Anarchism - Book Summary

Embark on a journey through time to unravel the true essence of anarchism.

Anarchism. The word typically conjures up images of disorder, of unruly mobs and societal breakdown. But in reality, anarchism is quite far removed from these connotations. Far from advocating chaos, this revolutionary ideology was born in the minds of renowned philosophers in the nineteenth century as an ideal concept for an equal and just society.

So, what does anarchism actually advocate for? It's all about shaking off oppressive structures in society — be it power vested in the state and enforced through its policing arm, societal systems built on patriarchal norms, or religious organizations imposing their authority. The focus of anarchism is to foster societies that thrive on mutual cooperation, direct democracy and federalization of communities — all geared towards the betterment of humanity as a whole.

The roots of anarchism stretch back to the despairing aftermath of the French Revolution that unfolded in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Yet, it continues to be pertinent in today's world. With the looming threats of escalating inequality and climate change, the principles of anarchism could potentially offer an unexpected solution.

As we delve deeper, we'll explore the significant role anarchism played during the Spanish Civil War, delve into the profound statement by the anarchist Pierre-Joseph Proudhon that property symbolizes both "theft" and "freedom", and examine how anarchist ideologies might address the modern crisis of prison overcrowding.

Unraveling the roots and essence of anarchism — a political philosophy that rejects hierarchical structures.

The term anarchy finds its origin in the Greek word 'anarkhia', meaning 'without a leader.' However, it was during the mid-nineteenth century that this term was transformed into a political ideology, thanks to French anarchist theorist Pierre-Joseph Proudhon. Anarchism, in Proudhon's view, represented a vision of society that didn't require centralized governance or authoritarian control.

Proudhon, along with his successors, proposed a societal framework built on voluntary cooperation between individuals and groups. They believed that such a society would effectively and equitably cater to the production and consumption needs of all its members.

But what compelled Proudhon to envision such a societal structure? This is best understood by tracing back to the aftermath of the French Revolution. The revolution, far from bringing about equality and liberation for peasants and workers, only replaced the oppressive aristocracy with an equally suppressive bourgeois political class. Early anarchist thinkers like Proudhon pointed out that it was not the individuals in power but the underlying concept of governance — the one that enabled one group to dominate another — that was the root cause of societal problems.

From the eighteenth century onwards, the central concern for anarchists has been to address this problem — to eradicate the state and build a more equitable society. The strategies for achieving this, however, vary amongst different sects of anarchists.

Anarcho-communists, one of the main groups within the anarchist movement, advocate for community control over land, resources, and the means of production. There are also branches of anarchist thought that underscore feminism or environmentalism, but all share a common rejection of hierarchies and external control, whether imposed by states, employers, or religious bodies.

But how does one envision the structure of an anarchist society? There are four principal elements.

Firstly, participation in anarchist organizations should be voluntary to respect individual freedom and responsibility. Secondly, these organizations must have a clear purpose, ensuring they are functional and purpose-driven. Thirdly, they should be temporary entities. This mitigates the risk of these organizations becoming self-serving entities more focused on their own survival than their original purpose. Lastly, these organizations should be small-scale, as this would reduce the likelihood of hierarchical tendencies sprouting within them.

Does it all sound overly theoretical? Don't worry. In the upcoming section, we'll delve into how some anarchist thinkers envisioned social transformation and how anarchism has been put into practice.

Delving into the inception of anarchism with Peter Kropotkin and Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, and its implementation during the Spanish Civil War.

The history of anarchism is intricately woven with the ideologies of notable thinkers like Russian philosopher Peter Kropotkin, French theorist Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, and the societal upheavals of the Spanish Civil War.

Proudhon, apart from being the pioneer in using the term 'anarchism', is also well-known for his paradoxical assertion that "property is theft" and "property is freedom". On one hand, he believed that property, as held by landowners and capitalists, often resulted from exploitation or conquest, thereby viewing it as a form of theft. On the other hand, he saw property as freedom, where peasants and workers possessing homes, land, and means of production could achieve the freedom to flourish — without the need for coercion or exploitation.

