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Title: Defining Anarchism
Author: Jason Justice
Language: en
Topics: history, introductory
Source: Retrieved on January 1, 2005 from http://www.cat.org.au

Jason Justice

Defining Anarchism

Anarchism has been defined many ways by many different sources. The word

“anarchism” is taken from the word “anarchy” which is drawn from dual

sources in the Greek language. It is made up of the Greek words αν

(meaning: absence of [and pronounced “an”] and αρχη (meaning: authority

or government [and pronounced “arkhe”]). Today, dictionary definitions

still define anarchism as the absence of government. These modern

dictionary definitions of anarchism are based on the writings and

actions of anarchists of history and present. Anarchists understand, as

do historians of anarchism and good dictionaries and encyclopedias, that

the word anarchism represents a positive theory. Exterior sources,

however, such as the media, will frequently misuse the word anarchism

and, thus, breed misunderstanding.

A leading modern dictionary, Webster’s Third International Dictionary,

defines anarchism briefly but accurately as, “a political theory opposed

to all forms of government and governmental restraint and advocating

voluntary cooperation and free association of individuals and groups in

order to satisfy their needs.” Other dictionaries describe anarchism

with similar definitions. The Britannica-Webster dictionary defines the

word anarchism as, “a political theory that holds all government

authority to be unnecessary and undesirable and advocates a society

based on voluntary cooperation of individuals and groups.” Shorter

dictionaries, such as the New Webster Handy College Dictionary, define

anarchism as, “the political doctrine that all governments should be

abolished.”

These similar dictionary definitions of anarchism reflect the evolution

of the theory of anarchism made possible by anarchist intellectuals and

movements. As a result, dictionary definitions, although fair, only

reflect watered down definitions of the word “anarchism”. Professor Noam

Chomsky, in fact, has refuted the definition, as written in the New

American Webster Handy College Dictionary, describing anarchism as a

“political doctrine.” According to Chomsky, “...anarchism isn’t a

doctrine. It’s at most a historical tendency, a tendency of thought and

action, which has many different ways of developing and progressing and

which, I would think, will continue as a permanent strand of human

history.” Other modern definitions of anarchism are thoroughly

explained, not as a word, but as a history of movements, people and

ideas. The Encyclopedia of the American Left, in fact, gives a three

page history of anarchism, yet does not once define the word.

Prior to the existence of the word anarchism people used the term

“Libertarian Socialism,” which meant the same thing as anarchism.

“Libertarian socialism” was used largely by Mexican radicals in the

early eighteenth century. William Godwin was the first proclaimed

anarchist in history and the first to write about anarchism. He was born

in 1756 in Weisbech, the capital of North Cambridgeshire. He later

married feminist Mary Wollstonecraft and had a daughter, Mary Shelley —

author of Frankenstein. Godwin published a book called Political Justice

in 1793 which first introduced his ideas about anarchism, Godwin was

forgotten about, however, and after his death Pierre Joseph Proudhon

became a leading anarchist figure in the world. His book What is

Property? incorporated greater meaning to the word anarchism; anarchism

became not only a rejection of established authority but a theory

opposing ownership of land and property as well.

Anarchism fully blossomed as a defined theory when Russian anarchists

Mikhail Bakunin (1814–1876) and Peter Kropotkin (1842–1921 started to

write and speak. Bakunin had a major influence in the world and

introduced anarchism to many people. Kropotkin was one of the many

people inspired by Bakunin. Kropotkin wrote many books on anarchism,

including Mutual Aid, Fields, Factories and Workshops, and The Conquest

of Bread, and greatly aided in the evolution of the theory of anarchism.

Kropotkin wrote the first adept encyclopedia definition of anarchism in

the eleventh edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica in 1910. His

definition was fifteen pages long. He started the definition by

introducing the word anarchism as:

the name given to a principle of theory of life and conduct under which

society is conceived without government — harmony in such a society

being obtained, not by submission to law, or by obedience to any

authority, but by free agreements concluded between various groups,

territorial and professional, freely constituted for the sake of

production and consumption, as also for the satisfaction of the infinite

variety of the needs and aspirations of a civilized being, In a society

developed on these lines, the voluntary associations which already now

begin to cover all fields of human activity would take a still greater

extension so as to substitute themselves for the state of its functions.

Following Kropotkin, Leo Tolstoy furthered the ideas which make up the

meaning of the word “anarchism”. Tolstoy introduced Christian anarchism

(rejecting church authority but believing in God) and broadened

anarchism’s meaning. Tolstoy, in favour of the growth of anarchism,

wrote “The anarchists are right in the assertion that, without

Authority, there could not be worse violence than that of Authority

under existing conditions.”

