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AnarchismusAnarkismoAnarchismeAnarchizmAnarkism Anarchism is a generic name given to political and philosophical theories which advocate the abolition of governmental authority and its replacement with voluntary institutions of some form or other. As Benjamin Tucker put it, anarchism is the philosophy that "all the affairs of men should be managed by individuals or voluntary associations, and that the state should be abolished." While some anarchists have come to this position via moral arguments against coercion and authority, others have come to it by opposing what they see as aspects of a society in which a coercive government reigns, such as social hierarchy, the aristocracy, capitalism, industrialism, productivism, scientism, totalitarianism and militarism. However, the term "anarchist" should not be seen as one that applies to a specific group, but one which encompasses all ideologies and movements which advocate the immediate abolition of government and its replacement with some other means of social and economic organisation.

While it is difficult to characterize the entire range of anarchist thought, beyond the notion of opposition to the nation-state, most particularly oppose monopoly and war, as well as many of the various isms which are associated with governmental authority.

Origins of the Word "Anarchism"
The word anarchy derives from the Greek roots an- (without, not) and -arch (ruler, authority, first; cf. -archy). More precisely, the term comes from New Latin's anarchia, which is from Greek's anarkhia, which in turn comes from anarkhos ("without a ruler": an-, without; + arkhos, ruler). Within this article, the term anarchism is understood as meaning "without rulers", "without government", or "without hierarchy" -- as opposed to "no rules", which some argue is the correct translation. The first known usage of the word is traced to the French Revolution (c.1789), when it was used as a derogatory term against the left. The French philosopher Pierre-Joseph Proudhon is considered to have been the first to refer to himself as an "anarchist", which he did in a non-derogatory fashion, becoming the first to articulate a social philosophy that called itself ''anarchism'.

What is Anarchism?
Anarchist ideologies can generally be divided into "left" and "right", occupying opposing positions within the conventional political spectrum. What does unite these different branches of anarchism is their aversion to totalitarianism. Because there is no central definition or authority on what anarchism is (much like any other ideology) there are a number of different versions and definitions of anarchist theory; while two people may both call themselves anarchists, their personal ideologies may differ immensely. There is, however, common ground between the various strands that can be referred to as "anarchism": generally opposition to the state. This article will seek to describe and compare the various strands, their common ground and their differences.

Anarchy is Not Anomie
To add to the confusion, the word "anarchist" is often used to describe a troublesome or violent individual -- a usage that stems from the French Revolution of the 1790s. Today, this comes partly form a popular definition of anarchy as involving chaos and disorder -- what some scholars refer to by Durkheim's sociological term "anomie" (absence of standards, values or order) -- and partly from the use of political violence and "propaganda by the deed" which a minority of anarchists use and advocate, though mostly in the 19th century. Most anarchists oppose such actions as assassination; however, many do advocate crimes against property and accept violence in self defence. Some anarchists advocate pacifism and non-violence, arguing that it is possible to 'fight' a peaceful revolution.

Anomie is often confused with anarchism, as opponents of anarchism try to give the belief system a negative connotation. Anomie is not advocated by the anarchist traditions discussed below, although it has been embraced by some countercultural elements; anarchists believe that the government is a source of disorder and that society would be more orderly -- and less violent -- without governments. Anarchism could thus be seen as "anti-nationalist". While it might seem that "anarchism" implies a total lack of law, most anarchists believe that organised structures should exist in society, but that these should be created in a way such that coercive hierarchies cannot develop. This is why de facto anarchist legal systems exist in anarchies functioning today. This understanding is reflected in the phrase: Anarchy does not oppose rules, it does oppose rulers.

The Development of Anarchism
Rejection of coercive authority can be traced as far back as Ancient China, where Taoism is declared by some to have been the oldest example of anarchist doctrine. In the West, a similar tendency can be traced to the philosophers of Ancient Greece, such as Zeno, the founder of the Stoic philosophy, and Aristippus, who said that the wise should not give up their liberty to the state. Later movements -- such as the Free Spirit in the Middle Ages, the Anabaptists and The Diggers -- have also expounded ideas that have been interpreted as anarchist.

In fact, some anarchists assert that anarchism is not so much a movement as an historical tendency; indeed, Bakunin saw thought and rebellion as the principal tenets of human nature as well as of anarchism. However, there was certainly no coherent ideology that called itself "anarchism" until the nineteenth century, when anarchism -- then often referred to simply as "Revolutionary Socialism" -- sprouted from the growth of socialism and communism. This line of anarchist thought can be more accurately called libertarian socialism.

