IDEOLOGIES - Anarchism Flashcards
What are the 5 key principles of Anarchism?
- Rejection of the state
- Liberty
- Anarchy is Order
- Economic Freedom
- Utopian
What are the 2 sects of anarchism and their parts?
Collectivist anarchism: Anarcho-communism, mutualism, and Anarcho-syndicalist
Individualist anarchism: Egoism and Anarcho-capitalist
Name the 5 anarchist key thinkers and their sect?
- Max Stirner (Egoism)
- Pierre-Joseph Proudhon (Mutualist)
- Mikhail Bakunin (Anarcho-syndicalist)
- Peter Kropotkin (Anarcho-communist)
- Emma Goldman
(ALL) What did Faure define anarchism as?
“The negation of the principle of authority.”
- Faure, Enyclopedia Anarchiste
(ALL) What is the wider case against authority and what is it based on?
It damages liberty; the idea of authority is based on the alleged right of one to have power over another.
(ALL) How is authority damaging for all involved?
Those that are subject to authority have their essential human nature (freedom) suppressed; those that have authority gain an appetite for it and are equally damaged.
(ALL) What did Emma Goldman (I) call the state?
a ‘cold monster’ and ‘the greatest criminal’ which relies on the threat of violence to control people, uses the legal system to protect the interests of the ruling class, and uses patriotism to gain support for wars that only benefit the ruling class (opposed WWI).
- A speech to the International Working Men’s Association
(ALL) What did Emma Goldman (I) define anarchism as?
‘The theory that all forms of government rest on violence, and are therefore wrong and harmful, as well as unnecessary.’
- Mother Earth Volume IX
(ALL) According to Proudhon (C), what is it ‘to be governed’? [QUOTE]
‘To be governed is to be watched over,… legislated,… indoctrinated,… commanded; all by creatures with neither the right, nor the wisdom, nor the virtue.’
- The General Idea of Revolution
(ALL) According to Proudhon (C), what four criteria does the state fulfill?
- It is a sovereign body with absolute authority over citizens
- It is compulsory as citizens have no realistic, way of leaving the ‘social contract’.
- It is coercive, all laws must be obeyed because they are backed up by threat of punsihment
- It is exploitative, robbing indiviuals of their liberty and property for its members’ gains.
(ALL) Who added to Proudhon’s four, and what is their fifth criteria for the state?
Bourne argued that the state is destructive and called war ‘the health of the state’ as people are required to fight, kill, and die for their country.
(ALL) Give a quote about democracy.
“If voting did anything, they’d abolish it.”
- Goldman
(ALL) Aside from the state, what authority do anarchists largely take issue with, and why?
Religion, specifically the Church, is negative for anarchists as ‘God’ is seen as the ultimate unquestionable authority, commanding people with the threat of punishment and power that is allegedly devolved to religious leaders and monarchs.
(ALL) Bakunin (C) quote about the Church:
‘The abolition of the Church and the state must be the first and indispensable condition of true liberation in society.’
- The Paris Commune
(ALL) What was Stirner’s (I) issue with religion?
It seeks to impose a set of moral principles onto liberated indivuals, requring conformity to standards controlled by religious authorities.
(ALL) Give a quote about religion.
“If God really existed, it would be necessary to abolish him.”
- Bakunin
(ALL) What does liberty mean to anarchists?
Being genuinly free to pursue and explore one’s choices to the full, with freedom from the state and Church as a byproduct, and any hierarchies imposed.
(ALL) Stirner (I) quote about liberty:
‘I am free in no state’
- The Ego and Its Own
(ALL) Why don’t anarchists believe we need a state?
Humans are self-governing, and in fact, the state restricts this by corrupting us and minimizes our liberty.
(ALL) What is the difference between state order and natural order?
State order is fiction, order under the state is the product of exploitation and corruption; natural order is the resulting self-governance post-state.
(IA) For individualists, what is human nature and how does that affect their idea of liberty?
