190-528: Active Defunct Publications Works Anarchism in the United States began in the mid-19th century and started to grow in influence as it entered the American labor movements , growing an anarcho-communist current as well as gaining notoriety for violent propaganda of the deed and campaigning for diverse social reforms in the early 20th century. By around the start of the 20th century,
380-516: A carnivalesque atmosphere that is part of contemporary anarchist vividity. As anarchism is a philosophy that embodies many diverse attitudes, tendencies, and schools of thought, disagreement over questions of values, ideology, and tactics is common. Its diversity has led to widely different uses of identical terms among different anarchist traditions which has created a number of definitional concerns in anarchist theory . The compatibility of capitalism , nationalism , and religion with anarchism
570-457: A necessary evil . Anarchists took an active role in strike actions, although they tended to be antipathetic to formal syndicalism , seeing it as reformist . They saw it as a part of the movement which sought to overthrow the state and capitalism. Anarchists also reinforced their propaganda within the arts , some of whom practiced naturism and nudism . Those anarchists also built communities which were based on friendship and were involved in
760-529: A "mutualist" theory of unions and as such was active within the Knights of Labor and later promoted anti-political strategies in the American Federation of Labor (AFL). Frustration with abolitionism, spiritualism, and labor reform caused Lum to embrace anarchism and radicalize workers, as he came to believe that revolution would inevitably involve a violent struggle between the working class and
950-477: A bank of the people. Mutualism has been retrospectively characterised as ideologically situated between individualist and collectivist forms of anarchism. In What Is Property? (1840), Proudhon first characterised his goal as a "third form of society, the synthesis of communism and property." Collectivist anarchism is a revolutionary socialist form of anarchism commonly associated with Mikhail Bakunin . Collectivist anarchists advocate collective ownership of
1140-476: A bomb attack on police remembered as the Haymarket affair. Emma Goldman, the activist and political theorist, was attracted to anarchism after reading about the incident and the executions, which she later described as "the events that had inspired my spiritual birth and growth." She considered the Haymarket martyrs to be "the most decisive influence in my existence". Her associate, Alexander Berkman also described
1330-662: A central role in anarchist philosophy. Anarchism's emphasis on anti-capitalism , egalitarianism , and for the extension of community and individuality sets it apart from anarcho-capitalism and other types of economic libertarianism . Anarchism is usually placed on the far-left of the political spectrum. Much of its economics and legal philosophy reflect anti-authoritarian , anti-statist , libertarian , and radical interpretations of left-wing and socialist politics such as collectivism , communism , individualism , mutualism , and syndicalism , among other libertarian socialist economic theories. As anarchism does not offer
1520-571: A cigarette brand named "Sacco & Vanzetti". On November 26, 1927, Di Giovanni and others bombed a Combinados tobacco shop. The Modern Schools , also called Ferrer Schools, were American schools established in the early 20th century that were modeled after the Escuela Moderna of Francesc Ferrer i Guàrdia , the Catalan educator and anarchist . They were an important part of the anarchist, free schooling , socialist, and labor movements in
1710-612: A disproportionate concentration of capital in the hands of a few as the result of a selective extension of government-backed privileges to certain individuals and organizations. The Word was an individualist anarchist free love magazine edited by Ezra Heywood and Angela Heywood, issued first from Princeton, Massachusetts ; and then from Cambridge, Massachusetts . The Word was subtitled "A Monthly Journal of Reform", and it included contributions from Josiah Warren, Benjamin Tucker, and J.K. Ingalls . Initially, The Word presented free love as
1900-412: A fixed body of doctrine from a single particular worldview , many anarchist types and traditions exist and varieties of anarchy diverge widely. One reaction against sectarianism within the anarchist milieu was anarchism without adjectives , a call for toleration and unity among anarchists first adopted by Fernando Tarrida del Mármol in 1889 in response to the bitter debates of anarchist theory at
2090-570: A how-to manual on the subject of bomb-making which earned the author the moniker "Dynamost". He acquired his knowledge of explosives while working at an explosives plant in New Jersey. Most was described as "the most vilified social radical" of his time, a man whose profuse advocacy of social unrest and fascination with dramatic destruction eventually led Emma Goldman to denounce him as a recognized authoritarian. A gifted orator, Most propagated these ideas throughout Marxist and anarchist circles in
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#17327976579472280-693: A leader or a leading group. One way is for an individual from the group to play the role of facilitator to help achieve a consensus without taking part in the discussion themselves or promoting a specific point. Minorities usually accept rough consensus, except when they feel the proposal contradicts anarchist ethics, goals and values. Anarchists usually form small groups (5–20 individuals) to enhance autonomy and friendships among their members. These kinds of groups more often than not interconnect with each other, forming larger networks. Anarchists still support and participate in strikes, especially wildcat strikes as these are leaderless strikes not organised centrally by
2470-473: A minor theme which was expressed within a labor reform format. But the publication later evolved into an explicitly free love periodical. At some point Tucker became an important contributor but later became dissatisfied with the journal's focus on free love since he desired a concentration on economics. In contrast, Tucker's relationship with Heywood grew more distant. Yet, when Heywood was imprisoned for his pro-birth control stand from August to December 1878 under
2660-563: A minority of anarchists adopted tactics of revolutionary political violence , known as propaganda of the deed . The dismemberment of the French socialist movement into many groups and the execution and exile of many Communards to penal colonies following the suppression of the Paris Commune favoured individualist political expression and acts. Even though many anarchists distanced themselves from these terrorist acts, infamy came upon
