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-Anarchy, to most, means chaos, violence, and crime, but to self-proclaimed anarchists, anarchy means peace, freedom, and a perfect society. The word can be traced back to the Greek days of the first nihilistic (one who denounces any religion, government, or power of any sort), Aristippus. The prefix ‘‘an'' means without, and ‘‘archos'' means ruler. Therefore, it can be determined that anarchy does not mean chaos, for chaos can occur under a ruler, but rather it means freedom. Throughout this paper I will discuss the many types of anarchism, a bit of the history of anarchism, and the present state of the movement.
-Not all anarchism is the same. To the surprise of many, there are a couple of different types of anarchism. The two main types are social and individualist.
-Social anarchism is one of the largest and most popular kinds of anarchy. Social anarchism is also called libertarian socialism. One good reason why some choose the ‘‘libertarian socialism'' label is because many people mistake anarchy for chaos. For this and other reasons, some anarchists have found it helpful to choose another title. In the American Heritage Dictionary, libertarian is defined as: one who believes in freedom of action and thought; one who believes in free will. In the same dictionary, socialism is defined as: a social system in which the producers possess both political power and the means of producing and distributing goods. Thus, if we combine these two definitions together we get social anarchy and/or libertarian socialism.
-Social anarchy has four subdivisions as well: mutualism, collectivism, communism, and syndicalism. The most different of the four is mutualism. The philosophy of this branch consists of a cooperative exchange of workers' products through community banks. This mutual bank network would be ‘‘formed by the whole community, not for the especial advantage of any individual class, but for the benefit of all.''1
-Collectivism could very well be one of the first and most popular branches of anarchism. The idea is that people work together, cooperatively and without any authoritarian figures, to improve their society. Many are skeptics of this idea, feeling that too many people would not comply. However, ‘‘Nobody would be forced to live with the society, because that is acting as an authoritarian figure. And I don't know why anyone would just want to sit around on their ass and not do anything.'' 2 Plus, there are already more than enough anarchists in the world who would gladly live in this society. In the words of Jo Ann Burbank, ‘‘I'm not opposed to collectivist economic experiments, for collective experiments succeed only in so far as you have strong individuals who are willing to work in cooperative effort without trampling on the rights of others.'' 3
-Anarcho-syndicalists are some of the more revolutionary and militant anarchists. Syndicalism is putting industry and government under control of labor unions by means of direct action. These people take very seriously Michael Bakunin's words, such as his remark that workers' organizations must create ‘‘not only the ideas but also the facts of the future itself'' 4 in the pre-revolutionary phase. Anarcho-syndicalists seek to make free associations of free producers. Anarcho-syndicalism and anarchaic communism are very similar. Many anarchist communists are sympathetic to syndicalist movements and ideas. Anarchist communism is different from anarcho-syndicalism in the sense that the communists seek that all people within the community, workers or not, decide where the goods go. In contrast, anarcho-syndicalists believe that the producers should be able to decide where their goods go, providing more of an incentive to work...
-Some things all social anarchists believe in are that the system of capitalism is exploitative and bad, and that the state must be abolished.
-Individualist anarchism does not promote immediate abolition of the state, rather that the state must evolve through alternate institutions. Thus, many mutual banks, unions, communes, and stores have been created in this spirit. Most individualists also support nonviolent ways of protest, such as strikes and non-payment of taxes, for example.
-This is not to say that social anarchists do not believe in alternate institutions and nonviolent protest, but rather believe in the abolition of the state first. The other separating trait of social and individualist anarchism is how the economic system should function. Social anarchists believe in communal use and ownership. Individualists have faith in a more market based system where workers control their own means of production along with the free exchange of their products with other workers. However, both sides agree that use rights must come before ownership rights.
-Autonomy is one of the most popular subdivisions of individualism in the United States. ‘‘Autonomy allows one to rule oneself. The basis of autonomy does not rule out economy or capitalism, or even the greed that corrupts it all, it simply removes the base of rule. It opens the door for free form living, as it should be.''5 In one autonomous pamphlet 6, the ideology is defined as, ‘‘No one is more qualified to decide what to do than you are.'' Being autonomous does not mean one cannot believe, attempt to achieve, and/or live in a cooperative commune. All it means is that the autonomist will have to take much responsibility for his/her actions and will have to make the right decisions.
