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Title: Between Anarchism and Marxism Author: Benjamin Franks Date: 2012 Language: en Topics: Marxism, Leninism, post-soviet, history Source: *Journal of Political Ideologies*, Volume 17, 2012 — Issue 2. DOI: 10.1080/13569317.2012.676867
This paper analyses the development of the schism between Marxism and
anarchism and explores two distinct methodological approaches to
investigating these apparently discrete ideologies: one is derived from
analytic political philosophy; the other is an adaptation of Michael
Freeden’s conceptual approach. The former views the division between
Marxism and anarchism as the result of a clear distinction in universal
principles, an account that is found to be flawed. Using the alternative
conceptual approach, this paper argues that the schism that marked the
relationship between anarchism and Marxism during the ‘short twentieth
century’ was primarily the result of the primacy Marxism gave to the
Leninist centralized structure following the Bolshevik revolution. The
revolutionary party was able to impose a more tightly controlled
interpretation of socialist principles, which marginalized and excluded
rival socialist constructions. With the decline of Leninist structures,
constellations of Marxism have arisen that, once again, actively engage
with anarchism.
This paper examines the development of the schism between Marxism and
anarchism, which characterized the relationship between the two
ideologies during the ‘short twentieth century’[1] (to borrow Eric
Hobsbawm’s phrase for the period 1914–1991). In addition, it looks at
the development of collaborative interactions between anarchism and
Marxism in the subsequent 20 years, which parallel a more mutually
productive and fluid interaction before the Russian Revolution.
In analysing the development of the schism, this paper explores two
distinctive methodological approaches to investigating these apparently
separate ideologies: one method is derived from analytic political
philosophy, whilst the other is based on Michael Freeden’s conceptual
approach.[2]^(,)[3] This is done in order to show that, contrary to some
standard analytic approaches, anarchism and Marxism are not wholly
incompatible, and there are ideological constellations of anarchism and
Marxism that allow for significant productive and mutually supporting
collaborations based on shared meanings. Standard analytic[4]
philosophical (and analytic political theoretical) methods tend, with a
few exceptions, to make the assumption of an unequivocal difference
between anarchism and Marxism, with the former based on an explicit
rejection of the state, whilst the latter, following Friedrich Engels,
regards the state as playing a pivotal social emancipatory role.[5] Such
analytic approaches tend to lead to the conclusion that any substantive
coalitions between Marxists and anarchists are unstable, pragmatic
responses, or based upon failures of principle, or brought about by
coercion or confusion.
Freeden’s conceptual approach, I shall argue, is a more constructive
method to investigate and assess ideologies. His method involves
identifying not just the main principles but also the adjacent and
peripheral ones, and ascertaining their underlying structure, by which
the different concepts mutually define each other. Further, this method
takes into account the role of resources, institutions or media by which
such principles are expressed. For instance, a slogan promoting racial
division has a different set of resonances if it appears on a bigoted
individual’s web-blog, than if it appears on multiple street hoardings
or as part of a discussion in a respected mainstream political media.[6]
Though the statement in each uses identical terms, and might be
interpreted by an audience in similar fashion, the impact on their
behaviour would be different.
Through conceptual analysis, which sees ideologies as structured
collections of principles that alter over time, this paper will show
that there are forms of Marxism that historically (and more
contemporarily) share similar conceptual structures to those of
particular families of anarchism. It also explains how and why major
forms of Marxism altered and became incompatible with, and hostile to,
anarchism for most of the ‘short twentieth century.’ The paper argues
that it was the adoption of the dominant hierarchical party, following
the perceived success of the Russian Revolution, as the pivotal
institution for expressing and employing Marxist principles that changed
this ideology. Whilst the relationship between anarchists and Marxists
had been impacted by earlier attempts at centralized, disciplined
representative parties, especially in the late 1880s, these had not the
impact or permanence of the development of Leninist Communist Parties,
as the earlier groupings had neither the resources nor the social esteem
of the latter.
The Communist Party was able to impose a set of restrictive
interpretations on Marxism, ones that were pro-state and largely
consequentialist. This disciplined, highly structured organization was
able to construct interpretations of other socialisms, such that these
alternatives were viewed not as potential partners but as, at best,
misguided or confused and in need of party leadership or, at worst,
anti-socialist (and counter-revolutionary). Similarly, ‘Marxism’ was
reduced to a severely restricted set of interpretations by anarchists.
This developed into a clear cleavage between the two, in which the one
defined itself against the other. The paper concludes that as the party
has declined as the main organizational form for expressing Marxist
principles, the divisions between anarchists and Marxists have
subsequently diminished, leading to greater mutual support and the
possibility of future fruitful collaborations.
That conclusion stands in contrast to accounts from Marxists, anarchists
(and not formally aligned ones), which describe the great division
occurring with the split in the First International between Marx and
Bakunin.[7] As the anarchist George Woodcock put it: ‘It was in the
conflict between Bakunin and Marx within the First International that
the irreconcilable differences between the libertarian and authoritarian
conceptions of socialism were first developed.’[8] American Marxist
scholar Paul Thomas also argues that the engagement with, and conflict
within, the International performed the ‘double service’ of creating
‘what we today know as Marxism [… and] creat[ing] Bakuninism and by
extension, to bring into being anarchism as a social revolutionary
social movement.’[9] For Thomas and Woodcock, the pre-existing personal
and doctrinal antagonisms between Marx and Bakunin solidified the
division between Marxists and anarchists. As Thomas explains, it allowed
later activists to read into the conflict, in a ‘variant of post hoc
propter hoc’ (the fallacy of assuming that a later event must have been
caused by a preceding one), the rightness of their hostility towards the
other. This post hoc reading was itself exacerbated by the Party form.
Victor Serge, for instance, in his impassioned call for his former
anarchist comrades to support the Bolshevik-led ‘dictatorship of the
proletariat,’ suggests that his former libertarian comrades are
repeating the mistake of the ‘Jura Federation.’[10] The Jura Federation
were the Swiss Bakuninist section of First International who, for Serge,
made the error of privileging decentralized power over the need for an
efficient, egalitarian central administration. Contemporary Leninists,
whilst condemning the post hoc readings of Stalinism into Marxism, also
refer back to the First International as being the basis for the split
between Marxism and anarchism.[11]
Whilst the conflict and schism within the International Workingmen’s
Association undoubtedly helped to identify distinctions within the
broader socialist movements, just as the debates between Proudhon and
Marx had done earlier, this division was far less decisive and stable
than usually presented. The totemic importance of the First
International was constructed after the event, with the rise of the
Communist Party. As discussed later, there were substantial
collaborations and non-sectarian groupings in which members would
identify themselves as ‘anarchist,’ ‘communist’ and ‘socialist’
interchangeably.
The analytic tradition, as Mark Philp points out, is a rich and diverse
one. It includes figures such as Ludwig Wittgenstein and Quentin Skinner
(who uses the ideas of other analytic philosophers like W. V. O. Quine
and J. L. Austin), who make similar criticisms of analytic political
philosophy to those made here: namely, that it is misguided to attempt
to find ahistorical and universal, decontested concepts.[12] However,
more standardly, as Daniel McDermott[13] and Philip Pettit[14] explain,
analytic political philosophy can be identified through its methodology
and underlying ontological assumptions:
What distinguishes the enterprise as analytical? This label is often
applied to draw a contrast with other styles of philosophy, such as
Continental and Eastern. It is also typically associated with certain
features, such as clarity, systematic rigour, narrowness of focus, and
an emphasis on the importance of reason. There are a number of different
ways to characterize it, but probably the best is that analytical
political philosophy is an approach to gaining knowledge that falls into
the same broad category as a science.[15]
McDermott’s description covers similar features to those identified by
Pettit in his criteria of analytical political philosophy: (1) knowledge
exists independently of human consciousness, (2) rational investigation
will discover it, and (3) these facts are independent of values.[16] So
through using a universal account of reason, it is possible to discover
non-ideological principles to identify and assess political traditions
(even if because of resource shortages they cannot be applied in the
same way universally).[17]
This account of political philosophy is endorsed by the anarchist
analytic philosopher Paul McLaughlin. He argues that his discipline is
marked by the ‘argumentative process’ and ‘the quest for conceptual
clarity.’[18]^(,)[19] Thus, the analytic tradition emphasizes assessing
the validity of arguments, which in turn require an uncontested
definitional foundation. By fixing the meaning of terms, it becomes
possible to demarcate clearly one political position from another. For
example, it is possible to distinguish Robert Nozick’s minimal state
liberalism (propertarianism)[20] from John Rawls’ liberalism by
clarifying and thereby distinguishing their concepts of ‘right’ and
‘liberty.’
