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The anarchy symbol. Fun fact: the circle is actually a Capital "O" and together the symbol stands for the slogan "Anarchy is Order"

Anarchism is a political philosophy that aims to create a society without involuntary or coersive political, economic, or social hierarchies to maximize individual liberty and social equality.[1][2]

Anarchism was historically associated very strongly with the labor union movement. Many anarchists saw organized labor as an ideal tool for overthrowing the twin evils of the state and capitalism. However, the 'success' of the Russian Revolution, the failure of several attempted anarchist revolutions (most notably in Ukraine[3] and Catalonia),[4] and the active suppression of the anarchist movement throughout much of the 20th century devastated their support among organized labor.

History [ edit ]

In 1793 William Godwin published An Inquiry into Political Justice in which he presents his view of a free society based on equality and justice, alongside a critique of the government. Although he never used the term anarchism, Godwin is considered the first anarchist and the forebear of utilitarianism.[5] It would not be until Pierre Johnson-Proudhon published What is Property? in 1840 that the term anarchist was adopted as a self-description.[6] In 1844, Max Stirner published The Ego and His Own, giving birth to individualist anarchism.[7]

By the mid 19th century, a series of events shook anarchism. First in 1857 the french communist Jospeh Déjacque coined the term libertarianism[8][note 1] whose use became widespread in the late 1880s due to the anti-anarchist laws in the French Third Republic.[9] The second event was the brutal repression of the short-lived Paris Commune by the French Third Republic which had deep long-term philosophical effects on the nascent marxist movement.[10]

Finally, one of the biggest events was the split between anarchists and marxists, the first great split in the radical left,[note 2] with the collapse of the International Workingmen's Association in 1876.[11]

From the late 19th century to the mid 20th century, the most successful anarchist ideology was anarcho-syndicalism . Anarcho-syndicalist organizations like the Industrial Workers of the World and Confederación Nacional del Trabajo were founded and gained a surprising amount of membership in a relatively short amount of time and even rebounded from the First Red Scare .[12] However from the late 1920s to the late 1930s, the anarcho-syndicalist movement would suffer from splits and suppression, finally collapsing into irrelevancy by the end of the Second World War.[13]

In the aftermath of the Second World War, the anarchist movement was weakened but would suffer a temporary revival in the New Left. However the rise of the New Right and the appropriation of anarchism by right-wingers was the most notable event of anarchist history in the second half of the 20th century.[14]

Attempts [ edit ]

There have been several attempts at establishing an anarchist society. Though most of them ultimately did not survive, Anarchists argue that these movements were crushed by fascists (Catalonia and, arguably, Korea ) and Soviet communists (Ukraine , Kronstadt and Tambov ) and that this is not necessarily to do with the unworkability of anarchism in so much as it is to do with the relative power of their historical enemies. A common criticism levied by more conventional Marxists is that anarchism's emphasis of the 'free individual' makes fledgling anarchist societies easy pickings as they lack the discipline to unite effectively in the face of opposition. This, in the eyes of more authoritarian Marxists, justifies crushing them as their self indulgent tendencies make them a liability to their 'comrades'.

Other layman explanations for failed anarchist revolutions include an alleged 'inherent lack of organisation'. This is somewhat lacking in both historical and theoretical merit though. Anarchist literature such as Emma Goldman's essay 'Anarchism: What It Really Stands For'[15] makes the case for anarchism on the grounds that it represents order in contrast with the chaos of capitalism and the warring nation state. While Michael Bakunin's famous boot-maker analogy offers a well-known (in anarchist circles) defence of qualified expertise:

Does it follow that I reject all authority? Far from me such a thought. In the matter of boots, I refer to the authority of the bootmaker; concerning houses, canals, or railroads, I consult that of the architect or engineer. For such or such special knowledge I apply to such or such a savant. But I allow neither the bootmaker nor the architect nor the savant to impose his authority upon me. [16]

Anarchists, at least in theory, support an organised society; Emma Goldman even went as far as to argue that Capitalism isn't organised enough. Historically, as short lived as most anarchist societies are, they have tended to exist for a period of time that would be impossible to maintain without at least some level of organisation and have in the past been able to field military forces of a reasonable size organised with delegated 'officers' for a chain of command. [17] Honorary mention of course goes to the Iron Cross a less successful anarchist militia consisting of recently freed convicts. A terrible plan that turned out exactly as you might think it would.[18]