Anarchist Theories
There is a wide variety of anarchist doctrines, some advocating, for example, communism and others advocating capitalism, but all of them advocate that the best form of government is that which governs "not at all," to quote Henry David Thoreau in his essay Civil Disobedience.

This page will give a summary overview of the various anarchist theories and their interaction. For a more in-depth look at the principles, history and development of an individual theory, see the articles specifically on that theory.


 * libertarian socialists intend anarchism to mean the replacement of all forms of hierarchy (political, economic, and otherwise) by democratically-controlled and collectively-owned organizations;
 * anarcho-capitalists promote individual property rights and free market as the basis for society, and equate the intervention of political power with oppression and robbery;
 * individualist anarchists insist above all on individual freedom from the state.

Among these major branches there are sub-branches of theory, mainly divided up by their focus on certain issues (special forms of repression), strategy or tactics.

Anarcho-Syndicalism
One notable sub-branch is the labour-oriented anarcho-syndicalists, which focuses on labour issues and struggles for workers' rights as strategies that will bring about an anarchist society, and the general strike as a favoured tactic.

Eco-Anarchy
There is a significant anarchist element to the environmental movement, including those that are known as eco-anarchists and green-anarchists. These two, though similar, are not quite the same because the political label 'Green' has implications beyond ecology (see Green Party). Green anarchists accept some restrictions on individual freedom as a means of preserving natural capital (for example, farmland and water) and often promote limited forms of social ecology. Eco-anarchists, by contrast, are more extreme and advocate a sort of fusion with nature (see also: eco-village and primitivism).

Green anarchism, in North America at least, is also linked with anarcho-primitivism, a philosophy that calls for the abolition not only of government, but of civilisation. On the opposite end of the technology spectrum are some that have been labelled cyberpunks -- those who see information technology as the way to replace hierarchy, defeat monopoly, and prevent war, and support culture jamming in particular as a way to do so. Some writers -- particularly Iain M. Banks, who has written quite extensively in the science fiction genre about The Culture, an futuristic society which has disposed of government -- have theorised that anarchism would be inevitable with the technological advances that would make travelling and living in space plausible. (In fact, many anarchists see anarchism as inevitable, as the present organisation of society is unsustainable and unsteady, and will eventually give way to anarchist revolution; this view is particularly prevalent amongst anarchist communists, hailing back to Karl Marx' theory that communist revolution -- involving the working class -- was inevitable.)

Anarchafeminism
Some feminist anarchists talk specifically of anarchofeminism (or anarchafeminism). Some anarchafeminists even characterise government as a male dominated and biased institution and many advocate anarchistic forms of matriarchy. A variant, known as "tribal feminism", combines feminism with the eco-village.

Anarcho-Diversity
The diversity of anarchist movements seems very likely to increase, as advocates of particular strains continue to interact in various ways, ways which are increasingly facilitated by modern communications and transport technologies. Having stated that, it would be interesting to examine the view of anarcho-primitivists in regards to the "benefits" of technology upon the anarchist movement.

While the above doctrines all support political decentralization, some may find it hard to see how these paradigms could happily coexist. One popular perception is that the anarchist movement has suffered, and continues to suffer, from internal divisions and conflicts. Partly such conflict results because most anarchists reject the idea of vanguard groups and political parties (as they are argued to be authoritarian by nature). Even anarcho-syndicalists and anarcho-communists, who normally work side by side (a good example is during the Spanish Civil War), have come into conflict in some regions, notably in Japan, where there has been a historical division between the two groups, as opposed to the historical alliance which has been seen elsewhere.

Division is not seen as a problem for most anarchist theorists, who see diversity as an advantage, akin to biodiversity. Many argue that despite divisions and conflicts, the ultimate goal of each anarchist remains the -- that of eliminating government from society.

Anarchism and Socialism
For a more in depth discussion of the libertarian socialist, anarcho-socialist, and anarcho-communist movements, their ideas, and their history, see libertarian socialism.

There is no consensus on what type of economy anarchists advocate. Many libertarian socialists employ criticisms of capitalism which are similar to those advocated by Marxists. Others focus on anthropological mutual aid. The wikipedia generally uses "libertarian socialism" to refer to any branch of anarchism which endorses socialism, as opposed to capitalism.

Libertarian socialism calls for a system of socialism or communism, with the means of production held collectively and democratic control of all organizations, without government authority, coercion or formal law. Adherents of this view sometimes refer to themselves libertarian socialists, libertarian communists, left-anarchists, anarcho-communists, or anarcho-socialists.

