others.{{Sfn|De George|2005|pp=31–32}}


=== The state ===
Anarchists have often been portrayed as dangerous and violent, due mainly to a number of high-profile violent acts including [[riot]]s, [[assassination]]s, and [[insurrection]]s involving anarchists. Some [[revolution]]aries of the late 19th century encouraged acts of political violence, such as [[bomb]]ings and the [[assassination]]s of [[head of state|heads of state]] to further anarchism. Such actions have sometimes been called '[[propaganda by the deed]]'.
<!-- Important! Strive to explain how anarchists perceive authority and oppression and why they reject them. Jun (2019), p. 41. -->[[File:Fight_the_state,_not_wars.jpg|thumb|Anarchist protesters in [[Boston]] opposing state-waged war]]
Objection to the [[State (polity)|state]] and its institutions is a ''[[sine qua non]]'' of anarchism.{{Sfnm|1a1=Carter|1y=1971|1p=14|2a1=Jun|2y=2019|2pp=29–30}} Anarchists consider the state as a tool of domination and believe it to be illegitimate regardless of its political tendencies. Instead of people being able to control the aspects of their life, major decisions are taken by a small elite. Authority ultimately rests solely on power, regardless of whether that power is [[Open government|open]] or [[Transparency (behavior)|transparent]], as it still has the ability to coerce people. Another anarchist argument against states is that the people constituting a government, even the most altruistic among officials, will unavoidably seek to gain more power, leading to corruption. Anarchists consider the idea that the state is the collective will of the people to be an unachievable fiction due to the fact that the [[ruling class]] is distinct from the rest of society.{{Sfn|Jun|2019|pp=32–38}}


Specific anarchist attitudes towards the state vary. [[Robert Paul Wolff]] believed that the tension between authority and autonomy would mean the state could never be legitimate. Bakunin saw the state as meaning "coercion, domination by means of coercion, camouflaged if possible but unceremonious and overt if need be." [[A. John Simmons]] and [[Leslie Green (philosopher)|Leslie Green]], who leaned toward philosophical anarchism, believed that the state could be legitimate if it is governed by consensus, although they saw this as highly unlikely.{{Sfnm|1a1=Wendt|1y=2020|1p=2|2a1=Ashwood|2y=2018|2p=727}} Beliefs on how to abolish the state also differ.{{Sfn|Ashwood|2018|p=735}}
Between 1894 and 1901, individual anarchists assassinated numerous heads of state. For example, US President McKinley's assassin, [[Leon Czolgosz]], (a registered Republican who had never belonged to any Anarchist organization) claimed to have been influenced by [[Emma Goldman]] - although Goldman disavowed any association with him. Because [[international terrorism]] arose during this time period with the widespread distribution of dynamite, bombings were associated with anarchists, an image that remains to this day. Depictions in the press and popular fiction helped create a lasting public impression that anarchists are violent terrorists. This perception was enhanced by events such as the [[Haymarket Riot]], where anarchists were blamed for throwing a bomb at police who came to break up a public meeting in [[Chicago, Illinois]].


=== Gender, sexuality, and free love ===
The use of [[terrorism]] and [[assassination]], however, is condemned by most anarchists. Even anarchists who see acts of violence as justified in a context of [[insurrection]] and [[class war]] would often view individual acts of terrorism as ineffective and counter-productive.
{{Main|Anarchism and issues related to love and sex}}
As [[gender]] and [[Human sexuality|sexuality]] carry along them dynamics of hierarchy, many anarchists address, analyse, and oppose the suppression of one's autonomy imposed by gender roles.{{Sfn|Nicholas|2019|p=603}}


[[File:AnarchaFeminism.png|thumb|upright=1.2|Collection of [[anarcha-feminist]] protests, symbols, and flags]]
However there is no [[consensus]] on the legitimacy or utility of violence as such in the furtherance of anarchism. [[Mikhail Bakunin]] and [[Errico Malatesta]] saw violence as a necessary and sometimes desirable force. Malatesta took the view that it is "necessary to destroy with violence, since one cannot do otherwise, the violence which denies [the means of life and for development] to the workers" (''[[Umanità Nova]]'', number 125, September 6, 1921[http://flag.blackened.net/revolt/anarchists/malatesta/rev_haste.html]).
Sexuality was not often discussed by classical anarchists but the few that did felt that an anarchist society would lead to sexuality naturally developing.{{Sfn|Lucy|2020|p=162}} Sexual violence was a concern for anarchists such as [[Benjamin Tucker]], who opposed [[Age of consent reform|age of consent laws]], believing they would benefit predatory men.{{Sfn|Lucy|2020|p=178}} A historical current that arose and flourished during 1890 and 1920 within anarchism was [[free love]]. In contemporary anarchism, this current survives as a tendency to support [[polyamory]], [[relationship anarchy]], and [[queer anarchism]].{{Sfnm|1a1=Nicholas|1y=2019|1p=611|2a1=Jeppesen|2a2=Nazar|2y=2012|2pp=175–176}} Free love advocates were against marriage, which they saw as a way of men imposing authority over women, largely because marriage law greatly favoured the power of men. The notion of free love was much broader and included a critique of the established order that limited women's sexual freedom and pleasure.{{Sfn|Jeppesen|Nazar|2012|pp=175–176}} Those free love movements contributed to the establishment of communal houses, where large groups of travelers, anarchists and other activists slept in beds together.{{Sfn|Jeppesen|Nazar|2012|p=177}} Free love had roots both in Europe and the United States; however, some anarchists struggled with the jealousy that arose from free love.{{Sfn|Jeppesen|Nazar|2012|pp=175–177}} Anarchist feminists were advocates of free love, against marriage, and [[Abortion-rights movement|pro-choice]] (using a contemporary term), and had a similar agenda. Anarchist and non-anarchist feminists differed on [[Women's suffrage|suffrage]] but were supportive of one another.{{Sfn|Kinna|2019|pp=166–167}}


During the second half of the 20th century, anarchism intermingled with the [[second wave of feminism]], radicalising some currents of the feminist movement and being influenced as well. By the latest decades of the 20th century, anarchists and feminists were advocating for the rights and autonomy of women, gays, queers and other marginalised groups, with some feminist thinkers suggesting a fusion of the two currents.{{Sfn|Nicholas|2019|pp=609–611}} With the [[third wave of feminism]], sexual identity and [[compulsory heterosexuality]] became a subject of study for anarchists, yielding a [[post-structuralist]] critique of [[Heteronormativity|sexual normality]].{{Sfn|Nicholas|2019|pp=610–611}} Some anarchists distanced themselves from this line of thinking, suggesting that it leaned towards an individualism that was dropping the cause of social liberation.{{Sfn|Nicholas|2019|pp=616–617}}
Other anarchists share [[Leo Tolstoy]]'s [[Christian anarchism|Christian anarchist]] belief in [[nonviolence]]. These [[anarcho-pacifists]] advocate [[nonviolent resistance]] as the only method of achieving a truly anarchist revolution. They often see violence as the basis of government and coercion and argue that, as such, violence is illegitimate, no matter who is the target. Some of Proudhon's [[France|French]] followers even saw [[strike action]] as coercive and refused to take part in such traditional socialist tactics.


=== Education ===
Many anarchists would make a distinction between "violence" and "property destruction": they claim that violence is when a person inflicts harm to another person, while property destruction or property damage is not violence, although it can have indirect harm such as financial harm.
{{Main|Anarchism and education}}
{|class="wikitable" style="border: none; float: right;"
|+ Anarchist vs. statist perspectives on education<br/>{{Small|Ruth Kinna (2019){{Sfn|Kinna|2019|p=97}}}}
|-
!scope="col"|
!scope="col"|Anarchist education
!scope="col"|State education
|-
|Concept || Education as self-mastery || Education as service
|-
|Management || Community based || State run
|-
|Methods || Practice-based learning || Vocational training
|-
|Aims || Being a critical member of society || Being a productive member of society
|}
The interest of anarchists in education stretches back to the first emergence of classical anarchism. Anarchists consider proper education, one which sets the foundations of the future autonomy of the individual and the society, to be an act of [[Mutual aid (organization theory)|mutual aid]].{{Sfnm|1a1=Kinna|1y=2019|1pp=83–85|2a2=Suissa|2y=2019|2pp=514–515, 520}} Anarchist writers such as William Godwin (''[[Political Justice]]'') and Max Stirner ("[[The False Principle of Our Education]]") attacked both [[State school|state education]] and private education as another means by which the ruling class replicate their privileges.{{Sfnm|1a1=Suissa|1y=2019|1pp=514, 521|2a1=Kinna|2y=2019|2pp=83–86|3a1=Marshall|3y=1993|3p=222}}


In 1901, [[Catalonia|Catalan]] anarchist and free thinker [[Francisco Ferrer]] established the [[Escuela Moderna]] in Barcelona as an opposition to the established education system which was dictated largely by the Catholic Church.{{Sfn|Suissa|2019|pp=511–512}} Ferrer's approach was secular, rejecting both state and church involvement in the educational process while giving pupils large amounts of autonomy in planning their work and attendance. Ferrer aimed to educate the working class and explicitly sought to foster [[class consciousness]] among students. The school closed after constant harassment by the state and Ferrer was later arrested. Nonetheless, his ideas formed the inspiration for a series of [[Modern School (United States)|modern schools]] around the world.{{Sfn|Suissa|2019|pp=511–514}} [[Christian anarchism|Christian anarchist]] [[Leo Tolstoy]], who published the essay ''Education and Culture'', also established a similar school with its founding principle being that "for education to be effective it had to be free."{{Sfn|Suissa|2019|pp=517–518}} In a similar token, [[A. S. Neill]] founded what became the [[Summerhill School]] in 1921, also declaring being free from coercion.{{Sfn|Suissa|2019|pp=518–519}}
===Anarchism at work===


Anarchist education is based largely on the idea that a child's right to develop freely and without manipulation ought to be respected and that rationality would lead children to morally good conclusions; however, there has been little consensus among anarchist figures as to what constitutes [[Manipulation (psychology)|manipulation]]. Ferrer believed that moral indoctrination was necessary and explicitly taught pupils that equality, liberty and [[social justice]] were not possible under capitalism, along with other critiques of government and nationalism.{{Sfnm|1a1=Avrich|1y=1980|1pp=3–33|2a1=Suissa|2y=2019|2pp=519–522}}
''See also:'' [[Anarcho-syndicalism]]


Late 20th century and contemporary anarchist writers ([[Paul Goodman]], [[Herbert Read]], and [[Colin Ward]]) intensified and expanded the anarchist critique of [[State school|state education]], largely focusing on the need for a system that focuses on children's creativity rather than on their ability to attain a career or participate in [[consumerism]] as part of a consumer society.{{Sfn|Kinna|2019|pp=89–96}} Contemporary anarchists such as Ward claim that state education serves to perpetuate [[Economic inequality|socioeconomic inequality]].{{Sfn|Ward|1973|pp=39–48}}
[[Image:blkred flag.png|thumb|175px|The red-and-black flag, coming from the experience of anarchists in the labour movement, is particularly associated with anarcho-syndicalism.]]


While few anarchist education institutions have survived to the modern-day, major tenets of anarchist schools, among them respect for [[Children's rights movement|child autonomy]] and relying on reasoning rather than indoctrination as a teaching method, have spread among mainstream educational institutions. Judith Suissa names three schools as explicitly anarchists' schools, namely the Free Skool Santa Cruz in the United States which is part of a wider American-Canadian network of schools, the Self-Managed Learning College in [[Brighton|Brighton, England]], and the Paideia School in Spain.{{Sfn|Suissa|2019|pp=523–526}}
In the late 19th century, [[anarcho-syndicalism]] developed as a movement pursuing [[industrial action]]s, 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.


=== The arts ===
According to the preamble to the constitution of the US-based [[Industrial Workers of the World]] (also called ''IWW'' or ''Wobblies'') syndicalist union:
{{Main|Anarchism and the arts}}
::''It is the historic mission of the working class to do away with capitalism. The army of production must be organized, not only for everyday struggle with capitalists, but also to carry on production when capitalism shall have been overthrown. By organizing industrially we are forming the structure of the new society within the shell of the old.''[http://pdx.iww.org/preamble.html]
[[File:Apple Harvest by Camille Pissarro.jpg|thumb|340px|''Les chataigniers a Osny'' (1888) by anarchist painter [[Camille Pissarro]] is a notable example of blending anarchism and the arts.{{Sfn|Antliff|1998|p=99}}]]
The connection between anarchism and art was quite profound during the classical era of anarchism, especially among artistic currents that were developing during that era such as futurists, surrealists and others.{{Sfn|Mattern|2019|p=592}} In literature, anarchism was mostly associated with the [[New Apocalyptics]] and the [[neo-romanticism]] movement.{{Sfn|Gifford|2019|p=577}} In music, anarchism has been associated with music scenes such as [[Punk subculture|punk]].{{Sfnm|1a1=Marshall|1y=1993|1pp=493–494|2a1=Dunn|2y=2012|3a1=Evren|3a2=Kinna|3a3=Rouselle|3y=2013|p=138}} Anarchists such as [[Leo Tolstoy]] and [[Herbert Read]] stated that the border between the artist and the non-artist, what separates art from a daily act, is a construct produced by the alienation caused by capitalism and it prevents humans from living a joyful life.{{Sfn|Mattern|2019|pp=592–593}}


Other anarchists advocated for or used art as a means to achieve anarchist ends.{{Sfn|Mattern|2019|p=593}} In his book ''Breaking the Spell: A History of Anarchist Filmmakers, Videotape Guerrillas, and Digital Ninjas'', Chris Robé claims that "anarchist-inflected practices have increasingly structured movement-based video activism."{{Sfn|Robé|2017|p=44}} Throughout the 20th century, many prominent anarchists ([[Peter Kropotkin]], [[Emma Goldman]], [[Gustav Landauer]] and [[Camillo Berneri]]) and publications such as ''[[Anarchy (magazine)|Anarchy]]'' wrote about matters pertaining to the arts.{{Sfn|Miller|Dirlik|Rosemont|Augustyn|2019|p=1}}
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.


Three overlapping properties made art useful to anarchists. It could depict a critique of existing society and hierarchies, serve as a prefigurative tool to reflect the anarchist ideal society and even turn into a means of direct action such as in protests. As it appeals to both emotion and reason, art could appeal to the whole human and have a powerful effect.{{Sfn|Mattern|2019|pp=593–596}} The 19th-century [[neo-impressionist]] movement had an ecological aesthetic and offered an example of an anarchist perception of the road towards socialism.{{Sfn|Antliff|1998|p=78}} In ''Les chataigniers a Osny'' by anarchist painter [[Camille Pissarro]], the blending of aesthetic and social harmony is prefiguring an ideal anarchistic agrarian community.{{Sfn|Antliff|1998|p=99}}
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.


== Criticism ==
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.)
The most common critique of anarchism is the assertion that humans cannot [[Self-governance|self-govern]] and so a state is necessary for human survival. Philosopher [[Bertrand Russell]] supported this critique, stating that "[p]eace and war, [[tariff]]s, regulations of [[Sanitation|sanitary]] conditions and the sale of noxious [[drug]]s, the preservation of a just system of distribution: these, among others, are functions which could hardly be performed in a community in which there was no central government."{{Sfn|Krimerman|Perry|1966|p=494}} Another common criticism of anarchism is that it fits a world of [[Isolationism|isolation]] in which only the small enough entities can be self-governing; a response would be that major anarchist thinkers advocated anarchist federalism.{{Sfn|Ward|2004|p=78}}


Another criticism of anarchism is the belief that it is inherently unstable: that an anarchist society would inevitably evolve back into a state. [[Thomas Hobbes]] and other early social contract theorists argued that the state emerges in response to natural anarchy to protect the people's interests and keep order. Philosopher [[Robert Nozick]] argued that a "[[night-watchman state]]", or minarchy, would emerge from anarchy through the process of an [[invisible hand]], in which people would exercise their liberty and buy protection from protection agencies, evolving into a minimal state. Anarchists reject these criticisms by arguing that humans in a [[state of nature]] would not just be in a state of war. [[Anarcho-primitivism|Anarcho-primitivists]] in particular argue that humans were better off in a state of nature in small tribes living close to the land, while anarchists in general argue that the negatives of state organization, such as hierarchies, monopolies and inequality, outweigh the benefits.<ref>{{Citation |last=Fiala |first=Andrew |title=Anarchism |date=2021 |editor-last=Zalta |editor-first=Edward N. |url=https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2021/entries/anarchism |access-date=2023-06-17 |edition=Winter 2021 |publisher=Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University |encyclopedia=The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy}}</ref>
In Chicago in June 1905, a convention of two hundred socialists, anarchists, and radical trade unionists from all over the United States founded the [[IWW]]. 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.


Philosophy lecturer Andrew G. Fiala composed a list of common arguments against anarchism which includes critiques such as that anarchism is innately related to violence and destruction, not only in the pragmatic world, such as at protests, but in the world of ethics as well. Secondly, anarchism is evaluated as unfeasible or utopian since the state cannot be defeated practically. This line of arguments most often calls for political action within the system to reform it. The third argument is that anarchism is self-contradictory as a ruling theory that has no ruling theory. Anarchism also calls for collective action while endorsing the autonomy of the individual, hence no collective action can be taken. Lastly, Fiala mentions a critique towards philosophical anarchism of being ineffective (all talk and thoughts) and in the meantime capitalism and bourgeois class remains strong.{{Sfn|Fiala|2017|loc="4. Objections and Replies"}}
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).


Philosophical anarchism has met the criticism of members of academia following the release of pro-anarchist books such as [[A. John Simmons]]' ''Moral Principles and Political Obligations''.{{Sfn|Klosko|1999|p=536}} Law professor William A. Edmundson authored an essay to argue against three major philosophical anarchist principles which he finds fallacious. Edmundson says that while the individual does not owe the state a duty of obedience, this does not imply that anarchism is the inevitable conclusion and the state is still morally legitimate.{{Sfnm|1a1=Klosko|1y=1999|1p=536|2a1=Kristjánsson|2y=2000|2p=896}} In ''The Problem of Political Authority'', [[Michael Huemer]] defends philosophical anarchism,{{Sfn|Dagger|2018|p=35}} claiming that "political authority is a moral illusion."{{Sfn|Rogers|2020|p=}}
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]].


