
                   The History of Anarchism
                        by Brian Crabtree (1992)

        The rejection of authority dates back to the Stoics and Cynics, and 
has been around for millenia.  However, the terms anarchist, anarchism, and 
anarchy, from the Greek "an archos" (without a rule), were used entirely in a 
negative manner before the nineteenth century.

                     ~ Proudhon and the Mutualists ~

        In 1840, in his controversial "What Is Property", French political 
writer and socialist Pierre-Joseph Proudhon became the first person to call 
himself an Anarchist.  In this book, Proudhon stated that the real laws of 
society have nothing to do with authority, but stem instead from the nature of 
society itself.  He also predicted the eventual dissolve of authority and the 
appearence of a natural social order.  "As man seeks justice in equality, so 
society seeks justice in anarchy.  Anarchy - the absence of a sovereign - such 
is the form of government to which we are every day approximating."  He was a 
'peaceful anarchist'; he believed that within existing society, the 
organizations could be created that would eventually replace it. Proudhon was 
born in 1809, originally a peasant, the son of a brewer. His "What Is Property"
and "System of Economic Contradictions" established him in the socialist 
community.  Later he went on to write "The Federal Principle" and "The 
Political Capability of the Working Class".

        Although he declared in "What Is Property" that "property is theft", 
he did not support communism, and regarded the right of workers to control the 
means of production as an important part of freedom.  He never considered 
himself the originator of a movement, but he did propose a federal system of 
autonomous communes.  He had many followers, but they preferred the title 
'Mutualists' to 'Anarchists'; Anarchism still bore a negative connotation.  
Proudhon and the Mutualists, along with British tradeunionists and socialists, 
formed the First International Workingmen's Association.

                      ~ Bakunin and Collectivism ~

        "The passion for destruction is also a creative passion" - These words 
would accurately summarize the position of Mikail Bakunin and the 
Collectivists.  Bakunin believed that Anarchy was only possible through a 
violent revolution, obliterating all existing institutions.  He was originally 
a nobleman, but became a revolutionary and joined the International in the 
1860's, after founding the Social Democratic Alliance and modifying Proudhon's
teachings into a new doctrine known as Collectivism.  Bakunin taught that 
property rights were impractical and that the means of production should be
owned collectively.  He was strongly opposed to Karl Marx, also a member of 
the International, and his ideas of a proletarian dictatorship.  This conlict 
eventually tore the International apart in 1872.  He died in 1876, but the 
next International that he and the Collectivists started in 1873 lasted for 
another year.  Later, his followers finally accepted the title of 'Anarchist'.

                       ~ Prince Peter Kropotkin ~ 

        In 1876, when he became a revolutionary, Peter Kropotkin renounced his 
title of Prince and became successor to Mikail Bakunin.  He developed the 
theory of Anarchist Communism: not only should the means of production be owned
collectively, but the products should be completely communized as well.  This 
revised Thomas More's Utopian idea of storehouses, "From each according to his 
means, to each according to his needs."  Kropotkin wrote "The Conquest of 
Bread" in 1892, in which he sketched his vision of a federation of free 
Communist groups.  In 1899 he wrote "Memoirs of a Revolutionist", an 
autobiographical work, and "Fields, Factories, and Workshops", which put 
forward ideas on the decentralization of industry necessary for an Anarchist 
society.  He later proved by biological and sociological evidence that 
cooperation is more natural than coercion ("Mutual Aid: A Factor in Evolution"
- 1902).  Kropotkin's writings completed the vision of the Anarchist future, 
and little new has been added since.  

                       ~ The Anarchist Movement ~

        Even before Proudhon entered the scene, Anarchist activism was going 
on.  The first plans for an Anarchist commonwealth were made by an Englishman 
named Gerrard Winstanley, who founded the tiny Digger movement.  In his 1649 
pamphlet, "Truth Lifting Up Its Head Above Scandals", he wrote that power 
corrupts, that property is incompatible with freedom, and that men can only be 
free and happy in a society without governmental interference, where work and 
its products are shared (what was to become the foundation for Anarchist 
theory in the years to come).  He led a group of followers to a hillside where 
they established an Anarchist village, but this experiment was quickly 
destroyed by local opposition.  Later another Englishman, William Godwin, 
would write 'Political Justice', which said that authority was against nature, 
and that social evils exist because men are not free to act according to 
reason.