Analytical political theorists have tended to identify a key pivotal
text or area of disputation that marks the unequivocal cleavage between
the rival theories. Thus, insightful texts, such as those by Alan
Carter,[21] Thomas[22] and McLaughlin,[23] explore the various conflicts
between Marx and the major classical anarchist thinkers with whom he
explicitly engaged: Joseph-Pierre Proudhon, Max Stirner and especially
Michael Bakunin. In the standard analytical approach, once the
differences between the rival theories are clarified, they are assessed
on the basis of their philosophical coherence, logical consistency and
morality.
A problem with the analytical approach is that it concentrates its
research on logically rigorous texts and dismisses out-of-hand
communicative forms that appear to differ, thereby producing a much
restricted canon. Many anarchist texts might assume premises about, for
example, the undesirability of capitalism, or the deficiency of single
party rule, or the necessity of particular forms of contestation of
racism or sexism. These unstated premises (enthymemes) shared by the
audience for anarchist periodicals would not be easily identifiable by
many academic philosophers, to whom the arguments would therefore appear
instantly invalid and perhaps incomprehensible. As such they would not
be considered pertinent material to be subjected to the rigours of
analytical philosophical analysis.[24]
Philosophers tend to respond in one of two ways to this difficulty to
appreciate adequately the radically different contexts in which activist
texts operate. One, hinted at by Miller,[25] but made more explicit by
Dudley Knowles[26] and McLaughlin,[27] dismisses the texts generated by
historical movements of anarchism as being too diverse, inchoate and
illogical for them to be worthy of philosophical examination. This is in
contrast, according to Miller, to Marxisms, which although diverse are
sufficiently coherent enough to ‘share a number of central
assumptions.’[28]
The second approach, following on from this dismissal of the historical
movements, is to construct a separate ‘anarchism’ based on
philosophically rigorous grounds. The philosophical version identifies a
core principle, one that distinguishes anarchism from Marxism. This
central principle is an absolute rejection of the state.[29] The state
is described solely as a unified coercive apparatus operating over a
specific geographical area.[30] Carter,[31] for instance, whose
analytical anarchism is based on G. A. Cohen’s anaemic version of
Marxism,[32] claims that Marxists regard the state as an impartial
by-product of economic-technological determining forces, whilst
anarchists regard the state as a historically acting agency incompatible
with egalitarian goals.
An alternative, first principle of anarchism is suggested by the
Hellenic scholar David Keyt. His version of anarchism sees the rejection
of the state as a consequence of a more primary principle: the absolute
respect for the negative freedom of the individual, sometimes expressed
as the absolute prohibition on coercion,[33] based on the absolute
sovereignty of the rational individual.[34] This account is also the
basis of Robert Paul Wolff’s pivotal account of philosophical anarchism,
In Defense of Anarchism,[35] and is supported by Andrew John
Simmons.[36]
‘Philosophical anarchism’ is identified with a single, universal
feature: a complete rejection of coercion. Within ‘philosophical
anarchism,’ the main debates are whether the absolute primacy given to
autonomy necessarily leads to advocacy of private property rights, such
as that proposed by propertarians (such as David Friedman and Murray
Rothbard) or whether it leads to a rejection of, or at least ambivalence
towards, property rights (for instance, McLaughlin[37] and Peter
Vallentyne et al.[38]). The second area of debate, also found
principally, but not solely, amongst the propertarians, is whether a
minimal or ultra-minimal state can be generated that meets the
voluntarist criteria.
In the first case, anarchism is distinguished from Marxism on the
grounds that the latter has identifiable principles, whilst anarchism is
little more than irrational violence. Under the second interpretation,
Marxism and anarchism are clearly distinct as the first is concerned
with laws of historical development, economic equality and the use of
state power, whilst the latter is identified with absolute autonomy and
therefore a rejection of state power.[39]^(,)[40] However, if Marxism
and anarchism are so distinct, then the significant collaborations and
intersections between Marxists and anarchists, especially before the
1917 Revolution, are hard for analytical philosophers to explain.
Examples of such collaborations include joint propaganda tours between
the anarchist Alarm with the Marxist-influenced Independent Labour
Party, Social Democratic Federation (SDF) and Fabian Societies[41] and
the regular meetings and debates between the anarchists and the SDF that
were ‘carried out in a very friendly spirit.’[42] Wilf McCartney,[43]
born in 1877, and George Cores,[44] born in 1869, were active in radical
movements over a century ago. In their memoirs, they describe the fluid
way people drifted between avowedly Marxist and anarchist movements,
often utilizing the terms ‘anarchist,’ ‘communist’ and ‘socialist’
interchangeably. Marx and Bakunin highlighted the theoretical
differences between them, as later, have scholars and many
activists,[45] yet it was the similarities between Marx and Bakunin that
inspired many radicals. Mike Lipman reports that his parents, who were
immigrant revolutionaries, had portraits of both Marx and Bakunin
displayed in their home.[46] Similarly, publishers associated with
radical movements published both Kropotkin and Marx as ‘ammunition for
socialism.’[47]
From an analytical philosophical perspective, if overt manipulation and
the use of force are ruled out, such intersections can only be due to
conceptual confusion or failure of principle or will (akrásia). Such a
perspective fails to explain why Marxists and anarchists, having acted
in solidarity despite some conceptual differences, became systematically
opposed, before particular sections once again found significant common
ground. An analysis based upon (but modified slightly from) Freeden’s
conceptual approach is better able to deal with distinctive but
identifiable variants of each ideology, and explain why, historically,
there has been consistent and effective interaction between the
supposedly rival ideologies.
Instead of seeking to identify fixed, necessary and sufficient
conditions, refined over time as concepts become more finely honed,
Freeden argues that ideologies are best understood in terms of the
structure of their core, adjacent and peripheral concepts. Political
concepts are the basic, central unit of Freeden’s analysis. They are
expressed through and constituted by words or other signs.[48] They are
linked together in particular structures, and concepts gain their
meaning by their relationships to other concepts. Adjacent concepts
flesh out and clarify the interpretations of core ones, restricting the
possibility of competing interpretations.[49]
To give an example from Freeden,[50] John Stuart Mill’s liberalism
contains the core concept of liberty, but it is also positioned next to
the individual and a specific type of individual in particular (one who
has sovereignty over his/her body and mind). Mill’s liberalism combines
these elements so that the concept of liberty refers to, and relies on,
the individual not the social. Liberty also includes the desired
attributes of the individual, such as the development of character.
Therefore, all three core features appear in Mills’ key account of
liberty as ‘the free development of individuality.’ Thus, it is not a
matter of one concept taking priority over the others, but of each being
defined by, and through, the others. So if, by contrast, the concept of
liberty and the core goal of self-development were placed next to a
different core principle—that of equality—then our understanding of
liberty would be altered.
Because concepts interlock, they cannot be disentangled and assessed as
free-standing, discrete entities without losing meaning. For instance,
in liberalism democracy carries with it concepts of equality (one
person, one vote) and liberty (self-rule); they cannot be disentangled
as discrete concepts as they help constitute the meaning of
democracy.[51] Within the family of an ideology, one variant might have
a different structure or morphology, which places greater emphasis or
priority on particular concepts.[52] Almost all liberalisms contain
notions of property rights, but Nozickian and Rothbardian propertarians
give them a fundamental privileged position,[53] whilst other
liberalisms tailor them against other principles of equality, welfare or
democracy.