One of the earliest criticisms is that anarchism defies and fails to understand the biological inclination to authority.{{Sfn|Ferguson|1886}} [[Joseph Raz]] states that the acceptance of authority implies the belief that following their instructions will afford more success.{{Sfn|Gans|1992|p=37}} Raz believes that this argument is true in following both authorities' successful and mistaken instruction.{{Sfn|Gans|1992|p=38}} Anarchists reject this criticism because challenging or disobeying authority does not entail the disappearance of its advantages by acknowledging authority such as doctors or lawyers as reliable, nor does it involve a complete surrender of independent judgment.{{Sfn|Gans|1992|pp=34, 38}} Anarchist perception of human nature, rejection of the state, and commitment to social revolution has been criticised by academics as naive, overly simplistic, and unrealistic, respectively.{{Sfn|Brinn|2020|p=206}} Classical anarchism has been criticised for relying too heavily on the belief that the abolition of the state will lead to human cooperation prospering.{{Sfn|Lucy|2020|p=162}}
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 in throughout [[Latin America]]. This influence extends to the modern day [[Zapatista]] rebellion and the [[factory ccupation movements]] in Argentina and elsewhere.
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]]).


[[Friedrich Engels]], considered to be one of the principal founders of Marxism, criticised anarchism's anti-authoritarianism as inherently counter-revolutionary because in his view a revolution is by itself authoritarian.{{Sfn|Tucker|1978}} Academic [[John Molyneux (academic)|John Molyneux]] writes in his book ''Anarchism: A Marxist Criticism'' that "anarchism cannot win", believing that it lacks the ability to properly implement its ideas.{{Sfn|Dodds|2011}} The Marxist criticism of anarchism is that it has a utopian character because all individuals should have anarchist views and values. According to the Marxist view, that a social idea would follow directly from this human ideal and out of the free will of every individual formed its essence. Marxists state that this contradiction was responsible for their inability to act. In the anarchist vision, the conflict between liberty and equality was resolved through coexistence and intertwining.{{Sfn|Baár|Falina|Janowski|Kopeček|2016|p=488}}
===Insurrectionary anarchism===


== See also ==
Insurrectionary anarchism is critical of formal anarchist labor unions and federations. Instead, insurrectionary anarchists advocate informal organization, including small affinity groups, carrying out acts of resistance in various struggles, and mass organizations called base structures, which can include exploited individuals who are not anarchists. Here, [[Wolfi Landstreicher]] writes some of the basis points of its praxis.
{{Portal|Anarchism|Libertarianism}}
* [[Outline of anarchism]]
* [[List of anarchist movements by region]]
* [[List of anarchist political ideologies]]
* [[List of books about anarchism]]
* [[List of films dealing with anarchism]]
'''Anarchist communities'''
* [[List of stateless societies]]
* [[List of intentional communities]]
* [[List of self-managed social centers]]


== References ==
<blockquote>
=== Explanatory notes ===
Insurrectionary anarchism is not an ideological solution to all social problems, a commodity on the capitalist market of ideologies and opinions, but an on-going praxis aimed at putting an end to the domination of the state and the continuance of capitalism, which requires analysis and discussion to advance. We don&#8217;t look to some ideal society or offer an image of utopia for public consumption. Throughout history, most anarchists, except those who believed that society would evolve to the point that it would leave the state behind, have been insurrectionary anarchists. Most simply, this means that the state will not merely wither away, thus anarchists must attack, for waiting is defeat; what is needed is open mutiny and the spreading of subversion among the exploited and excluded. Here we spell out some implications that we and some other insurrectionary anarchists draw from this general problem: if the state will not disappear on its own, how then do we end its existence? It is, therefore, primarily a practice, and focuses on the organization of attack...The State of capital will not &#8220;wither away,&#8221; attack is the refusal of mediation, pacification, sacrifice, accommodation, and compromise.
{{Reflist|group=nb}}
[Landstreicher, Wolfi] </blockquote>


=== Citations ===
[[Alfredo M. Bonanno]], an Italian insurrectionary anarchist also had a great impact on this specific tendency, writing such works as "Armed Joy," "The Anarchist Tension," and others. In the US, [[Willful Disobedience]], [[Killing King Abacus]], and other magazines caused interest in insurrectionary anarchism to grow.
{{Reflist|25em}}


===Anarchism and feminism===
=== General and cited sources ===
==== Primary sources ====
{{Refbegin|30em|indent=yes}}
* {{Cite book |last=Bakunin |first=Mikhail |author-link=Mikhail Bakunin |title=Statism and Anarchy |title-link=Statism and Anarchy |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |date=1990 |isbn=978-0-5213-6182-8 |editor-last=Shatz |editor-first=Marshall |series=Cambridge Texts in the History of Political Thought |location=Cambridge, England |translator-last=Shatz |translator-first=Marshall |doi=10.1017/CBO9781139168083 |lccn=89077393 |oclc=20826465 |orig-date=1873}}
{{Refend}}