-Other philosophies of anarchism are pacifist, Kingdom of God anarchism, eco- anarchism, and anarcha-feminism. Pacifist anarchism proposes that the revolution and/or evolution of the state into anarchy should be peaceful. This is because anarchists view any man- by-man exploitation unjust, and pacifists view violence as an unjust exploitation. However, there are a good number of anarchists believe that "one needs to do what one needs to do, in order to achieve anarchy."21 Which essentially states a revolution may occur by any means necessary.
-Eco-anarchism, also called green anarchism, makes the connection between nature and anarchy. Many place an emphasis on the idea that anarchy could solve the ecological crisis the world is in now. ‘‘[B]oth the ecologist and the anarchist place a strong emphasis on spontaneity'' and ‘‘to both the ecologist and the anarchist an ever-increasing unity is achieved by growing differentiation.'' 7 So, as seen, the anarchist concern with free development, decentralization, and diversity is reflected in ecological ideas and concerns.
-Like other forms of anarchism, the green branch has subdivisions as well. The two main ones being social ecology, a concept of Murray Bookchin, and primitivist anarchism.
-Social ecology has a lot to do with the Native American principle that humankind is not superior to nature. Social ecologists believe that the need to dominate nature is derived from man-by-man domination. From this, social ecologists feel it necessary to attack hierarchy.
-Primitivism blames humans as the cause for the Earth's problems, rather than being able to be the answers. Many think primitivism, which is widely considered anti-human, is a move backwards, rather than an evolution forward.
-Anarchy and feminism, like ecology and anarchism as well as pacifism and anarchy, fit hand in hand. Many of the first and greatest feminists have also been anarchists. These people include Emma Goldman, Mary Wollstonecraft, and Voltairine de Cleyre. Freedom, the oldest anarchist newspaper in the world, was founded by a woman, Charlotte Wilson, in 1886.
-Both anarchism and feminism believe in the equality of the female sex to the male gender. It is no surprise that many women have felt the need for the absence of power, seeing as how females were one of the first victims of hierarchical society. Until recently, women were discarded as an inferior social class. Anarcha-feminists show that authoritarian traits, such as domination, exploitation, aggressiveness, and competitiveness are highly valued in societies and are traditionally considered ‘‘masculine.'' Values of anarchism like cooperation, sharing, compassion, and equality are traditionally regarded as ‘‘feminine.'' Others are eager to point out that many forms of feminism are opposed to exploitation of women. As discussed earlier, anarchists find the state exploitative of all people. After one makes the connection, it makes perfect sense that many feminists are also anarchist, and opposed to hierarchical power.
-While many anarchists are atheist, a good number are Christian. These rare breeds find that human power and exploitation is an insult to God's power. Christian anarchists take very seriously Jesus of Nazareth's words to his followers that ‘‘The law and the prophets were in effect until John came...'' 8 Accordingly, they take Paul's words from his first letter to the Corinthians, ‘‘...when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father, after he has destroyed every ruler and every authority and power.'' 9 Another selection these individuals take strongly is a passage in the book of James, entitled A Warning To Rich Oppressors. The thoughts in this piece are combined, ironically, with the nihilist Michael Bakunin's words, ‘‘So you want to make sure no man is ever oppressed? Then make sure no man ever has power.'' 10 Anarchist Leo Tolstoy's book The Kingdom of God is Within You is another piece, in addition to the biblical passages, that Christian anarchists take close to their hearts. In this book, Tolstoy explains how the Bible relates to anarchism.
-Corporate anarchism is a concept that all self-proclaimed anarchists oppose and don't even consider a real kind of anarchism. The concept of corporate anarchism relies on the definition of anarchy meaning a lack of government. Those who believe that corporate anarchism will be among us one day think that the North American Free Trade Association, the World Trade Organization, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, and other similar developments are giving corporations far too much power. Furthermore, they believe that the world will be run by corporations, and governments will be abolished. Those who fear corporate anarchy do not consider themselves anarchists, for that reason.
-The common threads of these many different kinds of anarchy are the opposition to government, capitalism, discrimination (such as racism and sexism), crime (as long as crime can be defined as an injustice committed by one to another), and wage labor. 11 As a result of these similarities, anarchists come together often to oppose and denounce many different things.