Different types of liberalism will have different structures by which
the core, adjacent and peripheral concepts define each other.[54] Core
principles are stable, but in certain locations, one can be absent, and
yet an ideology can still be recognizable and function as such an
ideology. However, the absence of more than one core feature is likely
to alter an ideological structure fundamentally.[55]
Peripheral concepts are those that are either not central to the overall
shape of the ideology, but are nonetheless persistent features,[56] or
whose importance shifts depending on historical period and/or
geography.[57] Some peripheral concepts move from margin to core, such
as the commitment to representative democracy in conservatism, or from
core to the periphery, such as population control in ecologism. Others
can alternate between core and periphery over time, such as the
principle of street violence in fascism. Peripheral concepts become more
detailed and central in particular contexts. They help to flesh out the
meanings of core principles, by directing their interpretation.
Freeden’s example is how ‘refugee rights,’ a largely peripheral concept
in liberalism, help to clarify the meaning of liberty in particular
cultural and historical contexts.[58]
Ideologies are not discrete and closed, but permeable;[59] they
intersect with other ideologies, and as they compete and clash new
concepts will arise, which might be added to or excluded from the
ideology. The social historian Peter Linebaugh, in relation to the
development of Thomas Paine’s revolutionary political theory, highlights
that when concepts first arise in particular historical or cultural
contexts they often do so as a result of previous ideological
conflicts.[60] At their initial development stage, their meanings and
their relationship to other concepts are still ‘in the gristle,’ still
nascent, and either un- or under-recognized within ideological families.
New concepts are often either fluidly applied, or become temporarily
affixed to concepts that later are unsustainable. Ideologies are
therefore constantly evolving and changing, rather than fixed sets of
principles.
A few adaptations are made to Freeden’s conceptual approach. For
instance, whilst Freeden identifies political philosophy solely with the
Anglo-American analytical approach, and thus with a commitment to a
universal logos or reason,[61] the modification here uses contributions
of philosophical schools that are critical of these liberal
Enlightenment presuppositions, such as Alasdair MacIntyre’s
work.[62]^(,)[63] The first adaptation accords greater emphasis to the
role of resources such as institutions and media; the second gives
greater priority to ethical principles as key features of ideological
practices.
Freeden indicates that different ideologies operate through different
forms of institutional practice. For instance, some ideologies, like
radical forms of socialism and anarchism, plus certain constellations of
feminism and environmentalism, are capable of operating in and through
the apparatus of public protest, whilst others, like conservatism, are
largely antipathetic towards public demonstration.[64] Similarly, many
contemporary ideologies operate through the institution of the
democratic-political party,[65] whilst other ideologies, like anarchism,
oppose them. As MacIntyre explains, institutions are collections of
linked individual practices. Practices are made up out of resources that
operate according to particular structure of evolving norms,[66] and
engage particular types of agent representative,[67] to produce
particular types of internal and external good,[68] and certain types of
reasoning.[69] Thus, the slight difference between Freeden’s conceptual
approach and the analysis offered here is the greater emphasis on
resources, and how they impact on the structure of concepts and
principles and their ability (or otherwise) to intersect with other
ideological structures and practices.
Apparently identical principles will have a different structure and
therefore a distinctive set of interpretations dependent on the
different media or organizational arrangement through which they are
expressed. For instance, egalitarian environmental principles will be
interpreted differently if they are expressed through the format of an
open-access eco-camp, than if they are expressed textually in a glossy
periodical emanating from a professional charitable organization. Strong
centralized institutions can impose and restrict conceptual arrangements
to ensure greater uniformity of interpretation. Considerable resources
are spent on attempting to decontest and unify apparently conflicting or
ambiguous conceptual arrangements.[70]
The second adaption is to consider ethical values to be a core feature
of ideologies, necessary for their function, and their self-assessment
and critical evaluation from adjacent or rival ideologies. Freeden tends
to view moral values as necessarily real universals. For instance,
Freeden associates ethical analysis with the search for decontested
universal principles of orthodox political philosophy.[71] However, as
MacIntyre’s practice-based virtue ethics indicates, goods (virtues)
construct and are constructed by persistent social practices, but are
not universal and can change over time. For instance, the internal goods
of playing chess (patience, theoretical wisdom and sportsmanship) are
not structured in the same way in competitive white-water rafting: there
will still be patience and proper competitive respect, but bravery,
teamwork and practical wisdom might be more to the fore. Similarly, the
ethical values inherent in political practices alter, according to the
context. The values inherent in organizing a workplace syndicate are
different to, but consistent with, the values of occupying unused land
to turn it into a communal garden. The development of these practices,
and the ways they intersect, helps form a tradition.
There is no denying that anarchism and Marxism have in the
(post-)industrialized West broadly different histories, canons and
resources. Indeed, for a significant section of the 20^(th) century,
anarchism, and to a noticeable but lesser extent Marxism, defined
themselves against the other. For instance, Guy Aldred’s Glasgow
anarchist group[72] contrasts the anti-hierarchical methods of anarchism
with the tyrannical practices of state socialism. Similarly, the
libertarian Solidarity group in their pamphlet, As We Don’t See It,
defined its socialist ideas in direct contrast to the socialisms of
social-democracy and especially the repressive, hierarchical tyrannies
of state socialism, personified by Lenin.[73] Throughout the 1980s and
1990s, the continuing totemic influence of state-socialism was so great
that anarchists still felt they needed to dedicate significant resources
to distinguishing their politics from those of the orthodox Marxist
left.[74]
In his extensive analysis of socialisms, Freeden makes few explicit
mentions of anarchisms, though he does make passing mention to Bakunin,
William Godwin and Stirner as part of the challenge to liberal
conceptions of freedom.[75] Freeden regards anarchism as straddling
ideological categories. For Freeden, the rival anarchist
traditions—individualist and social—are so distinct that it ‘may be
mistaken to lump the two schools […] under one roof, or family.’[76]
Agreeing with Freeden, this paper largely concentrates on just the
social (sometimes referred to as the ‘class struggle’) current of
libertarianism, though it largely identifies different core values from
Freeden. Miller, too, resolves the problem of the apparent lack of
shared values by suggesting multiple anarchisms.[77] However, Miller
proposes that all anarchisms share a commitment to a rejection of
coercion (without reference to the adjacent principle of contesting
hierarchy). As a result, this leads to a reductively liberal reading of
communist anarchism.[78]
Freeden proposes that there are three concepts that identify anarchism:
[F]irst—indicated in the name of this ideational cluster—antagonism to
power, culminating in the desire to annihilate it (power is decontested
as centralized and hierarchical and manifested above all, though not
exclusively, in the state); second, a belief in liberty, decontested as
spontaneous voluntarism; third, the postulation of natural human
harmony.[79]
Although this is an accurate summary of typical academic accounts of
anarchism, these are not core features of most social anarchisms.
Anarchists are not against all power: indeed, they recognize that power
can be constructive and non-hierarchical. Similarly, many main anarchist
groups do not hold that all liberty is spontaneous, instead viewing it
as sometimes premeditated and requiring co-ordination (hence they
construct institutions like social centres and formal groupings such as
syndicates).
The third core principle is another that is frequently associated with
anarchism,[80] but it is highly contentious. Whilst there are some
anarchists who view people as ‘inherent[ly] creative’ and essentially
‘critical,’[81] and who predicate their political analysis on the belief
in a shared common ‘humanity’ that is antipathetic to capitalism,[82]
this essentialism is neither common nor core to anarchism. Indeed, the
quotation from Kropotkin used by Jonathan Wolff to support the
contention that anarchism rests on a benign essentialism actually states
the opposite: ‘No more laws! No more judges! Liberty, equality and
practical human sympathy are the only effective barriers we can oppose
to the anti-social instincts of certain amongst us.’[83] Kropotkin is
clear that humans have both social and anti-social instincts. Kropotkin,
as made clear in his Ethics,[84] argues only that the people have the
capacity to act benevolently, as opposed to the malign essentialism of
certain social Darwinists that were prominent in Kropotkin’s time.
McLaughlin, too, demonstrates that the essentialism ascribed to Bakunin
is down to fundamentally flawed scholarship.[85]
Instead, a different set of core principles for anarchism can be
identified: contesting hierarchies of power, anti-mediation and
privileging prefigurative methods. These are relatively stable and can
be found in anarchist accounts of their tactics. The first core
principle can be found in anarchists’ consistent rejection of the state
and quasi-state institutions, their opposition to capitalism as a
hierarchical social relationship and confronting power relations based
on gender or ethnic prejudice. The second is evident in anarchists’
rejection of representative democracy and privileging of direct action
by the oppressed themselves. The third core concept, prefiguration,
involves the means being consistent with the goals. It is summed up in
the rationale for rejecting the party structure that was to become
associated with Marxism, advanced by James Guillaume, a colleague of
Bakunin: ‘How could one want an equalitarian and free society to issue
from authoritarian organization? It is impossible.’[86] Prefiguration
stresses that methods that contest or avoid hierarchies of power also
create, in the here and now, accessible social goods.