==== Secondary sources ====
[[Image:Goldman-4.jpg|thumb|left|[[Emma Goldman]] 1869-1940]]
{{Refbegin|30em|indent=yes}}
* {{Cite journal |last1=Angelbeck |first1=Bill |last2=Grier |first2=Colin |date=2012 |title=Anarchism and the Archaeology of Anarchic Societies: Resistance to Centralization in the Coast Salish Region of the Pacific Northwest Coast |url=https://arcabc.ca/islandora/object/dc%3A312/datastream/PDF/view |url-status=live |journal=[[Current Anthropology]] |volume=53 |issue=5 |pages=547–587 |doi=10.1086/667621 |s2cid=142786065 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180721142558/https://arcabc.ca/islandora/object/dc%3A312/datastream/PDF/view |archive-date=21 July 2018 |access-date=24 June 2021 |s2cid-access=free |issn = 0011-3204 }}
* {{Cite journal |last=Antliff |first=Mark |date=1998 |title=Cubism, Futurism, Anarchism: The 'Aestheticism' of the "Action d'art" Group, 1906–1920 |journal=Oxford Art Journal |volume=21 |issue=2 |pages=101–120 |doi=10.1093/oxartj/21.2.99 |jstor=1360616}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Anderson |first=Benedict |author-link=Benedict Anderson |date=2004 |title=In the World-Shadow of Bismarck and Nobel |url=http://newleftreview.org/II/28/benedict-anderson-in-the-world-shadow-of-bismarck-and-nobel |journal=[[New Left Review]] |volume=2 |issue=28 |pages=85–129 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151219130121/http://newleftreview.org/II/28/benedict-anderson-in-the-world-shadow-of-bismarck-and-nobel |archive-date=19 December 2015 |access-date=7 January 2016}}
* {{Cite book |last=Arvidsson |first=Stefan |author-link=Stefan Arvidsson |title=The Style and Mythology of Socialism: Socialist Idealism, 1871–1914 |publisher=[[Routledge]] |date=2017 |isbn=978-0-3673-4880-9 |edition=1st |location=London}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Ashwood |first=Loka |date=2018 |title=Rural Conservatism or Anarchism? The Pro-state, Stateless, and Anti-state Positions |journal=[[Rural Sociology]] |volume=83 |issue=4 |pages=717–748 |doi=10.1111/ruso.12226 |s2cid=158802675}}
* {{Cite book |last=Avrich |first=Paul |author-link=Paul Avrich |title=[[Anarchist Voices: An Oral History of Anarchism in America]] |publisher=[[Princeton University Press]] |date=1996 |isbn=978-0-6910-4494-1}}
* {{Cite book |last=Avrich |first=Paul |author-link=Paul Avrich |title=The Russian Anarchists |title-link=The Russian Anarchists |publisher=[[AK Press]] |date=2006 |isbn=978-1-9048-5948-2 |location=Stirling |author-mask=2}}
* {{Cite book |last=Avrich |first=Paul |author-link=Paul Avrich |title=[[The Modern School Movement: Anarchism and Education in the United States]] |publisher=[[Princeton University Press]] |date=1980 |isbn=978-1-4008-5318-2 |pages=3–33 |oclc=489692159 |author-mask=2}}
* {{Cite book |last1=Baár |first1=Monika |title=A History of Modern Political Thought in East Central Europe: Negotiating Modernity in the 'Long Nineteenth Century' |last2=Falina |first2=Maria |last3=Janowski |first3=Maciej |last4=Kopeček |first4=Michal |last5=Trencsényi |first5=Balázs Trencsényi |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |date=2016 |isbn=978-0-1910-5695-6 |volume=I |location=Oxford}}
* {{Cite book |last=Bantman |first=Constance |title=The Palgrave Handbook of Anarchism |publisher=[[Springer Publishing]] |date=2019 |isbn=978-3-3197-5620-2 |editor-last=Levy |editor-first=Carl |editor-link=Carl Levy (political scientist) |pages=371–388 |chapter=The Era of Propaganda by the Deed |editor-last2=Adams |editor-first2=Matthew S. |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m7BhDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA372}}
* {{Cite book |last=Bates |first=David |title=Political Ideologies |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |date=2017 |isbn=978-0-1987-2785-9 |editor-last=Wetherly |editor-first=Paul |chapter=Anarchism |access-date=2019-02-28 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uXfJDgAAQBAJ&pg=PA128 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210218111304/https://books.google.com/books?id=uXfJDgAAQBAJ&pg=PA128 |archive-date=2021-02-18 |url-status=live}}
* {{Cite book |last=Bolloten |first=Burnett |author-link=Burnett Bolloten |title=The Spanish Civil War: Revolution and Counterrevolution |publisher=[[University of North Carolina Press]] |date=1984 |isbn=978-0-8078-1906-7}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Brinn |first=Gearóid |date=2020 |title=Smashing the State Gently: Radical Realism and Realist Anarchism |journal=[[European Journal of Political Theory]] |volume=19 |issue=2 |pages=206–227 |doi=10.1177/1474885119865975 |s2cid=202278143}}
* {{Cite book |last=Brooks |first=Frank H. |title=The Individualist Anarchists: An Anthology of Liberty (1881–1908) |publisher=Transaction Publishers |date=1994 |isbn=978-1-5600-0132-4}}
* {{Cite book |last=Carlson |first=Andrew R. |title=Anarchism in Germany; Vol. 1: The Early Movement |title-link=Anarchism in Germany (book) |publisher=Scarecrow Press |date=1972 |isbn=978-0-8108-0484-5 |location=Metuchen, New Jersey}}
* {{Cite book |last=Carter |first=April |author-link=April Carter |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3mlWPgAACAAJ |title=The Political Theory of Anarchism |publisher=[[Routledge]] |date=1971 |isbn=978-0-4155-5593-7 |access-date=7 March 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210115214125/https://books.google.com/books?id=3mlWPgAACAAJ |archive-date=15 January 2021 |url-status=live}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Carter |first=April |date=1978 |title=Anarchism and violence |journal=Nomos |publisher=American Society for Political and Legal Philosophy |volume=19 |pages=320–340 |jstor=24219053}}
* {{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/historyofterrori00grar |title=The History of Terrorism: From Antiquity to Al-Quaeda |publisher=[[University of California Press]] |date=2007 |isbn=978-0-5202-4709-3 |editor-last=Chaliand |editor-first=Gerard |location=Berkeley; Los Angeles; London |oclc=634891265 |editor-last2=Blin |editor-first2=Arnaud |url-access=registration}}
* {{Cite encyclopedia |date=2009 |title=Anarchism |encyclopedia=The International Encyclopedia of Revolution and Protest |publisher=[[John Wiley & Sons]] |location=Oxford |last=Cohn |first=Jesse |editor-last=Ness |editor-first=Immanuel |editor-link=Immanuel Ness |pages=1–11 |doi=10.1002/9781405198073.wbierp0039 |isbn=978-1-4051-9807-3}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Crone |first=Patricia |author-link=Patricia Crone |date=2000 |title=Ninth-Century Muslim Anarchists |url=https://www.hs.ias.edu/files/Crone_Articles/Crone_Ninth_Century_Muslim_Anarchists.pdf |url-status=dead |journal=[[Past & Present (journal)|Past & Present]] |issue=167 |pages=3–28 |doi=10.1093/past/167.1.3 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200828210845/https://www.hs.ias.edu/files/Crone_Articles/Crone_Ninth_Century_Muslim_Anarchists.pdf |archive-date=28 August 2020 |access-date=3 January 2022}}
* {{Cite book |last=Dagger |first=Tristan J. |title=Playing Fair: Political Obligation and the Problems of Punishment |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |date=2018 |isbn=978-0-1993-8883-7 |location=Oxford}}
* {{Cite book |last=Dirlik |first=Arif |title=Anarchism in the Chinese Revolution |publisher=[[University of California Press]] |date=1991 |isbn=978-0-5200-7297-8 |location=Berkeley}}
* {{Cite magazine |last=Dodds |first=Jonathan |date=October 2011 |title=Anarchism: A Marxist Criticism |url=http://socialistreview.org.uk/362/anarchism-marxist-criticism |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210218111328/http://socialistreview.org.uk/362/anarchism-marxist-criticism |archive-date=2021-02-18 |access-date=2020-07-31 |magazine=Socialist Review}}
* {{Cite book |last=Dodson |first=Edward |title=The Discovery of First Principles |publisher=Authorhouse |date=2002 |isbn=978-0-5952-4912-1 |volume=2}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Dunn |first=Kevin |date=August 2012 |title=Anarcho-Punk and Resistance in Everyday Life |journal=Punk & Post-Punk |publisher=Intellect |volume=1 |issue=2 |pages=201–218 |doi=10.1386/punk.1.2.201_1}}
* {{Cite book |last=Egoumenides |first=Magda |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4qEMBAAAQBAJ |title=Philosophical Anarchism and Political Obligation |publisher=[[Bloomsbury Publishing]] |date=2014 |isbn=978-1-4411-2445-6 |location=New York |access-date=21 February 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210218111334/https://books.google.com/books?id=4qEMBAAAQBAJ |archive-date=18 February 2021 |url-status=live}}
* {{Cite book |last=Evren |first=Süreyyya |author-link=Süreyyya Evren |title=Post-Anarchism: A Reader |publisher=[[Pluto Press]] |date=2011 |isbn=978-0-7453-3086-0 |editor-last=Rousselle |editor-first=Duane |editor-link=Duane Rousselle |pages=1–19 |chapter=How New Anarchism Changed the World (of Opposition) after Seattle and Gave Birth to Post-Anarchism |editor-last2=Evren |editor-first2=Süreyyya |editor-link2=Süreyyya Evren}}
* {{Cite book |last1=Evren |first1=Süreyyya |author-link=Süreyyya Evren |title=Blasting the Canon |last2=Kinna |first2=Ruth |author-link2=Ruth Kinna |last3=Rouselle |first3=Duane |author-link3=Duane Rousselle |publisher=[[Punctum Books]] |date=2013 |isbn=978-0-6158-3862-5 |location=Santa Barbara, California}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Ferguson |first=Francis L. |date=August 1886 |title=The Mistakes of Anarchism |journal=The North American Review |publisher=[[University of Northern Iowa]] |volume=143 |issue=357 |pages=204–206 |issn=0029-2397 |jstor=25101094}}
* {{Cite book |last=Fernández |first=Frank |title=Cuban Anarchism: The History of A Movement |publisher=Sharp Press |date=2009 |orig-date=2001}}
* {{Cite book |last=Franks |first=Benjamin |author-link=Benjamin Franks (philosopher) |title=The Oxford Handbook of Political Ideologies |date=August 2013 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |editor-last=Freeden |editor-first=Michael |pages=385–404 |chapter=Anarchism |doi=10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199585977.013.0001 |editor-last2=Stears |editor-first2=Marc}}
* {{Cite book |last=Franks |first=Benjamin |author-link=Benjamin Franks (philosopher) |title=The Palgrave Handbook of Anarchism |publisher=[[Springer Publishing]] |date=2019 |isbn=978-3-3197-5620-2 |editor-last=Levy |editor-first=Carl |editor-link=Carl Levy (political scientist) |pages=549–570 |chapter=Anarchism and Ethics |author-mask=2 |editor-last2=Adams |editor-first2=Matthew S.}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Gabardi |first=Wayne |date=1986 |title=Anarchism. By David Miller. (London: J. M. Dent and Sons, 1984. pp. 216 [book review]) |journal=[[American Political Science Review]] |volume=80 |issue=1 |pages=300–302 |doi=10.2307/1957102 |jstor=446800 |s2cid=151950709}}
* {{Cite book |last=Gans |first=Chaim |title=Philosophical Anarchism and Political Disobedience |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |date=1992 |isbn=978-0-5214-1450-0 |edition=reprint |location=Cambridge}}
* {{Cite book |last1=Gay |first1=Kathlyn |title=Encyclopedia of Political Anarchy |last2=Gay |first2=Martin |publisher=[[ABC-CLIO]] |date=1999 |isbn=978-0-8743-6982-3}}
* {{Cite book |last=Gifford |first=James |title=The Palgrave Handbook of Anarchism |publisher=[[Springer Publishing]] |date=2019 |isbn=978-3-3197-5620-2 |editor-last=Levy |editor-first=Carl |editor-link=Carl Levy (political scientist) |chapter=Literature and Anarchism |editor-last2=Adams |editor-first2=Matthew S.}}
* {{Cite book |last=Goodway |first=David |author-link=David Goodway |title=[[Anarchist Seeds Beneath the Snow]] |publisher=Liverpool Press |date=2006 |isbn=978-1-8463-1025-6}}
* {{Cite book |last=Graham |first=Robert |author-link=Robert Graham (historian) |title=Anarchism: a Documentary History of Libertarian Ideas: from Anarchy to Anarchism |publisher=[[Black Rose Books]] |date=2005 |isbn=978-1-5516-4250-5 |location=Montréal}}
* {{Cite book |last=Graham |first=Robert |author-link=Robert Graham (historian) |title=The Palgrave Handbook of Anarchism |publisher=[[Springer Publishing]] |date=2019 |isbn=978-3-3197-5620-2 |editor-last=Levy |editor-first=Carl |editor-link=Carl Levy (political scientist) |pages=325–342 |chapter=Anarchism and the First International |author-mask=2 |access-date=17 May 2020 |editor-last2=Adams |editor-first2=Matthew S. |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SRyQswEACAAJ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200726001923/https://books.google.com/books?id=SRyQswEACAAJ |archive-date=26 July 2020 |url-status=live}}
* {{Cite book |last=Guérin |first=Daniel |author-link=Daniel Guérin |url=http://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/daniel-guerin-anarchism-from-theory-to-practice |title=Anarchism: From Theory to Practice |publisher=Monthly Review Press |date=1970 |isbn=978-0-8534-5128-0 |access-date=16 February 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200714125723/http://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/daniel-guerin-anarchism-from-theory-to-practice |archive-date=14 July 2020 |url-status=live}}
* {{Cite book |last1=Harrison |first1=Kevin |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5qrJCgAAQBAJ |title=Understanding Political Ideas and Movements |last2=Boyd |first2=Tony |publisher=[[Manchester University Press]] |date=2003 |isbn=978-0-7190-6151-6 |access-date=7 March 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210308074910/https://books.google.com/books?id=5qrJCgAAQBAJ |archive-date=8 March 2021 |url-status=live}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Harmon |first=Christopher C. |date=2011 |title=How Terrorist Groups End: Studies of the Twentieth Century |journal=Connections |volume=10 |issue=2 |pages=51–104 |jstor=26310649}}
* {{Cite book |last=Heywood |first=Andrew |author-link=Andrew Heywood |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Sy8hDgAAQBAJ&pg=PA146 |title=Political Ideologies: An Introduction |publisher=Macmillan International Higher Education |date=2017 |isbn=978-1-1376-0604-4 |edition=6th |access-date=13 March 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210218111410/https://books.google.com/books?id=Sy8hDgAAQBAJ&pg=PA146 |archive-date=18 February 2021 |url-status=live}}
* {{Cite book |last=Honderich |first=Ted |url=https://archive.org/details/oxfordcompaniont00hond |title=The Oxford Companion to Philosophy |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |date=1995 |isbn=978-0-1986-6132-0 |url-access=registration}}
* {{Cite book |last=Honeywell |first=C. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qzKOzQEACAAJ |title=Anarchism |publisher=Wiley |date=2021 |isbn=978-1-5095-2390-0 |series=Key Concepts in Political Theory |access-date=2022-08-13}}
* {{Cite news |last=Imrie |first=Doug |date=1994 |title=The Illegalists |url=http://recollectionbooks.com/siml/library/illegalistsDougImrie.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150908072801/http://recollectionbooks.com/siml/library/illegalistsDougImrie.htm |archive-date=2015-09-08 |access-date=2010-12-09 |work=Anarchy: A Journal of Desire Armed |language=en}}
* {{Cite book |last=Jennings |first=Jeremy |author-link=Jeremy Jennings |title=Contemporary Political Ideologies |publisher=Pinter |date=1993 |isbn=978-0-8618-7096-7 |editor-last=Eatwell |editor-first=Roger |editor-link=Roger Eatwell |location=London |pages=127–146 |chapter=Anarchism |editor-last2=Wright |editor-first2=Anthony}}
* {{Cite book |last=Jennings |first=Jeremy |author-link=Jeremy Jennings |title=Contemporary Political Ideologies |publisher=A & C Black |date=1999 |isbn=978-0-8264-5173-6 |editor-last=Eatwell |editor-first=Roger |editor-link=Roger Eatwell |edition=reprinted, 2nd |location=London |chapter=Anarchism |editor-last2=Wright |editor-first2=Anthony}}
* {{Cite book |last1=Jeppesen |first1=Sandra |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dNuoAwAAQBAJ |title=The Bloomsbury Companion to Anarchism |last2=Nazar |first2=Holly |publisher=[[Bloomsbury Publishing]] |date=2012 |isbn=978-1-4411-4270-2 |editor-last=Kinna |editor-first=Ruth |editor-link=Ruth Kinna |chapter=Genders and Sexualities in Anarchist Movements |access-date=26 January 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210115214158/https://books.google.com/books?id=dNuoAwAAQBAJ |archive-date=15 January 2021 |url-status=live}}
* {{Cite book |last=Johnson |first=Charles |title=Anarchism/Minarchism: Is a Government Part of a Free Country? |publisher=[[Ashgate Publishing]] |date=2008 |isbn=978-0-7546-6066-8 |editor-last=Long |editor-first=Roderick T. |pages=155–188 |chapter=Liberty, Equality, Solidarity Toward a Dialectical Anarchism |editor-last2=Machan |editor-first2=Tibor R. |editor-link2=Tibor Machan}}
* {{Cite book |last=Joll |first=James |author-link=James Joll |title=[[The Anarchists (book)|The Anarchists]] |publisher=[[Harvard University Press]] |date=1964 |isbn=978-0-6740-3642-0}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Jun |first=Nathan |date=September 2009 |title=Anarchist Philosophy and Working Class Struggle: A Brief History and Commentary |url=https://philarchive.org/rec/JUNAPA-2 |journal=[[WorkingUSA]] |language=en |volume=12 |issue=3 |pages=505–519 |doi=10.1111/j.1743-4580.2009.00251.x |issn=1089-7011}}<!-- to revisit, p. 508+ -->
* {{Cite book |last=Jun |first=Nathan |title=The Palgrave Handbook of Anarchism |publisher=[[Springer Publishing]] |date=2019 |isbn=978-3-3197-5620-2 |editor-last=Levy |editor-first=Carl |editor-link=Carl Levy (political scientist) |pages=27–47 |chapter=The State |editor-last2=Adams |editor-first2=Matthew S.}}
* {{Cite book |last=Kinna |first=Ruth |author-link=Ruth Kinna |title=The Bloomsbury Companion to Anarchism |publisher=[[Bloomsbury Academic]] |date=2012 |isbn=978-1-6289-2430-5}}
* {{Cite book |last=Kinna |first=Ruth |author-link=Ruth Kinna |title=[[The Government of No One: The Theory and Practice of Anarchism]] |publisher=[[Penguin Random House]] |date=2019 |isbn=978-0-2413-9655-1}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Klosko |first=George |date=1999 |title=More than Obligation – William A. Edmundson: Three Anarchical Fallacies: An Essay on Political Authority |journal=The Review of Politics |volume=61 |issue=3 |pages=536–538 |doi=10.1017/S0034670500028989 |issn=1748-6858 |s2cid=144417469}}
* {{Cite book |last=Klosko |first=George |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ToHmfIj8d_gC |title=Political Obligations |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |date=2005 |isbn=978-0-1995-5104-0 |access-date=7 March 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201124033632/https://books.google.com/books?id=ToHmfIj8d_gC |archive-date=24 November 2020 |url-status=live}}
* {{Cite book |url=http://archive.org/details/patternsofanarch00krim |title=Patterns of Anarchy: A Collection of Writings on the Anarchist Tradition |date=1966 |publisher=Anchor Books |editor-last=Krimerman |editor-first=Leonard I. |location=Garden City, New York |language=en |editor-last2=Perry |editor-first2=Lewis}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Kristjánsson |first=Kristján |date=2000 |title=Three Anarchical Fallacies: An Essay on Political Authority by William A. Edmundson |journal=[[Mind (journal)|Mind]] |volume=109 |issue=436 |pages=896–900 |jstor=2660038}}
* {{Cite book |last=Laursen |first=Ole Birk |title=The Palgrave Handbook of Anarchism |publisher=[[Springer Publishing]] |date=2019 |isbn=978-3-3197-5620-2 |editor-last=Levy |editor-first=Carl |editor-link=Carl Levy (political scientist) |pages=149–168 |chapter=Anti-Imperialism |access-date=17 May 2020 |editor-last2=Adams |editor-first2=Matthew S. |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SRyQswEACAAJ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200726001923/https://books.google.com/books?id=SRyQswEACAAJ |archive-date=26 July 2020 |url-status=live}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Levy |first=Carl |author-link=Carl Levy (political scientist) |date=8 May 2011 |title=Social Histories of Anarchism |journal=Journal for the Study of Radicalism |volume=4 |issue=2 |pages=1–44 |doi=10.1353/jsr.2010.0003 |issn=1930-1197 |s2cid=144317650}}
* {{Cite book |title=The Palgrave Handbook of Anarchism |date=2018 |publisher=[[Palgrave Macmillan]] |isbn=978-3-3197-5619-6 |editor-last=Levy |editor-first=Carl |editor-link=Carl Levy (political scientist) |editor-last2=Adams |editor-first2=Matthew S.}}
* {{Cite book |last=Long |first=Roderick T. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=z7MzEHaJgKAC |title=The Routledge Companion to Social and Political Philosophy |publisher=[[Routledge]] |date=2013 |isbn=978-0-4158-7456-4 |editor-last=Gaud |editor-first=Gerald F. |access-date=2019-02-28 |editor-last2=D'Agostino |editor-first2=Fred |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200809085833/https://books.google.com/books?id=z7MzEHaJgKAC |archive-date=2020-08-09 |url-status=live}}
* {{Cite book |last=Lucy |first=Nicholas |title=The SAGE Handbook of Global Sexualities |publisher=[[SAGE Publishing]] |date=2020 |isbn=978-1-5297-2194-2 |pages=160–183 |chapter=Anarchism and Sexuality |access-date=21 February 2022 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-t7KDwAAQBAJ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210115214344/https://books.google.com/books?id=-t7KDwAAQBAJ |archive-date=15 January 2021 |url-status=live}}
* {{Cite journal |last1=Lutz |first1=James M. |last2=Ulmschneider |first2=Georgia Wralstad |date=2019 |title=Civil Liberties, National Security and U.S. Courts in Times of Terrorism |journal=Perspectives on Terrorism |volume=13 |issue=6 |pages=43–57 |jstor=26853740}}
* {{Cite book |last=Marshall |first=Peter |author-link=Peter Marshall (author) |title=[[Demanding the Impossible: A History of Anarchism]] |publisher=[[HarperCollins]] |date=1992 |isbn=978-0-0021-7855-6 |location=London}}
* {{Cite book |last=Marshall |first=Peter |author-link=Peter Marshall (author) |title=Demanding the Impossible: A History of Anarchism |publisher=PM Press |date=1993 |isbn=978-1-6048-6064-1 |location=Oakland, California |author-mask=2}}
* {{Cite book |last=Mattern |first=Mark |title=The Palgrave Handbook of Anarchism |publisher=[[Springer Publishing]] |date=2019 |isbn=978-3-3197-5620-2 |editor-last=Levy |editor-first=Carl |editor-link=Carl Levy (political scientist) |pages=589–602 |chapter=Anarchism and Art |editor-last2=Adams |editor-first2=Matthew S.}}
* {{Cite book |last=Mayne |first=Alan James |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6MkTz6Rq7wUC&q=Communist+anarchism+believes+in+collective+ownership&pg=PA131 |title=From Politics Past to Politics Future: An Integrated Analysis of Current and Emergent Paradigms |publisher=[[Greenwood Publishing Group]] |date=1999 |isbn=978-0-2759-6151-0 |access-date=20 September 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210418013303/https://books.google.com/books?id=6MkTz6Rq7wUC&q=Communist+anarchism+believes+in+collective+ownership&pg=PA131 |archive-date=18 April 2021 |url-status=live}}
* {{Cite book |last=McLaughlin |first=Paul |title=Anarchism and Authority: A Philosophical Introduction to Classical Anarchism |publisher=[[Ashgate Publishing|Ashgate]] |date=2007 |isbn=978-0-7546-6196-2 |location=Aldershot}}
* {{Cite book |last=Morland |first=Dave |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=etb2UFzCBv4C |title=Changing Anarchism: Anarchist Theory and Practice in a Global Age |publisher=[[Manchester University Press]] |date=2004 |isbn=978-0-7190-6694-8 |editor-last=Purkis |editor-first=Jonathan |pages=23–38 |chapter=Anti-capitalism and poststructuralist anarchism |access-date=24 January 2020 |editor-last2=Bowen |editor-first2=James |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210218111517/https://books.google.com/books?id=etb2UFzCBv4C |archive-date=18 February 2021 |url-status=live}}
* {{Cite book |last=Meltzer |first=Albert |author-link=Albert Meltzer |url=https://archive.org/details/anarchism00albe |title=Anarchism: Arguments For and Against |publisher=[[AK Press]] |date=2000 |isbn=978-1-8731-7657-3 |url-access=registration}}
* {{Cite book |last=Morris |first=Brian |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GJXy5eCpPawC |title=Bakunin: The Philosophy of Freedom |publisher=[[Black Rose Books]] |date=1993 |isbn=978-1-8954-3166-7 |access-date=8 March 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210225175003/https://books.google.com/books?id=GJXy5eCpPawC |archive-date=25 February 2021 |url-status=live}}
* {{Cite book |last=Morris |first=Brian |title=Anthropology, Ecology, and Anarchism: A Brian Morris Reader |publisher=[[PM Press]] |others=Marshall, Peter |date=2015 |isbn=978-1-6048-6093-1 |edition=illustrated |location=Oakland |author-mask=2}}
* {{Cite book |last=Morris |first=Christopher W. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uuyJ9Bw8w7QC |title=An Essay on the Modern State |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |date=2002 |isbn=978-0-5215-2407-0 |access-date=15 September 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210115214335/https://books.google.com/books?id=uuyJ9Bw8w7QC |archive-date=15 January 2021 |url-status=live}}
* {{Cite book |last=Moya |first=Jose C. |title=In Defiance of Boundaries: Anarchism in Latin American History |publisher=[[University Press of Florida]] |others=Kirwin R. Shaffer |date=2015 |isbn=978-0-8130-5138-3 |editor-last=Laforcade |editor-first=Geoffroy de |chapter=Transference, culture, and critique The Circulation of Anarchist Ideas and Practices |access-date=6 March 2019 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ikt6AQAACAAJ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200809085903/https://books.google.com/books?id=ikt6AQAACAAJ |archive-date=9 August 2020 |url-status=live}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Nesser |first=Petter |date=2012 |title=Research Note: Single Actor Terrorism: Scope, Characteristics and Explanations |journal=Perspectives on Terrorism |volume=6 |issue=6 |pages=61–73 |jstor=26296894}}
* {{Cite book |last=Nettlau |first=Max |author-link=Max Nettlau |title=[[A Short History of Anarchism]] |publisher=Freedom Press |date=1996 |isbn=978-0-9003-8489-9}}
* {{Cite book |last=Newman |first=Michael |title=Socialism: A Very Short Introduction |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |date=2005 |isbn=978-0-1928-0431-0 |location=Oxford}}
* {{Cite book |last=Newman |first=Saul |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SiqBiViUsOkC&pg=PA43 |title=The Politics of Postanarchism |publisher=[[Edinburgh University Press]] |date=2010 |isbn=978-0-7486-3495-8 |access-date=29 October 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200103005542/https://books.google.com/books?id=SiqBiViUsOkC&pg=PA43 |archive-date=3 January 2020 |url-status=live}}
* {{Cite book |last=Nicholas |first=Lucy |title=The Palgrave Handbook of Anarchism |publisher=[[Springer Publishing]] |date=2019 |isbn=978-3-3197-5620-2 |editor-last=Levy |editor-first=Carl |editor-link=Carl Levy (political scientist) |chapter=Gender and Sexuality |editor-last2=Adams |editor-first2=Matthew S.}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Norris |first=Jesse J. |date=2020 |title=Idiosyncratic Terrorism: Disaggregating an Undertheorized Concept |journal=Perspectives on Terrorism |volume=14 |issue=3 |issn=2334-3745 |jstor=26918296s}}
* {{Cite book |last=Nomad |first=Max |title=Revolutionary Internationals 1864–1943 |publisher=[[Stanford University Press]] |date=1966 |isbn=978-0-8047-0293-5 |editor-last=Drachkovitch |editor-first=Milorad M. |page=88 |chapter=The Anarchist Tradition}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Osgood |first=Herbert L. |date=March 1889 |title=Scientific Anarchism |journal=[[Political Science Quarterly]] |publisher=The Academy of Political Science |volume=4 |issue=1 |pages=1–36 |doi=10.2307/2139424 |jstor=2139424}}
* {{Cite book |last=Otero |first=Carlos Peregrín |title=Noam Chomsky: Critical Assessments |publisher=[[Routledge]] |date=1994 |isbn=978-0-4150-1005-4 |volume=2–3 |location=London}}
* {{Cite book |last=Parry |first=Richard |url=https://archive.org/details/bonnotgang0000parr |title=The Bonnot Gang |publisher=Rebel Press |date=1987 |isbn=978-0-9460-6104-4 |url-access=registration}}
* {{Cite book |last=Pernicone |first=Nunzio |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3ttgjwEACAAJ |title=Italian Anarchism, 1864–1892 |publisher=[[Princeton University Press]] |date=2009 |isbn=978-0-6916-3268-1 |access-date=8 March 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200819161516/https://books.google.com/books?id=3ttgjwEACAAJ |archive-date=19 August 2020 |url-status=live}}
* {{Cite book |last=Pierson |first=Christopher |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7jvKDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA187 |title=Just Property: Enlightenment, Revolution, and History |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |date=2013 |isbn=978-0-1996-7329-2 |access-date=8 March 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210316125550/https://books.google.com/books?id=7jvKDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA187 |archive-date=16 March 2021 |url-status=live}}
* {{Cite book |last=Ramnath |first=Maia |title=The Palgrave Handbook of Anarchism |publisher=[[Springer Publishing]] |date=2019 |isbn=978-3-3197-5620-2 |editor-last=Levy |editor-first=Carl |editor-link=Carl Levy (political scientist) |chapter=Non-Western Anarchisms and Postcolonialism |access-date=17 May 2020 |editor-last2=Adams |editor-first2=Matthew S. |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SRyQswEACAAJ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200726001923/https://books.google.com/books?id=SRyQswEACAAJ |archive-date=26 July 2020 |url-status=live}}
* {{Cite book |last=Robé |first=Chris |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/336710855 |title=Breaking the Spell: A History of Anarchist Filmmakers, Videotape Guerrillas, and Digital Ninjas |publisher=[[PM Press]] |date=2017 |isbn=978-1-6296-3233-9 |access-date=21 February 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220221022844/https://www.researchgate.net/publication/336710855_Breaking_the_Spell_A_History_of_Anarchist_Filmmakers_Videotape_Guerrillas_and_Digital_Ninjas |archive-date=21 February 2022 |url-status=live |via=ResearchGate}}
* {{Cite book |last=Rogers |first=Tristan J. |title=The Authority of Virtue: Institutions and Character in the Good Society |publisher=[[Routledge]] |date=2020 |isbn=978-1-0002-2264-7 |location=London}}
* {{Cite book |last=Rupert |first=Mark |url=https://archive.org/details/globalizationint00rupe |title=Globalization and International Political Economy |publisher=[[Rowman & Littlefield Publishers]] |date=2006 |isbn=978-0-7425-2943-4 |location=Lanham}}
* {{Cite book |last=Ryley |first=Peter |title=The Palgrave Handbook of Anarchism |publisher=[[Springer Publishing]] |date=2019 |isbn=978-3-3197-5620-2 |editor-last=Levy |editor-first=Carl |editor-link=Carl Levy (political scientist) |pages=225–236 |chapter=Individualism |editor-last2=Adams |editor-first2=Matthew S.}}
* {{Cite book |last=Shannon |first=Deric |title=The Palgrave Handbook of Anarchism |publisher=[[Springer Publishing]] |date=2019 |isbn=978-3-3197-5620-2 |editor-last=Levy |editor-first=Carl |editor-link=Carl Levy (political scientist) |pages=91–106 |chapter=Anti-Capitalism and Libertarian Political Economy |editor-last2=Adams |editor-first2=Matthew S.}}
* {{Cite book |last=Skirda |first=Alexandre |title=Facing the Enemy: A History of Anarchist Organization From Proudhon to May 1968 |publisher=[[AK Press]] |date=2002 |isbn=978-1-9025-9319-7}}
* {{Cite book |last=Sylvan |first=Richard |author-link=Richard Sylvan |title=A Companion to Contemporary Political Philosophy |date=2007 |publisher=[[Blackwell Publishing]] |isbn=978-1-4051-3653-2 |editor-last=Goodin |editor-first=Robert E. |editor-link=Robert E. Goodin |edition=2nd |series=Blackwell Companions to Philosophy |volume=5 |chapter=Anarchism |editor-last2=Pettit |editor-first2=Philip |editor-link2=Philip Pettit |editor-last3=Pogge |editor-first3=Thomas |editor-link3=Thomas Pogge}}
* {{Cite book |last=Suissa |first=Judith |title=The Palgrave Handbook of Anarchism |publisher=[[Springer Publishing]] |date=2019 |isbn=978-3-3197-5620-2 |editor-last=Levy |editor-first=Carl |editor-link=Carl Levy (political scientist) |chapter=Anarchist Education |access-date=17 May 2020 |editor-last2=Adams |editor-first2=Matthew S. |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SRyQswEACAAJ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200726001923/https://books.google.com/books?id=SRyQswEACAAJ |archive-date=26 July 2020 |url-status=live}}
* {{Cite book |last=Thomas |first=Paul |author-link=Paul Thomas (Marx scholar) |title=[[Karl Marx and the Anarchists]] |publisher=[[Routledge]] & Kegan Paul |date=1985 |isbn=978-0-7102-0685-5 |location=London}}
* {{Cite book |title=The Marx-Engels Reader |publisher=[[W. W. Norton & Company]] |date=1978 |isbn=0-3930-5684-8 |editor-last=Tucker |editor-first=Robert C. |edition=2nd |location=New York |oclc=3415145}}
* {{Cite book |last=Turcato |first=Davide |title=The Palgrave Handbook of Anarchism |publisher=[[Springer Publishing]] |date=2019 |isbn=978-3-3197-5620-2 |editor-last=Levy |editor-first=Carl |editor-link=Carl Levy (political scientist) |chapter=Anarchist Communism |editor-last2=Adams |editor-first2=Matthew S.}}
* {{Cite book |last=Van der Walt |first=Lucien |title=The Palgrave Handbook of Anarchism |publisher=[[Springer Publishing]] |date=2019 |isbn=978-3-3197-5620-2 |editor-last=Levy |editor-first=Carl |editor-link=Carl Levy (political scientist) |pages=249–264 |chapter=Syndicalism |editor-last2=Adams |editor-first2=Matthew S.}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Ward |first=Colin |author-link=Colin Ward |date=1973 |title=The Role of the State |journal=Education Without Schools |pages=39–48}}
* {{Cite book |last=Ward |first=Colin |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nkgSDAAAQBAJ |title=Anarchism: A Very Short Introduction |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |date=2004 |isbn=978-0-1928-0477-8 |location=Oxford |author-mask=2 |access-date=12 March 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210304153805/https://books.google.com/books?id=nkgSDAAAQBAJ |archive-date=4 March 2021 |url-status=live}}
* {{Cite book |last=Walter |first=Nicholas |title=About Anarchism |publisher=Freedom Press |date=2002 |isbn=978-0-9003-8490-5 |location=London}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Wendt |first=Fabian |date=2020 |title=Against Philosophical Anarchism |journal=Law and Philosophy |volume=39 |issue=5 |pages=527–544 |doi=10.1007/s10982-020-09377-4 |s2cid=213742949}}
* {{Cite book |last=Wilbur |first=Shawn |title=The Palgrave Handbook of Anarchism |publisher=[[Springer Publishing]] |date=2019 |isbn=978-3-3197-5620-2 |editor-last=Levy |editor-first=Carl |editor-link=Carl Levy (political scientist) |chapter=Mutualism |editor-last2=Adams |editor-first2=Matthew S.}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Williams |first=Dana M. |date=2015 |title=Black Panther Radical Factionalization and the Development of Black Anarchism |journal=[[Journal of Black Studies]] |location=Thousand Oaks |publisher=[[SAGE Publishing]] |volume=46 |issue=7 |pages=678–703 |doi=10.1177/0021934715593053 |jstor=24572914 |s2cid=145663405}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Williams |first=Dana M. |author-mask=2 |date=2018 |title=Contemporary Anarchist and Anarchistic Movements |journal=Sociology Compass |publisher=[[Wiley (publisher)|Wiley]] |volume=12 |issue=6 |pages=e12582 |doi=10.1111/soc4.12582 |issn=1751-9020}}
* {{Cite book |last=Williams |first=Dana M. |title=The Palgrave Handbook of Anarchism |publisher=[[Springer Publishing]] |date=2019 |isbn=978-3-3197-5620-2 |editor-last=Levy |editor-first=Carl |editor-link=Carl Levy (political scientist) |chapter=Tactics: Conceptions of Social Change, Revolution, and Anarchist Organisation |author-mask=2 |editor-last2=Adams |editor-first2=Matthew S.}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Williams |first=Leonard |date=September 2007 |title=Anarchism Revived |journal=[[New Political Science]] |language=en |volume=29 |issue=3 |pages=297–312 |doi=10.1080/07393140701510160 |issn=0739-3148 |s2cid=220354272}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Williams |first=Leonard |author-mask=2 |date=2010 |title=Hakim Bey and Ontological Anarchism |journal=Journal for the Study of Radicalism |location=East Lansing |publisher=[[Michigan State University Press]] |volume=4 |issue=2 |pages=109–137 |doi=10.1353/jsr.2010.0009 |jstor=41887660 |s2cid=143304524}}
{{Refend}}