2850-419: A misunderstanding of anarchist principles. While opposition to the state is central to anarchist thought, defining anarchism is not an easy task for scholars, as there is a lot of discussion among scholars and anarchists on the matter, and various currents perceive anarchism slightly differently. Major definitional elements include the will for a non-coercive society, the rejection of the state apparatus,
3040-526: A proclamation that Sacco and Vanzetti had been unfairly tried and convicted and that "any disgrace should be forever removed from their names." Many famous socialists and intellectuals campaigned for a retrial without success. John Dos Passos came to Boston to cover the case as a journalist, stayed to author a pamphlet called Facing the Chair , and was arrested in a demonstration on August 10, 1927, along with Dorothy Parker . After being arrested while picketing
3230-485: A prominent left-wing intellectual of the 1880s, he is remembered as the lover and mentor of early anarcha-feminist Voltairine de Cleyre. Lum was a prolific writer who wrote a number of key anarchist texts, and contributed to publications including Mother Earth , Twentieth Century , Liberty (Benjamin Tucker's individualist anarchist journal), The Alarm (the journal of the IWPA) and The Open Court among others. He developed
3420-505: A recent operation after a difficult childbirth and causing severe hemorrhaging. The letter lamented the woman's lack of legal recourse. The Comstock Act specifically prohibited the public, printed discussion of any topics that were considered "obscene, lewd, or lascivious," and discussing rape, although a criminal matter, was deemed obscene. A Topeka district attorney eventually handed down 216 indictments. Moses Harman spent two years in jail. Ezra Heywood, who had already been prosecuted under
3610-458: A repressive force in and of itself". Voltairine de Cleyre was an American anarchist writer and feminist . She was a prolific writer and speaker, opposing the state, marriage, and the domination of religion in sexuality and women's lives. She began her activist career in the freethought movement. De Cleyre was initially drawn to individualist anarchism but evolved through mutualism to an " anarchism without adjectives ." She believed that any system
3800-613: A ruler", composed of the prefix an- ("without") and the word arkhos ("leader" or "ruler"). The suffix -ism denotes the ideological current that favours anarchy. Anarchism appears in English from 1642 as anarchisme and anarchy from 1539; early English usages emphasised a sense of disorder. Various factions within the French Revolution labelled their opponents as anarchists , although few such accused shared many views with later anarchists. Many revolutionaries of
3990-412: A shipment of "medicine," his code word for dynamite. Most was famous for stating the concept of the propaganda of the deed , namely that "[t]he existing system will be quickest and most radically overthrown by the annihilation of its exponents. Therefore, massacres of the enemies of the people must be set in motion." Most is best known for a pamphlet published in 1885: The Science of Revolutionary Warfare,
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#17327976579474180-755: A singular anarchism , in which common principles are shared between schools of anarchism while each group prioritizes those principles differently. Gender equality can be a common principle, although it ranks as a higher priority to anarcha-feminists than anarcho-communists. Anarchists are generally committed against coercive authority in all forms, namely "all centralized and hierarchical forms of government (e.g., monarchy, representative democracy, state socialism, etc.), economic class systems (e.g., capitalism, Bolshevism , feudalism , slavery , etc.), autocratic religions (e.g., fundamentalist Islam , Roman Catholicism , etc.), patriarchy , heterosexism , white supremacy , and imperialism ." Anarchist schools disagree on
4370-425: A small yet diverse following of Bohemian artists and intellectuals as well as young anarchist outlaws in what became known as illegalism and individual reclamation . Anarchist principles undergird contemporary radical social movements of the left. Interest in the anarchist movement developed alongside momentum in the anti-globalisation movement, whose leading activist networks were anarchist in orientation. As
4560-486: A social obligation to work his best for the general welfare of the people, [an] obligation both material and spiritual. Traditionally, shokunin honoured their tools of trade at New Year's – the sharpened and taken-care of tools would be placed in a tokonoma (a container or box still found in Japanese houses and shops), and two rice cakes and a tangerine (on top of rice paper) were placed on top of each toolbox, to honour
4750-423: A subject of study for anarchists, yielding a post-structuralist critique of sexual normality . Some anarchists distanced themselves from this line of thinking, suggesting that it leaned towards an individualism that was dropping the cause of social liberation. The interest of anarchists in education stretches back to the first emergence of classical anarchism. Anarchists consider proper education, one which sets
4940-431: A syndicate. As in the past, newspapers and journals are used, and anarchists have gone online to spread their message. Anarchists have found it easier to create websites because of distributional and other difficulties, hosting electronic libraries and other portals. Anarchists were also involved in developing various software that are available for free. The way these hacktivists work to develop and distribute resembles
5130-400: A tactic which can include acts of sabotage or terrorism . This attitude was quite prominent a century ago when seeing the state as a tyrant and some anarchists believing that they had every right to oppose its oppression by any means possible. Emma Goldman and Errico Malatesta , who were proponents of limited use of violence, stated that violence is merely a reaction to state violence as
5320-508: A way of men imposing authority over women, largely because marriage law greatly favoured the power of men. The notion of free love was much broader and included a critique of the established order that limited women's sexual freedom and pleasure. Those free love movements contributed to the establishment of communal houses, where large groups of travelers, anarchists and other activists slept in beds together. Free love had roots both in Europe and
5510-539: A woman to her own personal freedom and property". Stephen Pearl Andrews was an individualist anarchist and close associate of Josiah Warren. Andrews was formerly associated with the Fourierist movement, but converted to radical individualism after becoming acquainted with the work of Warren. Like Warren, he held the principle of "individual sovereignty" as being of paramount importance. Contemporary American anarchist Hakim Bey reports that "Steven Pearl Andrews [...]
