Anarchism - Thinkers and ideas

Anarchism - Thinkers and ideas

1. Max Stirner

   • Key ideas
     • The individual ego must be placed above all else and not limited or controlled
       • Rejects existing economic work as "limiting the ego" as inidivudals cannot keep the full fruits of their labour
     • The Union of Egoists is based on the conscious, self-interested will of each individual
       • Will be achieved through insurrection which involves becoming an egoist and withdrawing from capitalist labour and the state so that the state will decay and die
     • Egoism
   • Most radicial of anarchist thinkers

2. Pierre- Joseph Proudhon

   • Key Ideas
     • Mutualism is the economic basis of liberty
       • Fits closely with individualism
     • Private property is exploitative and divisive
       • Endorses the right to possession and the right for the individual to keep the full fruits of their labour as protection from the collective
       • "Property is theft"
     • Change should be evolutionary not revolutionary
       • Construct new society from shell of existing state
   • Bridge between individualism and collectivism

3. Mikhail Bakunin

   • Key Ideas
     • Human nature as social
       • Shaped by society and so need liberty to explore full potential. Reject state and authority of church
         • Economically, calls for collectivisation - Replacement of private property with collective ownership
     • Propaganda by the deed - Revolutionary strategy
       • Non-payment of taxes, rents, debts, mass strikes
         • Direct action which empowers individuals
   • Foundation of collectivist anarchism
   • One of the most notorious radicals in history

4. Peter Kropotkin

   • Key Ideas
     • Mutual aid
       • Species that work together succeed. If the state was removed, humans would act in line with their true altruistic nature
     • Utopian
       • Future society needed to be utopian in order to develop criticism of existing society
     • Education then revolution
   • Anarcho-communist strand

5. Emma Goldman

   • Key ideas
     • The state and violence
       • Argued that all forms of government rely on violence
       • Immoral to restrict autonomy
       • Patriotism undermines social harmony
       • "Cold monster"
     • Opposition to parliamentary politics
       • Parliament is corrupting and reform can only be achieved externally
   • Drew ideas from Stirner and Kropotkin