==== Tertiary sources ====
''See also:'' [[Anarcha-Feminism]]
{{Refbegin|30em|indent=yes}}
* {{Cite web |last=Coutinho |first=Steve |date=3 March 2016 |title=Zhuangzi |url=http://www.iep.utm.edu/zhuangzi |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303175106/http://www.iep.utm.edu/zhuangzi |archive-date=2016-03-03 |access-date=2019-03-05 |publisher=Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy |language=en}}
* {{Cite book |last=De George |first=Richard T. |title=The Oxford Companion to Philosophy |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |date=2005 |isbn=978-0-1992-6479-7 |editor-last=Honderich |editor-first=Ted |editor-link=Ted Honderich}}
* {{Cite encyclopedia |date=2017 |title=Anarchism |encyclopedia=[[Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy]] |publisher=Metaphysics Research Lab, [[Stanford University]] |url=https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/anarchism |access-date=12 March 2019 |last=Fiala |first=Andrew |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200828210847/https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/anarchism |archive-date=28 August 2020 |url-status=live}}
* {{Cite encyclopedia |date=2019 |title=Anarchism In The Arts |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]] |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/anarchism/Anarchism-in-the-arts#info-article-contributors |access-date=31 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201128002441/https://www.britannica.com/topic/anarchism/Anarchism-in-the-arts#info-article-contributors |archive-date=28 November 2020 |last2=Dirlik |first2=Arif |last3=Rosemont |first3=Franklin |last4=Augustyn |first4=Adam |last5=Duignan |first5=Brian |last6=Lotha |first6=Gloria |last1=Miller |first1=Martin A. |url-status=live}}
* {{Cite encyclopedia |date=2008 |title=Anarcho-capitalism |encyclopedia=The Encyclopedia of Libertarianism |publisher=SAGE; [[Cato Institute]] |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yxNgXs3TkJYC&pg=PT51 |access-date=2 September 2020 |editor-last=Hamowy |editor-first=Ronald |editor-link=Ronald Hamowy |pages=13–14 |doi=10.4135/9781412965811.n8 |isbn=978-1-4129-6580-4 |oclc=191924853 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210218111721/https://books.google.com/books?id=yxNgXs3TkJYC&pg=PT51 |archive-date=18 February 2021 |last1=Morris |first1=Andrew |url-status=live}}
* {{Cite book |last1=McLean |first1=Iain |url=https://archive.org/details/oxfordconcisedic00iain |title=The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Politics |last2=McMillan |first2=Alistair |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |date=2003 |isbn=978-0-1928-0276-7 |url-access=registration}}
* {{Cite web |date=2019 |title=Definition of Anarchism |url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/anarchism |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210218111728/https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/anarchism |archive-date=2021-02-18 |access-date=2019-02-28 |website=Merriam-Webster |language=en |ref={{Sfnref|Merriam-Webster|2019}}}}
* {{Cite book |last=Miller |first=David |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NIZfQTd3nSMC |title=The Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Political Thought |publisher=[[Wiley (publisher)|Wiley]] |date=1991 |isbn=978-0-6311-7944-3 |access-date=7 March 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200818145221/https://books.google.com/books?id=NIZfQTd3nSMC |archive-date=18 August 2020 |url-status=live}}
* {{Cite encyclopedia |date=2003 |title=Anarchism |encyclopedia=The Blackwell Dictionary of Modern Social Thought |publisher=[[Blackwell Publishing]] |location=Malden, Massachusetts |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JJmdpqJwkwwC&pg=PA12 |access-date=15 August 2020 |last=Ostergaard |first=Geoffrey |author-link=Geoffrey Ostergaard |editor-last=Outhwaite |editor-first=William |edition=2nd |isbn=978-0-6312-2164-7 |oclc=49704935 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210418004719/https://books.google.com/books?id=JJmdpqJwkwwC&pg=PA12 |archive-date=18 April 2021 |url-status=live}}
* {{Cite book |title=Oxford English Dictionary |date=September 2005 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |edition=3rd |chapter=Anarchy |ref={{Harvid|Oxford English Dictionary|2005}}}}
{{Refend}}


== Further reading ==
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 [http://www.anarcha.org/sallydarity/Anarcho-FeminismTwoStatements.htm], during the [[second-wave feminism|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.
* {{Cite book |last=Avrich |first=Paul |author-link=Paul Avrich |title=[[Anarchist Voices: An Oral History of Anarchism in America]] |date=1995 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-0-6910-3412-6 |location=Princeton |language=English }}
* {{Cite book |last=Barclay |first=Harold B. |author-link=Harold Barclay |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MrFHQgAACAAJ |title=People Without Government: An Anthropology of Anarchy |publisher=Kahn & Averill |date=1990 |isbn=978-0-9393-0609-1}}
* {{Cite book |last=Baker |first=Zoe |author-link=Zoe Baker |title=Means and Ends: The Revolutionary Practice of Anarchism in Europe and the United States |publisher=[[AK Press]] |year=2023 |isbn=978-1-8493-5498-1 |oclc=1345217229 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Chomsky |first=Noam |author-link=Noam Chomsky |title=Chomsky on Anarchism |publisher=[[AK Press]] |date=2005 |isbn=978-1-9048-5926-0 |editor-last=Pateman |editor-first=Barry |location=Oakland}}
* {{Cite book |last=Edmundson |first=William A. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=q_gClKUbJyYC |title=Three Anarchical Fallacies: An Essay on Political Authority |date=2007 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |isbn=978-0-5210-3751-8}} Criticism of philosophical anarchism.
* {{Cite book |last=Esenwein |first=George |title=Anarchist Ideology and the Working-Class Movement in Spain, 1868–1898 |publisher=University of California Press |date=1989 |isbn=978-0-5200-6398-3 |location=Berkeley}}
* {{Cite book |last=Harper |first=Clifford |author-link=Clifford Harper |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W63aAAAAMAAJ |title=Anarchy: A Graphic Guide |publisher=Camden Press |date=1987 |isbn=978-0-9484-9122-1}}
* {{Cite book |last=Huemer |first=Michael |title=The Problem of Political Authority: An Examination of the Right to Coerce and the Duty to Obey |publisher=[[Palgrave Macmillan]] |date=2012 |isbn=978-1-1372-8164-7 |location=London |page=137}} A defence of philosophical anarchism, stating that "both kinds of 'anarchism' [i.e. philosophical and political anarchism] are philosophical and political claims."
* {{Cite news |last=Kahn |first=Joseph |date=2000-08-05 |title=Anarchism, the Creed That Won't Stay Dead; The Spread of World Capitalism Resurrects a Long-Dormant Movement |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/08/05/arts/anarchism-creed-that-won-t-stay-dead-spread-world-capitalism-resurrects-long.html |page=B9 |issn=0362-4331}}
* {{Cite book |last=Kinna |first=Ruth |author-link=Ruth Kinna |title=Anarchism: A Beginners Guide |publisher=Oneworld |date=2005 |isbn=978-1-8516-8370-3}}
* {{Cite book |last=Le Guin |first=Ursula K. |author-link=Ursula K. Le Guin |title=The Dispossessed |title-link=The Dispossessed |publisher=[[HarperCollins]] |date=2009}} Anarchistic popular fiction novel.<!-- Gifford 2019, p 580. -->
* {{Cite book |last=Sartwell |first=Crispin |author-link=Crispin Sartwell |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bk-aaMVGKO0C |title=Against the State: An Introduction to Anarchist Political Theory |publisher=[[SUNY Press]] |date=2008 |isbn=978-0-7914-7447-1}}
* {{Cite book |last=Scott |first=James C. |author-link=James C. Scott |title=Two Cheers for Anarchism: Six Easy Pieces on Autonomy, Dignity, and Meaningful Work and Play |title-link=Two Cheers for Anarchism |publisher=[[Princeton University Press]] |date=2012 |isbn=978-0-6911-5529-6 |location=Princeton, New Jersey}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Suissa |first=Judith |date=1 July 2019b |title=Education and Non-domination: Reflections from the Radical Tradition |journal=Studies in Philosophy and Education |volume=38 |issue=4 |pages=359–375 |doi=10.1007/s11217-019-09662-3 |s2cid=151210357 |doi-access=free}}
* {{Cite book |last=Wolff |first=Robert Paul |author-link=Robert Paul Wolff |title=In Defense of Anarchism |title-link=In Defense of Anarchism |publisher=[[University of California Press]] |date=1998 |isbn=978-0-5202-1573-3}} An argument for philosophical anarchism.
* {{Cite journal |last=Woodcock |first=George |author-link=George Woodcock |date=January 1962 |title=Anarchism in Spain |url=https://www.historytoday.com/archive/anarchism-spain |journal=[[History Today]] |volume=12 |issue=1 |pages=22–32 |access-date=14 October 2020}}
* {{Cite book |last1=Levy |first1=Carl |url=https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-319-75620-2 |title=The Palgrave Handbook of Anarchism |last2=Adams |first2=Matthew S. |date=2019 |publisher=[[Palgrave Macmillan]] |isbn=978-3-3197-5620-2 |language=en |doi=10.1007/978-3-319-75620-2 |s2cid=149333615}}


== External links ==
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.
<!-- Attention! The external link portion of this article regularly grows far beyond manageable size. PLEASE only list an outside link if it applies to anarchism in general, is somewhat noteworthy, and has consensus on the talkpage. Links to sites which cover anarchist submovements will be routinely moved to subarticles to keep this article free of clutter. -->
{{Prone to spam|date=November 2014}}
* [http://dwardmac.pitzer.edu Anarchy Archives] – an online research center on the history and theory of anarchism.


{{Sister bar|wikt=yes|commons=yes|q=yes|s=yes|b=yes|d=yes|v=yes|n=yes}}
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.


{{Anarchism}}
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.
{{Navboxes

|list=
===Religion===
''See also:'' [[Christian anarchism]], [[Anarchism and religion]]
[[Image:LeoTolstoy.jpg|thumb|[[Leo Tolstoy|Leo Tolstoy]] 1828-1910]]
Christian anarchism is the belief that there is only one source of authority to which [[Christian|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 [[pacifism|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 anarchists oppose war and other statist aggression through [[tax resistance]], while others submit to taxation. [[Ammon Hennacy]] advocated tax resistance, while Tolstoy opposed it. Tolstoy claimed that the act of resisting taxes requires physical force to withhold what a government tries to take. Contrary to this Hennacy, who like Tolstoy also believed in [[nonresistance]], managed to resist taxes without resorting to physical force. Many Christian anarchists are [[vegetarianism|vegetarian]] or [[veganism|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.