Overview and tactics [ edit ]

The anarchist philosophy has a variety of methods to employ. Some of these it shares with the non-violent resistance tendency, which is direct action. Direct action includes obstructive sit-ins, labor strikes, workplace occupations, street blockades and hacktivism, along with sabotage, vandalism and destruction of property. The last one is often picked up by the media to demonize protestors.[19] These are known as diversity of tactics which allows anarchists groups to not restrict themselves to one specific tactic for all occasions.

Violence and terrorism [ edit ]

“ ” It is true that the State is not a window, but neither is it just an abstract concept. Breaking windows is not a revolutionary act and neither is any other act if taken out of context and presented as an abstraction, ignoring the intentions and strategy of those who break the windows. The State or Capital or colonialism cannot be attacked as abstractions. They can only be attacked in their material forms, their social relations and their institutions. —Oshipeya, No action is sufficient in itself[20]

Violence is one of the many tools of the anarchist movement. However there are arguments, under the theory of diversity of tactics, what role violence plays in revolutionary actions and in the pursuit of resistance to state repression[21][22] and particularly in view of the fact that the capitalist media will demonize any violence that occurs in a protest almost to parody levels.[23]

The role of violence has become an important topic due to recent events, including the Ferguson protests and the fact that many leaders in the unrest were found dead years later under suspicious circumstances.[24] Examples include Darren Seals found dead in a burning car[25] and Edward Crowfard, subject of a famous photograph, being dead in an allegedly self-inflicted gun wound.[26] This also ties up with the political rise of the Alt-Right and Antifa, particularly with the argument of whether or not is ok to punch people with repugnant views.[27][28]

Terrorism is also another tactic favored by a small minority of anarchists. Based on the idea of propaganda of the deed which is about publicizing violent actions of retaliation against the ruling class.[29] This tactic grew as a backlash against state repression towards the labor and socialist movements, such as the execution and exile of the French communards and the violent strike-breaking in United States.[30] Famous killings done of propaganda of the deed include:

The propaganda of the deed largely backfired. Killing specific powerful men did not brought about the collapse of capitalist society but only served to demonize the anarchist movement. By 1887 various important figures in the anarchist movement rejected this tactic[31] but it also resulted in state repression such as the Lois scélérates ("villainious laws") in the French Third Republic that banned all anarchist propaganda and the American criminal syndicalism laws which were used to crack down "radical" labor unions.

Pacifism and non-violent resistance [ edit ]

For more, see below

While some anarchists have and continue espouse violent and coercive means to achieve the revolution, other rejected these methods. The anarchist attraction to pacifism is clear, as violence is seen as violent and authoritative and contrary to anarchist principles. Pacifism transcends tendencies in the anarchist movement as it was the anarcho-syndicalist Bart de Ligt that gave one of the sharpest criticism of "bourgeois pacifism" in that any attempt to make capitalism pacificistic is doomed to failure due to war profiteering.[32]

Non-violence has been historically one of the favored of anarchist groups, but even non-violent resistance is not necessarily passive. Active non-violent resistance is based on the principle of direct action , favored by the labor movement and the African-American civil rights movement, in which political activists leverage their power (economic, political and even social privilege) to reach certain goals. Elections are not considered to be direct action, except as a way to discredit electoral politics as political parties betray their voters in pursuit of ill-thought policies.[33]

Examples of direct action includes striking (labor strikes, rent strike, student strike, prison strike etc), squatting, sit-ins, demonstrations. It favor community organizing and spurns participating in elections and political parties.[34] Dual power , on the other hand, seeks to built institutions to confront and eventually replace capitalism including people's assemblies, cooperatives, credit unions, labor unions and others. Libertarian socialists favor dual power as a way of building up participatory democracy and challenge both capitalism and the state.[35][36]

Anarchism and law enforcement [ edit ]

Anarchist groups that espouse violence often tend to clash with the police.[37] In fact anarchists have a seething hatred for the police, due that they subscribe to the idea of A.C.A.B which is based on the idea that there's no such thing as "good cops".

