Anarchism
San Jansson March 6th, 2010
An Anarchist is basically a socialist who emphasizes liberty and the the need to abolish the state. Anarchists wants to organize society horizontally in order to get rid of the exploitation of man by man. (Guerin. 1978, p.11) The word Anarchism ”is derived from two ancient Greek words, av (an), apxn (arkhe), and means something like the absence of authority or government” (Guerin. 1978, p.10) The french anarchist/philosopher Pierre-Joseph Proudhon who was the first person to call himself an anarchist wrote;
”Neither heredity, nor election, nor universal suffrage, nor the excellence of the sovereign, nor the consecration of religion and of time, can make royalty legitimate. Whatever form it takes, — monarchic, oligarchic, or democratic, — royalty, or the government of man by man, is illegitimate and absurd.” (Proudhon. 1970, p. 275)
Anarchists go in lots of different directions about anarchism. The theories vary on methods for social change and on other matters, but they all share some basic concepts. They all view the state, capitalism and class society as something problematic that we have to get rid of (through some kind of revolution) in order to create a good society. Many Anarchists also rejects religion. Michael Bakunin wrote the following in God and the state;
”God being truth, justice, goodness, beauty, power, and life, man is falsehood, iniquity, evil, ugliness, impotence, and death. God being master, man is the slave.” (Bakunin. 1995, p. 41)
The utopian society differs somewhat between different groups of anarchists but is usually seen as a society based on free associations often based in industrial production and agriculture. (Larsson. 1997, p. 90) The methods for revolution vary from anarcho syndicalists who belive in general strike as the main tool for revolutionary change and more violent groups who belive in violent revolution, direct action against the state and individual terror against the oppressor, to anarchists who are pacifists. (Larsson. 1997, pp 87-88) Some of the main directions within anarchism are Individual anarchism, Social anarchism (Libertarian socialism, Anarchist communism) Anarcha feminism, Green anarchism (Ecoanarchism) and Christian anarchism.
References:
Guerin D. 1978 Anarkismen Från lära till handling. Stockholm: Federativ – Originally published: 1965
Proudhon P.J. 1970 What is property. New York: Dover publications – Originally published: 1840
Bakunin M. 1995 Gud och staten. Stockholm: Federativ – Originally published: 1882
Larsson R. 1997 Politiska ideologier i vår tid. (6th rev. ed.) Lund: Studentlitteratur
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