Humans are rational but self-reliant so liberty is the ability to make choices for oneself and explore one’s individuality, free from the state and wider social obligation but individuals can still associate, now freely rather than coerced.
(IA) Stirner quote about liberty:
‘I am my own only when i am master of myself, instead of being mastered… by anything else.’
- The Ego and Its Own
(CA) For collectivists, what is human nature and how does that affect their idea of liberty?
Human nature is rational but social and based on altruism so liberty is a system without the exploitation of the state or the capitalist system which discourages cooperation.
(ALL) Which anarchist turned ‘Social Contract’ theory on its head, and how?
Godwin, unlike social contract theory, argued that people are rational, guided by universal moral principles, and have a natural inclination to harmony; it is the state that corrupts us and creates injustice.
(ALL) How did Proudhon argue that people have a natural inclination to harmony?
‘Liberty is the mother, not the daughter, of order.’
- Solution of the Social Problem
(ALL) What are the two ways anarchists explain how order arises and is maintained without a state?
- Considering human potential as rational and inclined to order, whether through cooperation or independent human reason
- Belief in post-state institutions that will enhance order without a state, such as common ownership or a free market
(ALL) Why don’t people believe Anarchists ideas about liberty? Give a quote.
The state serves the ruling class so it is good for them to perpetuate the idea that the state is necessary.
- Berkman: ‘Maybe I can show you that we can be decent and live as decent folks without growing wings.’
(ALL) What happens after we remove the state?
There will be a period of instability before rationale and self-preservation kicks in and we figure out it’s unsustainable and become a peaceful ordered society.
(ALL) What is the issue with the current economic system?
The state has entrenched a corrupt economic system that embeds advantage and privelige, free individuals have no need for the state and are hurt by its involvement.
(ALL) What is the guiding principle behind what anarchists think the utopian economic model should be?
There is no compulsion, an economic model should be chosen and constructed based on the wants and needs of communities or groups, as such they agree with a wide range of possibilities from communism to the free-market.
(C) How did Bakunin tie capitalism and the state together? [QUOTE]
‘Political power and wealth are inseperable.’
(ALL) What three groups did Bakunin argue exist in developed society?
- An exploited majority
- A both exploited and exploiting minority
- ‘The supreme governing authority’, a small minority of ‘exploiters and oppressors pure and simple’
What Proudhon quote links to economic exploitation, and how?
‘Propert is theft’
- Property is accumulated by the priveliged to exploit others and gain an income off of their ownership rather than efforts.
(ALL) Why do both sects of anarchists dislike any economic system backed by the state?
- CAs believe state intervention exists to prop up the failing exploitative system
- Anarcho-capitalists argue that state intervention distorts the competitive market and inneffectively allocates goods.
(ALL) What did Stirner describe the capitalist system as?
‘Labour that amounts to the same thing as slavery’
- The Ego and Its Own
(ALL) Why is anarchism seen as utopian?
It is the belief that people do not require an authority to act in a harmonious cooperative manner and form a successful, sustainable society ; CAs believe that people will naturally form community, IAs believe human reason will keep us going.
(ALL) What stands in the way of achieving utopia?
The state: it corrupts by isolating us from one another and creating dependence on it so we cannot see it’s unnecessity and exploitation and abolish it together.
(ALL) How did Goldman rebuke negative accusations of utopianism?
‘Every daring attempt to make a great change in existinig conditions… has been labelled utopianism.’
- Socialism: Caught in the Political Trap
(ALL) How did Kropotkin rebuke accusations of utopianism?
Kropotkin based his ideas in the study of evolution, showing that species that work together survive: cooperation is natural, not utopian.
(CA) Outline the beliefs of collectivist anarchists on human nature.
People are naturally cooperative and sociable and all have a potential for goodness that is corrupted by the exploitative state so that we see one another as competition in the capitalist system.
(CA) Bakunin quote about social solidarity:
‘Social solidarity is the first human law; freedom is the second law.’
- The Program of the International Society of Revolution
- People have no need to be regulated if they recognise our common humanity.
