REAL LIVE RED BLOODED ANARCHY

mattd mattd at useoz.com
Sat Dec 29 18:12:20 PST 2001


Anarchy: Revolution is the Solution.
by Vigil ANti 11:40am Sat Dec 29 '01 (Modified on 4:16pm Sat Dec 29 '01)
Reform is ineffective and only serves to further strengthen the Complex. 
Anarchy holds many ideas worth considering in the quest towards a sane world.
A.1 What is anarchism?
Anarchism is a political theory which aims to create anarchy, "the absence 
of a master, of a sovereign." [P-J Proudhon, What is Property , p. 264] In 
other words, anarchism is a political theory which aims to create a society 
within which individuals freely co-operate together as equals. As such 
anarchism opposes all forms of hierarchical control - be that control by 
the state or a capitalist - as harmful to the individual and their 
individuality as well as unnecessary.
In the words of anarchist L. Susan Brown:
"While the popular understanding of anarchism is of a violent, anti-State 
movement, anarchism is a much more subtle and nuanced tradition then a 
simple opposition to government power. Anarchists oppose the idea that 
power and domination are necessary for society, and instead advocate more 
co-operative, anti-hierarchical forms of social, political and economic 
organization." [The Politics of Individualism, p. 106]
However, "anarchism" and "anarchy" are undoubtedly the most misrepresented 
ideas in political theory. Generally, the words are used to mean "chaos" or 
"without order," and so, by implication, anarchists desire social chaos and 
a return to the "laws of the jungle."
This process of misrepresentation is not without historical parallel. For 
example, in countries which have considered government by one person 
(monarchy) necessary, the words "republic" or "democracy" have been used 
precisely like "anarchy," to imply disorder and confusion. Those with a 
vested interest in preserving the status quo will obviously wish to imply 
that opposition to the current system cannot work in practice, and that a 
new form of society will only lead to chaos. Or, as Errico Malatesta 
expresses it:
"since it was thought that government was necessary and that without 
government there could only be disorder and confusion, it was natural and 
logical that anarchy, which means absence of government, should sound like 
absence of order." [Anarchy, p. 12].
Anarchists want to change this "common-sense" idea of "anarchy," so people 
will see that government and other hierarchical social relationships are 
both harmful and unnecessary:
"Change opinion, convince the public that government is not only 
unnecessary, but extremely harmful, and then the word anarchy, just because 
it means absence of government, will come to mean for everybody: natural 
order, unity of human needs and the interests of all, complete freedom 
within complete solidarity." [Ibid., pp. 12-13].
This FAQ is part of the process of changing the commonly-held ideas 
regarding anarchism and the meaning of anarchy.
A.1.1 What does "anarchy" mean?
The word "anarchy" is from the Greek, prefix an (or a), meaning "not," "the 
want of," "the absence of," or "the lack of", plus archos, meaning "a 
ruler," "director", "chief," "person in charge," or "authority." Or, as 
Peter Kropotkin put it, Anarchy comes from the Greek words meaning 
"contrary to authority." [Kropotkin's Revolutionary Pamphlets, p. 284]
While the Greek words anarchos and anarchia are often taken to mean "having 
no government" or "being without a government," as can be seen, the strict, 
original meaning of anarchism was not simply "no government." "An-archy" 
means "without a ruler," or more generally, "without authority," and it is 
in this sense that anarchists have continually used the word. For example, 
we find Kropotkin arguing that anarchism "attacks not only capital, but 
also the main sources of the power of capitalism: law, authority, and the 
State." [Op. Cit., p. 150] For anarchists, anarchy means "not necessarily 
absence of order, as is generally supposed, but an absence of rule." 
[Benjamin Tucker, Instead of a Book, p. 13] Hence David Weick's excellent 
summary:
"Anarchism can be understood as the generic social and political idea that 
expresses negation of all power, sovereignty, domination, and hierarchical 
division, and a will to their dissolution. . . Anarchism is therefore more 
than anti-statism . . . [even if] government (the state) . . . is, 
appropriately, the central focus of anarchist critique." [Reinventing 
Anarchy, p. 139]
For this reason, rather than being purely anti-government or anti-state, 
anarchism is primarily a movement against hierarchy. Why? Because hierarchy 
is the organizational structure that embodies authority. Since the state is 
the "highest" form of hierarchy, anarchists are, by definition, anti-state; 
but this is not a sufficient definition of anarchism. This means that real 
anarchists are opposed to all forms of hierarchical organization, not only 
the state. In the words of Brian Morris:
"The term anarchy comes from the Greek, and essentially means 'no ruler.' 
Anarchists are people who reject all forms of government or coercive 
authority, all forms of hierarchy and domination. They are therefore 
opposed to what the Mexican anarchist Flores Magon called the 'sombre 
trinity' -- state, capital and the church. Anarchists are thus opposed to 
both capitalism and to the state, as well as to all forms of religious 
authority. But anarchists also seek to establish or bring about by varying 
means, a condition of anarchy, that is, a decentralized society without 
coercive institutions, a society organised through a federation of 
voluntary associations." ["Anthropology and Anarchism," Anarchy: A Journal 
of Desire Armed, no. 45, p. 38]
Reference to "hierarchy" in this context is a fairly recent development -- 
the "classical" anarchists such as Proudhon, Bakunin and Kropotkin did use 
the word, but rarely (they usually preferred "authority," which was used as 
short-hand for "authoritarian"). However, it's clear from their writings 
that theirs was a philosophy against hierarchy, against any inequality of 
power or privileges between individuals. Bakunin spoke of this when he 
attacked "official" authority but defended "natural influence," and also 
when he said:
"Do you want to make it impossible for anyone to oppress his fellow-man? 
Then make sure that no one shall possess power." [The Political Philosophy 
of Bakunin, p. 271]
As Jeff Draughn notes, "while it has always been a latent part of the 