5700-653: Is a quote from Pierre Proudhon saying that liberty is "Not the Daughter But the Mother of Order." Some of the American individualist anarchists later in this era such as Benjamin Tucker abandoned natural rights positions and converted to Max Stirner's egoist anarchism . Rejecting the idea of moral rights, Tucker said that there were only two rights, "the right of might" and "the right of contract." He also said, after converting to Egoist individualism, "In times past ... it
5890-402: Is a theory of anarchism that advocates a communist society with common ownership of the means of production, held by a federal network of voluntary associations , with production and consumption based on the guiding principle " From each according to his ability, to each according to his need ." Anarcho-communism developed from radical socialist currents after the French Revolution but
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6080-401: Is a way to regain urban space from the capitalist market, serving pragmatical needs and also being an exemplary direct action. Acquiring space enables anarchists to experiment with their ideas and build social bonds. Adding up these tactics while having in mind that not all anarchists share the same attitudes towards them, along with various forms of protesting at highly symbolic events, make up
6270-486: Is all these; but it is more. It is the realization by the individual that they are an individual; that, as far as they are concerned, they are the only individual." Steven T. Byington was a one-time proponent of Georgism who later converted to egoist stirnerist positions after associating with Benjamin Tucker. He is known for translating two important anarchist works into English from German: Max Stirner's The Ego and Its Own and Paul Eltzbacher 's Anarchism: Exponents of
6460-401: Is also mentioned, but rather to marriage laws that allow men to rape their wives without consequences. Such laws make "every married woman what she is, a bonded slave, who takes her master's name, her master's bread, her master's commands, and serves her master's passions." Individualist anarchism found in the United States an important space of discussion and development within what is known as
6650-555: Is apparent [...] that Proudhonian Anarchism was to be found in the United States at least as early as 1848 and that it was not conscious of its affinity to the Individualist Anarchism of Josiah Warren and Stephen Pearl Andrews. [...] William B. Greene presented this Proudhonian Mutualism in its purest and most systematic form". William Batchelder Greene was a 19th-century mutualist, individualist anarchist , Unitarian minister, soldier and promoter of free banking in
6840-448: Is clearly a form of artisanal socialism [...] while communist anarchism and anarcho-syndicalism are forms of industrial (or proletarian ) socialism". Historian Wendy McElroy reports that American individualist anarchism received an important influence of three European thinkers. According to McElroy, "[o]ne of the most important of these influences was the French political philosopher Pierre-Joseph Proudhon , whose words "Liberty
7030-399: Is enacted by many contemporary anarchist groups, striving to embody the principles, organization and tactics of the changed social structure they hope to bring about. As part of this the decision-making process of small anarchist affinity groups plays a significant tactical role. Anarchists have employed various methods to build a rough consensus among members of their group without the need of
7220-469: Is governed by consensus, although they saw this as highly unlikely. Beliefs on how to abolish the state also differ. As gender and sexuality carry along them dynamics of hierarchy, many anarchists address, analyse, and oppose the suppression of one's autonomy imposed by gender roles. Sexuality was not often discussed by classical anarchists but the few that did felt that an anarchist society would lead to sexuality naturally developing. Sexual violence
7410-611: Is not the Daughter But the Mother of Order" appeared as a motto on Liberty 's masthead", an influential individualist anarchist publication of Benjamin Tucker . McElroy further stated that "[a]nother major foreign influence was the German philosopher Max Stirner . The third foreign thinker with great impact was the British philosopher Herbert Spencer ". Other influences to consider include William Godwin 's anarchism which "exerted an ideological influence on some of this, but more so
7600-405: Is responsible for their own actions but works together to bring down oppression using sabotage and other violent means against state, capitalism, and other enemies. Members of The Invisible Committee were arrested in 2008 on various charges, terrorism included. Overall, contemporary anarchists are much less violent and militant than their ideological ancestors. They mostly engage in confronting
7790-469: Is roused to a sense of her own responsibility on all lines of human endeavor, and especially on lines of her special field, that of reproduction of the race, there will be little if any real advancement toward a higher and truer civilization." The name was chosen because " Lucifer , the ancient name of the Morning Star, now called Venus , seems to us unsurpassed as a cognomen for a journal whose mission
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7980-506: Is significant overlap between the two. Anarchist tactics have shifted during the course of the last century. Anarchists during the early 20th century focused more on strikes and militancy while contemporary anarchists use a broader array of approaches . During the classical era, anarchists had a militant tendency. Not only did they confront state armed forces, as in Spain and Ukraine, but some of them also employed terrorism as propaganda of
8170-608: Is that they picture them as "workers" in the modern sense: employed by someone. The most influential group among the artisans were the masters, the business owners. The owners enjoyed a high social status in their communities, and organised into guilds in towns and cities. Shokunin is a Japanese word for "artisan" or "craftsman", which also implies a pride in one's own work. In the words of shokunin Tashio Odate: Shokunin means not only having technical skill, but also implies an attitude and social consciousness...
