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FREEDOM
WHAT IS ANARCHISM?
The word 'anarchy' (Greek an-archos,rule by none) is often used to mean social
chaos,unconstitutional government , or domination by rival marauding gangs. We
know of no-one who advocates 'anarchy' in any of these senses. Anarchists
certainly do not.
Anarchists adovcate anarchy in the sense of nobody being boss over anybody else.
Anarchism stems from the conviction that the purpose of society is to increase
individual opportunities. For a totally isolated individual, the choice would be
,either to do what is necessary to stay alive, or to die. In a healthy
sociey,each individual makes use of the others, and freedom of choice is
increased all round.
All voluntary co-operation is healthy, in the sense of fulfilling the purpose of
society. Organisation is healthy,so long as people are doing what they want, and
not being forced by the organisation to do something they do not wish to do.
Leadership is healthy,so long as it is leadership in the sense of innovation
which others freely copy, and not 'leadership" as a euphemism for being the
boss.
Socially unhealthy insititutions are those which go against the purpose of
society, by forcing some people to act against their will. Anarchists oppose
every kind of coercive institution, including states, armies, slavery the
wages,system,prisons,gangsters,nuclearbombs,money
,patriarchy,matriarchy,theocracy and revolutionary governments.
Of course ,nobody expects a change from a world full of governments to a world
without government overnight. There must be a transition period , and that
transition period is now. We need not worry yet about the problems facing a
coercion-free society. It is obvious that the society we live in is more
coercive than necessary,so let us make it a little less coercive than it would
otherwise have been.
There are those who purport to have the same aims as anarchists,who ask to be
put in power to speed up the transition They are frauds. You cannnot get rid of
coercion by means of coercion.
Anarchism is opposed to bosses and goverments of every kind