(CA) For Anarcho-communists, how does belief in social solidarity lead to collectivisation?
People work together to produce something like food or clothing; as such, the wealth produced should also be owned in common as well as the means of production.
(CA) Kropotkin quote about work:
Work does not need to be regulated as it is “a psychological necessity”
(CA) Kropotkin quote about the need for collectivisation:
‘Not a single man shall be forced to sell the strength of his right arm to obtain a bare subsistence for himself and his babes’
- The Conquest of Bread
(CA) Although he disliked private property, what did Kropotkin like?
He retained respect for presonal property, being fine with ‘a peasant who is in posession of just the amount of land he can cultivate’.
- Act for Yourselves
(CA) What is the anarcho-communist dislike of private property? Give a quote.
It encourage greed and social disharmony through competition and creates inequality that leads to crime and disorder so should be abolished.
- “Don’t compete! - competition is always injurious to the species!”
(CA) Give a Kropotkin quote about government
The “personification of injustice, oppression, and monopoly”
- The Conquest of Bread
(CA) What is one way that Kropotkin saw the state as corrupting us?
The state perpetuates crime to legitimise its existence, “Prisons are universities of crime, maintained by the state.”
(CA) What did Kropotkin believe in as an alternative to the state?
Communal organisation based on direct democracy
(CA) What are the 4 key advantages of communal organisation?
- Compassion and solidarity is strengthened
- Direct democracy increases legitimacy and participation
- Small-scale communities = face-to-face resolution
- Communities would be based on voluntary association
(CA) Outline Kropotkin’s theory of mutual aid, give a quote.
Based on evolution, species (humans) survive more frequently if they cooperate with one another, this mutual aid is dominant in humans. This is evident today in groups like trade unions and the Red Cross that provide mutual aid despite the state.
- “Those animals which acquire a habit for mutual aid are undoubtedly the fittest”
(CA) Define mutualism.
A moderate system of communism; individuals and groups bargain with one another without exploitation or profiteering.
(CA) What kind of revolution did Proudhon advocate for?
Proudhon believed the state and capitalism would be abolished by a series of production reforms that made it obsolete
(CA) What two things is property to Proudhon? Explain each.
- ‘Property is theft’ when its used for exploitation
- ‘Property is liberty’ when exploitation is removed
(CA) What forms of property was Proudhon okay with?
‘the peasant or artisan family who have a natural right to a home, land to cultivate, to tools of a trade’
- What is Property?
(CA) What kind of economic system did Proudhon want? [QUOTE]
‘The synthesis of the notions of private property and collective ownership’
(CA) How did Proudhon’s followers attempt to realise his ideas?
They set up mutual credit banks that offered cheap loans with a rate of interest only to keep running the bank.
(CA) What is syndicalism?
A revolutionary form of trade unionism
(CA) What was the origin of syndicalism and where has it been most significant?
It emerged in France with the powerful CGT union before 1914; however, it is currently very prominent in Spain with the largest union CNT supporting them.
(CA) How is anarcho-syndicalism similar to anarcho-communism?
Both believe that the state aligns itself with private property and the ruling class that exploits the majority workers.
(CA) How is anarcho-syndicalism different to anarcho-communism?
Anarcho-syndicalists believe that people should all organise into syndicatse/trade unions based on trade to protect workers before the inevitable revolution. Anarcho-communists don’t believe in the former.
(CA) Give a quote about Syndicalists view of the post-revolution society
“Anyone who makes plans for after the revolution is a reactionary.”
- Bakunin
(CA) Give a quote that seperates the communist and syndicalist sects of anarchism.
Rocker (a syndicalist) believed in creating the foundations of an anarchist society ‘within the shell of the old one’ (Anarchism and Anarcho-Syndicalism), whereas communists would view this as futile as the dictatorship of the proletariat would take care of it.
(CA) What 3 principles is anarcho-syndicalism based on?
- Workers’ solidarity
- Direct Action
- Workers’ self-management/direct democracy
(CA) Define the anarcho-syndicalist principle of worker solidarity. Give a quote.