The rejection of the state that is a core feature of the rejection of
hierarchy (and embodies elements of anti-mediation and prefiguration) is
not, contrary to analytical descriptions, a universal feature of
anarchism. There have been occasions when rejecting the state was pushed
from the core to a more intermediate position. For instance, during the
Spanish Civil War many anarchists chose provisionally to support the
social democratic government when confronted with the even greater
hierarchical threat of Franco’s fascism. Similarly, it is not
inconsistent for libertarians, such as Noam Chomsky, to support state
welfare or health services, where the alternative is the greater
hierarchies and oppressions of unmediated capitalism.[87] Conversely, in
the face of state-capitalist domination, such as in the former Soviet
Union, the dominance of the bureaucrats might be constrained and a more
equitable distribution of goods might occur, with the support of a black
market, thereby pushing the rejection of capitalism to a more peripheral
position.
These core anarchist concepts are: anti-hierarchy, which has closely
related principles of negative appraisal of the state and capitalism;
anti-mediation, which relies on a social view of the self as an active
agent that does not require representation by others; and prefiguration,
meaning that the means are in accordance with, or a synecdoche, of the
goals. These central principles are not identical with the core concepts
of socialism, identified by Freeden, but can be compatible with them.
The socialist principles are: ‘The constitutive nature of human
relationships, human welfare as a desirable objective, human nature as
active, equality, and history as the arena of (ultimately) beneficial
change.’[88] The issue of how these principles were derived (in terms of
selection of the ‘socialist’ canon) and whether different or modified
alternative concepts might be more suitable is a topic worthy of debate,
although not one that can be entered into here.
What is clear is that whilst there are differences, there is also
significant overlap between these broadly drawn socialist principles and
those of anarchism. An instance of this would be in the social account
of the individual, which Freeden illustrates with reference to Marx’s
Grundrisse.[89] Like anarchists, Marxists see individuals as gaining
their sense of self, and being able to produce and enjoy goods, through
their interactions with others. Similarly, there are within Marx
explicit suggestions of the same commitment to prefiguration that is
found within anarchism. Marx describes Communism not in a
consequentialist manner but as an inherent part of the process of its
realization.
Communism is for us not a state of affairs which is to be established,
an ideal to which reality {will} have to adjust itself. We call
communism the real movement which abolishes the present state of things.
The conditions of this movement result from the now existing
premise.[90]^(,)[91]
In institutions that are open to collaboration, these similarities, such
as a social, fluid view of the self and prefiguration, are highlighted
and privileged. When institutions wish to maintain control and thereby
limit the influence of other practices, these constraining institutions
emphasize their difference, making the areas of demarcation into
unbreakable, universal principles. Constellations of anarchism and
Marxism that privilege the shared concepts as core relegate differences
to the periphery and thus allow interpretations that promote sympathetic
readings of the adjacent ideologies. In these circumstances, they are
likely to construct productive alliances.[92]
There were, as already indicated, considerable similarities between
British anarchists and Marxists, in their interpretations of key goals,
which allowed for significant co-operation and interchange. This is not
to deny that there were constellations of Marxism and anarchism, even in
the pre-revolutionary period, that were largely antagonistic to each
other. Before the infamous split in the First International, there was
hostility between some Marxist groups and anarchists, for instance in
the divisions between Proudhon and his followers and Marx. More
significantly, there were major conflicts between the two ideologies
over whether groups should engage in representative democracy. The split
within Jewish immigrant radical movements, in particular the setting up
of Der Arbeiter Fraint (The Workers’ Friend)—which would later become
explicitly anarchist and be edited by the anarchosyndicalist Rudolf
Rocker—and Der Polishe Yidl (The Polish Jew), was partly over the
latter’s support for parliamentary candidates.[93] Representationalism
aimed at providing a voice for the oppressed within the structures of
the state is associated with Marxism, and rejected by anarchists because
it produces a new hierarchy of the powerful representer and the denuded
represented.[94]
The privileged role of the party, before the rise of Leninist orthodoxy
within Marxism, was a major constraint on anarchist and Marxist
co-operation. Kropotkin, in a 1907 edition of his group’s newspaper
Freedom, explains how splits occurred in the wider labour movement as a
result of the development of parliamentary parties. In 1887, the
Marxist-influenced Social Democrats were interpreting their principles
as being largely consistently with anarchism:
[W]e held meetings in favour of our condemned Chicago Anarchist
brothers, the Social Democratic speakers by our side used the same
language as we did. They did the same at our Commune celebrations […
however there was a] striking and a sudden change.[95]
This change from co-operative interaction to mutual rivalry followed
further successful partnerships in organizing strikes. The successful
industrial actions were initially interpreted in the same way by
Marxists and anarchists: that the economically oppressed were capable of
organizing and running their own institutions that could challenge the
power of the dominant class and produce their own social goods.[96]
However, some socialists from within the avowedly Marxist SDF viewed the
rise of socialist ideas in the area of London’s docks as requiring
greater disciplined leadership, which in turn needed a parliamentary
party. This new party, whilst still adopting some core socialist
principles concerning equality of distribution, did so within a
structure predicated on maintaining and supporting a party hierarchy and
respect for the apparatuses of the law.[97] It sought to restructure the
principles of socialism to make them amenable to liberal, electoral
opinion, rather than to radical, anti-hierarchical groupings. As a
result, the socialist principle of equality became closely associated
with paternalistic welfare, rather than being tied to principles of
autonomy as represented by direct action. The parliamentary socialists
from the SDF began rejecting workers’ self-organization in favour of a
historical continuation of constitutional action. Such a reorganization
of principles within the medium of the parliamentary party ended up,
laments Kropotkin, in the breaking of the autonomous labour movement and
the disintegration of the campaign for an eight-hour working day.[98]
However, the parliamentary turn within the SDF that led to a division
between Marxists and anarchists was more permeable and temporary than in
the aftermath of 1917. This is because the SDF did not have the
resources to dominate the radical left as the Communist Party was able
to do later. Also, the SDF was not unified in undertaking this
organizational change: many sections of the SDF were ambiguous about,
and some rejected, the parliamentary route. In addition, there were also
many rival Marxist groupings of comparative influence who continued to
prioritize co-ordinated direct efforts with anarchists and others over
labour organizing and defending immigrants rather than constitutional
roles.[99] Thus, there was no single body capable of imposing a singular
structure of socialist concepts. ‘Socialism’ therefore remained a
sufficiently fluid constellation of principles, many forms of which
continued to be highly compatible with anarchism.
Leaving to one side the individualist sections of anarchism, like The
Egoist (which was opposed to socialism from Marxist and anarchist
groupings alike),[100] there was still significant co-operation between
Marxists and anarchists even after the split in the SDF. A handbill
produced in English by the Worker’s Friend (Der Arbeiter Fraint) for a
meeting against the Tsarist persecution of Jews in Russia included
anarchists like Kropotkin, Marx’s daughter Eleanor, as well as
parliamentarians and aspirant representatives like C.T. Ritchie,
Cunninghame Graham and John Burns.[101] This illustrated that, whilst
some of the parliamentary socialists were hoping to draw support for
their campaigns, others hoped to attract those primarily concerned with
constitutional activity into non-mediated action. On other occasions,
shared opposition to constitutionalism provided a basis for convivial
meeting and campaigning between Marxists and anarchists. There were, for
instance, continued attempts, as Freedom reports, at industrial unionism
between the various anti-parliamentary socialist movements throughout
the first decade of the 20^(th) century.[102]
Up until the Russian Revolution and even into the early years after the
Revolution, many anarchists and Marxists were often engaged in mutually
supportive initiatives. Freedom, for example, approvingly quoted
Trotsky, who a few years later would be blamed for the Kronstadt
massacre and other oppressions.[103] In 1917, the Bolshevik leadership
was praised for the way the post-revolutionary state had ended Russia’s
involvement in the First World War, and for instigating methods that
‘exactly coincide with that pursued by anarchists.’[104] However, the
apparent success of Lenin’s strategy in encouraging revolutionary action
meant that his model of political organizing was taken as the key
organizational strategy. The strong internal party discipline that had
clear, decontested political messages, that directed all activity
towards a clear set of mutually supportive strategic goals, and that
maintained the revolutionary state in Russia in order to foment similar
revolutions elsewhere impacted on the ideological construction of
Marxism.[105]
The party become central to Marxism and it became the medium by which
ideas were expressed. This resulted in a shift in Marxism’s
constellation of concepts and the emphasis each was given. With the
prestige of the revolution, and Lenin’s leadership, his interpretation
of socialism, based on the role of the state as a mediator to bring
about equality and welfare, became increasingly privileged. Alternative
interpretations, including those of anarchism, became marginalized and
rejected. This development can be identified in the British Socialist
Party (BSP) periodical The Call, which was amalgamated into The
Communist, Britain’s first Communist Party newspaper, on the BSP’s
merger with Socialist Labour Party and the South Wales Socialist Society
in 1920.
