Is anarchism a coherent ideology Flashcards
Intro
Yes:
-All strands of anarchism are hostile to government authority and have the same end goal of abolishing the government
No:
-Not all strands of anarchism are hostile to religious authority and have different means of achieving their goals
Para 1
Yes, all strands of anarchism are hostile to governmental authority
E.g. anarcho-capitalist Franz Oppenheimer wished to abolish the state and replace it with autonomous communities
(This would allow human nature to flourish since people are sociable and prefer collective activity)
E.g. anarcho-communist Sebastian Faure also wanted to abolish the state as it could be used as a vehicle to oppress workers
(Therefore, anarchism can be seen as a united ideology since anarchists agree on abolishing state authority regardless of their views on capitalism)
No, not all strands of anarchism are hostile to religious authority
E.g. Franz Oppenheimer did not want to abolish the church, in contrast to Sebastian Faure who believed that the church would hinder progress on an evolutionary road to socialism.
(Accordingly, anarchists do not share the same end goal since they disagree on the extent to which religious authorities should be reduced)
Para 2
Yes, some anarchists agree that using peaceful means should be used to achieve anarchism
E.g. Peter Kropotkin favoured the use of propaganda in Russia as opposed to a violent revolution
(This would convince the Russian people of the benefits of anarchism whilst eliminating the damage which a violent revolution would cause on the human psyche)
No, many anarchists support the use of violence
E.g. Pierre Joseph Proudhon supported the use of violence against the state, in order to provoke a violent counter-reaction, which proved to work during the French Revolution in 1789
(Therefore, this would expose the violent nature of the state in order to grow public support for a violent revolution)
In addition, many anarchists do not favour a peaceful or violent revolution, instead believing that direct action is the best way of achieving an anarchist state.
E.g. the Occupy movement, whereby Wall Street was physically occupied.
(For some anarchists, this would allow them to grind the American economy to a halt leading to the state collapsing, although this did not occur)