Anarchism Flashcards
why would an anarchist argue that the state is a coverice and exploitative body?
the coercive effect of state authority services from the fact that the state rules through punishment, imprisoning, killing those who transgress the laws
Emma Goldman: government symbolised by “the club, the gun, the handcuff or the prison”
the state can deprive individuals of their property, liberty and (through capital punishment) their lives
the state is exploitative as it robs individuals of their property via a system of taxation backed up by the force of law and the possibility of punishment
the state aligns with the wealthy and privileged, serving to oppress the poor and the weak
describe and explain anti clericalism
originating in 19th century Latin America, Italy: PROUDHON; BAKUNIN
authority enslaves the inidivudal, controlling and coercing the people - church is a pillar of the state (sovereign, coercive, compulsory). God represents notion of supreme being.
Religion propagates authority because of its notion of a supreme being who commands ultimate and unquestionable authority: SOVEREIGN
ideology of obedience and submission to both spiritual leaders and earthly rulers backed up by spiritual punishment: COERCIVE. Legitimises the power of earthly rulers e.g. divine right
Religion imposes a set of moral principles on the individual, establishing a code of acceptable behaviour, standards of ‘good’ and ‘evil’, policed by figures of religious authority such as priests.
the individual is robbed of the moral autonomy and capacity to make their own ethical judgements.
Key anarcho syndicalist?
George Sorel
mutualism
a system of fair and equitable exchange in which individuals or groups bargain with one another trading goods and services without profiteering or exploitation
why do some anarchists advocate revolutionary violence?
Terrorism - Bakunin in france and italy
just and fair violence form of retribution originating in oppression perpetrated by police judges etc violence mirrors averyday violcene in society but directs it at the guilty demoralises ruling class
how do individualist anarchists have a positive view of human nature?
they place a particular emphasis on the rational and moral capacities of the individual
enlightened reason
Ayn Rand “reason as his only absolute”
individuals can calculate they are better served by mutualism and cooperation than rivalry and conflict
who proposed the idea of mutual aid
Kropotkin
new politics
a style of politics that distrusts representative mechanism and bureaucratic processes in favour of strategies of popular mobilization and direct action
Examples of pacifist anarchists?
Kroptkin
Leo Tolstoy
Proudhorn
reject violence as the ultimate form of coercion
why are anarchists seen as utopian?
are they argue for the perfectibility of the individual
Godwin
libertarianism
a belief that the individual should enjoy the widest possible realm of freedom
libertarianism implies the removal of both e ternal and internal constraints upon the individual
what would an anarcho capitalist society be like
Anarcho-capitalists argue that government can be abolished and replaced by unregulated market competition.
Property should be owned by soviergn individuals, who may choose, if they wish, to enter into voluntary contracts with others in the pursuit of self interst.
The individual thus remains free and the market, beyond the control of any single individual or group, regulates all social interaction.
Anarcho-capitalists argue that the market can satisfy all human wants.
why do anarchists believe in the possibility of a stateless societu
there is capacityfor social institutions to maintain order
potential goodness of humankind
how do anarchists and liberals disagree over the role of the state
liberals place a greater stress on the need for a state to regulate human behavior.
Whilst individualist anarchists believe in spontaneous harmony, liberals recognize that the state needs to be a neutral arbiter to protect people against their violent and self-seeking impulses.
Thus, a state is required to protect natural rights (locke): “life liberty and property”. In this way, the state is necessary at least as a ‘night watchman’ (Locke) in order to enforce contracts, protect from external attack and maintain domestic order
individualist anarchists would argue that government does nothing more than corrupt human nature, encouraging the greed and aggression that liberals argue is fundamental to human nature
The state is therefore not the solution to the problem of human disorder, but the cause..
how do anarchists and liberals disagree over private property
a fundamental difference between liberals and collectivist anarchists is that of private property
to even the most radical of liberals, private property is important as the embodiment of personal endeavour and fulfilment
to most collectivist anarchists, property is theft (baukuinin)
pacifism
a commitment to peace and a rejection of war or violence in any circumstances
communism
the principle of the common ownership of wealth
communism is often used more broadly to refer to movements or regimes that are based on Marxist principles
what thinker proposed egoism?
Max Stirner
The Ego and His Own 1845
the self is at the centre of the moral universe
individuals should act as they choose with no consideration for laws social conventions or religious principles
extreme form of individualist anarchist
links to atheism and nihilism
strong influence on existentialism
explain the overall link between anarchism and individualism
individualist anarchist tradition: anarcho capitalism,
egoism (stirner) - sovereign individual
- when individualism is taken to its extreme it implies the idea that absolute and unlimited authority resides within each human being
- from this perspective any constraint on the individual is evil especially when imposed by the state (sovereign coercive body)
- extreme individualism implies anarchism
the state government and any system of law an offence against the individual
- it can take the form of methodological individualism, implying that the individual is central to any politician theory or social explanation or ethical individualism
- this implies society, which should be constructed so as to benefit the individual, giving moral prority to individual rights needs and interested
how do liberals and anarchists define freedom?
Classical liberals are interested in negative liberty - freedom from external constraint
Anarchists take this to the extreme arguing for complete lack of constraint
Modern liberals argue that laws such as HRA provide positive liberty by guaranteeing freedom for individuals
Anarchists argue that in a stateless society legal provisions are unneccesary as individuals are guided by internal constraint or private judgement
how is the anarchist view on human nature complicated?