===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 [[Russian Civil War|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 [[Comintern|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 front]]s 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. (see David Berry, ‘Fascism or Revolution!’ Anarchism and Antifascism in France, 1933-39*)
[[http://melior.univ-montp3.fr/ra_forum/en/people/berry_david/fascism_or_revolution.html]]

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 the history of anarchism the [[Spanish Civil War]] of (1936-1939) is a defining event on at least the scale of the [[First International]] or the [[Russian Revolution of 1917]]. [[Anarchism in Spain|A widely popular anarchist movement]] supported by anti-fascist militias took control of the industrial stronghold of [[Barcelona]], and rural areas mainly in northeast Spain where they [[collectivization|collectivized]] the land. For a few brief months in 1936-37 libertarian communism was being put into practice.

But even before the eventual fascist victory, the anarchists were losing ground in a bitter struggle with the Soviet-backed communists. Whilst the CNT leadership often appeared confused and divided, Communist-led troops suppressed the collectives, and the revolution was destroyed. Anarchism has never since come so close to realising the dream of libertarian communism as in that ''short summer of anarchy''.

==Contemporary anarchism==

===Contemporary Anarcho-syndicalism===

Anarcho-syndicalist unions live on to this day, though with nothing like the strength they once enjoyed.

The world's largest organised anarchist movement is probably still to be found in Spain. After defeat in the [[Spanish Civil War]], [[CNT]] members were killed, imprisoned or forced underground and into exile, from whence they continued carry out covert actions against Franco's [[fascist]] dictatorship - sometimes loosely allied with other dissident forces including [[Basque]] and [[Catalan]] [[nationalists]]. Following the death of [[Francisco Franco]] in 1975, the CNT returned to Spain. However, in the early 1980's the movement became split. The larger organisation today is the [[Confederacion General del Trabajo de España|Confederación General del Trabajo]] (or CGT - not to be confused with the now-reformist French CGT confederation). The CGT claims a current paid-up membership of 60,000, making it the third largest Spanish trade union bloc. In recent [[Spanish syndical elections]] it gained the votes of over one million workers.[http://www.infoshop.org/inews/article.php?story=05/01/06/7640998]

The CNT, though smaller, is still an active movement which takes a 'purer' line. A major dividing point between the two is that the CNT urges abstention from syndical as well as political elections.

In the United States, the [[IWW]] is still active, and though relatively tiny has recently experienced a major surge in growth that has made it one of the fastest growing labor unions in the United States. Other current anarcho-syndicalist organizations include the [[Workers Solidarity Alliance]] in the US, and the [[Solidarity Federation]] in the UK.

Some critics of anarcho-syndicalism contend that its focus on proletarian [[class struggle]] overlooks the needs of segments of society such as parents or others occupied with child-rearing or domestic labor, although some anarcho-syndicalist thought attempts to address other sectors of economic life. Some primitivist authors, notably [[Bob Black]], contend that an anarcho-syndicalist revolution would leave in place social systems they find oppressive ([[work]] and workplaces, for example), although anarcho-syndicalists contend that worker self-management would render those systems fundamentally more humane.

===The platformist tradition===

A number of anarchist organisations in different countries take their inspiration from the [[Platformism|Organisational Platform of the Libertarian Communists]], a manifesto for anarchist organisation written by the [[Dielo Truda]] group of exiled Russian anarchists in Paris in 1926[http://flag.blackened.net/revolt/platform/plat_preface.html]. Platformists tend to describe themselves as anarchist-communists, and as 'class struggle' anarchists.

Like the anarcho-syndicalists, with whom they have close relationships in many countries, they thus see themselves as continuing a tradition of revolutionary anarchism rooted in working class movements. Unlike anarcho-syndicalists, however, they believe in a role for separate and dedicated Anarchist revolutionary organisations outside of the trade union movement which are characterised by four principles of 'theoretical unity', 'tactical unity', 'collective responsibility' and 'federalism'.

Platformist groups today include the [[Workers Solidarity Movement]] in Ireland, the UK's [[Anarchist Federation]], and the [[North Eastern Federation of Anarchist Communists]] in Canada.

===Punk rock===
A surge of popular interest in anarchism occurred during the [[1960s]] and [[1970s]]. In the [[United Kingdom|UK]] this was associated with the [[punk rock]] movement; the band [[Crass]] is celebrated for its anarchist and [[pacifism|pacifist]] ideas. 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 [[antifa|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.

''For further details, see [[anarcho-punk]]''

===Environmentalism===
''See also'': [[Green anarchism]]

Eco-anarchism generally is a belief in [[deep ecology]], [[direct action]] against earth destroying institutions and systems, and generally a critique of industrial capitalism, although generally not against [[civilization]] per se.

There is a significant [[anarchist]] element to the [[environmental movement]], including those that are known as [[eco-anarchists]] and [[Green anarchism|green-anarchists]]. Eco-anarchism is generally a broad term that broadly refers to anarchists engaged in the earth liberation movement. The largest segment of 'eco-anarchists' is the [[Earth First!]] movement, a network of various collectives formed along anarchist principles. Earth First! generally engages in [[direct action]] and eco-defense, such as tree sitting and 'locking down'. In the modern anarchist movement, eco-anarchists generally adhere to [[deep ecology]], which is a worldview that embraces biodiversity and sustainability. [[Eco-feminism]] is also sometimes considered the form of eco-anarchist feminism.

===Civil rights===
''See also'': [[black anarchism]], [[APOC]], [[ARA]]

<!-- (what about the 60's through 80's?) -->
'''Anti-Racist Action''' is a loose federation of groups that focus on confronting (sometimes violently) racist agitators, such as the [[Ku Klux Klan]] or [[neo-Nazi]]s when they appear in public.

'''Black anarchism''' opposes the existence of a state, capitalism, and subjugation and domination of people of color, and favors a non-hierarchical organization of society. Black anarchists, recognizing that anarchism has traditionally been European or white-based, seek to forge their own movement that represents their own identity and tailored to their own unique situation. Theorists include [[Ashanti Alston]], [[Lorenzo Komboa Ervin]], and [[Sam Mbah]].

'''Anarchist People of Color''' was created as a forum for non-caucasian anarchists to express their thoughts about racial issues within the anarchist movement, particularly within the United States.

===Globalization of capitalism===

Globally, anarchism has also grown in popularity and influence as part of the [[anti-war]], [[anti-capitalism|anti-capitalist]], and [[anti-globalization]] movements. Since the late 1990s, anarchists have been known for their involvement in [[protest]]s against [[World Trade Organization]] and [[G8|Group of Eight]] meetings, and the [[World Economic Forum]] -- protests that are generally portrayed in mainstream media coverage as violent riots. Some anarchists form ''[[black bloc]]s'' at protests, in which members of the bloc wear black and cover their faces to avoid police identification and to create one large solid mass. Bloc members confront and defend other protesters from the [[police]], set up barricades, and sometimes engage in the destruction of corporate property.

Although black bloc anarchists are often the only visible anarchists at large protests, large-scale protests are often constructed and organized through anarchist structures. Affinity groupings, spokescouncils, and networking all have led to the success of various large-scale anti-war and anti-globalization mobilizations, most notably at the protests against the [[WTO Meeting of 1999]] in [[Seattle, Washington|Seattle]]. Anarchists have also been involved heavily with underground direct action movements such as the Animal Liberation Front, and the Earth Liberation Front, which are considered "[[eco-terrorist]]" by federal authorities and some liberal organizations. Anarchism (or at least anarchist systems of organizing) is now largely seen to have about the same sway in modern revolutionary movements as Marxism had in the 1960's.

===The question of civilization===

''See also:'' [[anarcho-primitivism]]
[[Image:Zerzan.jpeg|thumb|right|[[John Zerzan]]]]

Beginning in the later part of the 20th century anarchist [[John Zerzan]] wrote in [[Elements of Refusal]], and later, [[Future Primitive]] that [[civilization]] &mdash; not just the state &mdash; would need to fall for anarchy to be achieved. A rejection of industrial [[technology]] is also prominent in the views of many [[green anarchism | green anarchists]]. This worldview was associated with the growth of the anti-roads movement in the UK, [[Earth First!]] and the [[Earth Liberation Front]] in the US, and the actions of [[Theodore Kaczynski]] (aka the "Unabomber").

Primitivism is a philosophy advocating a return to a pre-industrial and usually pre-agricultural society, and a critique of industrial civilization, and the alienation that technology, progress, etc, have created between people and the natural world. Primitivism believes that industrial society inevitably produces oppressive structures through specialization of tasks or [[division of labor]], and that [[technology]] has similar negative implications. Most forms of primitivism question [[civilization]] itself. Primitivism generally sees that by the birth of agriculture, and the birth of cities and the creating of production surplus, gave rise to structures of hierarchy, and later statism. Anarcho-primitivists point to the anti-authoritarian nature of many 'primitive' or hunter-gatherer societies throughout the world's history, as examples of anarchist societies.

The primitivist movement has connections to radical environmentalism movements such as the [[Earth Liberation Front]] and [[Earth First!]].

===Parallel structures===

''See also:'' [[anarchist economics]], [[dual-power networks]]

Anarchists engage in building parallel structures and organizations, such as [[Food Not Bombs]], radical labor unions, [[infoshop]] and radical social centers, new sets of schooling systems, media in various forms, organizing around housing and land issues, and work toward accountability with police and other institutions through such tools as [[consensus]] decision-making. This is in line with the general anarchist concept of creating "dual-power", the idea of creating the structures for a new anti-authoritarian society in the shell of the old, hierarchical one.

===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 phone]]s 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 [[file sharing|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 &mdash; 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 &mdash; have theorised that anarchism would be inevitable with the technological advances that would make [[space travel| travelling]] and living in space plausible [http://www.cs.bris.ac.uk/~stefan/culture.html]. 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.

===Post-structuralism===

''See also:'' [[Post-anarchism]]

The term postanarchism was originated by [[Saul Newman]] in his book ''[[From Bakunin to Lacan: Antiauthoritarianism and the Dislocation of Power]]'' to refer to a theoretical move towards a synthesis of classical anarchist theory and [[poststructuralist]] thought. In this sense it has similarities with post-Marxism associated with [[Ernesto Laclau]] and Chantal Mouffee. Subsequent to Newman's use of the term, however, it has taken on a life of its own and a wide range of ideas including [[autonomism]], [[post-left anarchy]], [[situationism]], [[post-colonialism]] and Zapatismo have been suggested for inclusion under the rubric. Others have argued that the term "poststructuralist anarchism" is preferable in order to maintain an unbroken link with the anarchist heritage.

By its very nature post-anarchism rejects the idea that it should be a coherent set of doctrines and beliefs. As such it is difficult, if not impossible, to state with any degree of certainty who should or shouldn't be grouped under the rubric. Nonetheless key thinkers associated with post-anarchism include [[Saul Newman]], [[Todd May]], [[Gilles Deleuze]] and [[Félix Guattari]].

''External reference:'' [http://www.postanarchism.org/ Postanarchism Clearinghouse]

===Against ideology===

''See also:'' [[Post-left anarchy]]

Post-left anarchy (also called egoist-anarchism) seeks to distance itself from the traditional "left" - communists, liberals, social democrats, etc. - and to escape the confines of [[ideology]] in general. It has rapidly developed since the fall of the [[Soviet Union]], which many view as the death of authoritarian leftism; however, its roots are clearly visible in the ideas of the 1960s [[Situationists]]. It is not an independent "movement" as such but rather a critical way of thinking about anarchist ideas.

Post-leftists argue that anarchism has been weakened by its long attachment to contrary "leftist" movements and single issue causes ([[anti-war]], [[anti-nuclear]], etc.). It calls for a synthesis of anarchist thought and a specifically anti-authoritarian revolutionary movement outside of the leftist milieu. It often focuses on the individual rather than speaking in terms of class or other broad generalizations and shuns organizational tendencies in favor of the complete absence of hierarchy. Total individual liberation is a key focus, rather than merely economic liberation.

Important groups and individuals associated with Post-left anarchy include: [[CrimethInc]], the magazine [[Anarchy: A Journal of Desire Armed]] and its editor [[Jason McQuinn]], [[Bob Black]], and others. For more information, see Infoshop.org's [http://www.infoshop.org/afterleftism.html Anarchy After Leftism] section, and the [http://anarchism.ws/postleft.html Post-left section] on [http://anarchism.ws/ anarchism.ws.]

===Personal practice===

'''Small 'a' anarchism''' is a term used in two different, but not unconnected contexts.

Dave Neal posited the term in opposition to big 'A' Anarchism in the article [http://www.spunk.org/library/intro/practice/sp001689.html Anarchism: Ideology or Methodology?]. While big 'A' Anarchism referred to ideological Anarchists, small 'a' anarchism was applied to their methodological counterparts; those who viewed anarchism as "a way of acting, or a historical tendency against illegitimate authority." As an anti-ideological position, small 'a' anarchism shares some similarities with [[post-left anarchy]], while Neal's insistence that it entails a rejection of the idea that there can be an "ultimate Truth" recalls the poststructuralist turns of post-anarchism (see above).

David Graeber and Andrej Grubacic offer an alternative use of the term, applying it to groups and movements organising according to or acting in a manner consistent with anarchist principles of decentralisation, voluntary association, mutual aid, the network model, and crucially, "the rejection of any idea that the end justifies the means, let alone that the business of a revolutionary is to seize state power and then begin imposing one's vision at the point of a gun." [http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=41&ItemID=4796] Graeber and Grubacic do not offer a comprehensive list of groups within this rubric, but suggest that it includes the likes of autonomism, Zapatismo and radical democracy. It should be stressed that many of these groups do not describe themselves as "anarchist", perhaps deliberately, and are grouped instead on the basis of what they do, implying that the criteria for inclusion are similar to those articulated by Neal.

It is unclear how far the term has been picked up by the wider anarchist movement, but it does help to clarify and begin to explain some of the conflicts and disagreements within contemporary anarchism.

===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 the legitimate use of physical force|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.

===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 [[Nonviolence|non-violence]] (note, however, that these [[anarcho-pacifism|anarcho-pacifists]] are not necessarily [[Christian anarchism|Christian anarchists]] as Tolstoy was), advocating [[Nonviolent resistance|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"[http://struggle.ws/hist_texts/warhealthstate1918.html]. Anarchists believe that if they were to support a war they would be strengthening the state &mdash; 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, anarchists often view the stated reasons for war with a [[cynicism|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.

===Parliamentarianism===
While most anarchists firmly oppose voting, or otherwise participating in the State institution, there are a few that disagree. Even hard-core anarchists (e.g. Proudhon) have succumbed to the temptation of electoral politics - and inevitably regretted it. [[Voluntaryism]] is a anarchist school of thought which emphasizes "tending your own garden" and "neither ballots nor bullets." The anarchist case against voting is explained in [http://fuckthevote.org/TheEthicsofVoting The Ethics of Voting] by George H. Smith.

==See also==
<!-- (Please take care in adding to this list that it not grow excessively large, consider adding to the list of anarchist concepts page) -->
There are many concepts relevant to the topic of anarchism, this is a brief summary. There is also a more extensive [[list of anarchist concepts]].

* [[Anarchist symbolism]]
* [[Anarchism/Links|List of anarchism links]]
* [[List of anarchists]]
* [[List of anarchist organizations]]
* [[Past and present anarchist communities]]


===Historical events===
*[[Paris Commune]] ([[1871]])
*[[Haymarket Riot]] ([[1886]])
*[[Kronstadt rebellion]] ([[1921]])
*[[Spanish Revolution]] ([[1936]]) (see [[Anarchism in Spain]])
*[[May 1968]], France ([[1968]])
*[[WTO Meeting of 1999|WTO Meeting in Seattle]] ([[1999]])

===Books===

*[[Alexander Berkman]], ''[http://dwardmac.pitzer.edu/Anarchist_Archives/bright/berkman/comanarchism/whatis_toc.html What is Anarchism?]'', ''Prison Memoirs of an Anarchist'', others
*[[Mikhail Bakunin]], ''[http://dwardmac.pitzer.edu/Anarchist_Archives/bakunin/godandstate/godandstate_ch1.html God and the State]'', ''The Paris Commune and the Idea of the State'', others
*[[Emma Goldman]], ''[http://dwardmac.pitzer.edu/Anarchist_Archives/goldman/GoldmanCW.html Anarchism and Other Essays]'', ''[http://dwardmac.pitzer.edu/Anarchist_Archives/goldman/living/livingtoc.html Living My Life]'', others
*[[Daniel Guérin]], ''[[Anarchism (book)|Anarchism]]''
*[[Peter Kropotkin]], ''[[Mutual_Aid:_A_Factor_in_Evolution|Mutual Aid]]'', ''[[The Conquest of Bread]]'', others
*[[Pierre-Joseph Proudhon]], ''[[What is Property?]]''
*[[Rudolf Rocker]], ''Anarcho-Syndicalism''
*[[Voline]], ''The Unknown Revolution''
*[[Robert Paul Wolff]], ''[[In Defense of Anarchism]]''
*[[William Godwin]], ''[http://dwardmac.pitzer.edu/Anarchist_Archives/godwin/PJfrontpiece.html An Enquiry Concerning Political Justice]''
*[[Max Stirner]], ''[[The Ego And Its Own]]'' Contractarian (as opposed to Natural Law or utilitarian) anarchism
*[[Leo Tolstoy]], ''The Kingdom of God is Within You'' - Christian pacifist anarchism
*[[Guy Debord]], ''The Society of the Spectacle''
*[[Hakim Bey]], ''Temporary Autonomous Zone'' Ontological anarchism

===Anarchism by region/culture===
* [[African Anarchism]]
* [[Anarchism in Spain]]
* [[Anarchism in the English tradition]]

<!-- Attention! The external link portion of this article regularly grows far beyond manageable size. Please only list an outside link if it applies to anarchism in general and is somewhat noteworthy. Links to lesser known sites or submovements will be routinely moved to the list page to keep this article free of clutter -->