Police officers have to enforce all laws including unjust laws, such as anti-homelessness legislation , which in the United States are used to punish people for "choosing to be homeless",[38] racial segregation, home evictions, discrimination on the basis of sexuality, gender, ethnicity and creed along with dirty police tactics such as entrapment and racial profiling makes law enforcement as a clear agent of oppression.

Also American law enforcement has been infiltrated by white supremacists[39] and the Republican Party is welcoming white supremacists to join the military as well.[40]

Mutual aid [ edit ]

The other common tactic amongst anarchist groups is mutual aid which is based on voluntary and reciprocal exchange of resources and services, an idea that is appealing to anarchists.

When Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, citizens and a few anarchists founded the Common Ground Collective and the Common Ground Health Clinic ,[41] with the aid of various other humanitarian organizations such as Veterans for Peace, to make up for the abysmal lack of government response. It received a lot of volunteer aid from young whites, something that was noticed by the media at the time.[42]

The loose federation of collectives called Food Not Bombs is another notable mutual aid group which is a sharing franchise based on freely sharing food with others. The group has particularly involved in controversies relating to municipal bans on homeless feeding.[43] In Orlando, Florida, volunteers were arrested but the charges were later dropped.[44] In 2012 FNB provided relief in Long Island after the Superstorm Sandy,[45] and in November 2014 members were arrested for violating the feeding ban in Fort Lauderdale, Florida,[46] resulting in a media circus.[47]

In 2017 Puerto Rico was hit by Hurricane Maria[48] and once again the government was beyond useless[49] with Trump's antics being lambasted[50] and the territory being decimated by austerity policies.[51] In response an anarchist group called Mutual Aid Disaster Relief send a team to Puerto Rico[52] to help built a solar-based electric grid[53] which the local authorities have tried to undermine[54] in favor of natural gas.

Anarchist schools of thought [ edit ]

Anarchism has always differed from marxism on two points:

To anarchists the state and class rule are synonymous and a tool of the enforcement of one class' rule over another. Marxists, particularly those inspired by Lenin, believe that there must exist a transitional state during the revolution until it's finalized and then the state will whither away. This transitional state is called as dictatorship of the proleteriat which is the process in that the proletariat seizes the state and harnesses its power to suppress resistance to the socialist revolution. [55] However libertarian Marxists criticise Leninist for their support for vanguardism, which would result in a one-party state. For libertarian marxists, the dictatorship of the proleteriat exists to expand democracy rather than to implement a minority rule. [56]

However libertarian Marxists criticise Leninist for their support for vanguardism, which would result in a one-party state. For libertarian marxists, the dictatorship of the proleteriat exists to expand democracy rather than to implement a minority rule. While marxist schools of thought always had a individual founder (Lennism, Trotskyism, Stalinism, Maoism etc), anarchist school of thought emerged based on organizational principle or form of practise.[57]

Classical anarchism [ edit ]

Classical anarchism emerged out of the traditions of secular Enlightenment thought, drawing on the political and moral philosophy of Jean-Jacques Rousseau and its heavy focus on notions of freedom, justice, equality and a utopian vision of the ‘general will’ expressed through the sovereignty of people’s assemblies under direct rather than representative democracy. It inspired the anarchist revolutions in Catalonia during the Spanish Civil War, as well as the anarcho-communism spread by Nestor Makhno's Black Army in Ukraine after the Russian Revolution, both of which were crushed by state socialists.[58]

Individualist anarchism [ edit ]

Individualist anarchism is a sub-sect of anarchism that emphasises the individual and their free will over any dominant groups including the state, religion, society, traditions and ideology.

