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See also:ANARCHISM (from the Gr. av-, and (Ipxrt, contrary to authority)
, the name given to a principle or theory of See also:life and conduct under which society is conceived without See also:government —See also:harmony in such a society being obtained, not by submission to See also:law, or by obedience to any authority, but by See also:free agreements concluded between the various See also:groups, territorial and professional, freely constituted for the See also:sake of See also:production and See also:consumption, as also for the See also:satisfaction of the See also:infinite variety of needs and aspirations of a civilized being
.
In a society See also:developed on these lines, the voluntary associations which already now begin to See also:cover all the See also:fields of human activity would take a still greater See also:extension so as to substitute themselves for the See also:state in all its functions
.
They would represent an interwoven network, compose 1 of an infinite variety of groups and federations of all sizes and degrees, See also:local, regional, See also:national and See also:international—temporary or more or less permanent—for all possible purposes: production, consumption and See also:exchange, communications, sanitary arrangements, See also:education, mutual See also:protection, See also:defence of the territory, and so on; and, on the other See also:side, for the satisfaction of an ever-increasing number of scientific, See also:artistic, See also:literary and sociable needs
.
Moreover, such a society would represent nothing immutable
.
On the contrary—as is seen in organic life at large—harmony would (it is contended) result from an ever-changing See also:adjustment and readjustment of See also:equilibrium between the multitudes of forces and influences, and this adjustment would be the easier to obtain as none of the forces would enjoy a See also:special protection from the state
.
If, it is contended, society were organized on these principles, See also:man would not be limited in the free exercise of his See also:powers in productive See also:work by a capitalist See also:monopoly, maintained by the state; nor would he be limited in the exercise of his will by a fear of See also:punishment, or by obedience towards individuals or metaphysical entities, which both See also:lead to depression of initiative and servility of mind
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He would be guided in his actions by his own understanding, which necessarily would See also:bear the impression of a free See also:action and reaction between his own self and the ethical conceptions of his surroundings
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Man would thus be enabled to obtain the full development of all his faculties, intellectual, artistic and moral, without being hampered by overwork for the monopolists, or by the servility and inertia of mind of the See also:great number
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He would thus be able to reach full individualization, which is not possible either under the See also:present See also:system of See also:individualism, or under any system of state-See also:socialism in the so-called Volkstaat (popular state)
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The Anarchist writers consider, moreover, that their conception is not a See also:Utopia, constructed on the a priori method, after a few desiderata have been taken as postulates
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It is derived, they maintain, from an See also:analysis of tendencies that are at work already, even though state socialism may find a temporary favour with the reformers
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The progress of See also:modern technics, which wonder-fully simplifies the production of all the necessaries of life; the growing spirit of See also:independence, and the rapid spread of free initiative and free understanding in all branches of activity—including those which formerly were considered as the proper attribution of See also: As to their economical conceptions, the Anarchists, in See also:common with all Socialists, of whom they constitute the See also:left wing, maintain that the now prevailing system of private ownership in See also:land, and our capitalist production for the sake of profits, represent amonopoly which runs against both the principles of See also:justice and the dictates of utility . They are the See also:main obstacle which prevents the successes of modern technics from being brought into the service of all, so as to produce See also:general well-being . The Anarchists consider the wage-system and capitalist production altogether as an obstacle to progress . But they point out also that the state was, and continues to be, the See also:chief See also:instrument for permitting the few to monopolize the land, and the capitalists to appropriate for themselves a quite disproportionate See also:share of the yearly accumulated surplus of production . Consequently, while combating the present monopolization of land, and capitalism altogether, the Anarchists combat with the same See also:energy the state, as the main support of that system . Not this or that special See also:form, but the state altogether, whether it be a See also:monarchy or even a See also:republic governed by means of the See also:referendum . The state organization, having always been; both in See also:ancient and modern See also:history (Macedonian See also:empire, See also:Roman empire, modern See also:European states grown up on the ruins of the autonomous cities), the instrument for establishing monopolies in favour of the ruling minorities, cannot be made to work for the destruction of these monopolies . The Anarchists consider, therefore, that to See also:hand over to the state all the main See also:sources of economical life—the land, the mines, the