-The history of the philosophy of anarchism dates back to the Greek days of Aristippus, the first nihilist on record. However, between those B.C. days, and the 1500's, very little thought of anarchy came into place. During the mid-sixteenth century, the Anabaptists (a Christian anarchist group) started peasant revolts and fights for freedom. Until the revolutions of Spain, Russia, France, and the Americas in the late eighteenth century and throughout the nineteenth century, the momentum for more radical thoughts, movements, and revolutions grew.
-The history of the anarchist movement is rather short. The anarchist movement started in the late 1800's, in Russia, with Michael Bakunin and Peter Kropotkin fueling the ideas, and the workers carrying out the revolution. It was a movement of workers, including Bakunin and Kropotkin. Unlike many other thoughts of how society ought to be run, this one was not devised from ivory tower thinkers. By now, Marx and Engels had published the Communist Manifesto, and communism was taking popularity among people. So, eventually, people had to side either with anarchaic communism, or state communism.
-The first flag of the anarchist movement was the red flag. This should not be a surprise, as anarchism is a form of socialism. The flag then developed into the red and black flag of anarcho-syndicalism, and then the black flag, which is the common symbol for anarchy today. Many do not know the first time the black flag was flown. The first recorded time was when the famous participant in the Paris Commune of 1871, Louise Michael, waved the black flag at the demonstration of the unemployed in 1883. It is known, however, that February 13, 1921 was the day that black flags were no longer flown in Soviet Russia. On that day, Peter Kropotkin's funeral took place. Later that day a march in Moscow that stretched for miles took place. The marchers held a black flag that read, ‘‘Where there is authority, there is no freedom.'' 12
-During the Spanish Civil War in the 1930's, many anarchists took part in revolutions, such as the anarcho-syndicalist and Marxist revolt in Barcelona, which caused a cabinet change. Without these cooperative militias of anarchists, there is not even a slight chance the Spanish Revolution could have occurred. Afterwards, Spain adopted a parliamentary system, and many anarchists were elected. 13
-Meanwhile, in America, the individualist approach to anarchism was beginning with Josiah Warren. Warren, like other individualists, believed in taking direct action and making a difference in one's surroundings. This explains his three attempts at anarchists communes. Although the first two failed within four years, his third commune, ‘‘Modern Times'' proved fruitful for twenty-four years. Since this commune was located on Long Island, about forty miles north of New York City, after a few years, reporters and journalists from New York became a nuisance. The commune's anarchist principle of complete tolerance led to a polygamist, a nudist, a fifth level vegan, and a cross-dresser living within the commune. Reporters rushed to generalize the entire community on the actions of these few men and women. Warren eventually abandoned Modern Times, after making his point that people could cooperatively live successfully and peacefully. The commune continued for fourteen years after he left until his death. Modern Times was only one of hundreds of anarchist communities that have been decreasing in number due to the higher cost of land.14
-On May 4, 1886, at Haymarket Square in Chicago, seven policemen were wounded fatally and two civilians were killed during a riot. During that night, workers came together to discuss how to achieve an eight hour work day. In 1884, the soon-to-become American Federation of Labor pushed a campaign to enforce the eight hour work day by May 1, 1886, which is now International Workers Day or May Day. During the riot of 3,000 workers, the police arrested every suspected radical they could find. Of thirty-one people indicted, only eight were brought to trial. Four were hanged. One committed suicide. The rest were pardoned by the Governor, on account the trial was not fair whatsoever. Today, many view the Haymarket Martyrs as the first national labor-rights martyrs.15
-During the suffrage and feminist movement in the early twentieth century, anarcha-feminism, although not labeled as such until the 1960's, was growing. Women such as Emma Goldman sparked a new generation of anarchist and feminist women. The mass American anarchist movement in the early 1900's led to the creation of more alternate institutions for anarchists. One of the most popular radical institutions was the Modern Schools. More than twenty of these schools were created across the country, and many schools like them function now. These schools either work on a progressive method or on a Montessori method. The progressive method meant students can choose what they wished to learn, what level they would wish to learn at, and their own method to learn. Montessori method calls to focuses on young students' initiatives.