Mutualism [ edit ]

Mutualism was the anarchist school of thought starting with Pierre-Joseph Proudhon , the first to call himself "anarchist" (though earlier thinkers had ideas much like his). In 1840, he wrote the book What is Property?, a critique of property-rights ideas that contains the famous declaration "Property is Theft." However, he also stated that property is freedom, rationalizing it by distinguishing two kinds of property: property earned by labor, which he stated was justified and essential to liberty, and property earned by coercion, which he stated was unjustified and would lead not to liberty but to tyranny. Seeing as the state is, by his definition, inherently coercive, it made the state illegitimate. Proudhon advocated mutual banks or a Bank of the People (similar to a credit union) for wage workers and independent craftsmen (in his time being driven out by mass production) to fund themselves. His mutualism supports what he called the "anti-capitalist free market", one with cooperative businesses competing and trading, while having a different conception of property based on the labor theory of value, namely possession, or active occupancy and use instead. This definition of property led him to mark the state as illegitimate, along with income earned through loans, investments, and rent.[59] Even though it is based on the same theory of value that communism has, it stands alone in the field with its stance on private property. As mutualist Clarence Swartz said:

“ ” One of the tests of any reform movement with regard to personal liberty is this: Will the movement prohibit or abolish private property? If it does, it is an enemy of liberty. For one of the most important criteria of freedom is the right to private property in the products of one's labor. State Socialists, Communists, Syndicalists and Communist-Anarchists deny private property.

Mutualism effectively ceased to exist as an organized movement in the early 20th century but has recently been revived as sort of a middle position bridging the gap between anarcho-socialist tendencies on the left and the market anarchism of the libertarian movement, with Kevin Carson as its best-known modern theorist. Many mutualists support the idea of "possession," that one ceases to own land if one is not actively using it or residing upon it, thereby skirting around the inevitable issues surrounding private property.[60]



The Mondragon corporation is a co-operative in Spain with over 80,000 employees (2012) that presents some idea of how workers can manage their workplaces successfully and competitively in a capitalist economy. Another example is the John Lewis chain of department stores in the UK, which had 84,700 employees in 2013. Neither of these two examples had much to do with anarchism, however, as they are hierarchical cooperatives with substantial pay differentials and managers having the power to hire and fire underlings.

Market anarchism [ edit ]

Also referred as Free market anticapitalism,[61], market anarchism is a school of anarchism that wish to create a truly "free market" without capitalism and the state, with an economy controlled by worker co-operatives and self-employed workers competing in a functional market economy. It's inspired by Pierre Joseph-Proudhon's ideas of mutualism which espoused a free market controlled by cooperative business competing for trade and with a definition property based on occupancy and use.[62] A modern branch called left-wing market anarchism has also risen based on the homestead principle in the recent years.[63]

Egoist anarchism [ edit ]

Also known as anarcho-egoism, egoist anarchism is inspired by the ideas of Max Stirner, who argued for a rejection of all things which limit the individual. He rejected not only the usual anarchist bêtes noires (hierarchies, the state, capitalism, organized religion, nationalism, etc.), but also conventional morality and values and all "higher ideals" (such as obligations), seeing them as products of the ruling authorities that existed to uphold their legitimacy. It was supplanted by social anarchism, but a translation by socialist Benjamin Tucker[64] made the movement ascendant, and its influence spread to anarcho-communism.[65]

Social anarchism [ edit ]

Social Anarchism or anarcho-socialism is a broad category that distinguishes itself from individualist anarchism by favoring a communal solution to social problems and favoring a free society that protects individual liberty, contrasting the individualists emphasazing personal autonomy and the rational nature of human beings. Of the two, social anarchism was the most popular and widespread category of classical anarchism.[66]

Also known as Collectivist Anarchism, this ideology was begun by the Russian anarchist Mikhail Bakunin . While naming Proudhon as "the father of us all", he felt mutualism was not a step far enough, particularly as capitalism and the state had both expanded in the time since. Bakunin was also opposed to religion, declaring that "the idea of God denies humanity. God being everything, man is nothing," and "if God really existed it would be necessary to abolish him" turning Voltaire's dictum on its head. More generally, he opposed organized religion, one of his most notable works being God and the State (1882), a position held by many anarchists since who view the church as another oppressive hierarchy alongside the state. Bakunin's anarcho-collectivism criticized Marxism as something that would lead to a new ruling class party hierarchy while advocating full collective worker management of production, a doctrine later expanded on by the anarcho-communists and anarcho-syndicalists. The primary difference between anarcho-collectivism and anarcho-communism is, that anarcho-collectivism would preserve wage labor as the method of distribution of goods while anarcho-communism would seek to abolish money and have free consumption for all.[67]