Proudhon's emphasis on the need for federalism between communes influenced the Paris Commune of March-May 1871, where revolutionary socialism was first put into practice. Despite its short-lived existence, the commune realized Proudhon's vision of federation with other communes for its survival. However, it didn't last long enough to accomplish this.

Peter Kropotkin, another pivotal figure in the propagation of anarchism, leveraged his scientific insights to build a credible foundation for the ideology. In his celebrated work, The Conquest of Bread, he outlined how communes in a post-revolutionary society could organize themselves through mutual aid and voluntary cooperation.

Years later, Kropotkin's theories on the collective mobilization of industry and agriculture by workers would significantly influence the developments during the Spanish Civil War after the 1936 revolution.

Spain in the 1930s was primarily an agrarian society where a mere 2 percent of the population held 67 percent of the land. Post-revolution, there was a profound shift. Private property was essentially abolished in many parts of Spain, leading to large-scale collectivization of agricultural lands and their cultivation. This wave of collectivization extended to other societal aspects in Revolutionary Catalonia, including public transportation, electricity, and telecommunications.

Although the Spanish Civil War was ultimately won by the fascist forces under Francisco Franco, the successful implementation of anarchism in Spain demonstrated the ideology's potential to drive significant social change.

Anarchism offers insightful solutions for societal issues, such as the challenges in the US penal system.

The objective of anarchists may be to establish a society free from hierarchies, yet the array of ideas stemming from anarchist ideologies can also illuminate pathways to address issues within our existing societal structures.

The domain of prison reform is an area where anarchism's perspectives could be particularly impactful.

Prominent anarchist thinkers, including Kropotkin, experienced imprisonment due to their political activism, providing them with direct insights into the detrimental effects of the contemporary penal system. Kropotkin was the one to dub prisons as “universities of crime,” highlighting how minor offenders often learn to execute more complex criminal activities from their cellmates. This exchange of knowledge leads to an escalation in crime and recurring incarcerations once these individuals are released.

The insights derived from Kropotkin's observations had a profound influence on American penal reformers, many of whom were jailed as conscientious objectors during the World Wars. They noticed that many prisoners stemmed from disadvantaged backgrounds, and that poverty increased the propensity to commit petty crimes. By incarcerating these disadvantaged individuals in the so-called “university of crime,” society inadvertently creates a vicious cycle of poverty, petty crime, imprisonment, escalated crime, and reimprisonment.

The reformers who identified this pattern significantly contributed to the gradual humanization of the US criminal justice system. For instance, they championed the establishment of a probation service, where probation officers help ex-convicts reintegrate into society post-imprisonment. This initiative reduces the chances of reincarceration and aids in breaking this vicious cycle.

Unfortunately, much of this progress has been regressed in recent years. The year 2000 saw a staggering 2 million inmates in America, and the country continues to hold the record for the highest prison population relative to its overall population size amongst modern nation-states.

Anarchism offers solutions to current issues like prison overcrowding due to drug-related offenses. As early as 1922, Italian anarchist Errico Malatesta pinpointed the irony of imprisoning drug users to curtail drug use. This approach in fact leads to increased addiction rates in society and fuels the drug trafficking industry.

Malatesta's solution? The decriminalization of both drug usage and sales. Such an approach not only would decrease the prison population but also eliminate the criminal element of the drug trade, thereby reducing drug prices and addiction rates. The allure of drugs is partly due to their illicit nature.

Cities like Zurich and Amsterdam that have implemented decriminalization policies have evidenced the efficacy of Malatesta's hypothesis.

Anarchism has paved the way for minor revolutions, both subtle and pronounced.

While anarchists haven't managed to precipitate widespread, transformative societal changes through revolution, this doesn't imply their political initiatives have been fruitless.

In fact, many facets of our everyday lives that we assume as given, have been shaped and enabled by anarchist activism.

Consider something as simple as our clothing. It's easy to forget that not more than half a century ago, fashion was largely dictated by class or gender norms. However, due to the radical non-conformity of anarchists and their rebellion against fashion norms throughout the twentieth century, significant flexibility in clothing choices for different groups has been attained.