See also:railways, banking, See also:insurance, and so on—as also the management of all the main branches of See also:industry, in addition to all the functions already accumulated in its hands (education, state-supported religions, defence of the territory, &c.), would mean to create a new instrument of tyranny . State capitalism would only increase the powers of bureaucracy and capitalism . True progress lies in the direction of decentralization, both territorial and functional, in the development of the spirit of local and See also:personal initiative, and of free federation from the See also:simple to the See also:compound, in lieu of the present See also:hierarchy from the centre to the periphery . In common with most Socialists, the Anarchists recognize that, like all See also:evolution in nature, the slow evolution of society is followed from See also:time to time by periods of accelerated evolution which are called revolutions; and they think that the era of revolutions is not yet closed . Periods of rapid changes will follow the periods of slow evolution, and these periods must be taken See also:advantage of—not for increasing and widening the powers of the state, but for reducing them, through the organization in every township or See also:commune of the local groups of producers and consumers, as also the regional, and eventually the international, federations of these groups . In virtue of the above principles the Anarchists refuse to be party to the present state organization and to support it by infusing fresh See also:blood into it . They do not seek to constitute, and invite the working men not to constitute, See also:political parties in the parliaments . Accordingly, since the See also:foundation of the International Working Men's Association in 1864-1866, they have endeavoured to promote their ideas directly amongst the labour organizations and to induce those unions to a See also:direct struggle against See also:capital, without placing their faith in See also:parliamentary legislation . The See also:Historical Development of See also:Anarchism.—The conception of society just sketched, and the tendency which is its dynamic expression, have always existed in mankind, in opposition to the governing hierarchic conception and tendency—now the one and now the other taking the upper hand at different periods of history . To the former tendency we owe the evolution, by the masses themselves, of those institutions—the See also:clan, the See also:village community, the gild, the free See also:medieval See also:city—by means of which the masses resisted the encroachments of the conquerors a pd the See also:power-seeking minorities . The same tendency asserted itself with great energy in the great religious movements of medieval times, especially in the See also:early movements of the reform and its forerunners . At the same time it evidently found its expression in the writings of some thinkers, since the times of Lao-tsze, although, owing to its non-scholastic and popular origin, it obviously found less sympathy among the scholars than the opposed tendency . As has been pointed out by Prof . See also:Adler in his Geschichte See also:des Sozialismus and Kommunismus, See also:Aristippus (b. c . 430 B.c.), one of the founders of the Cyrenaic school, already taught that the See also:wise must not give up their See also:liberty to the state, and in reply to a question by See also:Socrates he said that he did not See also:desire to belong either to the governing or the governed class . Such an attitude, however, seems to have been dictated merely by an Epicurean attitude towards the life of the masses . The best exponent of Anarchist See also:philosophy in ancient See also:Greece was See also:Zeno (342–269 or 270 B.c.), from See also:Crete, the founder of the Stoic philosophy, who distinctly opposed his conception of a free community without government to the state-Utopia of See also:Plato .
He repudiated the omnipotence of the state, its intervention and regimentation, and proclaimed the See also:sovereignty of the moral law of the individual—remarking already that, while the necessary See also:instinct of self-preservation leads man to egotism, nature has supplied a corrective to it by providing man with another instinct—that of sociability
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When men are reasonable enough to follow their natural instincts, they will unite across the frontiers and constitute the Cosmos
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They will have no need of law-courts or See also:police, will have no temples and no public See also:worship, and use no See also:money—free gifts taking the See also:place of the exchanges
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Unfortunately, the writings of Zeno have not reached us and are only known through fragmentary quotations
.
However, the fact that his very wording is similar to the wording now in use, shows how deeply is laid the tendency of human nature of which he was the mouth-piece
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In medieval times we find the same views on the state expressed by the illustrious See also:bishop of See also:Alba, Marco See also:Girolamo See also:Vida, in his first See also:dialogue De dignitate reipublicae (Ferd
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See also:Cavalli, in Mem. dell' Istituto Veneto, xiii.; Dr E
.
Nys, Researches in the History of See also:Economics)
.
But it is especially in several early See also:Christian movements, beginning with the 9th See also:century in See also:Armenia, and in the preachings of the early See also:Hussites, particularly Chojecki, and the early See also:Anabaptists, especially Hans Denk (cf
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See also:Keller, Ein Apostel der Wiedertdufer), that one finds the same ideas forcibly expressed—special stress being laid of course on their moral aspects
.