Anarcho-syndicalism is an Anarchist tendency of revolutionary syndicalism which seeks to organize workers in revolutionary trade unions, federated or not, that would overthrow capitalism eventually establishing a free society run through cooperative confederations called syndicates managing the economy in which profits are distributed amongst the workers.[68] Revolutionary syndicalism is marked by its political neutrality, seeking to unite the working class without being bogged down in inefficient and often disappointing philosophical debates.[69]

Anarcho-syndicalism takes those aims steps further, organizing the working class in explicit revolutionary politics. While syndicalists organize workers in the workplace, anarcho-syndicalists organize communities, rent strike and unemployment organizations as well seeking to abolish the wage system and the state both.[70]

Anarcho-syndicalism has some similarities to De Leonism, with the main difference being that De Leon rejected anarchism and would have the state re-organized as a "dictatorship of the proletariat" rather than abolished entirely. In terms of absolute numbers, anarcho-syndicalism has historically been the largest and most politically active anarchist tendency, particularly in the 1920s and 1930s,[71] during which various anarcho-syndicalist organizations throughout the world collectively claimed well over ten million active members. Among the various anarchist traditions, anarcho-syndicalism has a fair bit of academic prestige associated with it, and in modern times is associated with western intellectuals such as Norman Spinrad and Noam Chomsky.

Historical of modern anarcho-syndicalism are the CNT and CGT in Spain, CNT in France, and IWW in the USA — still highly active, though numerically diminished compared to their heyday. The anarcho-syndicalist strategy is to form workplace resistance groups amongst employees in workplaces controlled by capitalist firms, not to form cooperatives, although most anarcho-syndicalists would not be hostile to the cooperative idea, seeing it as a useful complement, especially for blacklisted workers. During the Spanish Civil War, anarcho-syndicalists established free communes in which production and innovation were reported to have increased fairly dramatically, up to even 50% according to Emma Goldman's memoirs, and were distributed in an egalitarian manner to all. Workers seized control of the factories, peasants the farmland, free schools were set up to teach in new ways, and universal literacy began to be achieved. They were eventually undermined by lack of funding due to the hostile Soviet Union controlling their money supply, attacks by the Stalinist-controlled Spanish Republican government, and finally the victory of fascist dictator Francisco Franco, supported by many in the West. This was helped by infighting of the groups on the Republican side, plus lack of support.

Anarcho-Communism, also known as Libertarian Communism or simply Ancom, is a strand of communism that seeks to abolish the State and the system of wage labor and money, implementing instead a system of collective ownership of the means of production through the use and establishment of voluntary associations.[72]

Important figures in the ancom movement were Errico Malatesta of Italy, Nestor Makhno of Ukraine, Alexander Berkman and Emma Goldman in the United States and Piotr Kropotkin in Russia. Kropotkin is often seen as the leading influence in the ancom movement, outlining his economic views in his famous work The Conquest of Bread (1892) and Fields, Factories and Workshops (1899) and his social views in Mutual Aid:A Factor of Evolution (1902) in which outlined that cooperation was more benefical than competition.

Anarcho-communism florished in the Ukranian Free Territory in which free communes operated under the protection of Nestor Makhno's Revolutionary Insurrection Army. However the Free Territory would soon come under attack by the Bolsheviks forces, whom slandered the Makhnovites as anti-semitic and refusing to send food to the urban centers. This include various assassination attempts on Nestor and the ultimately destruction of the Free Territory by the Red Army.[73]

Contemporary anarchism [ edit ]

Contemporary anarchism refers to the tendencies that developed in the aftermath of the Second World War and during the Cold War to the present day. Contemporary anarchism rose from the ashes in the post-WWII inspired by the of philosophies and social critique of post-modernism, feminism, environmentalism and the neo-Marxism of the Frankfurt school, all of which have their own critiques of bourgeois society.[74]

