This section is on Anarchism. It is taken from the text of the PowerPoint which is included as a document to download at the bottom of this page. There is a 'Test Yourself' section towards the bottom of the page too.
Anarchism
Proudhon
Syndicalism
Core Themes
Natural order
Anti-clericalism
Why are anarchists against the Church?
Economic Freedom
Collectivism vs individualism
Collectivists
Individualists
Anarchism could be achieved by…
Useful quotes on Anarchism:
Proudhon: “Democracy is nothing but the Tyranny of Majorities”
Bakunin: “political power & wealth are inseparable”
Bakunin: “Social solidarity is the first human law”
Thoreau: “That government is best which governs not at all” (misquote Jefferson).
Test Yourself on Anarchism
Is it a single doctrine? (Hint: look at collectivist vs individualist anarchism to argue 'no'; look at what they share in common to argue 'yes')
Why are anarchists against the church?
How can anarchism be achieved?
Who are the individualist anarchists?
What do extreme individualist anarchists argue?
Who are the collectivist anarchists?
What are the core themes of anarchism?
Which 2 ideologies does anarchism overlap and why?
Anarchism
- Complex
- Ancient Greek: means “without rule”
- Principles laid down by William Godwin, Essay Concerning Political Justice (1793)
- Used in French revolution
- BUT Proudhon (1870) first used as a systematic ideology.
- Growth of powerful nation states in 19th century
Proudhon
- Voted against the French Constitution “because it was a constitution” (1848)
- Said: “Democracy is nothing but the Tyranny of Majorities”
- Also said: “To be governed is to be watched over, inspected, spied on, directed, legislated at, regulated, docketed, indoctrinated, preached at, controlled, assessed, weighed, censored, ordered about, by men who have neither the right, nor the knowledge, nor the virtue.”
Syndicalism
- Popular in France, Spain & Italy in early 20th century
- The systematic organisation of industry and workers for the good of the workers
- CGT union (France) dominated by anarchists
- Also emerged in Latin America
- Influenced the Mexican revolution, led by Emiliano Zapata
- Weakened by spread of authoritarian regimes
Core Themes
- Anti-Statism: this is the DEFINING theme!
Seek a stateless society. - Optimistic: (utopian?) humans are moral creatures, drawn to absolute freedom & autonomy (private judgement). (But pessimistic about corruption.)
- Rejects state power
- Seeks political equality.
- Emma Goldman (US anarchist) government is “the club, the gun, the handcuff, or the prison.”
- (Which 2 ideologies does anarchism overlap and why?)
Natural order
- William Godwin: opposed ‘Social Contract’ (Hobbes & Locke) – humans rational and capable of living harmoniously with the law of the State.
- Natural ‘goodness’
- Argued for Volunturism (voluntary association)
- But Proudhon, Bakunin, Kropotkin etc more nuanced…..They recognised human plasticity (humans are shaped by their environment and not just a product of nature).
- Eg: Social institutions nurture respect and cooperation…so collectivism/common ownership good.
Anti-clericalism
Why are anarchists against the Church?
- The Church and State often intertwined, especially in Catholic countries (Spain, France, Italy, S. America)
- The church provides a moral authority which anarchists reject.
Economic Freedom
- Bakunin: “political power & wealth are inseparable”
- The ruling class exploits the masses (but, unlike Marx, the ruling class includes all who enjoy privilege and power….priests, the police, state officials, etc)
- Like socialists, anarchists disapprove of property & inequality
- (Why are some anarchists in favour of collectivism and others individualism?)
Collectivism vs individualism
- Collectivist anarchists (aka social anarchists) support co-operation and common ownership
- Individualists support the free market.
Collectivists
- Kropotkin & Proudhon believed in mutual aid (mutualism): bargaining goods and services without profit.
- Bakunin: “Social solidarity is the first human law”
- Proudhon made a distinction between ‘property’ and ‘possessions’. Possessions are personal belongings (eg a photograph of your mum, which no-one would want in ‘common ownership’). Property is that which should be held in common ownership (eg your house. To Proudhon ‘property is theft’).
- Anarchists argue that Marx’s vanguard state would be corrupt and the state must be abolished.
- Anarcho-syndicalism: emerged through the trade unions (esp France): class war.
- Sorel: revolution should occur through a general strike.
- Anarcho-communism: human capacity for co-operation – shared communal existence. Kropotkin: Darwinian evolution points to social solidarity for success.
- Communes allow collective endeavour (solidarity); direct democracy and human interaction (‘communism’).
Individualists
- Godwin: individual sovereign (extreme classical liberalism).
- No need even for a police force or constitutions.
- Egoism: Stirner – individual at the centre of the moral universe.
- Libertarianism: Thoreau “That government is best which governs not at all” (misquote Jefferson).
- Tucker: ‘labour-for-labour’ exchange. Labour exchanged for a promise of work in kind.
- Anarcho-capitalists: Nozick, Ayn Rand, etc - free market, limited government (protecting rights).
- Rothbard: argued for private police and courts.
Anarchism could be achieved by…
- Revolution: Bakunin, Zapata, etc. Often associated with terrorism (eg the Angry Brigade)
- Direct Action: Sorel – general strike. Anti-globalisation: Occupy/Noam Chomsky
- Pacifism: Tolstoy, Ghandi, etc. Tolstoy: return to simple peasant existence; Ghandi satyagaraha, non-violent non-cooperation.
Useful quotes on Anarchism:
Proudhon: “Democracy is nothing but the Tyranny of Majorities”
Bakunin: “political power & wealth are inseparable”
Bakunin: “Social solidarity is the first human law”
Thoreau: “That government is best which governs not at all” (misquote Jefferson).
Test Yourself on Anarchism
Is it a single doctrine? (Hint: look at collectivist vs individualist anarchism to argue 'no'; look at what they share in common to argue 'yes')
Why are anarchists against the church?
How can anarchism be achieved?
Who are the individualist anarchists?
What do extreme individualist anarchists argue?
Who are the collectivist anarchists?
What are the core themes of anarchism?
Which 2 ideologies does anarchism overlap and why?
anarchism_-_powerpoint.pptx | |
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