The Rise of Libertarian Socialism
The theory and ideas behind libertarian socialism developed in Russia and Europe, and then extended to the Americas (notably Cuba, Mexico, and the United States), most notably through the migration of Spaniards, Italians and Russians. Since then the movement has grown, with anarchist groups and individuals appearing all over the world, in locations such as Japan, South Africa and Argentina.

Major advocates of anarchism, in the period before World War I, included Leo Tolstoy (though he never called himself an anarchist), Pierre-Joseph Proudhon (the first to call himself an anarchist), Peter Kropotkin and Mikhail Bakunin. Their writings revolved around atheism (with a few exceptions, like Tolstoy), and co-operative economics based on mutual aid. Anarchist labor unions were a significant element in the social struggles of that era, and many experiments in cooperative living, education and other institutions were made. Mikhail Bakunin, one of the first and most prominent libertarian socialists, instigated a split in the First International (an organisation of anarchist, communist and socialist groups) by his disagreements with Karl Marx. This began a long-lasting split between left-anarchists and authoritarian communists.

Libertarian socialism had what some historians regard to have been its last outburst in the Spanish Civil War, when anarchist groups like the CNT (a workers' organisation) took part in a revolution triggered by an attempted fascist coup. The anarchists, a mixture of anarcho-syndicalists and anarcho-communists, played a major part in the following events, and had significant popular support (the CNT's membership was well over one million). However, by the end of the war, anarchist groups were regarded as enemies by both the Soviet Union-supported Spanish Communist Party, whom they were allied with against the fascist Rebel General Franco, and the fascist forces themselves. The loyalists (anarchists, communists and socialists) had lost the war by 1939, and Franco's government reigned until his death in 1975. Anarchism in Spain was consequently suppressed, although various groups survive, including the CNT.

Globalizing Anti-Globalism
There are many anarcho-socialist elements in the "anti-globalisation" movement, elements which are themselves becoming global as they resist the globalizing trends of modern capitalism. Major anarchist organizations include WOMBLES (based in London) and NEFAC in North America. The Anarchist Black Cross is an organization which operates in both Europe and America. There is also notable activity in Argentina, Venezuela, Paraguay, Uruguay and other regions of South America, where political and economic strife has resulted in demonstrations, such as those against Venezuealan President Chavez. Likewise, anarchist organizations are developing in Japan.

Anarcho-capitalism
Anarcho-capitalism, unlike the above-mentioned forms of anarchism, is not socialist, but rather (classical) liberal. Proponents of this theory insist on individual property rights and cooperation through voluntary mutually-beneficial contracts, and promote the free markets that emerge from the respect of such rights as the only legitimate, efficient and moral basis for the organization of society. They are anarchists in that they call for the abolition of government and of any form of political control or regulation. They welcome any kind of voluntary organization between consenting adults, as long as no third party is forced to enter them or be bound by them.

The anarcho-capitalist movement has existed since Gustave de Molinari (1840s), but has received most of its attention since its organization, within the US, during the 1950s. Anarcho-capitalists consider themselves to be members of the classical liberal tradition (libertarianism as it is now called in the USA -- not to confuse with libertarian socialism), and trace their roots back to Locke and the seventeenth century English Whigs.

Anarcho-capitalists, like classical liberals in general, tend to loathe violent action and revolutions as a "normal" way to promote or impose their views, even in the presence of governments they hate. However, they do support situations such as the American Revolution, that precisely consisted of individuals sharing common views fighting together against people trying to impose their views upon them.

Libertarian socialism vs. Anarcho-capitalism
Both libertarian socialists and anarcho-capitalists share an opposition to states and governments; but beyond that they disagree vehemently.

Libertarian socialists consider that an employer-employee relationship is based on coercion by the employer, and that such coercion should be prevented, even if oppressed employees are passively consenting out of weakness and ignorance. Anarcho-capitalists consider an employer-employee relationship to be an elaborate and mutually profitable form of voluntary association, as evidenced by the consent to a contract that each party was free to refuse, and that any external power capable of preventing such relationship is itself oppressive coercion to be fought.

Some commentators frame this debate as follows:


 * Anarcho-socialists (libertarian socialists) believe that all forms of ierarchy must be eliminated.


 * Anarcho-capitalists believe that all forms of coercion must be eliminated, but that apparent hierarchy is no coercion, as long as it reflects a freely-entered-into contract.


 * Anarcho-socialists counter that as no ordinary (as opposed to someone who is independently wealthy) person can refuse to work, there is no freedom involved in the negotiation of a contract with an employer (the "weakness and ignorance" referred to above, or the wage slave concept referred to in socialist literature).