Not a separate tendency per se, this was partly based on the works of Emma Goldman, herself a dedicated feminist who advocated rights to birth control, abortion, free love, and open relationships along with equality for women in general long before such issues were considered acceptable for discussion, let alone to enact. Goldman argued prominently that voting rights for women by themselves would change nothing, that equality had to come along with a broader social revolution. Anarcha-feminists have followed her reasoning, critiquing sexism as simply another form of hierarchy (patriarchy or matriarchy here) while struggling for the same goals as other anarchists, especially devoted to making sure women have the same rights in anarchist movements and the idea of gender equality receives focus along with the rest. Free love advocacy and women's liberation have a long history within anarchism, going back to individualist anarchists Ezra Heywood and Moses Harman, whose freethought periodicals The Word and Lucifer the Light-Bearer were persecuted by Anthony Comstock under the Comstock Act for their open discussions of birth control and denunciation of marital rape,[75]. It continued to be influential through the writings of Emma Goldman and Ben Reitman, who were also prosecuted under the Comstock Act, with Reitman sentenced to prison for advocating birth control.[76]

Queer anarchism [ edit ]

Like above, not a seperate tendency but a school of thought that believes queer liberation can only occur through a social revolution. There are many early writers that advocated socialism and LGBT rights, such as Oscar Wilde[77] who published in 1891 his most political work The Soul of Man Under Socialism,[78] and individualist anarchist Adolf Brand who published the first gay magazine Der Eigene from the late 19th century to the rise of Nazi Germany, and the bisexual anarchist Daniel Guérin.[79]

In the present day, queer anarchist support for Bash Back! , an anarchist network opposing assimilationism within the LGBT movement and police brutality.[80][81]

Green anarchism [ edit ]

Green anarchists believe an ecological society living in harmony with the earth is incompatible with either capitalism or the state. They often look to Kropotkin's communal ideas as a potential model for an ecological society, while also absorbing other influences ranging from individualist anarchism to anarcho-syndicalism to distributism. Most green anarchism divides between those following Murray Bookchin's Kropotkin-influenced writings and those who tend more toward Edward Abbey's less well-defined (and probably more libertarian and individualist anarchist) preference for direct action over theory. This is sometimes portrayed as a divide between the "garden" or "urban village" model of environmentalism (Bookchin) and the "wilderness" model (Abbey).[82]

Anarcho-primitivists go even further than green anarchists, viewing civilization itself, from modern labor-saving technologies to language, as an anti-ecological, hierarchical institution. They advocate the complete abolition of industry, capitalism, and even agriculture, returning to a hunter-gatherer mode of life which they argue is more leisurely, free, and in tune with nature. They believe wilderness and wildlife have a right to exist for their own sake, and therefore, endorse such a lifestyle that they see as least destructive. John Zerzan is probably the most prominent thinker of the primitivist tendency, although Bob Black also contributes greatly. The methods of how to achieve this primitive back-to-nature society are contentious. The British anarcho-primitivist magazine Green Anarchist once praised Unabomber Ted Kaczynski (arguably close to anarcho-primitivism in his views, although his manifesto was rooted far less in environmental concerns) and the Aum Shinrikyo cult in Japan who released Sarin gas in the Tokyo subway. Needless to say, most green anarchists and those of other tendencies reject anarcho-primitivism.

Curiously absent is the answer to the question of which of the 7 billion people would have to die to make this dream a reality; the simple fact is that even if we all went vegetarian, without modern farming practices and the chemical industry we simply could not grow enough food for everyone. There is a reason that Britain, which now has 60 million people, only had a few million in Medieval times yet even then people routinely starved. However, anarcho-primitivists' concerns about agriculture are not without a reason, with Desert's critiques of how permaculture is unsustainable[83] now being reality with scientists warning that UK's topsoil having 100 harvests left in them only in 2014[84] and others giving warning of 30-40 years [85] before the soil becomes difficult if not impossible to grow crops on. However, this only comes from 1 peer reviewed study that has had no calculation, prediction, or hard evidence to support that this is the case as well.[86]

Insurrectionary anarchism [ edit ]

Insurrectionary anarchism is a recent innovation and seems to be influenced by postmodern philosophy, nihilism, guerrilla warfare tactics, and anarcho-primitivism with some Kropotkin and Stirner thrown in. It is a murky area that is difficult to understand for those not already steeped in postmodernism. Insurrectionary anarchists tend to define themselves in contrast to organizational anarchists such as anarcho-syndicalists. Any form of organization at all is suspect (conveniently ignoring the fact that Homo sapiens are social and tribal by nature), probably at least proto-statist if not explicitly so, and deserving of deconstruction through the lens of postmodernism. In practice, this means that a permanent revolution and never-ending guerrilla insurrection, in the form of ever-shifting affinity groups that never coalesce into anything permanent, is needed.