In the same way that capitalists work together, workers must understand that our struggle is common and cooperation is necessary for prosperity.
- “The freedom of all is essential to my freedom.”
(CA) Give an anarcho-syndicalist quote about equality.
“Political Freedom without economic equality is a pretence, a fraud, a lie.”
- Bakunin
(CA) Define the anarcho-syndicalist principle of direct action.
The only way to beat capitalism is by collectively concentrating on specific goals like boycotts or strikes in order to destabilise it.
(CA) On the level of direct democracy, what is the dual purpose of anarcho-syndicalism?
- To enforce the demands of workers to raise the living standards
- To familiarise workers with management of production for their eventual role
(CA) How did Sorel believe that a revolution would come about?
A general strike: ‘a revolution of empty hands’
- Reflections on Violence
(CA) Outline the syndicalist idea of ‘Propaganda by deed’
Syndicalists believed the best way to spread their ideology was with direct action against the ruling class to show their vulnerability, support would also grow as the state becomes more reppressive in response.
(CA) Give a Bakunin quote about ‘Propoganda by the deed’.
‘We must spread our principle, not with words, but with deeds, for this is the most popular, the most potent, and the most irresistible form of propoganda.’
- Letters to the Present Crisis
(CA) What is so attractive about syndicates to anarchists?
Its a great form of the direct democratic, non-hierarchal and decentralized society they want.
(IA) What is the individualist anarchist issue with the state?
The state (a sovereign and complsory body) constrains the will of individuals who should have sovereignty.
(IA) Individualist quote about autonomy:
‘The autonomous man, insofar as he is autonomous, is not subject to the will of another.’
- Wolf, In Defence of Anarchism
(IA) What are the 3 differences between individualist anarchism and liberalism?
- Anarchists don’t believe in the need for a state to ‘police’ society
- Anarchists believe free individuals can live and work in harmony
- Anarchists don’t belive in any level of government
(IA) What is egoism?
A philosophy developed by Stirner that places emphasis on the ‘self’ in morality, with little regard for laws, social conventions, or moral principles with no other as having the right to command them - this distinguished him as he believed that other people are authorities in the same way as the state.
(IA) Stirner quote about individualism:
“We do not aspire to communal life but to a life apart”
(IA) How is egoism not anti-social?
Stirner foresaw a ‘union of egoists’ where egoists would voluntarily come together without obligation to one another.
(IA) Why did Stirner dislike the state? Give a quote.
He believed it restricted our personal autonomy and forced us into coerced associations with one another, he also didn’t like that it associated with capitalism.
- “For the state, it is indispensable that nobody have an own will.”
(IA) Why did Stirner dislike capitalism? Give a quote.
Capitalism is like any other system, it inforces an ideology that undermines individuality. Labour should be voluntary and fulfilling for the worker, a luxury not afforded by the employment of capitalism.
- “Labour that amounts to the same thing as slavery.”
(IA) What did Stirner compare the move to a stateless society to?
Development; children require support and protection but will outgrow and be suffocated by it.
(IA) Who are the originators of anarcho-capitalism and what did they argue?
Murray Rothbard and David Friedman argued that the government shoudl be abolished and be replaced by a self-regulating free-market.
(IA) To anarcho-capitalists, what is the difference between a genuinly free market and our current system?
In the current system, natural market (dis)incentives are skewed by the state and become innefficent.
(IA) Why don’t anarcho-capitalists like taxes?
The state impedes individual autonomy by seizing money which they give no say in how is spent.
(IA) Anarcho-capitalist quote about taxation:
‘If every man has the right to own his own body and if her must use and transform material natural objects in order to survive, then he has the right to own what he has made’
- Rothbard
(IA) Describe the anarcho-capitalist society.
Property is privately owned by sovereign individuals who can willingly enter into contracts with others.
(IA) Outline the anarcho-capitalist idea of human nature.
People are rational but also acquisitive and competitive.