8360-478: Is to bring light to the dwellers in darkness." In February 1887, the editors and publishers of Lucifer were arrested after the journal ran afoul of the Comstock Act for the publication of three letters, one in particular condemning forced sex within marriage, which the author identified as rape . In the letter, the author described the plight of a woman who had been raped by her husband, tearing stitches from
8550-517: Is widely disputed, and anarchism enjoys complex relationships with ideologies such as communism, collectivism , Marxism, and trade unionism . Anarchists may be motivated by humanism , divine authority , enlightened self-interest , veganism , or any number of alternative ethical doctrines. Phenomena such as civilisation , technology (e.g. within anarcho-primitivism), and the democratic process may be sharply criticised within some anarchist tendencies and simultaneously lauded in others. Objection to
8740-593: The Bohemian environment of around the start of 20th-century New York City. He advocated free love and committed adultery frequently. Hapgood was a follower of the German philosophers Max Stirner and Friedrich Nietzsche . The mission of Lucifer the Lightbearer was, according to Harman, "to help woman to break the chains that for ages have bound her to the rack of man-made law, spiritual, economic, industrial, social and especially sexual, believing that until woman
8930-656: The Bolshevik government had stabilised, including during the Kronstadt rebellion . Several anarchists from Petrograd and Moscow fled to Ukraine, before the Bolsheviks crushed the anarchist movement there too. With the anarchists being repressed in Russia, two new antithetical currents emerged, namely platformism and synthesis anarchism . The former sought to create a coherent group that would push for revolution while
9120-494: The Chicago Police Department as "more dangerous than a thousand rioters" in the 1920s, Parsons and her husband had become highly effective anarchist organizers primarily involved in the labor movement in the late 19th century, but also participating in revolutionary activism on behalf of political prisoners , people of color, the homeless and women. She began writing for The Socialist and The Alarm ,
9310-604: The Colorado coal strike of 1927 . Italian anarchist Severino Di Giovanni , one of the most vocal supporters of Sacco and Vanzetti in Argentina, bombed the American embassy in Buenos Aires a few hours after Sacco and Vanzetti were condemned to death. A few days after the executions, Sacco's widow thanked Di Giovanni by letter for his support and added that the director of the tobacco firm Combinados had offered to produce
9500-607: The Escuela Moderna in Barcelona as an opposition to the established education system which was dictated largely by the Catholic Church. Ferrer's approach was secular, rejecting both state and church involvement in the educational process while giving pupils large amounts of autonomy in planning their work and attendance. Ferrer aimed to educate the working class and explicitly sought to foster class consciousness among students. The school closed after constant harassment by
9690-748: The Industrial Workers of the World left their organisations and joined the Communist International . In the Spanish Civil War of 1936–39, anarchists and syndicalists ( CNT and FAI ) once again allied themselves with various currents of leftists. A long tradition of Spanish anarchism led to anarchists playing a pivotal role in the war, and particularly in the Spanish Revolution of 1936 . In response to
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#17327976579479880-472: The Middle Ages , the term "artisan" was applied to those who made things or provided services. It did not apply to unskilled manual labourers . Artisans were divided into two distinct groups: those who operated their own businesses and those who did not. The former were called masters , while the latter were the journeymen and apprentices . One misunderstanding many people have about this social group
10070-463: The New Left and libertarian Marxists , who do not associate themselves with authoritarian socialists or a vanguard party , and extreme cultural liberals , who are primarily concerned with civil liberties . Additionally, some anarchists use libertarian socialist to avoid anarchism's negative connotations and emphasise its connections with socialism . Anarchism is broadly used to describe
10260-540: The Republican government, ending in another defeat of anarchists at the hands of the communists. By the end of World War II , the anarchist movement had been severely weakened. The 1960s witnessed a revival of anarchism, likely caused by a perceived failure of Marxism–Leninism and tensions built by the Cold War . During this time, anarchism found a presence in other movements critical towards both capitalism and
10450-454: The St. Imier International . Under the influence of Peter Kropotkin , a Russian philosopher and scientist, anarcho-communism overlapped with collectivism . Anarcho-communists, who drew inspiration from the 1871 Paris Commune , advocated for free federation and for the distribution of goods according to one's needs . By the turn of the 20th century, anarchism had spread all over the world. It
10640-518: The Summerhill School in 1921, also declaring being free from coercion. Artisan An artisan (from French : artisan , Italian : artigiano ) is a skilled craft worker who makes or creates material objects partly or entirely by hand . These objects may be functional or strictly decorative , for example furniture , decorative art , sculpture , clothing , food items , household items, and tools and mechanisms such as
10830-609: The Wall Street bombing of 1920, which resulted in the deaths of 38 people. Galleani held forth at local anarchist meetings, assailed "timid" socialists, gave fire-breathing speeches, and continued to write essays and polemical treatises. The foremost proponent of "propaganda by the deed" in the United States, Galleani was the founder and editor of the anarchist newsletter Cronaca Sovversiva ( Subversive Chronicle ), which he published and mailed from offices in Barre. Galleani published