 * Anarcho-capitalists in return argue that, no matter what social organization may or may not exist, social organizations will never eliminate the basic human requirement to work in order to support themselves. Therefore an objection based on a constraint that cannot be overcome is useless to argue about, and not a rational objection at all. They also argue that while someone may not be able to refuse to work, one has the largest choice of employers with the diversity of a free market economy, and that a given employer/employee contract is no coercion.

The relationship between these two groups is antagonistic at best: many left-anarchists find it hard to characterise anarcho-capitalists as anarchists at all, and anarcho-capitalists see left-anarchists as state-communists who reject the word "state" but support political coercion under other names.

Socialist anarchists and anarcho-capitalists don't generally engage in any form of co-operation, despite what might appear to be a mutual goal (i.e. getting rid of the state), whereas anarchists of each kind share a lot of litterature and cooperate with the non-anarchists in their respective socialist and classical liberal traditions.


 * Individualist anarchists, by contrast, do not generally have much interest in this debate. They believe the most important thing is to do away with government, and that how individuals choose to organise themselves and their social group economically is up to them. Debates such as this one, they feel, are a waste of time.


 * Green anarchists think that without some provision for a centralized and organized concept of fairness, and for consensus decision making, social organizations will tend to fall apart in conflict with themselves. Debates such as this one, they feel, are central, and some limited form of deliberative democracy must exist to air these views.


 * Eco-anarchists prefer lower-overhead processes and smaller-scale organizations, and at most would accept a very limited bioregional democracy to ensure that entities like watersheds had some respect from humans. But they would reject debates across such actual/natural boundaries, assuming that people living in different places will have different ideas, and in that sense are more like individual anarchists.


 * Feminist anarchists would support some interventions to enable women to contribute, and specifically provide them with a voice men don't have. They would argue that male tendencies to strut, show off, fight, kill and interrupt women breaks up any male-run social organization in the long run, and subjects women and children to the risks of conflict.

Individualist anarchism
There are several anarchist thinkers, such as Benjamin Tucker, Lysander Spooner and Max Stirner, who are known as individualist anarchists. Beyond economic issues of collectivism versus capitalism, they insist on individual liberty and absence of coercion from states.

Like libertarian socialists, they loathe government-supported capitalism, and reject several essential principles of capitalism in general. Like anarcho-capitalists, they put an emphasis on individual rights and liberty, and on market-based approaches. They are thus acknowledged both by libertarian socialists and anarcho-capitalists, although each side accepts or criticizes differently the works of these thinkers. See individualist anarchism for a discussion of this issue.

On the debate of capitalism versus socialism, the reply of modern individualist anarchism is to let each individual choose the system he is willing to adhere to, and, with experience, each will choose what suits him best; to them, it doesn't matter which system will majoritarily prevail (which doesn't prevent each of them from making their own educated guess), as long as individual freedom is respected.

Anarchies functioning today
We define as anarchies the communities that operate using de facto anarchist law which does not use prison systems or violence, and in which enforcement generally happens by polite and rational discussion via media such as publicly archived mailing lists, so that even emotional coercion and manipulation are discouraged because they require secrecy in order to function.

According to this definition of anarchies, those functioning during the first decade of the 21st century include computer-based communities such as usenet, Indymedia, the GNU/Linux community, the Wikipedia community itself, and other sub-societies which are generally networked using the Internet.

Off the net, there are also many modern non-hierarchical movements and organizations that seem to be growing in popularity and participation. Some of these include the anti-globalization movement, Food Not Bombs, Reclaim the Streets, Infoshops (free and independent libraries), micro- and pirate radio (cf. LPFM), and other cooperative projects (food co-ops, housing co-ops, etc.). There is also a long tradition of anarchist support and activism in the areas of folk music and folk art, punk rock, and the artistic movements of absurdism.

Disclaimer: Of course, this topic has been grossly over-simplified for the purposes of creating a well-rounded, comprehensive, and encyclopedic article on anarchism. The discourse and dialogue in modern anarchist theory and thought is much more multi-facetted than the generalized trichotomy of anarcho-communism vs. anarcho-capitalism vs. individualist anarchism as presented in this article. A thorough understanding of the modern debate can only be grasped by going directly to the theoretical and philosophical texts themselves. Such activity is left as an exercise for the reader.


 * See also: anarchism in the arts, anarcho punk, Class War, green anarchism, eco-anarchism, nihilism, primitivism, syndicalism, situationists, social ecology, political models, anti-globalization movement


 * Compare: libertarianism, statism

Notable Anarchist Organizations

 * Black Cross

External link

 * Anarchist Theory FAQ, an FAQ posted on Usenet "with a strong emphasis upon the many Net controversies between left-anarchists and anarcho-capitalists."