'revolutionary project,' only recently has this broader concept of 
anti-hierarchy arisen for more specific scrutiny. Nonetheless, the root of 
this is plainly visible in the Greek roots of the word 'anarchy.'" [Between 
Anarchism and Libertarianism: Defining a New Movement]
We stress that this opposition to hierarchy is, for anarchists, not limited 
to just the state or government. It includes all authoritarian economic and 
social relationships as well as political ones, particularly those 
associated with capitalist property and wage labor. This can be seen from 
Proudhon's argument that "Capital . . . in the political field is analogous 
to government . . . The economic idea of capitalism . . . [and] the 
politics of government or of authority . . . [are] identical . . . [and] 
linked in various ways. . . What capital does to labor . . . the State 
[does] to liberty . . ." [quoted by Max Nettlau, A Short History of 
Anarchism, pp. 43-44] Thus we find Emma Goldman opposing capitalism as it 
involved people selling their labor and so ensuring that "the worker's 
inclination and judgement are subordinated to the will of a master." [Red 
Emma Speaks, p. 36] Forty years earlier Bakunin made the same point when he 
argued that under the current system "the worker sells his person and his 
liberty for a given time" to the capitalist in exchange for a wage [Op. 
Cit., p. 187].
Thus "anarchy" means more than just "no government," it means opposition to 
all forms of authoritarian organization and hierarchy. In Kropotkin's 
words, "the origin of the anarchist inception of society . . . [lies in] 
the criticism . . . of the hierarchical organizations and the authoritarian 
conceptions of society; and . . . the analysis of the tendencies that are 
seen in the progressive movements of mankind." [Kropotkin's Revolutionary 
Pamphlets, p. 158] Thus any attempt to assert that anarchy is purely 
anti-state is a misrepresentation of the word and the way it has been used 
by the anarchist movement. As Brian Morris argues, "when one examines the 
writings of classical anarchists. . . as well as the character of anarchist 
movements. . . it is clearly evident that it has never had this limited 
vision [of just being against the state]. It has always challenged all 
forms of authority and exploitation, and has been equally critical of 
capitalism and religion as it has been of the state." [Op. Cit., p. 40]
And, just to state the obvious, anarchy does not mean chaos nor do 
anarchists seek to create chaos or disorder. Instead, we wish to create a 
society based upon individual freedom and voluntary co-operation. In other 
words, order from the bottom up, not disorder imposed from the top down by 
authorities.
A.1.2 What does "anarchism" mean?
To quote Peter Kropotkin, Anarchism is "the no-government system of 
socialism." [Kropotkin's Revolutionary Pamphlets, p. 46]. In other words, 
"the abolition of exploitation and oppression of man by man, that is the 
abolition of private property [i.e. capitalism] and government." [Errico 
Malatesta, "Towards Anarchism," in Man!, M. Graham (Ed), p. 75]
Anarchism, therefore, is a political theory that aims to create a society 
which is without political, economic or social hierarchies. Anarchists 
maintain that anarchy, the absence of rulers, is a viable form of social 
system and so work for the maximization of individual liberty and social 
equality. They see the goals of liberty and equality as mutually 
self-supporting. Or, in Bakunin's famous dictum:
"We are convinced that freedom without Socialism is privilege and 
injustice, and that Socialism without freedom is slavery and brutality." 
[The Political Philosophy of Bakunin, p. 269]
The history of human society proves this point. Liberty without equality is 
only liberty for the powerful, and equality without liberty is impossible 
and a justification for slavery.
While there are many different types of anarchism (from individualist 
anarchism to communist-anarchism -- see section A.3 
<http://flag.blackened.net/sai/faq/secA3.html> for more details), there has 
always been two common positions at the core of all of them -- opposition 
to government and opposition to capitalism. In the words of the 
individualist-anarchist Benjamin Tucker, anarchism insists on "the 
abolition of the State and the abolition of usury; on no more government of 
man by man, and no more exploitation of man by man." [cited in Native 
American Anarchism - A Study of Left-Wing American Individualism by Eunice 
Schuster, p. 140] All anarchists view profit, interest and rent as usury 
(i.e. as exploitation) and so oppose them and the conditions that create 
them just as much as they oppose government and the State.
More generally, in the words of L. Susan Brown, the "unifying link" within 
anarchism "is a universal condemnation of hierarchy and domination and a 
willingness to fight for the freedom of the human individual." [The 
Politics of Individualism, p. 108] For anarchists, a person cannot be free 
if they are subject to state or capitalist authority.
So Anarchism is a political theory which advocates the creation of anarchy, 
a society based on the maxim of "no rulers." To achieve this, "[i]n common 
with all socialists, the anarchists hold that the private ownership of 
land, capital, and machinery has had its time; that it is condemned to 
disappear: and that all requisites for production must, and will, become 
the common property of society, and be managed in common by the producers 
of wealth. And. . . they maintain that the ideal of the political 
organization of society is a condition of things where the functions of 
government are reduced to minimum. . . [and] that the ultimate aim of 
society is the reduction of the functions of government to nil -- that is, 
to a society without government, to an-archy" [Peter Kropotkin, Op. Cit., 
p. 46]
Thus anarchism is both positive and negative. It analyses and critiques 
current society while at the same time offering a vision of a potential new 
society -- a society that fulfills certain human needs which the current 
one denies. These needs, at their most basic, are liberty, equality and 
solidarity, which will be discussed in section A.2 
<http://flag.blackened.net/sai/faq/secA2.html>.
Anarchism unites critical analysis with hope, for, as Bakunin pointed out, 
"the urge to destroy is a creative urge." One cannot build a better society 
without understanding what is wrong with the present one.
Do you want to know more?





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