==External links==
The overwhelming diversity and number of links relating to anarchism is extensively covered on the [[List of anarchism web resources|links subpage]].
*[http://anarchoblogs.protest.net/ Anarchoblogs] Blogs by Anarchists.
*[http://dwardmac.pitzer.edu/Anarchist_Archives/ 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 [http://recollectionbooks.com/bleed/gallery/galleryindex.htm at the Daily Bleed's Anarchist Encyclopedia]
*[http://www.iww.org/ Industrial Workers of the World]
*[http://www.retailworkers.org/ IWW Retail Workers]
*[http://www.iwa-ait.org/ International Workers Association (IWA-AIT)]


{{Libertarian socialism}}
[[Category:Anarchism|*]]
{{Libertarianism}}
[[Category:Forms of government]]
{{Philosophy topics}}
[[Category:Political theories]]
{{Political culture}}
[[Category:Social philosophy]]
[[Category:Political ideology entry points]]
{{Political ideologies}}
{{Political philosophy}}
}}
{{Authority control}}


[[ast:Anarquismu]]
[[Category:Anarchism| ]]
[[Category:Anti-capitalism]]
[[bg:Анархизъм]]
[[Category:Anti-fascism]]
[[zh-min-nan:Hui-thóng-tī-chú-gī]]
[[Category:Economic ideologies]]
[[ca:Anarquisme]]
[[Category:Far-left politics]]
[[cs:Anarchismus]]
[[Category:Left-wing politics]]
[[da:Anarkisme]]
[[Category:Libertarian socialism]]
[[de:Anarchismus]]
[[Category:Libertarianism]]
[[et:Anarhism]]
[[Category:Political culture]]
[[es:Anarquismo]]
[[Category:Political ideologies]]
[[eo:Anarkiismo]]
[[Category:Political movements]]
[[eu:Anarkismo]]
[[Category:Social theories]]
[[fa:دولت‌زدائی]]
[[fr:Anarchisme]]
[[Category:Socialism]]
[[gl:Anarquismo]]
[[ko:아나키즘]]
[[id:Anarkisme]]
[[is:Stjórnleysisstefna]]
[[it:Anarchismo]]
[[he:אנרכיזם]]
[[lt:Anarchizmas]]
[[hu:Anarchizmus]]
[[nl:Anarchisme]]
[[ja:アナキズム]]
[[no:Anarkisme]]
[[nn:Anarkisme]]
[[pl:Anarchizm]]
[[pt:Anarquismo]]
[[ro:Anarhism]]
[[ru:Анархизм]]
[[simple:Anarchism]]
[[sk:Anarchizmus]]
[[sl:Anarhizem]]
[[sr:Анархизам]]
[[fi:Anarkismi]]
[[sv:Anarkism]]
[[th:ลัทธิอนาธิปไตย]]
[[tr:Anarşizm]]
[[zh:无政府主义]]

Latest revision as of 11:00, 18 December 2024

Anarchism is a political philosophy and movement that is against all forms of authority and seeks to abolish the institutions it claims maintain unnecessary coercion and hierarchy, typically including the state and capitalism. Anarchism advocates for the replacement of the state with stateless societies and voluntary free associations. A historically left-wing movement, anarchism is usually described as the libertarian wing of the socialist movement (libertarian socialism).

Although traces of anarchist ideas are found all throughout history, modern anarchism emerged from the Enlightenment. During the latter half of the 19th and the first decades of the 20th century, the anarchist movement flourished in most parts of the world and had a significant role in workers' struggles for emancipation. Various anarchist schools of thought formed during this period. Anarchists have taken part in several revolutions, most notably in the Paris Commune, the Russian Civil War and the Spanish Civil War, whose end marked the end of the classical era of anarchism. In the last decades of the 20th and into the 21st century, the anarchist movement has been resurgent once more, growing in popularity and influence within anti-capitalist, anti-war and anti-globalisation movements.

Anarchists employ diverse approaches, which may be generally divided into revolutionary and evolutionary strategies; there is significant overlap between the two. Evolutionary methods try to simulate what an anarchist society might be like, but revolutionary tactics, which have historically taken a violent turn, aim to overthrow authority and the state. Many facets of human civilization have been influenced by anarchist theory, critique, and praxis.

Etymology, terminology, and definition

Wilhelm Weitling is an example of a writer who added to anarchist theory without using the exact term.[1]

The etymological origin of anarchism is from the Ancient Greek anarkhia (ἀναρχία), meaning "without a ruler", composed of the prefix an- ("without") and the word arkhos ("leader" or "ruler"). The suffix -ism denotes the ideological current that favours anarchy.[2] Anarchism appears in English from 1642 as anarchisme and anarchy from 1539; early English usages emphasised a sense of disorder.[3] Various factions within the French Revolution labelled their opponents as anarchists, although few such accused shared many views with later anarchists. Many revolutionaries of the 19th century such as William Godwin (1756–1836) and Wilhelm Weitling (1808–1871) would contribute to the anarchist doctrines of the next generation but did not use anarchist or anarchism in describing themselves or their beliefs.[4]

The first political philosopher to call himself an anarchist (French: anarchiste) was Pierre-Joseph Proudhon (1809–1865),[5] marking the formal birth of anarchism in the mid-19th century. Since the 1890s and beginning in France,[6] libertarianism has often been used as a synonym for anarchism;[7] its use as a synonym is still common outside the United States.[8] Some usages of libertarianism refer to individualistic free-market philosophy only, and free-market anarchism in particular is termed libertarian anarchism.[9]

While the term libertarian has been largely synonymous with anarchism,[10] its meaning has more recently been diluted by wider adoption from ideologically disparate groups,[11] including both the New Left and libertarian Marxists, who do not associate themselves with authoritarian socialists or a vanguard party, and extreme cultural liberals, who are primarily concerned with civil liberties.[11] Additionally, some anarchists use libertarian socialist[12] to avoid anarchism's negative connotations and emphasise its connections with socialism.[11] Anarchism is broadly used to describe the anti-authoritarian wing of the socialist movement.[13][nb 1] Anarchism is contrasted to socialist forms which are state-oriented or from above.[17] Scholars of anarchism generally highlight anarchism's socialist credentials[18] and criticise attempts at creating dichotomies between the two.[19] Some scholars describe anarchism as having many influences from liberalism,[11] and being both liberal and socialist but more so.[20] Many scholars reject anarcho-capitalism as a misunderstanding of anarchist principles.[21][nb 2]

While opposition to the state is central to anarchist thought, defining anarchism is not an easy task for scholars, as there is a lot of discussion among scholars and anarchists on the matter, and various currents perceive anarchism slightly differently.[23][nb 3] Major definitional elements include the will for a non-coercive society, the rejection of the state apparatus, the belief that human nature allows humans to exist in or progress toward such a non-coercive society, and a suggestion on how to act to pursue the ideal of anarchy.[26]

History

Pre-modern era

Zeno of Citium (c. 334 – c. 262 BC), whose Republic inspired Peter Kropotkin[27]

The most notable precursors to anarchism in the ancient world were in China and Greece. In China, philosophical anarchism (the discussion on the legitimacy of the state) was delineated by Taoist philosophers Zhuang Zhou and Laozi.[28] Alongside Stoicism, Taoism has been said to have had "significant anticipations" of anarchism.[29]

Anarchic attitudes were also articulated by tragedians and philosophers in Greece. Aeschylus and Sophocles used the myth of Antigone to illustrate the conflict between laws imposed by the state and personal autonomy. Socrates questioned Athenian authorities constantly and insisted on the right of individual freedom of conscience. Cynics dismissed human law (nomos) and associated authorities while trying to live according to nature (physis). Stoics were supportive of a society based on unofficial and friendly relations among its citizens without the presence of a state.[30]

In medieval Europe, there was no anarchistic activity except some ascetic religious movements. These, and other Muslim movements, later gave birth to religious anarchism. In the Sasanian Empire, Mazdak called for an egalitarian society and the abolition of monarchy, only to be soon executed by Emperor Kavad I.[31] In Basra, religious sects preached against the state.[32] In Europe, various religious sects developed anti-state and libertarian tendencies.[33]

Renewed interest in antiquity during the Renaissance and in private judgment during the Reformation restored elements of anti-authoritarian secularism in Europe, particularly in France.[34] Enlightenment challenges to intellectual authority (secular and religious) and the revolutions of the 1790s and 1848 all spurred the ideological development of what became the era of classical anarchism.[35]

Modern era

During the French Revolution, partisan groups such as the Enragés and the sans-culottes saw a turning point in the fermentation of anti-state and federalist sentiments.[36] The first anarchist currents developed throughout the 18th century as William Godwin espoused philosophical anarchism in England, morally delegitimising the state, Max Stirner's thinking paved the way to individualism and Pierre-Joseph Proudhon's theory of mutualism found fertile soil in France.[37] By the late 1870s, various anarchist schools of thought had become well-defined and a wave of then-unprecedented globalisation occurred from 1880 to 1914.[38] This era of classical anarchism lasted until the end of the Spanish Civil War and is considered the golden age of anarchism.[37]

Mikhail Bakunin opposed the Marxist aim of dictatorship of the proletariat and allied himself with the federalists in the First International before his expulsion by the Marxists.

Drawing from mutualism, Mikhail Bakunin founded collectivist anarchism and entered the International Workingmen's Association, a class worker union later known as the First International that formed in 1864 to unite diverse revolutionary currents. The International became a significant political force, with Karl Marx being a leading figure and a member of its General Council. Bakunin's faction (the Jura Federation) and Proudhon's followers (the mutualists) opposed state socialism, advocating political abstentionism and small property holdings.[39] After bitter disputes, the Bakuninists were expelled from the International by the Marxists at the 1872 Hague Congress.[40] Anarchists were treated similarly in the Second International, being ultimately expelled in 1896.[41] Bakunin predicted that if revolutionaries gained power by Marx's terms, they would end up the new tyrants of workers. In response to their expulsion from the First International, anarchists formed the St. Imier International. Under the influence of Peter Kropotkin, a Russian philosopher and scientist, anarcho-communism overlapped with collectivism.[42] Anarcho-communists, who drew inspiration from the 1871 Paris Commune, advocated for free federation and for the distribution of goods according to one's needs.[43]

By the turn of the 20th century, anarchism had spread all over the world.[44] It was a notable feature of the international syndicalist movement.[45] In China, small groups of students imported the humanistic pro-science version of anarcho-communism.[46] Tokyo was a hotspot for rebellious youth from East Asian countries, who moved to the Japanese capital to study.[47] In Latin America, Argentina was a stronghold for anarcho-syndicalism, where it became the most prominent left-wing ideology.[48] During this time, a minority of anarchists adopted tactics of revolutionary political violence, known as propaganda of the deed.[49] The dismemberment of the French socialist movement into many groups and the execution and exile of many Communards to penal colonies following the suppression of the Paris Commune favoured individualist political expression and acts.[50] Even though many anarchists distanced themselves from these terrorist acts, infamy came upon the movement and attempts were made to prevent anarchists immigrating to the US, including the Immigration Act of 1903, also called the Anarchist Exclusion Act.[51] Illegalism was another strategy which some anarchists adopted during this period.[52]

Nestor Makhno seen with members of the anarchist Revolutionary Insurgent Army of Ukraine

Despite concerns, anarchists enthusiastically participated in the Russian Revolution in opposition to the White movement, especially in the Makhnovshchina; however, they met harsh suppression after the Bolshevik government had stabilised, including during the Kronstadt rebellion.[53] Several anarchists from Petrograd and Moscow fled to Ukraine, before the Bolsheviks crushed the anarchist movement there too.[53] With the anarchists being repressed in Russia, two new antithetical currents emerged, namely platformism and synthesis anarchism. The former sought to create a coherent group that would push for revolution while the latter were against anything that would resemble a political party. Seeing the victories of the Bolsheviks in the October Revolution and the resulting Russian Civil War, many workers and activists turned to communist parties, which grew at the expense of anarchism and other socialist movements. In France and the United States, members of major syndicalist movements such as the General Confederation of Labour and the Industrial Workers of the World left their organisations and joined the Communist International.[54]

In the Spanish Civil War of 1936–39, anarchists and syndicalists (CNT and FAI) once again allied themselves with various currents of leftists. A long tradition of Spanish anarchism led to anarchists playing a pivotal role in the war, and particularly in the Spanish Revolution of 1936. In response to the army rebellion, an anarchist-inspired movement of peasants and workers, supported by armed militias, took control of Barcelona and of large areas of rural Spain, where they collectivised the land.[55] The Soviet Union provided some limited assistance at the beginning of the war, but the result was a bitter fight between communists and other leftists in a series of events known as the May Days, as Joseph Stalin asserted Soviet control of the Republican government, ending in another defeat of anarchists at the hands of the communists.[56]

Post-WWII

Rojava's support efforts for workers to form cooperatives is exemplified in this sewing cooperative.

By the end of World War II, the anarchist movement had been severely weakened.[57] The 1960s witnessed a revival of anarchism, likely caused by a perceived failure of Marxism–Leninism and tensions built by the Cold War.[58] During this time, anarchism found a presence in other movements critical towards both capitalism and the state such as the anti-nuclear, environmental, and peace movements, the counterculture of the 1960s, and the New Left.[59] It also saw a transition from its previous revolutionary nature to provocative anti-capitalist reformism.[60] Anarchism became associated with punk subculture as exemplified by bands such as Crass and the Sex Pistols.[61] The established feminist tendencies of anarcha-feminism returned with vigour during the second wave of feminism.[62] Black anarchism began to take form at this time and influenced anarchism's move from a Eurocentric demographic.[63] This coincided with its failure to gain traction in Northern Europe and its unprecedented height in Latin America.[64]

Around the turn of the 21st century, anarchism grew in popularity and influence within anti-capitalist, anti-war and anti-globalisation movements.[65] Anarchists became known for their involvement in protests against the World Trade Organization (WTO), the Group of Eight and the World Economic Forum. During the protests, ad hoc leaderless anonymous cadres known as black blocs engaged in rioting, property destruction and violent confrontations with the police. Other organisational tactics pioneered at this time include affinity groups, security culture and the use of decentralised technologies such as the Internet. A significant event of this period was the confrontations at the 1999 Seattle WTO conference.[65] Anarchist ideas have been influential in the development of the Zapatistas in Mexico and the Democratic Federation of Northern Syria, more commonly known as Rojava, a de facto autonomous region in northern Syria.[66]

While having revolutionary aspirations, many contemporary forms of anarchism are not confrontational. Instead, they are trying to build an alternative way of social organization (following the theories of dual power), based on mutual interdependence and voluntary cooperation. Scholar Carissa Honeywell takes the example of Food Not Bombs group of collectives, to highlight some features of how contemporary anarchist groups work: direct action, working together and in solidarity with those left behind. While doing so, Food Not Bombs provides consciousness raising about the rising rates of world hunger and suggest policies to tackle hunger, ranging from de-funding the arms industry to addressing Monsanto seed-saving policies and patents, helping farmers, and resisting the commodification of food and housing.[67] Honeywell also emphasizes that contemporary anarchists are interested in the flourishing not only of humans, but non-humans and the environment as well.[68] Honeywell argues that their analysis of capitalism and governments results in anarchists rejecting representative democracy and the state as a whole.[69]

Schools of thought

Anarchist schools of thought have been generally grouped into two main historical traditions, social anarchism and individualist anarchism, owing to their different origins, values and evolution.[70] The individualist current emphasises negative liberty in opposing restraints upon the free individual, while the social current emphasises positive liberty in aiming to achieve the free potential of society through equality and social ownership.[71] In a chronological sense, anarchism can be segmented by the classical currents of the late 19th century and the post-classical currents (anarcha-feminism, green anarchism, and post-anarchism) developed thereafter.[72]

Beyond the specific factions of anarchist movements which constitute political anarchism lies philosophical anarchism which holds that the state lacks moral legitimacy, without necessarily accepting the imperative of revolution to eliminate it.[73] A component especially of individualist anarchism,[74] philosophical anarchism may tolerate the existence of a minimal state but claims that citizens have no moral obligation to obey government when it conflicts with individual autonomy.[75] Anarchism pays significant attention to moral arguments since ethics have a central role in anarchist philosophy.[76] Anarchism's emphasis on anti-capitalism, egalitarianism, and for the extension of community and individuality sets it apart from anarcho-capitalism and other types of economic libertarianism.[21]

Anarchism is usually placed on the far-left of the political spectrum.[77] Much of its economics and legal philosophy reflect anti-authoritarian, anti-statist, libertarian, and radical interpretations of left-wing and socialist politics[14] such as collectivism, communism, individualism, mutualism, and syndicalism, among other libertarian socialist economic theories.[78] As anarchism does not offer a fixed body of doctrine from a single particular worldview,[79] many anarchist types and traditions exist and varieties of anarchy diverge widely.[80] One reaction against sectarianism within the anarchist milieu was anarchism without adjectives, a call for toleration and unity among anarchists first adopted by Fernando Tarrida del Mármol in 1889 in response to the bitter debates of anarchist theory at the time.[81] Belief in political nihilism has been espoused by anarchists.[82] Despite separation, the various anarchist schools of thought are not seen as distinct entities but rather as tendencies that intermingle and are connected through a set of shared principles such as autonomy, mutual aid, anti-authoritarianism and decentralisation.[83]

Classical

Pierre-Joseph Proudhon is the primary proponent of mutualism and influenced many future individualist anarchist and social anarchist thinkers.[84]

Inceptive currents among classical anarchist currents were mutualism and individualism. They were followed by the major currents of social anarchism (collectivist, communist and syndicalist). They differ on organisational and economic aspects of their ideal society.[85]

Mutualism is an 18th-century economic theory that was developed into anarchist theory by Pierre-Joseph Proudhon. Its aims include "abolishing the state",[86] reciprocity, free association, voluntary contract, federation and monetary reform of both credit and currency that would be regulated by a bank of the people.[87] Mutualism has been retrospectively characterised as ideologically situated between individualist and collectivist forms of anarchism.[88] In What Is Property? (1840), Proudhon first characterised his goal as a "third form of society, the synthesis of communism and property."[89] Collectivist anarchism is a revolutionary socialist form of anarchism[90] commonly associated with Mikhail Bakunin.[91] Collectivist anarchists advocate collective ownership of the means of production which is theorised to be achieved through violent revolution[92] and that workers be paid according to time worked, rather than goods being distributed according to need as in communism. Collectivist anarchism arose alongside Marxism but rejected the dictatorship of the proletariat despite the stated Marxist goal of a collectivist stateless society.[93]

Anarcho-communism is a theory of anarchism that advocates a communist society with common ownership of the means of production,[94] held by a federal network of voluntary associations,[95] with production and consumption based on the guiding principle "From each according to his ability, to each according to his need."[96] Anarcho-communism developed from radical socialist currents after the French Revolution[97] but was first formulated as such in the Italian section of the First International.[98] It was later expanded upon in the theoretical work of Peter Kropotkin,[99] whose specific style would go onto become the dominating view of anarchists by the late 19th century.[100] Anarcho-syndicalism is a branch of anarchism that views labour syndicates as a potential force for revolutionary social change, replacing capitalism and the state with a new society democratically self-managed by workers. The basic principles of anarcho-syndicalism are direct action, workers' solidarity and workers' self-management.[101]

Individualist anarchism is a set of several traditions of thought within the anarchist movement that emphasise the individual and their will over any kinds of external determinants.[102] Early influences on individualist forms of anarchism include William Godwin, Max Stirner, and Henry David Thoreau. Through many countries, individualist anarchism attracted a small yet diverse following of Bohemian artists and intellectuals[103] as well as young anarchist outlaws in what became known as illegalism and individual reclamation.[104]

Post-classical and contemporary

Lawrence Jarach (left) and John Zerzan (right) are two prominent contemporary anarchist authors, with Zerzan being a prominent voice within anarcho-primitivism and Jarach a notable advocate of post-left anarchy.