11020-610: The World Trade Organization (WTO), the Group of Eight and the World Economic Forum . During the protests , ad hoc leaderless anonymous cadres known as black blocs engaged in rioting, property destruction and violent confrontations with the police. Other organisational tactics pioneered at this time include affinity groups , security culture and the use of decentralised technologies such as
11210-461: The anti-authoritarian wing of the socialist movement . Anarchism is contrasted to socialist forms which are state-oriented or from above. Scholars of anarchism generally highlight anarchism's socialist credentials and criticise attempts at creating dichotomies between the two. Some scholars describe anarchism as having many influences from liberalism, and being both liberal and socialist but more so. Many scholars reject anarcho-capitalism as
11400-597: The anti-war , anti-capitalist and anti-globalization movements. Anarchists became known for their involvement in protests against the meetings of the WTO , G8 and the World Economic Forum . Some anarchist factions at these protests engaged in rioting, property destruction and violent confrontations with the police. These actions were precipitated by ad hoc , leaderless and anonymous cadres known as black blocs , although other peaceful organizational tactics pioneered in this time include affinity groups , security culture and
11590-451: The arms industry to addressing Monsanto seed-saving policies and patents , helping farmers , and resisting the commodification of food and housing. Honeywell also emphasizes that contemporary anarchists are interested in the flourishing not only of humans , but non-humans and the environment as well. Honeywell argues that their analysis of capitalism and governments results in anarchists rejecting representative democracy and
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#173279765794711780-401: The means of production which is theorised to be achieved through violent revolution and that workers be paid according to time worked, rather than goods being distributed according to need as in communism. Collectivist anarchism arose alongside Marxism but rejected the dictatorship of the proletariat despite the stated Marxist goal of a collectivist stateless society . Anarcho-communism
11970-439: The second wave of feminism , radicalising some currents of the feminist movement and being influenced as well. By the latest decades of the 20th century, anarchists and feminists were advocating for the rights and autonomy of women, gays, queers and other marginalised groups, with some feminist thinkers suggesting a fusion of the two currents. With the third wave of feminism , sexual identity and compulsory heterosexuality became
12160-612: The second wave of feminism . Black anarchism began to take form at this time and influenced anarchism's move from a Eurocentric demographic. This coincided with its failure to gain traction in Northern Europe and its unprecedented height in Latin America. Around the turn of the 21st century, anarchism grew in popularity and influence within anti-capitalist, anti-war and anti-globalisation movements. Anarchists became known for their involvement in protests against
12350-482: The state and capitalism . Anarchism advocates for the replacement of the state with stateless societies and voluntary free associations . A historically left-wing movement, anarchism is usually described as 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
12540-429: The state and its institutions is a sine qua non of anarchism. Anarchists consider the state as a tool of domination and believe it to be illegitimate regardless of its political tendencies. Instead of people being able to control the aspects of their life, major decisions are taken by a small elite. Authority ultimately rests solely on power, regardless of whether that power is open or transparent , as it still has
12730-510: The transcendentalism , humanitarianism , and romanticism of the first part of the nineteenth century, the economic type in the pioneer life of the West during the same period, but more favorably after the Civil War ". It is for this reason that it has been suggested that in order to understand American individualist anarchism one must take into account "the social context of their ideas, namely
12920-447: The "big-A Anarchism" of the classical era, the newly coined term "small-a anarchism" signals their tendency not to base their thoughts and actions on classical-era anarchism or to refer to classical anarchists such as Peter Kropotkin and Pierre-Joseph Proudhon to justify their opinions. Those anarchists would rather base their thought and praxis on their own experience, which they will later theorize. The concept of prefigurative politics
13110-422: The "president of the money kings and trust magnates." Other anarchists and radicals were unwilling to support Goldman's effort to aid Czolgosz, believing that he had harmed the movement. Luigi Galleani was an Italian anarchist active in the United States from 1901 to 1919, viewed by historians as an anarcho-communist and an insurrectionary anarchist. He is best known for his enthusiastic advocacy of "propaganda of
13300-722: The 'Brownstone Utopia' on 14th Street in New York and 'Modern Times' in Brentwood , Long Island. The latter became as famous as the best-known fourierist communes (Brook Farm in Massachusetts and the North American Phalanx in New Jersey)—in fact, Modern Times became downright notorious for "Free Love" and finally foundered under a wave of scandalous publicity. Andrews (and Victoria Woodhull ) were members of
13490-647: The 1850s, a social reform group that called for, in its extreme form, the abolition of institutionalized marriage. Freethought as a philosophical position and as activism was important in North American individualist anarchism. In the United States "freethought was a basically anti-Christian, anti-clerical movement, whose purpose was to make the individual politically and spiritually free to decide for himself on religious matters. A number of contributors to Liberty were prominent figures in both freethought and anarchism. The individualist anarchist George MacDonald