This influence extends to the realm of women's rights too. Emma Goldman, a distinguished feminist philosopher within the anarchist tradition, penned the influential work, The Tragedy of Women’s Emancipation, first published in 1906. The treatise stood as a strong dissent against patriarchal domination, arguing that women's suffrage alone wasn't sufficient for their emancipation. Goldman advocated for women’s right to make choices about childbirth and sexual relations, notions that mainstream feminists would rally for decades later.

Beyond her impact on feminism, Goldman also championed the concept of free love, which she viewed as the cornerstone of sexual relations in an envisioned anarchist society.

Anarchists, including Goldman, were indeed the pioneers in advocating free unions as an alternative to marriages sanctioned by the church or the state. By the close of the twentieth century, their revolutionary practice of free love, coupled with advancements in contraceptive methods, had become mainstream.

These subtle revolutions have undeniably transformed our everyday lives. However, not all small revolutions propelled by anarchists have been so subdued.

The advent of the internet has provided anarchists with a new platform to fight their battles, facilitating coordination and activism with like-minded groups worldwide.

This coordination came to the fore in 1999, when anarchists and other anti-capitalists successfully staged a protest against the “Multilateral Agreement on Investment.” This treaty, devised by the OECD nations and big businesses, would have allowed corporations to sue nations that impeded their profit-making activities.

Internet activists were successful in obtaining and leaking the draft treaty, thereafter mobilizing large-scale protests. When treaty negotiators convened in Seattle in November 1999, they were met by tens of thousands of protesters. The demonstrations were so disruptive that the talks fell apart, showcasing the power of coordinated, online activism.

Our planet's survival hinges on anarchist principles addressing ecological crises.

As we forge ahead in the twenty-first century, we are increasingly confronted with challenges posed by climate change and finite resources. However, the capitalist system, which thrives on perpetual, limitless growth, escalating consumption, and market expansion, has proven ineffective in resolving these issues.

Given that capitalism shows little sign of slowing down, anarchists and their comrades in the green movement have recognized that we must seize control of our destiny. If capitalism is unable to rectify the ecological problems it has spawned, then it falls on us to make a difference and adapt our lifestyles accordingly.

Peter Harper, a prominent advocate of environmental politics and sustainability, distinguishes between two types of green lifestyles that have emerged over recent decades — light greens and deep greens.

Light greens are those with the financial capacity to maintain an alternative, individualized lifestyle, focusing on investing in costly green technologies, like electric cars, solar panels, and organic food. In contrast, deep greens emphasize less on financial considerations and more on collective action, advocating for public transport and biking, local and home-grown food initiatives, and alternative currency models.

Harper posits that those embracing a deep green lifestyle, rooted in anarchist principles of collectivization and environmental sustainability, are better equipped to handle the imminent ecological crises.

That's not all, though. Anarchist ideas prominently feature in the fight against ecological breakdown.

Consider localized, urban farming. We return once again to the enduring ideas of Kropotkin, who, a century prior, foresaw the potential issues of depleting resources and the need to prioritize small-scale, local food production over inexpensive, international food supply chains.

Kropotkin proposed that an island like Great Britain could be self-sufficient in meeting its food requirements — a proposition that was viewed as ludicrous at the time.

However, as is the case with many other forward-thinking anarchists, his ideas have been vindicated — UN reports indicate that in Chinese cities, for example, a whopping 90 percent of vegetables are locally grown and consumed.

Echoing the thoughts of many other anarchists we've discussed, Kropotkin's ideas remain crucial in reimagining how future human societies can function as collectivized, egalitarian units. They offer a blueprint for how our planet might weather the impending ecological storms.

Wrapping it up

Anarchism, a political philosophy born in the nineteenth century, stands firmly against all forms of hierarchy, be it the state, religious institutions, or patriarchal societal norms. Although grand revolutionary successes have been few and far between — the most notable example being Spain in the 1930s — anarchism has notched up numerous small triumphs. These range from the modern parole system to relationships without the trappings of marriage and advancements in women’s reproductive rights.

A full-blown anarchist revolution might not appear imminent, but looming crises like escalating climate change will force societies to adapt. As we grapple with these challenges, the relevance and influence of anarchist ideas are set to rise. It's in this evolution that anarchism may yet have its most profound impact.