(IA) What is the anarcho-capitalist alternative to police and the courts?
Protection will be delivered by ‘protection association’ and ‘private courts’ that are more accountable, ensuring they are cheap, effective and fair.
Give one way anarchists agree on human nature; including thinkers.
Agreement over humans being rational
- Stirner (egoist): people are capable of living without the government
- Kropotkin (anarcho-capitalist): people naturally participate in mutual aid due to its superiority - “Those animals which acquire a habit for mutual aid are undoubtedly the fittest”
(Agreement over anarchy is order)
Give two ways anarchists disagree on human nature; including thinkers.
Disagreement over individualism vs communalism
- Stirner (egoism): “We do not aspire to communal life but to a life apart.”
- Bakunin (anarcho-syndicalist): “The freedom of all is essential to my freedom.”
(Disagreement over what a utopian society would be)
Disagreement over corruption of capitalism
- Stirner (egoism): “labour that amounts to slavery”
- Proudhon (Mutualist): “Property is theft”, “Property is freedom”
- Anarcho-capitalist: capitalism is the freest system and the state restricts and corrupts it through intervention
(Disagreement over whether capitalists align themselves with the state)
Give one way anarchists agree on the state; including thinkers.
Agreement over the negativity of the state
- Goldman: “A cold monster”, “the greatest criminal”
- Stirner (egoism): “For the state, it is indispensable that nobody have an own will.”
(Agreement over liberty)
Give two ways anarchists disagree on the state; including thinkers.
Disagreement over how to get rid of it
- Proudhon (mutualism): production reforms that make the state obsolete
- Sorel (anarcho-syndicalist): ‘Revolution of empty hands’, general strike
- Kropotkin (anarcho-communist): revolution of the w/c
(Wider disagreement over pacifism vs. violence)
Disagreement over what it should be replaced by
- Bakunin (anarcho-syndicalist): “Anyone who makes plans for after the revolution is a reactionary.”
- Stirner (egoism): union of egoists
- Proudhon (mutualist): system of mutualism between small-scale groups
(Disagreement over human nature)
Give one way anarchists agree on society; including thinkers.
Agreement over dislike of religion
- Bakunin (anarcho-syndicalist): “If God really existed, it would be necessary to abolish him.”
- Stirner (egoist): God acts as the ‘ultimate authority’
(Agreement on rejection of the authority)
Give two ways anarchists disagree on society; including thinkers.
Disagreement over how to attain the utopian society
- Proudhon (mutualism): production reforms that make the state obsolete
- Sorel (anarcho-syndicalist): general strike, a “revolution of empty hands”
- Kropotkin (anarcho-communist): revolution of the w/c
(Wider disagreement over pacifism vs. violence)
Disagreement over what current society should be replaced by
- Bakunin (anarcho-syndicalist): “Anyone who makes plans for after the revolution is a reactionary.”
- Stirner (egoism): union of egoists
- Kropotkin (anarcho-communist): direct democracy
(Disagreement over human nature)
Give one way anarchists agree on the economy; including thinkers.
Agreement against state interference in the economy
- Anarcho-capitalists: corrupts the free market
- Goldman: deprives people from their property, “turning the producer into a mere particle of a machine”
- Collectivist anarchists: aligns with communism
(Agreement on rejection of the state and authority/ability to self regulate)
Give two ways anarchists disagree on the economy; including thinkers.
Disagreement over the quality of capitalism
- Stirner (egoism): “labour that amounts to slavery”
- Proudhon (Mutualist): “Property is theft”, “Property is freedom”
- Anarcho-capitalist: capitalism is the freest system and the state restricts and corrupts it through intervention
(Disagreement on whether whether capitalism is the corrupt economic system the state entrenches)
Disagreement over whether new economy will be small- or large-scale
- Proudhon (mutualist): small-scale communities based on mutualist non-exploitation
- Anarcho-capitalists/communists: no need for decentralisation, just without a state
(Disagreement about whether utopian society will be small or large scale)