13680-542: The 1880s anarcho-communism was already present in the United States as can be seen in the publication of the journal Freedom: A Revolutionary Anarchist-Communist Monthly by Lucy Parsons and Lizzy Holmes. Lucy Parsons debated in her time in the US with fellow anarcha-communist Emma Goldman over issues of free love and feminism. Included in their debates over questions of gender, patriarchy, and free love were questions of homosexuality. Part of Goldman’s specific brand of anarchism
13870-438: The 1880s, people inside and outside the anarchist movement began to use the slogan, " propaganda of the deed " to refer to individual bombings and targeted killings of members of the ruling class , including regicides , and tyrannicides , at times when such actions might garner sympathy from the population, such as during periods of heightened government repression or labor conflicts where workers were killed. From 1905 onwards,
14060-477: The 1920 armed robbery of a shoe factory in South Braintree, Massachusetts . After a controversial trial and a series of appeals, the two Italian immigrants were executed on August 23, 1927. Since their deaths, critical opinion has overwhelmingly felt that the two men were convicted largely on their anarchist political beliefs and unjustly executed . In 1977, Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis issued
14250-418: The 19th century such as William Godwin (1756–1836) and Wilhelm Weitling (1808–1871) would contribute to the anarchist doctrines of the next generation but did not use anarchist or anarchism in describing themselves or their beliefs. The first political philosopher to call himself an anarchist (French: anarchiste ) was Pierre-Joseph Proudhon (1809–1865), marking the formal birth of anarchism in
14440-590: The American anarchist Leon Czolgosz assassinated the President of the United States William McKinley . Emma Goldman was arrested on suspicion of being involved in the assassination but was released due to insufficient evidence. She later incurred a great deal of negative publicity when she published "The Tragedy at Buffalo". In the article, she compared Czolgosz to Marcus Junius Brutus , the killer of Julius Caesar , and called McKinley
14630-532: The Anarchist Philosophy (also published by Dover with the title The Great Anarchists: Ideas and Teachings of Seven Major Thinkers ). James L. Walker (sometimes known by the pen name "Tak Kak") was one of the main contributors to Benjamin Tucker's Liberty . He published his major philosophical work called Philosophy of Egoism in the May 1890 to September 1891 in issues of the publication Egoism . By
14820-721: The Bakuninists were expelled from the International by the Marxists at the 1872 Hague Congress . Anarchists were treated similarly in the Second International , being ultimately expelled in 1896. Bakunin predicted that if revolutionaries gained power by Marx's terms, they would end up the new tyrants of workers . In response to their expulsion from the First International, anarchists formed
15010-591: The Boston anarchists. Even among the 19th-century American individualists, there was not a monolithic doctrine, as they disagreed amongst each other on various issues including intellectual property rights and possession versus property in land. A major schism occurred later in the 19th century when Tucker and some others abandoned their traditional support of natural rights as espoused by Lysander Spooner and converted to an egoism modeled upon Stirner's philosophy . Besides his individualist anarchist activism, Spooner
15200-499: The Comstock Law for a pamphlet attacking marriage, reprinted the letter in solidarity with Harman and was also arrested and sentenced to two years in prison. In February 1890, Harman, now the sole producer of Lucifer , was again arrested on charges resulting from a similar article written by a New York physician. As a result of the original charges, Harman would spend large portions of the next six years in prison. In 1896, Lucifer
15390-536: The Comstock laws, Tucker abandoned the Radical Review in order to assume editorship of Heywood's The Word . After Heywood's release from prison, The Word openly became a free love journal; it flouted the law by printing birth control material and openly discussing sexual matters. Tucker's disapproval of this policy stemmed from his conviction that "Liberty, to be effective, must find its first application in
15580-514: The Establishment and secondly to promote anarchist ethics and reflect an anarchist vision of society, illustrating the unity of means and ends . A broad categorisation can be made between aims to destroy oppressive states and institutions by revolutionary means on one hand and aims to change society through evolutionary means on the other. Evolutionary tactics embrace nonviolence and take a gradual approach to anarchist aims, although there
15770-773: The Ferrer Center, it was founded by notable anarchists, including Leonard Abbott , Alexander Berkman, Voltairine de Cleyre, and Emma Goldman, first meeting on St. Mark's Place , in Manhattan's Lower East Side , but twice moved elsewhere, first within lower Manhattan, then to Harlem . Besides Berkman and Goldman, the Ferrer Center faculty included the Ashcan School painters Robert Henri and George Bellows , and its guest lecturers included writers and political activists such as Margaret Sanger , Jack London , and Upton Sinclair . Student Magda Schoenwetter recalled that
15960-592: The Haymarket anarchists as "a potent and vital inspiration." Others whose commitment to anarchism crystallized as a result of the Haymarket affair included Voltairine de Cleyre and "Big Bill" Haywood , a founding member of the Industrial Workers of the World . Goldman wrote to historian, Max Nettlau , that the Haymarket affair had awakened the social consciousness of "hundreds, perhaps thousands, of people". Two individualist anarchists who wrote in Benjamin Tucker's Liberty were also important labor organizers of
