anarchism 1.2 different types of anarchism

Question 1

What are the natural relationships between people according to collectivists?

Answer 1

• mutual aid, social solidarity and harmony, which can be nurtured by the right social institutions

Question 2

What is collectivism?

Answer 2

• the view that human nature is altruistic, co-operative and sociable

Question 3

What does the states limiting of freedom, defence of inequality and private property create according to collectivists?

Answer 3

disharmony, greed and envy

Question 4

What are the two main differences between collectivists and individualists?

Answer 4

• collectivists maintain that social problems cannot be solved by the individual or the invisible hand of the market
• collectivists agree with individualists that an evolutionary process of education and building social alternatives is part of the process of change, but believe revolution is need to destroy authority

Question 5

What is the theory behind anarcho-communism?

Answer 5

• that full communism will be the best way to realise liberty, economic freedom and natural order

Question 6

What key thinker is most associated with anarcho-communism?

Answer 6

Peter Kropotkin - his positive view of the human capacity for co-operation (theory of mutual aid)

Question 7

What did Kropotkin say about nature and what did he mean?

Answer 7

• nature was not ‘red in tooth and claw’
• those species that co-operate are the winners in the struggle for survival
• as humans are successful in this struggle, humans must have a natural society

Question 8

What leads to the principle of ‘from each according to their ability to each according to their need’?

Answer 8

• anarcho-communists view all forms of private property as theft
• the land and the means of production being held in common ownership, the product of individuals labour should be held in common to

Question 9

What does mutualism emerge from?

Answer 9

• Proudhon’s critique of property

Question 10

What does Kropotkin focus on about society?

Answer 10

• focuses on the commune, made up of the entire local population, rather than the collective, made up of producers and consumers
• communes would be small scale, allows for direct democracy, and all the wealth would be held in common
• individuals would be part of the communes by voluntary agreement

Question 11

What is Proudhon’s critique of property?

Answer 11

• he said ‘property is theft’
• targeting large property owners who could exploit the masses by charging high rents and interest, and would pay them low wages that did not reflect their hard work

Question 12

Why is Proudhon critical of collectivism?

Answer 12

• it values the collective over the individual = a form of oppression and servitude
• he supports the right to possession which breaks with the idea of common ownership

Question 13

What is mutualism view on economics?

Answer 13

• economic organisation is based on individuals and small associations with the right to possession
• individuals and associations could then exchange their produce based on a system of labour notes, to make sure everyone had access to the necessities of life

Question 14

What is syndicalism?

Answer 14

• revolutionary trade-unionism that uses direct action and the mass strike as an expression of working-class power to inspire popular revolt

Question 15

What is the idea behind anarcho-syndicalism?

Answer 15

• built on Bakunin’s view of collectivism and his strategy of propaganda by the deed

Question 16

What will trade unions continue to campaign about?

Answer 16

• improved conditions and pay for workers, as well as educating them

Question 17

What can trade unions build?

Answer 17

• economic institutions that are horizontal, not hierarchical, and provide self-management in the economy
• they will prepare the way for the mass strike as the ‘propaganda by the deed’ to trigger a social revolution
• these will then provide the basis for the future stable, stateless and peaceful society

Question 18

Where is the direct tension between collectivist and individualist anarchism?

Answer 18

• fear that individuality and autonomy will become subject to the collective
• tension over strategies for overthrowing the state (individualist = peaceful + educating, collectivist = violent)

Question 19

What do supporters of anarcho-capitalism believe?

Answer 19

• wish to dismantle the government
• believe the government is exploitative through its use of taxation, violating the private property of the individual

Question 20

What would happen to services currently provided by the government under anarcho-capitalism?

Answer 20

• would be handed over to the free market

Question 21

What is the critical element of anarcho-capitalism?

Answer 21

• the belief in the invisible hand of the free market and private property, so the profit motive and the wage system would remain
• its view of liberty does not include equality
• only the rich and powerful will be free and they will be free to protect their own privileges through private protection bodies and resolve disputes through private courts

Question 22

What does egoism argue?

Answer 22

• individuals are entirely self-interested, their only concern is the ‘ego’

Question 23

What do egoists think about how the individuals should act?

Answer 23

• act in any way they choose, there should be no restriction on autonomy or individuality

Question 24

Why do egoists think the state should be abolished?

Answer 24

• it is a tyranny that limits, controls and subordinates the individual to the general will, so it must be abolished

Question 25

What should the individual reject according to egoists?

Answer 25

• reject society, religion, sexual morality and the moral values imposed on all by their parents

Question 26

What key thinker is closely associated with egoism?

Answer 26

Max Stirner

Question 27

Why does Stirner reject capitalism?

Answer 27

• believes that anyone who works for another is exploited and alienated
• work should be purposeful and useful to the individual, and they should retain the full fruits of their labour while rejecting the right to private property

Question 28

How do egoists dispute the idea that egoism is linked to Hobbes state of nature?

Answer 28

• in the Union of Egoists, individuals will come together through voluntary agreements, which would not involve any giving away of individual liberty
• as individuals are entirely rational and serve their own interests, they will make agreements to benefit themselves, as it will be fulfilling for their own ego
• this is the basis for a union that is peaceful and stable