In 1916, The Call was critical of the attacks on individual freedom and
inequalities of the war, and rejected the hierarchies associated with
the nation state.[106] It spoke favourably of other socialist groups who
shared similar values,[107] reporting strikes and rent disputes that
were largely autonomous and publicized rallies by other socialist groups
like the ILP and Women’s Suffrage Federation (later to become Workers’
Socialist Federation, which would join and then quickly split from the
Communist Party).[108] It also promoted revolutionary syndicalism, a
tactic associated with anarchism[109] and just before the ‘Second
Russian Revolution’ it regarded state socialism as being no different to
‘state capitalism.’[110] However, after the October Revolution, the
paper adopted a single strategy and underlying concepts, that of the
apparently successful Bolsheviks:
The Bolsheviks have shown what Socialists, true to their principles and
adverse from all compromises can do, and gradually they are gaining the
adherence of the entire people of Russia as well as the working class
throughout the world.[111]
After the Bolshevik revolution, the goal was to replicate Lenin’s
organizational methods and adopt his analysis: ‘Russia may be different
from Great Britain, but the yoke which weighs upon the neck of the
working class is exactly the same, and the method for throwing it off is
also the same.’[112] The goal was fixed and universalized. As a result,
more complex ethical principles were reduced to a single
consequentialist goal: the justifying end being the predetermined,
unequivocal aim of Soviet-style revolution.
The party, the necessary instrument for the achievement of this end,
required complete hegemony of all revolutionary socialist groupings. As
a result, the BSP, under Lenin and Maxim Litvinoff’s (the
plenipotentiary to the Soviet Government in Britain) instruction, began
to exclude and marginalize those who did not share their structure of
values. As 1918 progressed, The Call made fewer positive references to
other socialist groups (except those it expected to join them in
creating the British Communist Party) and fewer positive mentions of
non-party actions.
The restructuring of socialist principles through the medium of the
Party also impacted on the epistemology of Marxism. To maintain the
purity of the party, Leninism increasingly relied upon the prestige of
the revolutionary leadership and the singular, apparently successful,
revolution. Shortly before the formal creation of the Communist Party,
John Bryan proclaimed the transcendent basis of the Bolshevik leadership
in almost theological terms, in an article titled ‘Man has risen,’
published in The Call:
But the Bolsheviks came, and the miracle unparalleled in human history
happened … with a daring, truly Promethean … There had never been such a
revolution in the history of mankind—a revolution on the ‘appointed’ day
by a seemingly small handful of men, every one of whom was prepared to
depart this life for the sake of life …
Russia of the proletariat and the peasants, Russia led by the
Bolsheviks, Russia guided by the transcendent genius of Lenin and
assisted by a host of workers with Trotsky, the incomparable organiser,
at their head….[113]
The principles endorsed by Lenin were universal and not open to
elaboration or addition from any alternative movement. As The Call
became The Communist, its call for party discipline became more
overt.[114] It ignored alternative interpretations of socialist
principles: for instance, the socialist writer John Tamlyn complained
that his letter criticizing The Call‘s version of Bakunin and Marx has
been declined for publication in their journal.[115] Compared to the
diverse readings on socialism in many of the pre-revolutionary socialist
papers, The Communist‘s recommended readings were entirely based on the
soviet experience of communism and revolution.[116]
By 1922, The Call‘s rejection of socialist opponents was more strident:
anarchists were ‘sneak thieves and murderers.’[117] Tactics and
organizational methods that were shared by anarchists and Marxists, such
as revolutionary syndicalism, were rejected in favour of party-building.
By 1921, such radical anti-parliamentary socialists were not worth
‘spending much time and space […] on,’ as they were the ‘Infantile
Left,’[118] a dismissive phrase lifted directly from Lenin.[119] Even
when rival socialists were attacked by capitalist states, they denied
the existence of pertinent, rival socialist discourses and movements.
For example, The Call‘s successor, The Communist, in its report on the
judicial murder of the radicals Ferdinando Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti
(who were prosecuted and convicted of a murder on flimsy and
contradictory evidence) made no mention of Sacco and Vanzetti’s
anarchist commitments.[120] This omission is particularly telling as the
initially successful prosecution used the defendants’ anarchist politics
as one of the main pieces of evidence against them (though executed,
they were posthumously pardoned in 1977). To have identified another
effective radical politics would have been in conflict with the Leninist
version of Marxism that presented itself as the only practical
alternative to capitalism.[121]
As the authority of the single party grew in Russia, anarchists who were
initially supportive of the revolution became critical of it, and
increasingly defined themselves against the Marxism of the Bolsheviks.
In the first month of 1920, Freedom, though critical of the Bolsheviks,
was still optimistic that one could compel them to ‘revise their ideas’;
it argued that it was unnecessary to ‘join a Marxist organization’ to
join in propaganda in favour of the revolution.[122] By April 1920,
Freedom‘s reports were more nuanced. It reported some atrocities in
Russia, but blamed the previous regime rather than the revolutionary
government. Anarchists spoke highly of improved working conditions, but
remained critical of the state as the dominant employer and the
restrictions on individuals’ freedom to pursue their own work.[123]
Throughout 1920, there was a continuous dialogue between the editors of
Freedom and its readers over whether Communist rule was a temporary,
justified measure, an understandable but mistaken response that is open
to alteration and change, or a fundamental betrayal of socialist
principles.[124] However, by 1921–1922, the matter was no longer
contested: Bolsheviks were persecuting anarchists and other socialists
according to respected reporters, including those such as Emma Goldman
and Alexander Berkman who had, at least initially, been sympathetic to
the revolution.[125] The regime in Russia was regarded as a tyranny, and
the structure of principles embedded within the social institutions of
the Communist Party in Russia and Britain were to be rejected
outright.[126] As Marxism became associated only with the main
orthodoxy, so anarchists began to define themselves against it, and the
terminology associated with it.[127]
Given the material resources, including the infamous ‘Russian gold’ that
helped fund domestic Communist Parties,[128] the one time substantial
membership of the Party, plus the considerable rhetorical skills of
Lenin, and the prestige he carried, core principles were largely
constrained in interpretation and capable of massive amplification.
Smaller dissident Marxist groups still existed, but were drowned out by
the Communist Party. These smaller Marxist groupings did have some
intersection with anarchism, which had also been reduced in size because
of the hegemonic victory of Leninism. These increasingly peripheral
post-revolutionary Marxist groups were almost entirely those that had
rejected the Leninist apparatus, strategy and interpretation of core
principles, such as the Council Communism of Herman Gorter and Anton
Pannekoek and Sylvia Pankhurst’s Workers Dreadnought.