16150-768: The Internet. A significant event of this period was the confrontations at the 1999 Seattle WTO conference . Anarchist ideas have been influential in the development of the Zapatistas in Mexico and the Democratic Federation of Northern Syria, more commonly known as Rojava , a de facto autonomous region in northern Syria . While having revolutionary aspirations, many contemporary forms of anarchism are not confrontational. Instead, they are trying to build an alternative way of social organization (following
16340-586: The Massachusetts Labor Union". He then published Socialistic, Mutualistic, and Financial Fragments (1875). He saw mutualism as the synthesis of "liberty and order". His "associationism [...] is checked by individualism. [...] 'Mind your own business,' 'Judge not that ye be not judged.' Over matters which are purely personal, as for example, moral conduct, the individual is sovereign, as well as over that which he himself produces. For this reason he demands 'mutuality' in marriage—the equal right of
16530-577: The Russian counterparts of these anti-syndicalist anarchist-communists become partisans of economic terrorism and illegal ' expropriations '." Illegalism as a practice emerged and within it "The acts of the anarchist bombers and assassins ("propaganda by the deed") and the anarchist burglars (" individual reappropriation ") expressed their desperation and their personal, violent rejection of an intolerable society. Moreover, they were clearly meant to be exemplary invitations to revolt.". On September 6, 1901,
16720-504: The State House, Edna St. Vincent Millay pleaded her case to the governor in person and then wrote an appeal: "I cry to you with a million voices: answer our doubt ... There is need in Massachusetts of a great man tonight." Others who wrote to Fuller or signed petitions included Albert Einstein , George Bernard Shaw and H. G. Wells . The president of the American Federation of Labor cited "the long period of time intervening between
16910-625: The Stelton Modern School, founded the Modern School in Lakewood, New Jersey , which survived the original Modern School, the Ferrer Center, becoming the final surviving such school, lasting until 1958. Anarchism Anarchism is a political philosophy and movement that is against all forms of authority and seeks to abolish the institutions it claims maintain unnecessary coercion and hierarchy , typically including
17100-528: The U.S. in 1885 and lived in New York City, where she joined the burgeoning anarchist movement in 1889. Attracted to anarchism after the Haymarket affair, Goldman became a writer and a renowned lecturer on anarchist philosophy, women's rights, and social issues, attracting crowds of thousands. She and anarchist writer Alexander Berkman, her lover and lifelong friend, planned to assassinate industrialist and financier Henry Clay Frick as an act of propaganda of
17290-534: The United States (mainly the Western Federation of Miners ) who were opposed to the policies of the AFL. This was in an age when hundreds, if not thousands, of striking workers died at the hands of policemen and armed guards, and in which almost a hundred were killed each day in industrial accidents. While acts of anarchist terrorism were exceptional, however, they played a vital role in how Americans imagined
17480-429: The United States and Europe. Thoreau was an American author, poet, naturalist, tax resister, development critic , surveyor, historian, philosopher and leading transcendentalist. Civil Disobedience is an essay by Thoreau that was first published in 1849. It argues that people should not permit governments to overrule or atrophy their consciences, and that people have a duty to avoid allowing such acquiescence to enable
17670-406: The United States and attracted many adherents, most notably Emma Goldman and Alexander Berkman . In February 1888 Berkman left for the United States from his native Russia. Soon after his arrival in New York City, Berkman became an anarchist through his involvement with groups that had formed to campaign to free the men convicted of the 1886 Haymarket bombing. He, as well as Goldman, soon came under
17860-449: The United States in the 1820s and 1830s has a close parallel in the simultaneous emergence and growth of abolitionism as no one needed anarchy more than a slave. Warren termed the phrase " cost the limit of price ", with "cost" here referring not to monetary price paid but the labor one exerted to produce an item. Therefore, "[h]e proposed a system to pay people with certificates indicating how many hours of work they did. They could exchange
18050-491: The United States, intended to educate the working-classes from a secular , class-conscious perspective. The Modern Schools imparted day-time academic classes for children, and night-time continuing-education lectures for adults. The first and most notable of the Modern Schools was founded in New York City in 1911, two years after Guàrdia's execution for sedition in monarchist Spain on October 18, 1909. Commonly called
18240-572: The United States. Greene is best known for the works Mutual Banking (1850) which proposed an interest-free banking system and Transcendentalism , a critique of the New England philosophical school. After 1850, Greene became active in labor reform and was "elected vice president of the New England Labor Reform League, the majority of the members holding to Proudhon's scheme of mutual banking, and in 1869 president of
18430-410: The United States; however, some anarchists struggled with the jealousy that arose from free love. Anarchist feminists were advocates of free love, against marriage, and pro-choice (using a contemporary term), and had a similar agenda. Anarchist and non-anarchist feminists differed on suffrage but were supportive of one another. During the second half of the 20th century, anarchism intermingled with