See also:Rabelais and See also:Fenelon, in their Utopias, have also expressed similar ideas, and they were also current in the 18th century amongst the See also:French Encyclopaedists, as may be concluded from See also:separate expressions occasionally met with in the writings of See also: These ideas found their expression later during the great French Revolution . While the See also:Jacobins did all in their power to centralize everything in the hands of the government, it appears now, from recently published documents, that the masses of the See also:people, in their municipalities and " sections," accomplished a considerable constructive work . They appropriated for themselves the See also:election of the See also:judges, the organization of supplies and equipment for the See also:army, as also for the large cities, work for the unemployed, the management of charities, and so on . They even tried to establish a direct See also:correspondence between the 36,000 communes of See also:France through the intermediary of a special See also:board, outside the National See also:Assembly (cf . See also:Sigismund See also:Lacroix, Ades de la commune de See also:Paris) . It was See also:Godwin, in his Enquiry concerning Political Justice (2 vols., 1993), who was the first to formulate the political and economical conceptions of Anarchism, even though he did not give that name to the ideas developed in his remarkable work . See also:Laws, he wrote, are not a product of the See also:wisdom of our ancestors: they are the product of their passions, their timidity, their jealousies and their ambition . The remedy they offer is worse than the evils they pretend to cure . If and only if all laws and courts were abolished, and the decisions in the arising contests were left to reasonable men chosen for that purpose, real justice would gradually be evolved . As to the state, Godwin frankly claimed its abolition . A society, he wrote, can perfectly well exist without any government: only the communities should be small and perfectly autonomous . Speaking of See also:property, hestated that the rights of every one " to every substance capable of contributing to the benefit of a human being " must be regulated by justice alone: the substance must go " to him who most wants it." His conclusion was See also:Communism .
Godwin, however, had not the courage to maintain his opinions
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He entirely rewrote later on his See also:chapter on property and mitigated his Communist views in the second edition of Political Justice (8vo, 1796)
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See also:Proudhon was the first to use, in 1840 (Qu'est-ce que la propriete ? first memoir), the name of Anarchy with application to the no-government state of society: The name of " Anarchists " had been freely applied during the French Revolution by the See also:Girondists to those revolutionaries who did not consider that the task of the Revolution was accomplished with the overthrow of See also:
The same applied to mines, railways, factories and so on
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In a society of this type the state would be useless
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The chief relations between citizens would be based on free agreement and regulated by See also:mere See also:account keeping
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The contests might be settled by See also:arbitration
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A penetrating See also:criticism of the state and all possible forms of government, and a deep insight into all economic problems, were well-known characteristics of Proudhon's work
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It is See also:worth noticing that French mutualism had its precursor in See also:England, in See also:
These defects, he taught, were inherent to every See also:scheme based upon authority and the community of goods
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He advocated, therefore, See also:complete individual liberty
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In 1827 he opened in See also:Cincinnati a little See also:country See also:store which was the first " See also:Equity Store," and which the people called
" Time Store," because it was based on labour being exchanged See also:hour for hour in all sorts of produce
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" Cost—the limit of See also:price," and consequently " no interest," was the See also:motto of his store, and later on of his Equity Village," near New See also:York, which was still in existence in 1865
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Mr See also:Keith's " House of Equity " at Boston, founded in 1855, is also worthy of See also:notice
.