Anarchist principles undergird contemporary radical social movements of the left. Interest in the anarchist movement developed alongside momentum in the anti-globalisation movement,[105] whose leading activist networks were anarchist in orientation.[106] As the movement shaped 21st century radicalism, wider embrace of anarchist principles signaled a revival of interest.[106] Anarchism has continued to generate many philosophies and movements, at times eclectic, drawing upon various sources and combining disparate concepts to create new philosophical approaches.[107] The anti-capitalist tradition of classical anarchism has remained prominent within contemporary currents.[108]

Contemporary news coverage which emphasizes black bloc demonstrations has reinforced anarchism's historical association with chaos and violence. Its publicity has also led more scholars in fields such as anthropology and history to engage with the anarchist movement, although contemporary anarchism favours actions over academic theory.[109] Various anarchist groups, tendencies, and schools of thought exist today, making it difficult to describe the contemporary anarchist movement.[110] While theorists and activists have established "relatively stable constellations of anarchist principles", there is no consensus on which principles are core and commentators describe multiple anarchisms, rather than a singular anarchism, in which common principles are shared between schools of anarchism while each group prioritizes those principles differently. Gender equality can be a common principle, although it ranks as a higher priority to anarcha-feminists than anarcho-communists.[111]

Anarchists are generally committed against coercive authority in all forms, namely "all centralized and hierarchical forms of government (e.g., monarchy, representative democracy, state socialism, etc.), economic class systems (e.g., capitalism, Bolshevism, feudalism, slavery, etc.), autocratic religions (e.g., fundamentalist Islam, Roman Catholicism, etc.), patriarchy, heterosexism, white supremacy, and imperialism."[112] Anarchist schools disagree on the methods by which these forms should be opposed.[113] The principle of equal liberty is closer to anarchist political ethics in that it transcends both the liberal and socialist traditions. This entails that liberty and equality cannot be implemented within the state, resulting in the questioning of all forms of domination and hierarchy.[114]

Tactics

Anarchists' tactics take various forms but in general serve two major goals, namely, to first oppose the Establishment and secondly to promote anarchist ethics and reflect an anarchist vision of society, illustrating the unity of means and ends.[115] A broad categorisation can be made between aims to destroy oppressive states and institutions by revolutionary means on one hand and aims to change society through evolutionary means on the other.[116] Evolutionary tactics embrace nonviolence and take a gradual approach to anarchist aims, although there is significant overlap between the two.[117]

Anarchist tactics have shifted during the course of the last century. Anarchists during the early 20th century focused more on strikes and militancy while contemporary anarchists use a broader array of approaches.[118]

Classical era

The relationship between anarchism and violence is a controversial subject among anarchists as shown by anarchist Leon Czolgosz assassinating William McKinley.

During the classical era, anarchists had a militant tendency. Not only did they confront state armed forces, as in Spain and Ukraine, but some of them also employed terrorism as propaganda of the deed. Assassination attempts were carried out against heads of state, some of which were successful. Anarchists also took part in revolutions.[119] Many anarchists, especially the Galleanists, believed that these attempts would be the impetus for a revolution against capitalism and the state.[120] Many of these attacks were done by individual assailants and the majority took place in the late 1870s, the early 1880s and the 1890s, with some still occurring in the early 1900s.[121] Their decrease in prevalence was the result of further judicial power and of targeting and cataloging by state institutions.[122]

Anarchist perspectives towards violence have always been controversial.[123] Anarcho-pacifists advocate for non-violence means to achieve their stateless, nonviolent ends.[124] Other anarchist groups advocate direct action, a tactic which can include acts of sabotage or terrorism. This attitude was quite prominent a century ago when seeing the state as a tyrant and some anarchists believing that they had every right to oppose its oppression by any means possible.[125] Emma Goldman and Errico Malatesta, who were proponents of limited use of violence, stated that violence is merely a reaction to state violence as a necessary evil.[126]

Anarchists took an active role in strike actions, although they tended to be antipathetic to formal syndicalism, seeing it as reformist. They saw it as a part of the movement which sought to overthrow the state and capitalism.[127] Anarchists also reinforced their propaganda within the arts, some of whom practiced naturism and nudism. Those anarchists also built communities which were based on friendship and were involved in the news media.[128]

Revolutionary

Black bloc protesters parading anarcho-communism imagery such as the motto "No War but the Class War"

In the current era, Italian anarchist Alfredo Bonanno, a proponent of insurrectionary anarchism, has reinstated the debate on violence by rejecting the nonviolence tactic adopted since the late 19th century by Kropotkin and other prominent anarchists afterwards. Both Bonanno and the French group The Invisible Committee advocate for small, informal affiliation groups, where each member is responsible for their own actions but works together to bring down oppression using sabotage and other violent means against state, capitalism, and other enemies. Members of The Invisible Committee were arrested in 2008 on various charges, terrorism included.[129]

Overall, contemporary anarchists are much less violent and militant than their ideological ancestors. They mostly engage in confronting the police during demonstrations and riots, especially in countries such as Canada, Greece, and Mexico. Militant black bloc protest groups are known for clashing with the police;[130] however, anarchists not only clash with state operators, they also engage in the struggle against fascists and racists, taking anti-fascist action and mobilizing to prevent hate rallies from happening.[131]

Evolutionary

Anarchists commonly employ direct action. This can take the form of disrupting and protesting against unjust hierarchy, or the form of self-managing their lives through the creation of counter-institutions such as communes and non-hierarchical collectives.[116] Decision-making is often handled in an anti-authoritarian way, with everyone having equal say in each decision, an approach known as horizontalism.[132] Contemporary-era anarchists have been engaging with various grassroots movements that are more or less based on horizontalism, although not explicitly anarchist, respecting personal autonomy and participating in mass activism such as strikes and demonstrations. In contrast with the "big-A Anarchism" of the classical era, the newly coined term "small-a anarchism" signals their tendency not to base their thoughts and actions on classical-era anarchism or to refer to classical anarchists such as Peter Kropotkin and Pierre-Joseph Proudhon to justify their opinions. Those anarchists would rather base their thought and praxis on their own experience, which they will later theorize.[133]

The concept of prefigurative politics is enacted by many contemporary anarchist groups, striving to embody the principles, organization and tactics of the changed social structure they hope to bring about. As part of this the decision-making process of small anarchist affinity groups plays a significant tactical role.[134] Anarchists have employed various methods to build a rough consensus among members of their group without the need of a leader or a leading group. One way is for an individual from the group to play the role of facilitator to help achieve a consensus without taking part in the discussion themselves or promoting a specific point. Minorities usually accept rough consensus, except when they feel the proposal contradicts anarchist ethics, goals and values. Anarchists usually form small groups (5–20 individuals) to enhance autonomy and friendships among their members. These kinds of groups more often than not interconnect with each other, forming larger networks. Anarchists still support and participate in strikes, especially wildcat strikes as these are leaderless strikes not organised centrally by a syndicate.[135]

As in the past, newspapers and journals are used, and anarchists have gone online to spread their message. Anarchists have found it easier to create websites because of distributional and other difficulties, hosting electronic libraries and other portals.[136] Anarchists were also involved in developing various software that are available for free. The way these hacktivists work to develop and distribute resembles the anarchist ideals, especially when it comes to preserving users' privacy from state surveillance.[137]

Anarchists organize themselves to squat and reclaim public spaces. During important events such as protests and when spaces are being occupied, they are often called Temporary Autonomous Zones (TAZ), spaces where art, poetry, and surrealism are blended to display the anarchist ideal.[138] As seen by anarchists, squatting is a way to regain urban space from the capitalist market, serving pragmatical needs and also being an exemplary direct action.[139] Acquiring space enables anarchists to experiment with their ideas and build social bonds.[140] Adding up these tactics while having in mind that not all anarchists share the same attitudes towards them, along with various forms of protesting at highly symbolic events, make up a carnivalesque atmosphere that is part of contemporary anarchist vividity.[141]

Key issues

As anarchism is a philosophy that embodies many diverse attitudes, tendencies, and schools of thought, disagreement over questions of values, ideology, and tactics is common. Its diversity has led to widely different uses of identical terms among different anarchist traditions which has created a number of definitional concerns in anarchist theory. The compatibility of capitalism,[142] nationalism, and religion with anarchism is widely disputed, and anarchism enjoys complex relationships with ideologies such as communism, collectivism, Marxism, and trade unionism. Anarchists may be motivated by humanism, divine authority, enlightened self-interest, veganism, or any number of alternative ethical doctrines. Phenomena such as civilisation, technology (e.g. within anarcho-primitivism), and the democratic process may be sharply criticised within some anarchist tendencies and simultaneously lauded in others.[143]

The state

Anarchist protesters in Boston opposing state-waged war

Objection to the state and its institutions is a sine qua non of anarchism.[144] Anarchists consider the state as a tool of domination and believe it to be illegitimate regardless of its political tendencies. Instead of people being able to control the aspects of their life, major decisions are taken by a small elite. Authority ultimately rests solely on power, regardless of whether that power is open or transparent, as it still has the ability to coerce people. Another anarchist argument against states is that the people constituting a government, even the most altruistic among officials, will unavoidably seek to gain more power, leading to corruption. Anarchists consider the idea that the state is the collective will of the people to be an unachievable fiction due to the fact that the ruling class is distinct from the rest of society.[145]

Specific anarchist attitudes towards the state vary. Robert Paul Wolff believed that the tension between authority and autonomy would mean the state could never be legitimate. Bakunin saw the state as meaning "coercion, domination by means of coercion, camouflaged if possible but unceremonious and overt if need be." A. John Simmons and Leslie Green, who leaned toward philosophical anarchism, believed that the state could be legitimate if it is governed by consensus, although they saw this as highly unlikely.[146] Beliefs on how to abolish the state also differ.[147]

Gender, sexuality, and free love

As gender and sexuality carry along them dynamics of hierarchy, many anarchists address, analyse, and oppose the suppression of one's autonomy imposed by gender roles.[148]

Collection of anarcha-feminist protests, symbols, and flags

Sexuality was not often discussed by classical anarchists but the few that did felt that an anarchist society would lead to sexuality naturally developing.[149] Sexual violence was a concern for anarchists such as Benjamin Tucker, who opposed age of consent laws, believing they would benefit predatory men.[150] A historical current that arose and flourished during 1890 and 1920 within anarchism was free love. In contemporary anarchism, this current survives as a tendency to support polyamory, relationship anarchy, and queer anarchism.[151] Free love advocates were against marriage, which they saw as a way of men imposing authority over women, largely because marriage law greatly favoured the power of men. The notion of free love was much broader and included a critique of the established order that limited women's sexual freedom and pleasure.[152] Those free love movements contributed to the establishment of communal houses, where large groups of travelers, anarchists and other activists slept in beds together.[153] Free love had roots both in Europe and the United States; however, some anarchists struggled with the jealousy that arose from free love.[154] Anarchist feminists were advocates of free love, against marriage, and pro-choice (using a contemporary term), and had a similar agenda. Anarchist and non-anarchist feminists differed on suffrage but were supportive of one another.[155]

During the second half of the 20th century, anarchism intermingled with the second wave of feminism, radicalising some currents of the feminist movement and being influenced as well. By the latest decades of the 20th century, anarchists and feminists were advocating for the rights and autonomy of women, gays, queers and other marginalised groups, with some feminist thinkers suggesting a fusion of the two currents.[156] With the third wave of feminism, sexual identity and compulsory heterosexuality became a subject of study for anarchists, yielding a post-structuralist critique of sexual normality.[157] Some anarchists distanced themselves from this line of thinking, suggesting that it leaned towards an individualism that was dropping the cause of social liberation.[158]

Education

Anarchist vs. statist perspectives on education
Ruth Kinna (2019)[159]
Anarchist education State education
Concept Education as self-mastery Education as service
Management Community based State run
Methods Practice-based learning Vocational training
Aims Being a critical member of society Being a productive member of society

The interest of anarchists in education stretches back to the first emergence of classical anarchism. Anarchists consider proper education, one which sets the foundations of the future autonomy of the individual and the society, to be an act of mutual aid.[160] Anarchist writers such as William Godwin (Political Justice) and Max Stirner ("The False Principle of Our Education") attacked both state education and private education as another means by which the ruling class replicate their privileges.[161]

In 1901, Catalan anarchist and free thinker Francisco Ferrer established the Escuela Moderna in Barcelona as an opposition to the established education system which was dictated largely by the Catholic Church.[162] Ferrer's approach was secular, rejecting both state and church involvement in the educational process while giving pupils large amounts of autonomy in planning their work and attendance. Ferrer aimed to educate the working class and explicitly sought to foster class consciousness among students. The school closed after constant harassment by the state and Ferrer was later arrested. Nonetheless, his ideas formed the inspiration for a series of modern schools around the world.[163] Christian anarchist Leo Tolstoy, who published the essay Education and Culture, also established a similar school with its founding principle being that "for education to be effective it had to be free."[164] In a similar token, A. S. Neill founded what became the Summerhill School in 1921, also declaring being free from coercion.[165]

Anarchist education is based largely on the idea that a child's right to develop freely and without manipulation ought to be respected and that rationality would lead children to morally good conclusions; however, there has been little consensus among anarchist figures as to what constitutes manipulation. Ferrer believed that moral indoctrination was necessary and explicitly taught pupils that equality, liberty and social justice were not possible under capitalism, along with other critiques of government and nationalism.[166]

Late 20th century and contemporary anarchist writers (Paul Goodman, Herbert Read, and Colin Ward) intensified and expanded the anarchist critique of state education, largely focusing on the need for a system that focuses on children's creativity rather than on their ability to attain a career or participate in consumerism as part of a consumer society.[167] Contemporary anarchists such as Ward claim that state education serves to perpetuate socioeconomic inequality.[168]

While few anarchist education institutions have survived to the modern-day, major tenets of anarchist schools, among them respect for child autonomy and relying on reasoning rather than indoctrination as a teaching method, have spread among mainstream educational institutions. Judith Suissa names three schools as explicitly anarchists' schools, namely the Free Skool Santa Cruz in the United States which is part of a wider American-Canadian network of schools, the Self-Managed Learning College in Brighton, England, and the Paideia School in Spain.[169]

The arts

Les chataigniers a Osny (1888) by anarchist painter Camille Pissarro is a notable example of blending anarchism and the arts.[170]

The connection between anarchism and art was quite profound during the classical era of anarchism, especially among artistic currents that were developing during that era such as futurists, surrealists and others.[171] In literature, anarchism was mostly associated with the New Apocalyptics and the neo-romanticism movement.[172] In music, anarchism has been associated with music scenes such as punk.[173] Anarchists such as Leo Tolstoy and Herbert Read stated that the border between the artist and the non-artist, what separates art from a daily act, is a construct produced by the alienation caused by capitalism and it prevents humans from living a joyful life.[174]

Other anarchists advocated for or used art as a means to achieve anarchist ends.[175] In his book Breaking the Spell: A History of Anarchist Filmmakers, Videotape Guerrillas, and Digital Ninjas, Chris Robé claims that "anarchist-inflected practices have increasingly structured movement-based video activism."[176] Throughout the 20th century, many prominent anarchists (Peter Kropotkin, Emma Goldman, Gustav Landauer and Camillo Berneri) and publications such as Anarchy wrote about matters pertaining to the arts.[177]

Three overlapping properties made art useful to anarchists. It could depict a critique of existing society and hierarchies, serve as a prefigurative tool to reflect the anarchist ideal society and even turn into a means of direct action such as in protests. As it appeals to both emotion and reason, art could appeal to the whole human and have a powerful effect.[178] The 19th-century neo-impressionist movement had an ecological aesthetic and offered an example of an anarchist perception of the road towards socialism.[179] In Les chataigniers a Osny by anarchist painter Camille Pissarro, the blending of aesthetic and social harmony is prefiguring an ideal anarchistic agrarian community.[170]

Criticism

The most common critique of anarchism is the assertion that humans cannot self-govern and so a state is necessary for human survival. Philosopher Bertrand Russell supported this critique, stating that "[p]eace and war, tariffs, regulations of sanitary conditions and the sale of noxious drugs, the preservation of a just system of distribution: these, among others, are functions which could hardly be performed in a community in which there was no central government."[180] Another common criticism of anarchism is that it fits a world of isolation in which only the small enough entities can be self-governing; a response would be that major anarchist thinkers advocated anarchist federalism.[181]

