Anarchism - Topic 3 Flashcards
The key ideas from key anarchist thinkers
What were the views of Max Stirner?
On human nature, the state, the economy and society
Individualist Anarchist - Egoist
Human nature:
- Human nature is fundamentally self-interested and individual liberty is sacrosanct
The state:
- The state both denies and inhibits individualism and therefore must be abolished
The economy:
- The accumulation of property and material possession is the primary economic motivation
Society:
- Society is a false construct. Humans are all sovereign
What were the views of Pierre-Joseph Proudhon?
On human nature, the state, the economy and society
Collectivist Anarchist - Mutualist
Human nature:
- Humans are naturally communal
The state:
- The state supports capitalism and must be destroyed, preferably by peaceful means but by revolution if necessary
The economy:
- Individuals would trade with each other on a mutually beneficial basis
Society:
- Society would operate by ‘mutualism’, whereby people are bound by social and economic relations that are mutually beneficial
What were the views of Mikhail Bakunin?
On human nature, the state, the economy and society
Collectivist Anarchist - Anarcho-communist
Human nature:
- Humans are intensely social creature and prefer collective activities
The state:
- The state supports capitalism and must be destroyed by revolution
The economy:
- The free market would be replaced by an exchange-based system that recognised the true value of labour and goods
Society:
- Society should be federal and national boundaries would be abolished. Society would be based on cooperation and not competition
What were the views of Peter Kropotkin?
On human nature, the state, the economy and society
Collectivist Anarchist - Anarcho-communist
Human nature:
- Human nature is social, preferring collective activities
The state:
- The state supports capitalism and must be destroyed by revolution
The economy:
- Capitalism would be replaced by a communist system
Society:
- Kropotkin envisaged a stateless society based on small independent and internally democratic communes
What were the views of Emma Goldman?
On human nature, the state, the economy and society
Collectivist Anarchist - Feminist Anarcho-communist
Human nature:
- Human need individual liberty to be truly free
The state:
- The state is part of an interlocking set of aspects of oppression, including religion and property ownership
The economy:
- Goldman’s ideas were essentially communist
Society:
- Goldman deliberately did not plan an anarchist society but she did wish for economic, gender and racial equality