The Leninist political structure was responsible for maintaining its
singular interpretation of Marxism, which was consequentialist and
statist and thus incompatible with anarchism. However, as the Party’s
pivotal role weakened, alternative Marxisms began to reappear. The
episodic decline of the revolutionary authority of the Communist Party
included critical events such as the betrayal of the revolution in the
Spanish Civil War (1936–1938), the Nazi-Soviet anti-aggression pact
(1939–1941), and Nikita Khrushchev’s speech at the Twentieth Conference
of the Communist Party that admitted to the abuses of Stalin’s rule,
followed by the Soviet invasion of Hungary (1956) and the Prague Spring
of February 1968. Each of these was partly produced by, and also
produced renewed interest in, alternative non-Leninist formulations of,
and practices in, Marxism. These were often associated with the
possibility of constellations that could be allied to forms of
anarchism, such as (using somewhat broad descriptors) Humanist Marxism,
new left socialism, Situationist and libertarian communist movements.
With the final decline in the authority of the Leninist strategy and the
collapse of the Soviet empire from 1989 to 1991, revolutionary
strategies based on the dominant role of the vanguard party have
declined in the UK. Even Leninists critical of the former Soviet Union
have seen their small, though culturally influential, groups decline in
numbers and impact. This has allowed for greater modification in
Marxism, especially constellations that have actively engaged with
libertarianism, such as the autonomous Marxist and other critical,
non-Leninist communist traditions (from the likes of Harry Cleaver and
John Holloway).[129] These coalitions have been a feature of successful
anti-capitalist activities, much to the annoyance of more orthodox
Marxists.[130] Some anarchists remain critical of certain features of
these developments, fearing a reduction of anarchism into Marxism,[131]
rather than a recognition of commonalities and differences. Others,
however, such as Wayne Price, highlight those characteristics of some
forms of autonomism that are still tied to state-party activity or a
political epistemology wedded to an ontological determinism.[132]
Nonetheless, many contemporary anarchists recognize that much can be
gained from a thoughtful interaction with a renewed Marxism no longer
tied to the regimented interpretations of the Leninist party.
Whilst those committed to the Leninist party structure are at the
forefront of interpreting Marxism and anarchism as necessarily rival
movements,[133] and some anarchists continue to define themselves
against the Leninist version of Marxism,[134] in a wide range of
groupings such distinctions have declined in importance. The heterodox
autonomist Marxist trend, as the Lenin-defending Paul Blackledge
critically notes, share most core principles and organizational modes of
operation, and these are a threat to the orthodox Marxist tradition that
maintains this division.[135]
This paper has explored two main ways of examining the distinction
between anarchism and Marxism, one emanating from analytic, political
philosophy; the other from the conceptual approach developed by Freeden.
In the first, the commitment to discovering universal rules, through
application of a single logos of reasoning, produces a limited account
of anarchism (‘philosophical anarchism’) reduced to a single criterion
of ‘absence of coercion’ (or is subsidiary principle ‘rejection of the
state’), which is not only distinct from Marxism but from the actual
practices of anarchist movements past and present. An alternative
approach, derived from Freeden, looks at ideologies as stable, but
adaptable core and peripheral concepts, which mutually self-define and
are expressed through institutions, practices and traditions. Using this
conceptual method of analysis, different structures of anarchism and
Marxism are identified. Within this range of ideological constellations
are forms of anarchism and Marxism that are contingently compatible.
Historically, whilst divisions persist, arising through strategic and
tactical differences, there have also been areas of commonality. There
were shared core principles, which were later shifted to the periphery.
Whilst many Marxisms in the pre-revolutionary period might have included
notions like the defence of the revolutionary state, it did not become
core until after the Bolshevik success. As a result, concepts shared by
a great number of social anarchists and Marxists, like ‘communism,’ were
not interpreted primarily through the later adjacent contested notion of
the ‘state.’ The communist goal was still ‘in the gristle.’ It was with
the apparent success of the Bolshevik Revolution that key concepts
within Marxism were defined in ways antipathetic to anarchism. Whilst
other representative and centralized parties had similarly attempted to
fix the interpretation of Marxism within a disciplined, centralized
party, these failed to dominate as they lacked the resources and esteem
necessary to discipline socialist dissenters. Similarly, as
state-centred Communist parties have gone into rapid decline,
alternative formulations now have greater space for expression and no
longer need to primarily define themselves against the previous Leninist
orthodoxy.
My thanks to Lesley Stevenson for her superhuman efforts in turning my
version of English into one that is (almost) comprehensible to others;
to the Carnegie Trust for a travel scholarship to carry our primary
research at the British Newspaper Library; to Prof. Christopher
Thornhill for his helpful and supportive suggestions; and to staff and
students at the University of Glasgow: Dumfries for their practical
criticism and encouragement, in particular Dr Stuart Hanscomb. I am also
grateful to friends and colleagues in various anarchist, Marxist and
syndicalist groups for their insights and assistance.
[1]
E. Hobsbawm, Age of Extremes: The Short Twentieth Century 1914–1991
(London: Abacus, 1995).
[2]
M. Freeden, Ideologies and Political Theory: A Conceptual Approach
(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996).
[3]
M. Freeden, Ideology: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 2003).
[4] Analytic’ is preferred to ‘Anglo-American’ as the former stresses
the importance of methodology rather than geography. Commentators like
Philip Pettit and Daniel McDermott prefer ‘analytical’ to ‘analytic,’
but most learned societies based on this tradition use the latter, so
‘analytic’ and ‘analytical’ are used interchangeably.
[5]
J. Wolff, An Introduction to Political Philosophy (Oxford: Oxford
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[6]
M. Freeden, ‘Editorial: Liberalism in the limelight,’ Journal of
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[7]
A. Heywood, Political Ideologies: An Introduction (Basingstoke:
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(Rockville, MD: ARC Manor, 2008), p. 5.
[8]
G. Woodcook, Anarchism (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1975), p. 136.
[9]
P. Thomas, Karl Marx and the Anarchists (London: Routledge & Kegan
Paul, 1980), p. 250.
[10]
V. Serge, Revolution in Danger (London: Red Words, 1997), p. 104.
[11] Paul Thomas ‘All feathered up: A new defence of anarchism,’ Workers
Liberty, available at
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June 2011).
[12]
M. Philp, ‘Political theory and history,’ in D. Leopold and M. Stears
(Eds) Political Theory: Methods and Approaches (Oxford: Oxford
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Investigations (Oxford: Blackwell, 1978), paras. 66–67 (pp. 31–32);
IIxi (pp. 193–196).
[13]
D. McDermott, ‘Analytical political philosophy,’ in D. Leopold and M.
Stears (Eds) Political Theory: Methods and Approaches (Oxford:
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[14]
P. Pettit, ‘Analytical philosophy,’ in R. Goodin and P. Pettit (Eds) A
Companion to Contemporary Political Philosophy (Oxford: Blackwell,
2000), pp. 7–38.
[15] McDermott, op. cit., Ref. 13, p. 11.
[16]
P. Pettit, op. cit., Ref. 14, p. 137.
[17]
D. Miller, Political Philosophy: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford:
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[18]
P. McLaughlin, ‘In defence of philosophical anarchism,’ in B. Franks
and M. Wilson (Eds) Anarchism and Moral Philosophy (Basingstoke:
Palgrave, 2010), p. 22.
[19] See also P. McLaughlin, Anarchism and Authority: A Philosophical
Introduction to Classical Anarchism (Aldershot: Gower, 2007), p. 16.
[20] Propertarian is the favoured term for right-libertarians and
anarcho-capitalists, as it captures both schools and leaves open the
question as whether either is actually a ‘libertarian’ or ‘anarchist’
theory properly speaking (see I. McKay, An Anarchist FAQ (Edinburgh: AK
Press, 2008), pp. 478–503).
[21]
A. Carter, ‘Outline of an anarchist theory of history,’ in D. Goodway
(Ed.) For Anarchism: History, Theory and Practice (London:
Routledge), p. 176.
[22] Thomas, op. cit., Ref. 9.
[23]
P. McLaughlin, Mikhail Bakunin: The Philosophical Basis of His Theory
of Anarchy (New York: Algora, 1993).
[24] For a wider discussion of this, see B. Franks, ‘Anarchism and
analytic philosophy,’ in R. Kinna (Ed.) Continuum Companion to Anarchism
(London: Continuum), pp. 53–73.
[25]
D. Miller, Anarchism (London: Dent, 1984), pp. 2–3.
[26]
D. Knowles, Political Philosophy (London: Routledge, 2001), p. 249.
[27] McLaughlin, op. cit., Ref. 18, p. 23.
