what is anarchism?
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What is Anarchism?
In a nut shell, Anarchism is both a political and social ideology that believes no one should have the power to control or exploit another. Anarchists are socialists, but not the kind of socialism that is imposed from above by a state, a dictator, or a party.
Anarchists want to change the present system which benefits men, the rich, and the powerful. We want to see the creation of a world based on equality and freedom, organised to meet the basic needs of all humanity, where the products of all work belong to all (communism). We also want to see the abolition of ruling class power. Society will be controlled by all people through their own organisations (anarchism).
A Working Class Tradition
Anarchism is not the product of the minds of a few intellectuals who have no contact with the great mass of people. It springs directly from the struggles of workers and the oppressed against capitalism, form their needs and all their unrealised desires for freedom, equality, happiness and self-fulfilment. In the past, whenever revolutions challenged the bosses, anarchist ideas and forms of organisation emerged, if only briefly, and often without calling themselves anarchist.
Anarchism developed as a force among the most class conscious workers. Beginning in the nineteenth century in the First International, a distinct anarchist tendency emerged, influenced by the Russian revolutionary Mikhail Bakunin and his friends and comrades. Since then, anarchism has had an important influence on the working class movements throughout the world, from Latin America, to Germany and Sweden, to China and Japan. It became deeply rooted and influential in class struggle organisations of workers in Italy, Spain and Portugal. It played a part in all major modern revolutions.
Anarchists have always argued and fought for the need for working people to take over and run society, to take into their own hands the control over the workplaces. They have consistently warned against the possibility of any party or others climbing to power on the backs of the working class during the revolutionary periods.
Real changes can be brought about by workers who are inspired by anarchism. Anarchism is not a utopian dream. It is an ever present undercurrent in working class practice, the task is to make it the main one.
Anarchist Communism: a possible future
An anarchist communist society will be radically different from the way we live today. Capitalism has changed the world beyond all recognition over the last two hundred years. Capitalists and state ‘communists’ (state capitalists) have tried to dominate nature and in doing so have brought us close to ecological disaster. Nightmare situations are possibly just around the corner as nature succumbs to industrialism, nuclear power, carbon dioxide emissions, deforestation, factory farming, etc.
Anarchist communism will mean a radical rethink on how we run our lives. We will have to live in harmony with nature, not against it. As well as changing the way we relate to nature, we have to change the way we relate to each other. All areas of our lives at the moment are subject to control from above. Thousands of people do jobs which amount to bossing people around and restricting freedom. Young people, blacks, gays and nonconformists are particularly prone to police harassment. Once we enter the workplace any semblance of personal control gives way to petty management and bullying. For many women and children, even their homes are unsafe in the face of family violence.
Anarchy: Freedom not Chaos
Anarchy means freedom. Individuals must not be subject to outside interference so long as they do not deny freedom to others. But freedom does not simply consist of being left to do your own thing. For real freedom to exist people must have security, a safe and caring environment and the means to achieve full human potential. Freedom, then, means the best possible education and health care to enable us to get the best out of life.
Freedom will best be strengthened through developing communities in which people can run their own lives. Under capitalism communities have all but disappeared as individuals and families lock themselves into their homes isolated from everybody else. In an anarchist society communities of various forms will probably occur, perhaps on the basis of workplace or locality. These communities will voluntarily join with others to create a network of independent yet co-operating organisations which will administer society.
This system, known as federation, will join together communities from the local to the international level. By basing social organisation on a sense of solidarity and co-operation individuals can participate in the running of their lives, contributing to the extension of their freedom.
So, people would directly, for the first time, take full control of their lives. There would be no place for leaderships, bosses, professional politicians and civil servants. Where certain tasks may require people in positions of responsibility, such posts would be filled on a voluntary and perhaps part time basis. These people would take on such tasks and they would be subject to instant recall by the people they serve.
Goodbye Capitalism
Anarchism would be the end of ‘law and order’ as we know it. The legal system which includes the police, magistrates, judges and prisons are a means of protecting the rich and powerful from the mass of the people. After the destruction of inequality and government such bodies would be disbanded. The prison would be demolished, the judges retired and the police officers re-engaged doing socially useful work. Most crime is against property and is caused by inequalities of wealth. As property becomes communalised and inequality disappears, so will most crime. There may still be anti-social elements but these would be dealt with by the communities themselves on a just and humane basis.
Capitalism has distorted and perverted every human relationship. Greed, getting rich, promotion at work, the reduction of human beings to economic units, the isolation of individuals, and so on, are directly the result of placing money before people.
Anarchist communism would abolish capitalism and private property and place it in the hands of the people. The public buildings, shops, offices, factories, warehouses and land would all be held by the community to develop for the benefit of all. This would not, however, mean the ending of personal possessions.
Communism requires the abolition of money and, if conditions permit, the distribution of goods and services free on the basis of personal need. In other words people will be able to take whatever they want, as they need it. If production is insufficient to provide the necessary abundance, then goods and services will be shared out equally to ensure their fair distribution. Given modern computer technology, there should be little difficulty in planning production and distribution to suit everyone’s needs, especially if there is not the wasteful duplication of production which marks the present system. “From each according to ability, to each according to need”.
At present, for most people, work is something to be avoided as far as possible but which is also necessary to provide a tolerable living standard. In an anarchist communist economy unnecessary work will be abolished and necessary work reduced to an absolute minimum to fall in line with people’s desires. Then, either unpleasant work will be rationed after being reduced to an absolute minimum by appropriate technology or done by those who find such work to their liking. The distinction between work and non-work will be abolished as people once again assume a harmonious way of life.
However, anarchist communism is not simply a matter of a new type of economy or method of social organisation. As a continuous process beginning before the revolution and developing after it, there needs to be an attack on all beliefs, attitudes, institutions and practices which diminish freedom and justice. Religion, sexism, ageism, racism, nationalism, greed and self-seeking, all need to be done away with, otherwise the revolution would not have been worthwhile. But we cannot do more than outline some of the developments which may come about. Many things may arise which we cannot foresee and so this outline of anarchist society is in no way a ‘sacred’ and unchangeable blueprint.
From Anarchism: As We See It by the Anarchist Federation, with a few minor changes made.