Another criticism of anarchism is the belief that it is inherently unstable: that an anarchist society would inevitably evolve back into a state. Thomas Hobbes and other early social contract theorists argued that the state emerges in response to natural anarchy to protect the people's interests and keep order. Philosopher Robert Nozick argued that a "night-watchman state", or minarchy, would emerge from anarchy through the process of an invisible hand, in which people would exercise their liberty and buy protection from protection agencies, evolving into a minimal state. Anarchists reject these criticisms by arguing that humans in a state of nature would not just be in a state of war. Anarcho-primitivists in particular argue that humans were better off in a state of nature in small tribes living close to the land, while anarchists in general argue that the negatives of state organization, such as hierarchies, monopolies and inequality, outweigh the benefits.[182]

Philosophy lecturer Andrew G. Fiala composed a list of common arguments against anarchism which includes critiques such as that anarchism is innately related to violence and destruction, not only in the pragmatic world, such as at protests, but in the world of ethics as well. Secondly, anarchism is evaluated as unfeasible or utopian since the state cannot be defeated practically. This line of arguments most often calls for political action within the system to reform it. The third argument is that anarchism is self-contradictory as a ruling theory that has no ruling theory. Anarchism also calls for collective action while endorsing the autonomy of the individual, hence no collective action can be taken. Lastly, Fiala mentions a critique towards philosophical anarchism of being ineffective (all talk and thoughts) and in the meantime capitalism and bourgeois class remains strong.[183]

Philosophical anarchism has met the criticism of members of academia following the release of pro-anarchist books such as A. John Simmons' Moral Principles and Political Obligations.[184] Law professor William A. Edmundson authored an essay to argue against three major philosophical anarchist principles which he finds fallacious. Edmundson says that while the individual does not owe the state a duty of obedience, this does not imply that anarchism is the inevitable conclusion and the state is still morally legitimate.[185] In The Problem of Political Authority, Michael Huemer defends philosophical anarchism,[186] claiming that "political authority is a moral illusion."[187]

One of the earliest criticisms is that anarchism defies and fails to understand the biological inclination to authority.[188] Joseph Raz states that the acceptance of authority implies the belief that following their instructions will afford more success.[189] Raz believes that this argument is true in following both authorities' successful and mistaken instruction.[190] Anarchists reject this criticism because challenging or disobeying authority does not entail the disappearance of its advantages by acknowledging authority such as doctors or lawyers as reliable, nor does it involve a complete surrender of independent judgment.[191] Anarchist perception of human nature, rejection of the state, and commitment to social revolution has been criticised by academics as naive, overly simplistic, and unrealistic, respectively.[192] Classical anarchism has been criticised for relying too heavily on the belief that the abolition of the state will lead to human cooperation prospering.[149]

Friedrich Engels, considered to be one of the principal founders of Marxism, criticised anarchism's anti-authoritarianism as inherently counter-revolutionary because in his view a revolution is by itself authoritarian.[193] Academic John Molyneux writes in his book Anarchism: A Marxist Criticism that "anarchism cannot win", believing that it lacks the ability to properly implement its ideas.[194] The Marxist criticism of anarchism is that it has a utopian character because all individuals should have anarchist views and values. According to the Marxist view, that a social idea would follow directly from this human ideal and out of the free will of every individual formed its essence. Marxists state that this contradiction was responsible for their inability to act. In the anarchist vision, the conflict between liberty and equality was resolved through coexistence and intertwining.[195]

See also

Anarchist communities

References

Explanatory notes

  1. ^ In Anarchism: From Theory to Practice (1970),[14] anarchist historian Daniel Guérin described it as a synonym for libertarian socialism, and wrote that anarchism "is really a synonym for socialism. The anarchist is primarily a socialist whose aim is to abolish the exploitation of man by man. Anarchism is only one of the streams of socialist thought, that stream whose main components are concern for liberty and haste to abolish the State."[15] In his many works on anarchism, historian Noam Chomsky describes anarchism, alongside libertarian Marxism, as the libertarian wing of socialism.[16]
  2. ^ Herbert L. Osgood claimed that anarchism is "the extreme antithesis" of authoritarian communism and state socialism.[17] Peter Marshall states that "[i]n general anarchism is closer to socialism than liberalism. ... Anarchism finds itself largely in the socialist camp, but it also has outriders in liberalism. It cannot be reduced to socialism, and is best seen as a separate and distinctive doctrine."[11] According to Jeremy Jennings, "[i]t is hard not to conclude that these ideas", referring to anarcho-capitalism, "are described as anarchist only on the basis of a misunderstanding of what anarchism is." Jennings adds that "anarchism does not stand for the untrammelled freedom of the individual (as the 'anarcho-capitalists' appear to believe) but, as we have already seen, for the extension of individuality and community."[22] Nicolas Walter wrote that "anarchism does derive from liberalism and socialism both historically and ideologically. ... In a sense, anarchists always remain liberals and socialists, and whenever they reject what is good in either they betray anarchism itself. ... We are liberals but more so, and socialists but more so."[20] Michael Newman includes anarchism as one of many socialist traditions, especially the more socialist-aligned tradition following Proudhon and Mikhail Bakunin.[18] Brian Morris argues that it is "conceptually and historically misleading" to "create a dichotomy between socialism and anarchism."[19]
  3. ^ One common definition adopted by anarchists is that anarchism is a cluster of political philosophies opposing authority and hierarchical organisation, including capitalism, nationalism, the state, and all associated institutions, in the conduct of all human relations in favour of a society based on decentralisation, freedom, and voluntary association. Scholars highlight that this definition has the same shortcomings as the definition based on anti-authoritarianism (a posteriori conclusion), anti-statism (anarchism is much more than that),[24] and etymology (negation of rulers).[25]

Citations

  1. ^ Carlson 1972, pp. 22–23.
  2. ^ Bates 2017, p. 128; Long 2013, p. 217.
  3. ^ Merriam-Webster 2019, "Anarchism"; Oxford English Dictionary 2005, "Anarchism"; Sylvan 2007, p. 260.
  4. ^ Joll 1964, pp. 27–37.
  5. ^ Kahn 2000.
  6. ^ Nettlau 1996, p. 162.
  7. ^ Guérin 1970, "The Basic Ideas of Anarchism".
  8. ^ Ward 2004, p. 62; Goodway 2006, p. 4; Skirda 2002, p. 183; Fernández 2009, p. 9.
  9. ^ Morris 2002, p. 61.
  10. ^ Marshall 1992, p. 641; Cohn 2009, p. 6.
  11. ^ a b c d e Marshall 1992, p. 641.
  12. ^ Marshall 1992, p. 641; Cohn 2009, p. 6; Levy & Adams 2018, p. 104.
  13. ^ Levy & Adams 2018, p. 104.
  14. ^ a b Guérin 1970, p. 12.
  15. ^ Arvidsson 2017.
  16. ^ Otero 1994, p. 617.
  17. ^ a b Osgood 1889, p. 1.
  18. ^ a b Newman 2005, p. 15.
  19. ^ a b Morris 2015, p. 64.
  20. ^ a b Walter 2002, p. 44.
  21. ^ a b Marshall 1992, pp. 564–565; Jennings 1993, p. 143; Gay & Gay 1999, p. 15; Morris 2008, p. 13; Johnson 2008, p. 169; Franks 2013, pp. 393–394.
  22. ^ Jennings 1999, p. 147.
  23. ^ Long 2013, p. 217.
  24. ^ McLaughlin 2007, p. 166; Jun 2009, p. 507; Franks 2013, pp. 386–388.
  25. ^ McLaughlin 2007, pp. 25–29; Long 2013, pp. 217.
  26. ^ McLaughlin 2007, pp. 25–26.
  27. ^ Marshall 1993, p. 70.
  28. ^ Coutinho 2016; Marshall 1993, p. 54.
  29. ^ Sylvan 2007, p. 257.
  30. ^ Marshall 1993, pp. 4, 66–73.
  31. ^ Marshall 1993, p. 86.
  32. ^ Crone 2000, pp. 3, 21–25.
  33. ^ Nettlau 1996, p. 8.
  34. ^ Marshall 1993, p. 108.
  35. ^ Levy & Adams 2018, p. 307.
  36. ^ Marshall 1993, p. 4.
  37. ^ a b Marshall 1993, pp. 4–5.
  38. ^ Levy 2011, pp. 10–15.
  39. ^ Dodson 2002, p. 312; Thomas 1985, p. 187; Chaliand & Blin 2007, p. 116.
  40. ^ Graham 2019, pp. 334–336; Marshall 1993, p. 24.
  41. ^ Levy 2011, p. 12.
  42. ^ Marshall 1993, p. 5.
  43. ^ Graham 2005, p. xii.
  44. ^ Moya 2015, p. 327.
  45. ^ Levy 2011, p. 16.
  46. ^ Marshall 1993, pp. 519–521.
  47. ^ Dirlik 1991, p. 133; Ramnath 2019, pp. 681–682.
  48. ^ Levy 2011, p. 23; Laursen 2019, p. 157; Marshall 1993, pp. 504–508.
  49. ^ Marshall 1993, pp. 633–636.
  50. ^ Anderson 2004.
  51. ^ Marshall 1993, pp. 633–636; Lutz & Ulmschneider 2019, p. 46.
  52. ^ Bantman 2019, p. 374.
  53. ^ a b Avrich 2006, p. 204.
  54. ^ Nomad 1966, p. 88.
  55. ^ Bolloten 1984, p. 1107.
  56. ^ Marshall 1993, pp. xi, 466.
  57. ^ Marshall 1993, p. xi.
  58. ^ Marshall 1993, p. 539.
  59. ^ Marshall 1993, pp. xi, 539.
  60. ^ Levy 2011, pp. 5.
  61. ^ Marshall 1993, pp. 493–494.
  62. ^ Marshall 1993, pp. 556–557.
  63. ^ Williams 2015, p. 680.
  64. ^ Harmon 2011, p. 70.
  65. ^ a b Rupert 2006, p. 66.
  66. ^ Ramnath 2019, p. 691.
  67. ^ Honeywell 2021, pp. 34–44.
  68. ^ Honeywell 2021, pp. 1–2.
  69. ^ Honeywell 2021, pp. 1–3.
  70. ^ McLean & McMillan 2003, "Anarchism"; Ostergaard 2003, p. 14, "Anarchism".
  71. ^ Harrison & Boyd 2003, p. 251.
  72. ^ Levy & Adams 2018, p. 9.
  73. ^ Egoumenides 2014, p. 2.
  74. ^ Ostergaard 2003, p. 12; Gabardi 1986, pp. 300–302.
  75. ^ Klosko 2005, p. 4.
  76. ^ Franks 2019, p. 549.
  77. ^ Brooks 1994, p. xi, "Usually considered to be an extreme left-wing ideology".
  78. ^ Guérin 1970, p. 35, "Critique of authoritarian socialism".
  79. ^ Marshall 1993, pp. 14–17.
  80. ^ Sylvan 2007, p. 262.
  81. ^ Avrich 1996, p. 6.
  82. ^ Walter 2002, p. 52.
  83. ^ Marshall 1993, pp. 1–6; Angelbeck & Grier 2012, p. 551.
  84. ^ Wilbur 2019, pp. 216–218.
  85. ^ Levy & Adams 2018, p. 2.
  86. ^ Wright, Edmund, ed. (2006). The Desk Encyclopedia of World History. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 20–21. ISBN 978-0-7394-7809-7.
  87. ^ Wilbur 2019, pp. 213–218.
  88. ^ Avrich 1996, p. 6; Miller 1991, p. 11.
  89. ^ Pierson 2013, p. 187.
  90. ^ Morris 1993, p. 76.
  91. ^ Shannon 2019, p. 101.
  92. ^ Avrich 1996, pp. 3–4.
  93. ^ Heywood 2017, pp. 146–147; Bakunin 1990.
  94. ^ Mayne 1999, p. 131.
  95. ^ Marshall 1993, p. 327.
  96. ^ Marshall 1993, p. 327; Turcato 2019, pp. 237–238.
  97. ^ Graham 2005.
  98. ^ Pernicone 2009, pp. 111–113.
  99. ^ Turcato 2019, pp. 239–244.
  100. ^ Levy 2011, p. 6.
  101. ^ Van der Walt 2019, p. 249.
  102. ^ Ryley 2019, p. 225.
  103. ^ Marshall 1993, p. 440.
  104. ^ Imrie 1994; Parry 1987, p. 15.
  105. ^ Evren 2011, p. 1.
  106. ^ a b Evren 2011, p. 2.
  107. ^ Williams 2007, p. 303.
  108. ^ Williams 2018, p. 4.
  109. ^ Williams 2010, p. 110; Evren 2011, p. 1; Angelbeck & Grier 2012, p. 549.
  110. ^ Franks 2013, pp. 385–386.
  111. ^ Franks 2013, p. 386.
  112. ^ Jun 2009, pp. 507–508.
  113. ^ Jun 2009, p. 507.
  114. ^ Egoumenides 2014, p. 91.
  115. ^ Williams 2019, pp. 107–108.
  116. ^ a b Williams 2018, pp. 4–5.
  117. ^ Kinna 2019, p. 125.
  118. ^ Williams 2019, p. 112.
  119. ^ Williams 2019, pp. 112–113.
  120. ^ Norris 2020, pp. 7–8.
  121. ^ Levy 2011, p. 13; Nesser 2012, p. 62.
  122. ^ Harmon 2011, p. 55.
  123. ^ Carter 1978, p. 320.
  124. ^ Fiala 2017, section 3.1.
  125. ^ Kinna 2019, pp. 116–117.
  126. ^ Carter 1978, pp. 320–325.
  127. ^ Williams 2019, p. 113.
  128. ^ Williams 2019, p. 114.
  129. ^ Kinna 2019, pp. 134–135.
  130. ^ Williams 2019, p. 115.
  131. ^ Williams 2019, p. 117.
  132. ^ Williams 2019, pp. 109–117.
  133. ^ Kinna 2019, pp. 145–149.
  134. ^ Williams 2019, pp. 109, 119.
  135. ^ Williams 2019, pp. 119–121.
  136. ^ Williams 2019, pp. 118–119.
  137. ^ Williams 2019, pp. 120–121.
  138. ^ Kinna 2019, p. 139; Mattern 2019, p. 596; Williams 2018, pp. 5–6.
  139. ^ Kinna 2012, p. 250; Williams 2019, p. 119.
  140. ^ Williams 2019, p. 122.
  141. ^ Morland 2004, pp. 37–38.
  142. ^ Marshall 1993, p. 565; Honderich 1995, p. 31; Meltzer 2000, p. 50; Goodway 2006, p. 4; Newman 2010, p. 53.
  143. ^ De George 2005, pp. 31–32.
  144. ^ Carter 1971, p. 14; Jun 2019, pp. 29–30.
  145. ^ Jun 2019, pp. 32–38.
  146. ^ Wendt 2020, p. 2; Ashwood 2018, p. 727.
  147. ^ Ashwood 2018, p. 735.
  148. ^ Nicholas 2019, p. 603.
  149. ^ a b Lucy 2020, p. 162.
  150. ^ Lucy 2020, p. 178.
  151. ^ Nicholas 2019, p. 611; Jeppesen & Nazar 2012, pp. 175–176.
  152. ^ Jeppesen & Nazar 2012, pp. 175–176.
  153. ^ Jeppesen & Nazar 2012, p. 177.
  154. ^ Jeppesen & Nazar 2012, pp. 175–177.
  155. ^ Kinna 2019, pp. 166–167.
  156. ^ Nicholas 2019, pp. 609–611.
  157. ^ Nicholas 2019, pp. 610–611.
  158. ^ Nicholas 2019, pp. 616–617.
  159. ^ Kinna 2019, p. 97.
  160. ^ Kinna 2019, pp. 83–85.
  161. ^ Suissa 2019, pp. 514, 521; Kinna 2019, pp. 83–86; Marshall 1993, p. 222.
  162. ^ Suissa 2019, pp. 511–512.
  163. ^ Suissa 2019, pp. 511–514.
  164. ^ Suissa 2019, pp. 517–518.
  165. ^ Suissa 2019, pp. 518–519.
  166. ^ Avrich 1980, pp. 3–33; Suissa 2019, pp. 519–522.
  167. ^ Kinna 2019, pp. 89–96.
  168. ^ Ward 1973, pp. 39–48.
  169. ^ Suissa 2019, pp. 523–526.
  170. ^ a b Antliff 1998, p. 99.
  171. ^ Mattern 2019, p. 592.
  172. ^ Gifford 2019, p. 577.
  173. ^ Marshall 1993, pp. 493–494; Dunn 2012; Evren, Kinna & Rouselle 2013.
  174. ^ Mattern 2019, pp. 592–593.
  175. ^ Mattern 2019, p. 593.
  176. ^ Robé 2017, p. 44.
  177. ^ Miller et al. 2019, p. 1.
  178. ^ Mattern 2019, pp. 593–596.
  179. ^ Antliff 1998, p. 78.
  180. ^ Krimerman & Perry 1966, p. 494.
  181. ^ Ward 2004, p. 78.
  182. ^ Fiala, Andrew (2021), "Anarchism", in Zalta, Edward N. (ed.), The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2021 ed.), Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University, retrieved 17 June 2023
  183. ^ Fiala 2017, "4. Objections and Replies".
  184. ^ Klosko 1999, p. 536.
  185. ^ Klosko 1999, p. 536; Kristjánsson 2000, p. 896.
  186. ^ Dagger 2018, p. 35.
  187. ^ Rogers 2020.
  188. ^ Ferguson 1886.
  189. ^ Gans 1992, p. 37.
  190. ^ Gans 1992, p. 38.
  191. ^ Gans 1992, pp. 34, 38.
  192. ^ Brinn 2020, p. 206.
  193. ^ Tucker 1978.
  194. ^ Dodds 2011.
  195. ^ Baár et al. 2016, p. 488.

General and cited sources

Primary sources

Secondary sources

Tertiary sources

Further reading

  • Anarchy Archives – an online research center on the history and theory of anarchism.