[28] Miller, op. cit., Ref. 25, p. 3.
[29] Miller, Miller, pp. 5–9, 15–16.
[30]
D. Keyt, ‘Aristotle and anarchism,’ in Richard Kraut and Steven
Skultety (Eds), Aristotle’s Politics (Oxford: Rowan & Littlefield,
2005), pp. 203–222; Knowles, op. cit., Ref. 26, p. 249; Wolff, op.
cit., Ref. 5, pp. 30–31.
[31]
A. Carter, ‘Analytical anarchism: Some conceptual foundations,’
Political Theory 28(2) (April 2000), pp. 230–253.
[32]
G. Cohen, Karl Marx’s Theory of History: A Defence (Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 1978).
[33]
D. Keyt, ‘Aristotle and anarchism,’ in R. Kraut and S. Skultety (Eds)
Aristotle’s Politics (Oxford: Rowan & Littlefield, 2005), p. 204.
[34] There are exceptions. Alan Carter, for instance, also includes a
commitment to equality, op. cit., Ref. 31, pp. 231–232. William
Hocking’s version of ‘philosophical anarchism,’ predates R. P. Wolff by
the best part of half a century and he too identifies economic equality
as a core feature of anarchism (‘The philosophical anarchist,’ in Robert
Hoffman (Ed.) Anarchism as Political Philosophy (London: Aldine
Transaction, 2010), p. 118).
[35] R.P. Wolff, In Defense of Anarchism (London: Harper, 1976).
[36]
A. J. Simmons ‘The anarchist position: A reply to Klosko and Senor,’
Philosophy and Public Affairs, 16(3) (1987), pp. 269–279; A. J.
Simmons, ‘Justification and legitimacy,’ Ethics, 109(4) (July
1999), pp. 739–771.
[37] McLaughlin, op. cit., Ref. 19, pp. 70, 132–136.
[38]
P. Vallentyne, H. Steiner, and M. Otsuka ‘Why left-libertarianism is
not incoherent, indeterminate, or irrelevant: A reply to Fried,’
Philosophy & Public Affairs, 33(2) (March 2005), pp. 201–215.
[39] Miller, op. cit., Ref. 25, p. 5; Heywood, op. cit., Ref. 7, p. 197.
[40]
J. Mayer, ‘A postmodern look at the tension between anarchy and
socialism,’ History of European Ideas, 16(4–6) (1993), p. 592.
[41] The Alarm, 1(10), Sunday, 22 November, 1896, p. 3.
[42] The Anarchist: Communist and Revolutionary, 2(17), Sunday, 24
February 1895, p. 3.
[43]
W. McCartney, Dare to Be a Daniel! A History of One of Britain’s
Earliest Syndicalist Unions 38 Strikes Fought—38 Won! The Life and
Struggles of an Agitator and the Fight to Free the Catering Slaves
of the West End of London (1910–1914) (London: Kate Sharpley
Library, n.d.).
[44]
G. Cores, Personal Recollections of the Anarchist Past (London: Kate
Sharpley Library, 1992).
[45] See for instance K. Marx, ‘“The alleged splits in the First
International” and “Conspectus of Bakunin’s Statism and Anarchy”,’ in
The First International And After Political Writings, Vol. 3
(Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1992), pp. 269–314 and pp. 333–338; M. Bakunin,
Statism and Anarchy (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990);
Russell, op. cit., Ref. 8, pp. 37–39; McLaughlin, op. cit., Ref. 23;
Thomas, op. cit., Ref. 9; M. Schmidt and Lucien van der Walt, Black
Flame: The Revolutionary Class Politics of Anarchism and Syndicalism
(Edinburgh: AK Press, 2010), pp. 14 and 45–46; Thomas, op. cit., Ref.
11, 17 May 2011 (accessed 17 June 2011); see too Iain McKay’s replies at
http://www.workersliberty.org/story/2011/05/17/how-anarchism-parted-ways-marxism
(accessed 17 June 2011).
[46]
M. Lipman, Memoirs of a Socialist Businessman (London: Lipman Trust,
1980), p. 17.
[47] See for instance, ‘Ammunition for socialism,’ The Call: An Organ of
International Socialism, 23(3), Thursday, 14 September 1916, No. 23, p.
3.
[48] Freeden, op. cit., Ref. 2, pp. 48–49.
[49] Freeden, op. cit., Ref. 3, p. 62.
[50] Freeden, op. cit., Ref. 2, p. 145.
[51] Freeden, op. cit., Ref. 3, pp. 63–64.
[52] Freeden, op. cit., Ref. 2, p. 4; Freeden, op. cit., Ref. 3, p. 61.
[53] See M. Rothbard, For a New Liberty: The Libertarian manifesto (New
York: Collier MacMillan, 1978), online edition (Ludwig Mises Institute,
2002), available at http://www.mises.org/rothbard/foranewlb.pdf
(accessed 14 May 2010).
[54] Freeden, op. cit., Ref. 2, p. 86.
[55] Freeden, op. cit., Ref. 2, pp. 86–87.
[56] Freeden, op. cit., Ref. 2, pp. 77–78.
[57] Freeden, op. cit., Ref. 2, p. 78.
[58] Freeden, op. cit., Ref. 3, p. 62.
[59] Freeden, op. cit., Ref. 3, p. 63.
[60]
P. Linebaugh, ‘Introduction,’ in Peter Linebaugh Presents Thomas Paine:
‘Rights of Man’ and ‘Common Sense’ (London: Verso, 2009), p. viii.
[61] Freeden, op. cit., Ref. 2, pp. 1–2, 36–37.
[62]
A. MacIntyre, Whose Justice, Which Rationality? (London, Duckworth,
2001).
[63]
A. MacIntyre, After Virtue, 2^(nd) edn (London: Duckworth, 2006).
[64] Freeden, op. cit., Ref. 3, p. 2.
[65] Freeden, op. cit., Ref. 3, pp. 78–79.
[66] MacIntyre, op. cit., Ref. 63, p. 152.
[67] MacIntyre, op. cit., Ref. 63, pp. 187–188.
[68] MacIntyre, op. cit., Ref. 63, pp. 222–223.
[69] MacIntyre, op. cit., Ref. 62.
[70]
M. Freeden, ‘What should the “political” in political theory explore,’
Journal of Political Philosophy, 13(2) (2005), pp. 113–134, 121.
[71] Freeden, op. cit., Ref. 2, pp. 4–5, 28.
[72]
G. Aldred, ‘Against terrorism in workers’ struggle’, in Studies in
Communism (Glasgow: Strickland Press, 1940), pp. 53–57.
[73] Solidarity, As We Don’t See It (London: London Solidarity, 1967).
[74] See, for instance, J. Barr, ‘Question Marx,’ Heavy Stuff, 4 (1991);
Class War, 73 (1997), pp. 10–12; Trotwatch, Trotwatch: An Anarchist
Commentary on the Left (Nottingham: Trotwatch, 1992); Virus: An
Anarcho-Socialist Magazine, 1 (1984), pp. 1, 7–10.
[75] Freeden, op. cit., Ref. 2, pp. 311–314.
[76] Freeden, op. cit., Ref. 2, p. 311.
[77] Miller, op. cit., Ref. 25, p. 14; also R. Kinna who also argues
that there is no single unified account of anarchism which can cover
individualists, egoists and socialists, and that only by looking at
their histories and actions can anarchist ideas be properly
conceptualized (Anarchism: A Beginners Guide (Oxford: Oneworld, 2005),
pp. 1–38).
[78] Miller, op. cit., Ref. 25, pp. 45–59, 169–183.
[79] Freeden, op. cit., Ref. 2., p. 312.
[80] See Knowles, op. cit., Ref. 22; Wolff, op. cit., Ref. 5.
[81]
J. Gore, ‘In the eye of the beholder—Child, mad or artist,’ in J.
Purkis and J. Bowen (Eds), Changing Anarchism: Anarchist Theory and
Practice in a Global Age (Manchester: Manchester University Press,
2004), pp. 146, 156.
[82]
Q. Graeber, in J. Goaman, ‘The anarchist travelling circus: Reflections
on contemporary anarchism, anti-capitalism and the international
scene,’ in Purkis and Bowen (Eds) op. cit. Ref, 81, p. 165.