Some notable insurrectionary anarchist literatures include The Coming Insurrection, Armed Joy, with modern organizations being the Conspiracy of Fire Nuclei, the now-repressed Iberian Federation of Libertarian Youth, as well as many informal groups throughout Greece and other countries.

Post-left anarchism [ edit ]

Post-left anarchism while preserving many characteristics of left-anarchism (such as opposition to hierarchies and oppression) abandons the moralistic critiques that left-anarchism employs. Post-left anarchism is often influenced by either anarcho-primitivists such as Zerzan or at times accelerationism through thinkers like Mark Fisher or Nick Land, as well as Deleuze. Post-left anarchists reject grand narratives that are often used by Marxists (such as dialectical materialism) but instead still retains many critiques that Marxists made, especially the more unorthodox Marxists like the Situationists.

It’s neither a political program nor an ideology. It’s not meant in any way to constitute some sort of faction or sect within the more general anarchist milieu. It’s in no way an opening to the political right; the right and left have always had much more in common with each other than either has in common with anarchism. And it’s certainly not intended as a new commodity in the already crowded marketplace of pseudo-radical ideas. It is simply intended as a restatement of the most fundamental and important anarchist positions within the context of a disintegrating international political left.[87]

Anarcho-transhumanism is a recent branch of anarchism that takes traditional and modern anarchism, typically drawing from anarcho-syndicalism , left-libertarianism or libertarian socialism and combines it with transhumanism and post-humanism . It can be described as a “liberal democratic revolution, at its core the idea that people are happiest when they have rational control over their lives. Reason, science, and technology provide one kind of control, slowly freeing us from ignorance, toil, pain, disease and limited lifespans (aging)", Some anarcho-transhumanists might also follow technogaianism as well.

Some anarchists consider themselves "anarchists without adjectives", not desiring to follow any one tendency but claiming to welcome all ideas. "Anarchism without adjectives" was founded as a response to the sectarian infighting among other schools of anarchist thought and began with the premise that all anarchist tendencies are equally valid. AWA is seen by some as a modern version of Synthesis-Anarchism which extends to other models other than the three (Syndicalism, Communism and Individualism) that are embraced by synthesis anarchists. "Anarchists without adjectives" generally focus on de-legitimizing the state rather than on one particular conception of an anarchist society, believing that all else will naturally follow and a world without government will likely be heavily mixed.

Not anarchism [ edit ]

National anarchism [ edit ]

See the main article on this topic: National anarchism

National anarchism is a batshit crazy ideology which seeks the same aims of fascism but argues that a stateless society would achieve them better than a state ever could. National anarchists seek the establishment of 'National Autonomous Zones' which would be 'racially pure', 'traditional' in terms of gender relations, anti-capitalist and ecologically sustainable. Unlike most other anarchists, national anarchists do not oppose hierarchy. Rather they seek a hierarchy that arises 'naturally', not the current hierarchies of the capitalist system, which are based on exploitation. National anarchists share some common ground with pan-archists as they argue that 'if you don't like it, you can just leave'. They said you can just join an existing society based on other values or even start your own. For the most part, National anarchists are despised by other anarchists. That is provided they have even heard of them. National anarchism is a fringe movement even compared to anarcho-capitalism. They have a habit of showing up uninvited to anarchist book fairs, getting run off by angry Antifascist Action affinity groups, and whining on the Internet about it.

See the main article on this topic: Anarcho-fascism‎‎

Invented one day by a Swede who didn't understand political theory, anarcho-fascism‎‎ bears no relationship to anarchism.