-Throughout history, many anarchists have been executed because of their beliefs. Sacco and Vanzetti are probably the most famous of these martyrs. It has been over seventy years since the arrest of Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti. Both were workers and social anarchists. Vanzetti was accused of an attempted robbery, during which no one was hurt. Despite his lack of any criminal record, and a scenario in which no one was hurt, Bartolomeo was sent to jail on a fifteen year sentence. Sacco was accused of a murder and a robbery two weeks after Vanzetti's supposed crime.
-The next year, Sacco and Vanzetti were tried together as accomplices. The trial, taking place during the Red Scare, is questioned by many when it comes to being just. A fair amount of people believe these two men were convicted due to their radical beliefs and not because of the evidence. One of the quotes from Judge Thayer (the judge of the case) is, ‘‘Did you see what I did with those anarchist bastards the other day? I guess that will hold them for a while.'' After the trial, evidence surfaced indicating that the wrong men had been convicted. No one who could do anything about the two anarchists paid any attention to it. On August 23, 1927, the men were electrocuted. By then, millions were convinced of the martyrs' innocence. In 1947, Eleanor Roosevelt, Albert Einstein, Herbert Lehman, and many more offered the state of Massachusetts a bas-relief plaque of Sacco and Vanzetti by Gutzon Borglum, the sculptor of Mount Rushmore. However, the proposal was rejected by the governor. In 1977, Michael Dukakis made a day of rememberance for Sacco and Vanzetti, marking it as one of the first steps towards acceptance of unorthodox political views.16
-Nowadays, anarchism in the United States takes a more direct action approach. Organizations such as Food Not Bombs, Homes Not Jails, The Black Cross, and Vegan Co-ops believe in the evolution of society. Food Not Bombs chapters have sprung up all around the country. The volunteers in this group make food, and give it to the poor in their local community. Homes Not Jails is rooted in Berkeley, Washington D.C., and New York City. These people take over abandoned houses and brings in homeless people so that they have somewhere warm to sleep, every night. The Black Cross is a street medic team that helps hurt people during demonstrations and such. Vegan Co-ops have also sprung up all around the country. Most of these stores do not have managers, bosses, or any position that puts people above others. When stores do have managers, the fillers of those positions are subject to direct recall. The stores run on a rota-system, so every worker works a different position after two weeks.
-The punk D.I.Y. (do it yourself) movement contains a lot of anarchists. Most punk anarchists have adopted the circled A for their symbol of anarchy. This could be because the A, standing for anarchy, and the circle, representing unity, means anarchy through unity. The punks spread flyers, take over the airwaves (pirate television and pirate radio), play music, write books, make magazines, found organizations, and make websites. In this way they try to spread the word about anarchism. A good example of the D.I.Y. movement is the Independant Media Center. The IMC is based on voluntary journalists going out and taking photos, writing articles, video-taping events, and audio-recording. During the IMF and World Bank protests in Seattle, CNN reported that the police were being well behaved, and not using force. However, the IMC got a video tape of the police using rubber bullets, and within one hour, CNN had to change their story.
-Individualism is still popular in the United States, and since individualists believe in demonstrations and protests, it is hard to go to a demonstration without seeing at least one anarchist. The type of demonstrations most likely to have anarchists are ones which point out the faults of the government, seek environmental protection, support workers rights, protests against the exploitative system of capitalism, and especially May Day celebrations.
-May Day, also known as International Workers Day, attracts communists, socialists, and anarchists alike. It is a celebration for the victory of the eight hour work day. Anarchists take off work and skip school so that they may attend the picnics, street festivals, marches, and other extravagant activities.
-The thought about potential for revolution and/or evolution fluctuates between people. ‘‘Whatever country in which anarchism would succeed, must be very liberal and democratic. Or, the country would have to have a lot of problems and oppression.'' 17 However, anarchists like Noam Chomsky 18 and Jello Biafra 19 believe the United States is a prime subject for evolvement into anarchy.
-In conclusion, anarchy is misunderstood all too many times. In the spirit of autonomy, who better to define anarchy than self-proclaimed anarchists? Thus, anarchy does not have one definition, but is flexible for anyone. ‘‘As far as I know, I am one of two autonomists. We are spreading the word--without telling you what the word is. Because the word is you, and you know what you are better than I do.'' -Brian Bailitz.
