Portal:Anarchism

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Anarchism is a political philosophy and movement that seeks to abolish all institutions that perpetuate authority, coercion, or hierarchy, primarily targeting the state, capitalism and organized religion. Anarchism advocates for the replacement of the state with stateless societies and voluntary free associations. Anarchism is described as being part of the libertarian wing of the socialist movement (libertarian socialism).

Although traces of anarchist ideas are found all throughout history, modern anarchism emerged from the Enlightenment. During the latter half of the 19th and the first decades of the 20th century, the anarchist movement flourished in most parts of the world and had a significant role in workers' struggles for emancipation. Various anarchist schools of thought formed during this period. Anarchists have taken part in several revolutions, most notably in the Paris Commune, the Russian Civil War and the Spanish Civil War, whose conclusion marked the end of the classical era of anarchism. In the last decades of the 20th and into the 21st century, the anarchist movement has been resurgent, growing in popularity and influence within anti-capitalist, anti-war and anti-globalisation movements. (Full article...)

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The Haymarket affair (also known as the Haymarket riot ) was a disturbance that began at a strike rally in Haymarket Square in Chicago on May 4, 1886. An unknown person threw a bomb at police as they dispersed the public meeting. The bomb blast and ensuing gunfire resulted in the deaths of eight police officers and an unknown number of civilians. In the internationally publicized legal proceedings that followed, eight anarchists were tried for murder. Four were put to death, and one committed suicide in prison.

The Haymarket affair is generally considered to have been an important influence on the origin of international May Day observances for workers. In popular literature, this event inspired the caricature of "a bomb-throwing anarchist." The causes of the incident are still controversial, although deeply polarized attitudes separating business and working class people in late 19th century Chicago are generally acknowledged as having precipitated the tragedy and its aftermath. The site of the incident was designated as a Chicago Landmark on March 25, 1992. The Haymarket Martyrs' Monument in nearby Forest Park was listed on the National Register of Historic Places and as a National Historic Landmark on February 18, 1997. (read more...)

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Credit: Napoleon Sarony

Oscar Wilde, novelist, poet and playwright, was so enchanted by the work of Peter Kropotkin that he converted to anarchism and wrote the essay The Soul of Man under Socialism.

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Did you know?

... that the 1869 anarchist manifesto Catechism of a Revolutionary, which established the importance of Russian anarchist Sergey Nechayev (pictured), portrays the revolutionary as an amoral avenger?
... that Future Primitive and Other Essays by anarcho-primitivist philosopher John Zerzan is regarded as an underground classic by anarchists and technophobes alike?
... that many of the tendencies within anarchism criticized by Chaz Bufe in his pamphlet Listen, Anarchist! are thought to have stemmed from the movement's individualist, Stirnerite wing?
... that in his 2001 post-anarchist book From Bakunin to Lacan, Saul Newman questions how classical anarchism can refrain from reproducing the forms of oppression that it tries to overcome?
... that rather than await execution, Russian anarchist assassin Moishe Tokar doused himself in paraffin from his prison cell lamp and burned himself alive?

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“

Therefore, the subject is not whether we accomplish Anarchism today, tomorrow, or within ten centuries, but that we walk towards Anarchism today, tomorrow, and always.

Anarchism is the abolition of exploitation and oppression of man by man, that is, the abolition of private property and government; Anarchism is the destruction of misery, of superstitions, of hatred. Therefore, every blow given to the institutions of private property and to the government, every exaltation of the conscience of man, every disruption of the present conditions, every lie unmasked, every part of human activity taken away from the control of the authorities, every augmentation of the spirit of solidarity and initiative, is a step towards Anarchism.

The problem lies in knowing how to choose the road that really approaches the realisation of the ideal and in not confusing the real progress with hypocritical reforms. For with the pretext of obtaining immediate ameliorations these false reforms tend to distract the masses from the struggle against authority and capitalism; they serve to paralyse their actions and make them hope that something can be attained through the kindness of the exploiters and governments. The problem lies in knowing how to use the little power we have – that we go on achieving, in the most economical way, more prestige for our goal.

There is in every country a government which, with brutal force, imposes its laws on all; it compels all to be subjected to exploitation and to maintain, whether they like it or not, the existing institutions. It forbids the minority groups to actuate their ideas, and prevents the social organisations in general from modifying themselves according to, and with, the modifications of public opinion. The normal peaceful course of evolution is arrested by violence, and thus with violence it is necessary to reopen that course. It is for this reason that we want a violent revolution today; and we shall want it always – so long as man is subject to the imposition of things contrary to his natural desires. Take away the governmental violence and ours would have no reason to exist.

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—Errico Malatesta, Towards Anarchism, ca. 1930.

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Anniversaries for August 2

1861: Fernando Tarrida del Mármol, Cuban activist, intellectual and originator of anarchism without adjectives, is born in Havana.
1894: The Italian anarchist Sante Geronimo Caserio is condemned to die by a Rhône court for the assassination of French President Sadi Carnot.
1909: Tragic Week, a series of bloody confrontations between the army and the working classes of Catalonia, is ended when troops brought from Castile crush the nascent revolt.
1922: Mécislas Charrier, French individualist anarchist and illégaliste is guillotined in Paris.
1972: Paul Goodman, radical intellectual, anarchist academic and co-founder of Gestalt Therapy, dies.

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