While the economical, and especially the mutual-banking, ideas of Proudhon found supporters and even a practical application in the See also:United States, his political conception of Anarchy found but little See also:echo in France, where the Christian Socialism of See also:Lamennais and the Fourierists, and the State Socialism of Louis Blanc and the followers of See also:Saint-See also:Simon, were dominating
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These ideas found, however, some temporary support among the left-wing Hegelians in See also:Germany, See also:Moses See also:Hess in 1843, and Karl Griin in 1845, who advocated Anarchism
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Besides, the authoritarian Communism of Wilhelm Weitling'having given origin to opposition amongst the Swiss working men, Wilhelm Marr gave expression to it in the 'forties
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On the other side, Individualist Anarchism found, also in Germany, its fullest expression in Max Stirner (Kaspar See also:Schmidt), whose remarkable See also:works (Der Einzige and sein Eigenthum and articles contributed to the Rheinische Zeitung) remained quite overlooked until they were brought into .prominence by John See also: This was done by Stirner, who advocated, not only a complete revolt against the state and against the See also:servitude which authoritarian Communism would impose upon men, but also the full liberation of the individual from all social and moral bonds—the rehabilitation of the " I," the supremacy of the individual, complete " a-moralism," and the " association of the egotists." The final conclusion of that sort of Individual Anarchism has been indicated by Prof . Basch . It. maintains that the aim of all See also:superior See also:civilization is, not to permit all members of the community to develop in a normal way, but to permit certain better endowed individuals " fully to develop," even at the cost of the happiness and the very existence of the See also:mass of mankind . It is thus a return towards the most common individualism, advocated by all the would-be superior minorities, to which indeed man owes in his history precisely the state and the See also:rest, which these individualists combat . Their individualism goes so far as to end in a negation of their own starting-point,—to say nothing of the impossibility for the individual to attain a really full development in the conditions of oppression of the masses by the " beautiful aristocracies." His development would remain uni-lateral . This is why this direction of thought, notwithstanding its undoubtedly correct and useful advocacy of the full development of each individuality, finds a See also:hearing only in limited artistic and literary circles . Anarchism in the International Working Men's Association.—A general depression in the propaganda of all fractions of Socialism followed, as is known, after the defeat of the uprising of the Paris working men in See also:June 1848 and the fall of the Republic . All the Socialist See also:press was gagged during the reaction See also:period, which lasted fully twenty years . Nevertheless, even Anarchist thought began to make some progress, namely in the writings of Bellegarrique (Caaurderoy), and especially See also:Joseph Dejacque (See also:Les Lazareennes, L'Humanisphere, an Anarchist-Communist Utopia, lately discovered and reprinted) . The Socialist See also:movement revived only after 1864, when some French working men, all " mutualists," See also:meeting in See also:London during the Universal See also:Exhibition with See also:English followers of See also:Robert Owen, founded the International Working Men's Association . This association developed very rapidly and adopted a policy of direct economical struggle against capitalism, without interfering in the political parliamentary agitation, and this policy was followed until 1871 . However, after the Franco-German See also:War, when the International Association was prohibited in France after the uprising of the Commune, the German working men, who hats received manhood See also:suffrage for elections to the newly constituted imperial See also:parliament, insisted upon modifying the See also:tactics of the International, and began to build up a Social-Democratic political party .
This soon led to a See also:division in the Working Men's Association, and the Latin federations, See also:Spanish, See also:Italian, Belgian and See also:Jurassic (France could not be represented), constituted among themselves a Federal See also:union which See also:broke entirely with the Marxist general See also:council of the International
.
Within these federations developed now what may be described as modern Anarchism
.
After the names of " Federalists " and Anti-authoritarians " had been used for some time by these federations the name of " Anarchists," which their adversaries insisted upon applying to them, prevailed, and finally it was revindicated
.
See also:Bakunin (q.v.) soon became the leading seirit among these Latin federations for the development of the principles of Anarchism, which he did in a number of writings, See also:pamphlets and letters
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He demanded the complete abolition of the state, which—he wrote—is a product of See also:religion, belongs to a See also:lower state of civilization, represents the negation of liberty, and spoils even that which it undertakes to do for the sake of general well-being
.
The state was an historically necessary evil, but its complete extinction will be, sooner or later, equally necessary: Repudiating all legislation, even when issuing from universal suffrage, Bakunin claimed for each nation, each region and each commune, full See also:autonomy, so See also:long as it is not a menace to its neighbours, and full independence for the individual, adding that one becomes really free only when, and in proportion as, all others are free
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Free federations of the communes would constitute free nations
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As to his economical conceptions, Bakunin described himself, in common with his Federalist comrades of the International (Cesar De Paepe, See also:
Against these prosecutions the Anarchists retaliated by acts of violence which in their turn were followed by more executions from above, and new acts of revenge from below
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This created in the general public the impression that violence is the substance of Anarchism, a view repudiated by its supporters, who hold that in -reality violence is resorted to by all parties in proportion as their open action is obstructed by repression, and exceptional laws render them outlaws
.
(Cf
.
Anarchism and See also:Outrage, by C
.
M
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