-After all my studying and researching, my knowledge about the aim of and what anarchism is has grown a good deal. Personally, I'm not opposed to anarchy, I even think it is a good goal. However, our society would have to evolve a good deal before it could be accomplished. That is why I think that political reformist groups along with anarchist collectives, which try to change society for the better, are great things. I was thinking about joining the local Food Not Bombs chapter in order to get community service points. Then it hit me, FNB is an anarchist collective, nobody is at the head of the organization, so I wouldn't be able to get te hours signed.
-For the past year or so, I have been attending activities that contained a couple of anarchists there as well. Anarchy never made too much sense to me, but it seemed to make total sense to them. So I figured I must have been missing out on something, and I was. Before I started this search, anarchy was synonymous to chaos for me. When this report came along, religion was my prime suspect for the paper. When I arrived home, my friend told me to do anarchy, and that it would interest me a lot. Seeing as how this was a good friend of mine, I decided to study anarchy.
-There were a number of Internet sites that were on my list to use. My one Internet site came to be http://flag.blackened.net. This is mostly because it contained a very hefty and helpful FAQ. I bought a spoken word album from Smash! Records of Jello Biafra. My good friend who had me do anarchy was Devon Johnson, who I conducted an interview with. My other two interviews were with one individualist named Trae, and with an autonomist fellow named Brian. I picked up the autonomist pamphlet at the Inauguration Protest, and didn't realize I had it until the report. The rest of the sources used in this report were books from George Mason Library.
-At the beginning, I planned out how the report would be mapped out: Section 1, Types; Section 2, History; and Section 3, Today. So I did research on one section a week. After all my planning, I typed up my notes, made them into sentences, combined those sentences into paragraphs, and made those paragraphs into sections. The final product is before you, and I hope you have enjoyed it.
1- Charles A. Dana, http://www.flag.blackened.net, 4/23/01
2- Anonymous, Phone Interview, 4/24/01
3- Paul Avrich, Anarchist Voices, Page 243
4- Michael Bakunin, Statism And Anarchy, Page 179
5- Brian Bailitz (unityfv@excite.com), e-mail interview, 4/20/01
6- What Could There Possibly Be Beyond Democracy ? Section: Autonomy
7- http://www.flag.blackened.net 4/23/01
8- The Holy Bible, Luke 16: Verse 16
9- The Holy Bible, 1 Corinthians 15: Verse 24
10- Michael Bakunin, Statism And Anarchy, Page 136
11- http://www.flag.blackened.net 4/23/01
12- http://www.flag.blackened.net 4/23/01
13- Paul Avrich, Anarchist Voices, Pages 175-176
14- Mark Holloway, Heavens On Earth, Pages 155-159
15- Paul Avrich, Anarchist Voices, Pages 223-233
16- Paul Avrich, Anarchist Voices, Pages 61-91
17- Anonymous, Phone Interview 4/24/01
18- Noam Chomsky, Class Warfare, Pages 28-54
19- Jello Biafra, Keynote Speech
20- Brian Bailitz (unityfv@excite.com), e-mail interview, 4/20/01
21- Spear, Trey. Phone Interview conducted on 4/23/01
Spear, Trey. Phone Interview conducted on 4/23/01
Avrich, Paul. Anarchist Voices. New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1995. Pages 61-91, 175-176, 223-233, 243.
Bailitz, Brian. E-mail interview, April 18, 2001.
Bakunin, Michael. Statism And Anarchy. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Texts In The History Of Political Thought, 1990.
Biafra, Jello. Keynote Speech. San Francisco: Alternative Tentacles Records, 2000. Tracks 1 & 3.
Chomsky, Noam. Class Warfare. Monroe, Maine: Common Courage Press, 1970. Pages 28-29.
Holloway, Mark. Heavens On Earth. New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1966. Pages 155-159
..... ‘‘Hosting Anarchist Info.'' [online] available http://flag.blackened.net/index.html, April 23, 2001.
The Holy Bible. Cokesbury, 1990. Luke & 1 Corinthians.
..... What Could There Possibly Be Beyond Democracy? Flordia: Overground Distribution, 2000.
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