        Among Italian Anarchists, an activist attitude was prevalent.  Said 
Errico Malatesta in 1876, "The insurrectionary deed, destined to affirm 
socialist principles by acts, is the most efficacious means of propaganda."
The first acts were rural insurrections, meant to arouse the uneducated 
citizens of the Italian countryside, but these were unsuccessful.  Afterward 
this activism tended to take the form of individual acts of protest by 
'terrorists', who attempted to assassinate ruling figures in the hope of 
demonstrating the vulnerability of the structure of authority and inspiring 
others by their self-sacrifice.  From 1890- 1901, a chain of assassinations 
took place: King Umberto I, Italy; Empress Elizabeth, Austria; President 
Carnot, France; President McKinley, United Stated; and Spanish Prime Minister 
Antonio C novas del Castillo.  Unfortunately, these acts had the opposite 
effect of what was intended- they established the idea of the Anarchist as a 
mindless destroyer.

        Also during the 1890's, many French painters, writers, and other 
artists discovered Anarchism, and were attracted to it because of its 
individualist ideas.  In England, writer Oscar Wilde became an Anarchist, and 
in 1891 wrote "The Soul of Man Under Socialism".

        Anarchism was also a strong movement in Spain.  The first Anarchist 
journal, "El Porvenir", was published in 1845, but was quickly silenced.  
Branches of the International were established by Guiseppe Fanelli in Barcelona
and Madrid.  By 1870, there were over 40,000 Spanish Anarchists members; by 
1873, 60,000, mostly organized in workingmen's associations, but in 1874 the 
movement was forced underground.  In the 1880's and '90's, the Spanish 
Anarchist movement tended toward terrorism and insurrections. 

        The Spanish civil war was the perfect opportunity to finally put ideas 
into action on a large scale.  Factories and railways were taken over.  In 
Andalusia, Catalonia, and Levante, peasents seized the land.  Autonomous 
libertarian villages were set up, like those described in Kropotkin's 'The 
Conquest of Bread'.  Internal use of money was abolished, the land was tilled 
collectively, the village products were sold or exchanged on behalf of the 
entire community, and each family recieved an equal share of necessities they 
could not produce themselves.  Many of these such communes were even more 
efficient than the other villages.  Although the Spanish Anarchists failed 
because they did not have the ability to carry out sustained warfare, they 
succeeded in inspiring many and showing that Anarchy can work efficiently.

        Although two of the greatest Anarchist leaders, Bakunin and Kropotkin,
were Russian, totalitarian censorship managed to supress most of the movement,
and it was never very strong in Russia.  Only one revolutionary, N.I. Makhno, a 
peasant, managed to raise an insurrectionary army and, by brilliant guerilla 
tactics, took temporary control of a large part of the Ukraine from both Red 
and White armies.  His exile in 1921 marked the death of the Anarchist 
movement in Russia.

        Throughout American history, there has been a tradition of both 
violent and pacifist Anarchism.  Henry David Thoreau, a nonviolent Anarchist
writer, and Emma Goldman an Anarchist activist, are a couple of examples.
Activist Anarchism, however, was mainly sustained by immigrants from Europe.
In the late 1800's, Anarchism was a part of life for many.  In 1886, four 
Anarchists were wrongfully executed for alleged involvement in the Haymarket 
bombing, in which seven policemen were killed.  President McKinley was 
assassinated in 1901 by Leon Czolgosz, a Polish Anarchist.

        Especially since 1917, Anarchism has appealed to intellectuals.  In 
1932, Aldous Huxley wrote "Brave New World", which warned of a mindless, 
materialistic existence a modernized society could produce, and in the 
'Foreword' of the 1946 edition, he said that he believed that only through 
radical decentralization and a politics that was "Kropotkinesque and 
cooperative" could the dangers of modern society be escaped. After World War 
][, Anarchist groups reappeared in almost all countries where they had once 
existed, excepting Spain and the Soviet Union.  In the 1970's, Anarchism drew 
much attention and interest, and rebellious students often started collectives.
Still published is a monthly British publication, called "Anarchy", which 
applies Anarchist principles to modern life.

        Anarchism, although often mistakenly thought of as violent and 
destructive, is not that at all.  Anarchists, though some may advocate a 
swift and violent revolution, envision a peaceful and harmonious society, 
based on a natural order of cooperation rather than an artificial system based 
on coercion.