As the 20^(th) century emerged anarchism began to peak and the

definition of anarchism became concrete with the growth of new anarchist

writers and movements. The execution and imprisonment of eight

anarchists in Chicago in 1886 sparked anarchism’s growth in the United

States. The “Haymarket Eight” flourished anarchists such as Voltairine

de Cleyre and Lucy Parsons. Parsons was born into slavery and later

became an anarchist and an ardent speaker and working class rebel; the

Chicago police labelled Parsons, “...more dangerous than a thousand

rioters”. Emma Goldman also became a part of the anarchist movement due

to the Chicago Martyrs. Described as a “damn bitch of an anarchist,”

Goldman also broadened the meaning of anarchism and introduced the

greatest and most important ideas of anarchist feminism in history which

prevail, as a result of Goldman, to this day.

Emma Goldman’s life-long comrade, Alexander Berkman, played a major part

in helping to define the word “anarchism”. He wrote a book called ABC of

Anarchism which defined and describes anarchism and is still read today.

Berkman wrote, “Anarchism means you should be free; that no one should

enslave you, boss you, rob you, or impose upon you. It means you should

be free to do the things you want to do; and that you should not be

compelled to do what you do not want to do.”

Anarchism was put into action by giant movements throughout history

which proved its definition was more than theoretical. The communal

efforts of anarchism were seen in the Paris Commune in the early 19^(th)

century, the revolutionary organizing of Mexican working class rebels

was proven possible by anarchists such as Ricardo Flores Magon and

revolutionaries like Emiliano Zapata, and the Spanish Revolution of

1936–39 proved anarchists’ capability of creating anarchism within small

sectors of the world. Certainly today we can see anarchism in action in

places like Mon dragon, Spain, where anarchists are working in

collectives and trying to live free of authority.

Although the word anarchism is understood by many in its classic sense

(that defined by dictionaries and by anarchists of history), the word is

often misused and misunderstood. Anarchism, because of the threat it

imposes upon established authority, has been historically, and is still,

misused by power holders as violence and chaos. As anarchist historian

George Woodcock put it, “Of the more frivolous is the idea that the

anarchist is a man who throws bombs and wishes to wreck society by

violence and terror. That this charge should be brought against

anarchists now, at a time when they are the few people who are not

throwing bombs or assisting bomb throwers, shows a curious purblindness

among its champions.” The claim that anarchism is chaos was refuted long

ago by Alexander Berkman when he wrote:

I must tell you, first of all, what anarchism is not. It is not bombs,

disorder, or chaos. It is not robbery or murder. It is not a war of each

against all. It is not a return to barbarianism or to the wild state of

man. Anarchism is the very opposite of all that.

These refutations of stereotypes associated with anarchism are sometimes

trampled by the popular misuse of the word anarchism. It is not uncommon

for a Middle Eastern nation in the midst of US-imposed turmoil to be

labelled by the media as “complete anarchy,” a phrase which undermines

the true definition of the word anarchism and all those who toiled, and

who do toil, to make the word anarchism mean what it does today.

Modern anarchists still work hard to help anarchism maintain its

validity and history. Anarchism today is being used to find solutions

the problems of power; not just state power, but corporate power and all

immediate forms of domination among individuals and organizations.

Anarchists such as L. Susan Brown have introduced ideas such as

existential individualism, while other anarchists remain loyal to

anarchy-syndicalism and class struggle. Anarchism has also been spread

around the world through music and bands such as Crass, introducing

anarchism and anti-speciesism and urging self-sufficiency among workers

and community members. Other anarchists such as Lorenzo Kom’boa Ervin,

an ex-Black Panther, are introducing new means of organizing and

directly challenging racism. Furthermore, anarchism has become

integrated into ecological issues thanks in part to eco-anarchist ideas

and freethinking organizations such as Earth First! Also, we see

anarchists working to keep anarchism, in theory and practice, alive and

well around the world with anarchist newspapers such as Love and Rage in

Mexico and the United States, anarchist book publishers such as AK Press

in the U.S. and the U.K., and political prisoner support groups such as

the Anarchist Black Cross.

As documented, the word anarchism has a long history. Although the word

is simply derived from Greek tongue, the philosophy and actions of

anarchists in history and present give the word “anarchism” proper

definition. Dictionary definitions, as quoted, are sometimes fair to

anarchism, but far from complete. The misuse of the word anarchism is

unfortunate and has been a problem anarchists have had to deal with for

the last century. Because of the misuse of anarchism, the simple

dictionary definitions of anarchism, and the different interpretations

of anarchism the word can take on many meanings, but the truly accurate

meaning of the word anarchism can be found in anarchist history,

anarchist writings and anarchist practice.

The next move is yours!