[83]
Q. Kropotkin, in Wolff, op. cit., Ref. 5, p. 29.
[84]
P. Kropotkin, Ethics: Origins and Development (Montreal: Black Rose,
1992).
[85] McLaughlin, op. cit., Ref. 23, p. 4.
[86]
Q. W. Guillaume, in M. Bakunin, Marxism, Freedom and the State
(London: Freedom Press, 1984), p. 7.
[87]
N. Chomsky, ‘Chomsky on Ron Paul,’ Anarchismtoday.org, Sunday, 2
December 2007, available at
http://anarchismtoday.org/News/article/sid = 74.html (accessed 16
May 2010).
[88] Freeden, op. cit., Ref. 2, pp. 425–426.
[89] Freeden, op. cit., Ref. 2, p. 426.
[90]
K. Marx and F. Engels, German Ideology (Moscow: Progress, 1976), p. 57.
[91] Christopher Garland discusses this in his paper ‘A dual-power
situation? Communization and the materiality of anti-power,’ Taking
Control Conference, 12 March 2011, available at Backdoor Broadcasting
Company,
http://backdoorbroadcasting.net/2011/03/christian-garland-a-dual-power-situation-communization-and-the-materiality-of-anti-power/
(accessed 6 June 2011).
[92] Freeden, op. cit., Ref. 3, pp. 63–64.
[93]
W. Fishman, East End Jewish Radicals 1875–1914 (London: Duckworth,
1975), p. 151.
[94] See Bakunin, op. cit., Ref. 86, pp. 35–39.
[95]
P. Kropotkin, ‘1886–1907: Glimpses into the labour movement in this
country,’ Freedom: A Journal of Anarchist Communism, 21(222)
(October 1907), pp. 57–58.
[96]
P. Kropotkin, ‘1886–1907: Glimpses into the labour movement in this
country,’ Freedom: A Journal of Anarchist Communism, 21(222)
(October 1907), p. 57.
[97]
P. Kropotkin, ‘1886–1907: Glimpses into the labour movement in this
country,’ Freedom: A Journal of Anarchist Communism, 21(222)
(October 1907), pp. 57–58.
[98]
P. Kropotkin, ‘1886–1907: Glimpses into the labour movement in this
country,’ Freedom: A Journal of Anarchist Communism, 21(222)
(October 1907), p. 58.
[99]
P. Kropotkin, ‘1886–1907: Glimpses into the labour movement in this
country,’ Freedom: A Journal of Anarchist Communism, 21(222)
(October 1907); Fishman, op. cit., Ref. 93, pp. 186–187.
[100]
100. D. Marsden, ‘The illusion of anarchism,’ The Egoist: An
individualist review, 1(18), Tuesday, 15 September 1914, pp.
341–342; D.M. [Dora Marsden?], ‘Views and comments,’ The
Egoist: An individualist review, 1(16) (15 August 1914), pp.
303–305.
[101] Fishman, op. cit., Ref. 93, p. 321.
[102] See, for instance, S. Carlyle Potter, ‘Propaganda notes,’ Freedom
(January 1909), p. 7.
[103]
A. Berkman, The Russian Tragedy (London: Phoenix, 1986), pp. 82–83.
[104] Freedom (February 1918), p. 7.
[105]
V. Lenin, ‘Left-Wing’ Communism: An Infantile Disorder (Peking: Foreign
Language Press, 1975).
[106] The Call: An Organ of International Socialism, 2 (9 March 1916),
pp. 1–2; W. Watson, ‘Capitalism,’ The Call: An Organ of International
Socialism, 3 (16 March 1916), p. 4.
[107] The Call: An Organ of International Socialism, 1 (24 February
1916), p. 1.
[108] The Call, 1 (1916), The Call: An Organ of International Socialism,
1 (24 February 1916), p. 4.
[109] The Call: An Organ of International Socialism, 60 (31 May 1917),
p. 4.
[110]
D. Montefiore ‘The Ferment of Revolution,’ The Call: An Organ of
International Socialism, 80, 18 October 1917, p. 2.
[111] The Call: An Organ of International Socialism, 97 (14 February
1918), p. 1.
[112] The Call: An Organ of International Socialism, 87 (6 December
1917), 97 (14 February 1918), p. 1.
[113]
J. Bryan, ‘Man has arisen,’ The Call: An Organ of International
Socialism, 208, Thursday, 1 April 1920, p. 2.
[114]
T. Bell, ‘On party organisation,’ The Communist (8 October 1921), p. 4.
[115]
J. Tamlyn, ‘Marx and Bakunin,’ Freedom (June 1920), p. 35.
[116] See The Communist (12 August 1920), p. 10.
[117] Editor of Izvestia, ‘Anti-Soviet revolutionaries,’ The Communist
(22 April 1922), p. 3.
[118] The Communist, 65, Saturday, 29 October 1921, p. 1.
[119] Lenin, op. cit., Ref. 105.
[120]
J. Caleg, ‘Sacco and Vanzetti,’ The Communist (10 June 1922).
[121] Freedom (July–August 1927), p. 37.
[122] Freedom (January 1920), p. 6.
[123] Freedom (April 1920), p. 20.
[124] See, for instance, F. Tyler, ‘Anarchism and Bolshevism,’ Freedom
(January 1920), p. 6; J. Tamlyn, ‘Anarchism and Bolshevism,’ Freedom
(January 1920), p. 20; S. Cooper, ‘Anarchism and Bolshevism,’ Freedom
(May 1920), p. 20; Tamlyn, op. cit., Ref. 115, p. 35; W. Winter,
‘Anarchism and Bolshevism,’ Freedom (July 1920), p. 38; B. Plattin,
‘Anarchists and dictatorship of the proletariat,’ Freedom (December
1920), p. 78.
[125] Freedom (July 1921), p. 37; A. Berkman and E. Goldman, ‘Bolsheviks
shooting anarchists,’ Freedom (January 1922), p. 4.
[126] Freedom (April 1922), pp. 23–24; A. Berkman, ‘Some Bolshevik lies
about the Russian anarchists,’ Freedom (April 1922), pp. 24–26; E.
Goldman, ‘The story of Bolshevik tyranny,’ Freedom (July 1922), pp.
47–51.
[127]
G. Rhys, ‘Class war’s rough guide to the left,’ Class War: The Heavy
Stuff, 2 (n.d.), p. 26.
[128]
W. Kendall, The Revolutionary Movement in Britain (London: Weidenfeld &
Nicolson, 1969), p. 249.
[129]
H. Cleaver, ‘Kropotkin, self-valorization and the crisis of Marxism’
(1993), available at Libcom,
http://libcom.org/library/kropotkin-self-valorization-crisis-marxism
and
http://recollectionbooks.com/bleed/Encyclopedia/Kropotkin/KropotkinSelf-valorization.htm
(accessed 17 May 2010), also published in Anarchist Studies 2(2)
(1994); J. Holloway, Change the World Without Taking Power (London:
Pluto, 2002).
[130] See the debates listed at Anarchist FAQ Editorial Collective, ‘An
anarchist FAQ. Appendix: Anarchism and Marxism,’ The Anarchist Library,
11 November 2008, available at
http://anarchism.pageabode.com/afaq/append3.html (accessed 17 May 2010).
[131] Anarcho, ‘“Synthesised” Marxism and anarchism? My arse!,’
Anarchist Writers, 17 July 2009, available at
http://anarchism.pageabode.com/anarcho/synthesised-marxism-and-anarchism-my-arse
(accessed 17 May 2010).
[132]
W. Price, ‘Libertarian Marxisms’ Relation to Anarchism’, Libcom.org,
available at
http://libcom.org/library/libertarian-marxisms-relation-anarchism
(accessed 17 June 2011).
[133] See, for instance, Paul Blackledge’s ‘Marxism and Anarchism’ in
the Socialist Workers Party’s International Socialism, 125 (January
2010), available at http://www.isj.org.uk/index.php4?id = 616&issue =
125 (accessed 8 June 2011); Thomas op. cit., Ref. 11.
[134]
M. Schmidt and Lucien van der Walt, op. cit., Ref. 45.
[135] Blackledge, op. cit., Ref. 133.