Human nature have often been complex and acknowledged rival potentialities reside within human souls
Proudhon Bakunin and Kropotkin accepted that human beings could be selfish and competitive as well as sociable and cooperative
Although the human core may be morally and intellectually enlighten, a capacity for corruption lurks within each and every human beings
syndicalism
a form of revolutionary trade unionism that is based on a crude notion of class war and emphasises the use of direct action and the general strike
What was Godwin’s text?
Enquiringly Concerning Political Justice
1793
how do anarchists believe in the possibility of a sateless society due to social institutions?
able to maintain order in the absence of the state
these institutions ever anarchist ends by helping to regulate society and encouraging development of positive human attributes rather than negative ones
collectivist anarchists endorse common ownership or mutualism insiturions
individualist anarchists support the market believing in its capacity to maintain unregulated economic equilbirum
or libertarians labour for labour
why do anarchists reject constitutionalism?
it perpetuates the myth that a limited government is possible: it does not tame government power. T
his is because all systems of rule, constitutional and democratic rule as well as arbitrary and dictatorial rule, are, by their nature, evil and oppressive; constitutionalism is simply a façade or a sham dressing up power in an acceptable fashion. All laws infringe on liberty, and so constitutionalism perpetuates a myth of acceptability; when it in fact tricks people into being part of their own oppression.
Even with constitutionalism, political states force laws on people when there is objection and so anarchists favour small communities that utilise direct democracy or egoism - putting the individual at the centre of moral thinking
Methods employed by anarchists
Peaceful education and persuasion
Mass passive resistance to state
Non payment of taxes
Boycott of key institutions or companies
strikes and industrial action
meetings marches and demonstrations
civil disobedience (peaceful law breaking as political protest eg Thoreau)
Riots and insurrection
Acts of violence and terrorism (against political judges and military leaders)
what is the idea of mutual aid
the theory of evolution that supports the idea that sociable and compassionate societies survive
whereas selfish and atomised groups do not
how and why has anarchism been linked to communism?
anarcho communist tradition
Kropotkin
colllectivising wealth with an anarchist belief in self management and natural order
communist assumptions about human nature
emphasise the capacity for sociable cooperative and gregarious behaviourX key to the anarchist belief in statelessness and natural order
communism creates conditions in which anarchist goals will be achieved
common ownership has anarchist implications - collective wealth strengthens social bonds and fosters sympathy among people
marxist idea or withering away the state highlights an anarchist preference for a stateless society
describe and explain anti statism
the state as the ultimate authority
and the oppressor of individual rights and freedoms
state officials (police teachers judges prison wardens) force people’s to fight wars and provide their labour for he benefit of the state rather than their own good
anarchists reject social contract theory
why would an anarchist argue the state is an offence against freedom and equality?
The values that anarchists hold most dear
anarchists go beyond liberal theory (power tends to corrupt) in viewing power in any form but especially the political power wielded by the state, as corrupting, illustrating a belief in human plasticity
anyone who is placed in a position of power will thus become tyrannical and abusive - the same people who would have been cooperative sympathetic and sociable
this helps to explain why devices such constitutionalism and democracy (supported by liberals) incapable of protecting citizens against state oppression
direct democracy
popular self government characterised by the direct and continuous participation of citizens in the tasks of government
how do all anarchists have a positive view of human nature?
view human nature as plastic
in the sense that it is shaped by the social and political circumstances in which people live
this implies a profound or unlimited capacity for human development
how do anarchists believe in the possibility of a sateless society due to natural goodness?
“perfectabilkty is the most important trait of the individual” Godwin
it is thus compatible with order and harmony
turns social contract theory on its head
collectivist:
humans have a capacity for sociable and cooperative behaviour
“social solidarity is the first human law” Bakunin
individualist:
humans have enlightened reason
“reason as his only absolute” Ayn Rand
What did Godwin say on human nature?
perfectability is the most important characteristic of the individual
nihilism
literally a brief on nothing
the rejection of all moral and political principles
what thinker is associated with mutualism?
Proudhorn
Property is theft 1840
accepted limited private property
imagined a system of exchange between independent craftsmen and aristans
exists in society in the form of mutual banks and cooperative societies alongside profit maximising corporations eg switzerland
kropotkin : mutual aid small self governing communes like in the animal kingdom
who coined the term anarcho capitalist
Murray Rothbard
what is utopianism
a style of political theorising that develops a critique of the existing order by constructing a positive model of a perfect alternative or to deluded or fanciful thinking
What type of anarchist does violence divide?
collectivist
What is the theory of egoism?
Complete personal authority
Autonomy where the individual is the centre of his own moral universe
with no objection to accept the rules and restrictions of others
anarchism of the mind
associated with Max Stirner
how do egoists see the ideal society
individuals act as egoists, self consciously pursuing their own individual interests irrespective of community needs
individuals recognise they may be confronted by other powerful self interested egoists
encouraging all to moderate their behaviour
why do egoists argue that religions and ideologies are empty and meaningless
only the individual has meaning
how is anarchism linked to utopianism
linked to a positive model of utopianism in that anarchists have a highly optimistic view of human nature and so believe that the future anarchist
society will be perfect:
unrestricted freedom
absolute equality
peace and social harmony
human nature is unrealistic and it’s goal of a stateless yet harmonious society is unachievable
Who was arguably the first anarchist thinker?
William Godwin
Free market and minimal state
Argued that man was rational and so individuals should have liberty to persuade their own path to progress
The state was an obstruction but it’s gradual abolition was preferred to revolution that stirs up passion, not reason
what does collectivism imply about human nature?
that humans have a naturally social core and that social groups whether social classes, nations, races are meaningful political entities