See the main article on this topic: Anarcho-capitalism

In spite of its name, anarcho-capitalism is not related to the other anarchist movements more than the abolishing of the state. It is an ideology which primarily advocates a laissez-faire free market free of state interference, and abolition of the state, replacing it with voluntary agreements (contracts) between consenting parties. Anarchism traditionally means not simply the abolition of the state but also all hierarchies, which are viewed as inherently oppressive. Since capitalism is hierarchical, few if any leftist-anarchists view anarcho-capitalism as compatible with anarchism.[88] [89] However, ancaps simply view anarchism as the abolition of the state, so they view capitalism (and other hierarchies for that matter) and anarchism as compatible.

The term "anarcho-capitalist" is slowly being appropriated by the far-right, following in the ideas of thinkers like Hans-Hermann Hoppe (who figure that having a king is compatible with anarchism, the "king" as someone who contractually owns all land in a given area). The far-right demographic within the anarcho-capitalist diaspora apply Hoppe's theories on anarcho-capitalism supported by complex webs of contractual agreements to propose all-White Ethnostates free of "degenerate" behaviour (very pro-freedom).

Antisemitism among Anarchists [ edit ]

Among well-known proponents of Anarchism, such as Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, antisemitism was an issue. In 1847, in what Proudhon titled "On the Jews",[90] he wrote:

Jews. Write an article against this race that poisons everything by sticking its nose into everything without ever mixing with any other people. Demand its expulsion from France with the exception of those individuals married to French women. Abolish synagogues and not admit them to any employment. Demand its expulsion Finally, pursue the abolition of this religion. It’s not without cause that the Christians called them deicides. The Jew is the enemy of humankind. They must be sent back to Asia or be exterminated. H. Heine, A. Weill, and others are nothing but secret spies ; Rothschild, Crémieux, Marx, Fould, wicked, bilious, envious, bitter, etc. etc. beings who hate us. The Jew must disappear by steel or by fusion or by expulsion. Tolerate the elderly who no longer have children. Work to be done – What the peoples of the Middle Ages hated instinctively I hate upon reflection and irrevocably. The hatred of the Jew like the hatred of the English should be our first article of political faith. Moreover, the abolition of Judaism will come with the abolition of other religions. Begin by not allocating funds to the clergy and leaving this to religious offerings. – And then, a short while later, abolish the religion.

This isn't to say that Anarchists are like Nazis, but they surely are able to perpetuate bigotry as well. Often perpetrating antisemitism even beyond the cultural background hatred of Jews at the time, blaming the Jews specifically for their role in capitalism.[91]

However in spite of the antisemitism shown by early European anarchists, anarchism was later popular amongst both secular and religious Jewish communities.[92] In the present day, Jewish interest in anarchism has grown due to work of organizations such as the Treyf Podcast,[93] Jewdas, and the YIVO group.[94] In Israel, there was the libertarian socialist kibbutz movement.[95]

Anarchist organizations [ edit ]

Those who make no effort to understand anarchism generally suppose that the very term "anarchist organization" posits a hierarchical structure which is anathema to the egalitarian virtues of the anarchist worldview. This is not the case. Anarchists believe that human beings can organize themselves along non-hierarchical lines. Anarchists are not against organization, but rather oppose hierarchy, and do not advocate the 'lawlessness' and disintegration of society which the term 'anarchy' conjures. Anarchist organizations strive for a maximal degree of direct democracy and the accountability of officers to the rank and file.

North America [ edit ]

Canada [ edit ]

Mexico [ edit ]

United States [ edit ]

Europe [ edit ]

Asia [ edit ]

Rojava (or North Syria Federation) is a region of Syria mostly controlled by Kurds and allied fighters. It could reasonably be considered an anarchist region; it incorporates several elements of anarchism including egalitarianism, decentralization, and self-determination. However, there are certain things about Rojava that some say would disqualify it, namely that it has an army of 50,000 troops alongside compulsory military service, a state governance structure, and good relations/direct military cooperation with other governments. But even if it isn't anarchist, it's still libertarian socialist, a broader political umbrella that includes anarchism among other philosophies/systems.

Australasia [ edit ]

ASF Australia

South America [ edit ]

Africa [ edit ]

See also [ edit ]

Notes [ edit ]

↑ originally used by anarcho-communists to distinguish anarcho-communism from tendencies like Mutualism ↑ the second great split was the one between the pro-bolshevisk and anti-bolshevisk factions after the Russian Revolution