by winter oak
by Marion, anarchist since 1982
In this article I am going to give some definitions of anarchism, contrast some different schools of anarchist thought and show that the idea of freedom is essential to all of them, as it seems many anarchists these days do not see free action or free speech as that important or even desirable.
I will contrast anarchism with socialism and also say a bit about capitalism. I will give some examples of where anarchism has worked, albeit sometimes temporarily, and where it has turned into authoritarianism or been defeated and why. I will also suggest how an anarchist society could deal with viruses.
Anarchism equals no government; this includes no leaders, rulers, laws or prisons, and a stateless society. That is the basic definition of it. Within that, there are various types of anarchism but it always means no government or states.
A good definition I have seen, from Lexico dictionary, is ‘belief in the abolition of all government and the organization of society on a voluntary, cooperative basis without recourse to force or compulsion’.
Max Nettlau in his book A Short History of Anarchism (1932-34) says about anarchism that it ‘starts from the earliest favourable historic moment when men first evolved the concept of a free life…a goal to be attained only by a complete break from authoritarian bonds and by the simultaneous growth and wide expansion of the social feelings of solidarity, reciprocity, generosity and other expressions of human co-operation’.
There are many schools of thought in anarchism. All of them have in common an opposition to the State and all believe that people are in fact capable of organising a society without the State that is co-operative, safe, equal and produces prosperity and abundance for all, while governments can never do that.
Anarchist communists or libertarian socialists (Russian 19th/20th century anarchist Peter Kropotkin among others) advocate the abolition of the State and capitalism in favour of a horizontal network of voluntary associations and worker-run enterprises through which everyone will be free to satisfy his or her needs without capitalism or money.
They argue that any economic system based on wage labour and private property requires a coercive state (implying lack of liberty) to enforce property rights and to maintain the unequal economic relationships that will inevitably arise. Instead, local communities would make decisions collectively, with collective ownership of the means of production (raw materials, tools, machines etc.).
Continue reading “Anarchism!.. not State Socialism”
Makers of COVID-19 vaccines are now destroying long-term safety studies by unblinding their trials and giving the control groups the active vaccine, claiming it is “unethical” to withhold an effective vaccine.
The Free 