18620-453: The ability to coerce people. Another anarchist argument against states is that the people constituting a government, even the most altruistic among officials, will unavoidably seek to gain more power, leading to corruption. Anarchists consider the idea that the state is the collective will of the people to be an unachievable fiction due to the fact that the ruling class is distinct from the rest of society. Specific anarchist attitudes towards
18810-433: The anarchist ideals, especially when it comes to preserving users' privacy from state surveillance . Anarchists organize themselves to squat and reclaim public spaces . During important events such as protests and when spaces are being occupied, they are often called Temporary Autonomous Zones (TAZ), spaces where art, poetry, and surrealism are blended to display the anarchist ideal. As seen by anarchists, squatting
19000-459: The anarchist movement, although contemporary anarchism favours actions over academic theory. Various anarchist groups, tendencies, and schools of thought exist today, making it difficult to describe the contemporary anarchist movement. While theorists and activists have established "relatively stable constellations of anarchist principles", there is no consensus on which principles are core and commentators describe multiple anarchisms , rather than
19190-816: The anarchist newsletter for fifteen years until the United States government closed it down under the Sedition Act of 1918 . Galleani attracted numerous radical friends and followers known as "Galleanists", including Frank Abarno, Gabriella Segata Antolini, Pietro Angelo, Luigi Bacchetti, Mario Buda also known as "Mike Boda", Carmine Carbone, Andrea Ciofalo, Ferrucio Coacci, Emilio Coda, Alfredo Conti, Nestor Dondoglioalso known as "Jean Crones", Roberto Elia, Luigi Falzini, Frank Mandese, Riccardo Orciani, Nicola Recchi, Giuseppe Sberna, Andrea Salsedo, Raffaele Schiavina , Carlo Valdinoci, and, most notably, Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti . Sacco and Vanzetti were suspected anarchists who were convicted of murdering two men during
19380-510: The army rebellion , an anarchist-inspired movement of peasants and workers, supported by armed militias, took control of Barcelona and of large areas of rural Spain, where they collectivised the land. The Soviet Union provided some limited assistance at the beginning of the war, but the result was a bitter fight between communists and other leftists in a series of events known as the May Days , as Joseph Stalin asserted Soviet control of
19570-532: The beginning of May Day labor rallies in protest. Another anarcho-communist journal called The Firebrand later appeared in the United States. Most anarchist publications in the United States were in Yiddish , German, or Russian, but Free Society was published in English, permitting the dissemination of anarchist communist thought to English-speaking populations in the United States. Around that time these American anarcho-communist sectors entered in debate with
19760-738: The belief that human nature allows humans to exist in or progress toward such a non-coercive society, and a suggestion on how to act to pursue the ideal of anarchy. The most notable precursors to anarchism in the ancient world were in China and Greece . In China, philosophical anarchism (the discussion on the legitimacy of the state) was delineated by Taoist philosophers Zhuang Zhou and Laozi . Alongside Stoicism , Taoism has been said to have had "significant anticipations" of anarchism. Anarchic attitudes were also articulated by tragedians and philosophers in Greece. Aeschylus and Sophocles used
19950-619: The commission of the crime and the final decision of the Court" as well as "the mental and physical anguish which Sacco and Vanzetti must have undergone during the past seven years" in a telegram to the governor. In August 1927, the IWW called for a three-day nationwide walkout to protest the pending executions. The most notable response came in the Walsenburg coal district of Colorado, where 1,132 out of 1,167 miners participated, which led directly to
20140-715: The cover emblem and interior graphics were designed by Rockwell Kent . Acknowledging the urban danger to their school, the organizers bought 68 acres (275,000 m) in Piscataway Township, New Jersey , and moved there in 1914, becoming the center of the Stelton Colony. Moreover, beyond New York City, the Ferrer Colony and Modern School was founded ( c. 1910 –1915) as a Modern School-based community, that endured some forty years. In 1933, James and Nellie Dick , who earlier had been principals of
20330-556: The crafting of handmade food products, such as bread , beverages , cheese or textiles . Many of these have traditionally been handmade, rural or pastoral goods but are also now commonly made on a larger scale with automated mechanization in factories and other industrial areas. Artisans were the dominant producers of commodities before the Industrial Revolution . In ancient Greece , artisans were drawn to agoras and often built workshops nearby. During
20520-424: The crowd. The next day, 4 May, anarchists staged a rally at Chicago's Haymarket Square. A bomb was thrown by an unknown party near the conclusion of the rally, killing an officer. In the ensuing panic, police opened fire on the crowd and each other. Seven police officers and at least four workers were killed. Eight anarchists directly and indirectly related to the organisers of the rally were arrested and charged with
20710-462: The deed . Assassination attempts were carried out against heads of state , some of which were successful. Anarchists also took part in revolutions. Many anarchists, especially the Galleanists , believed that these attempts would be the impetus for a revolution against capitalism and the state. Many of these attacks were done by individual assailants and the majority took place in the late 1870s,
20900-532: The deed", i.e. the use of violence to eliminate "tyrants" and "oppressors" and to act as a catalyst to the overthrow of existing government institutions. From 1914 to 1932, Galleani's followers in the United States (known as Galleanists ), carried out a series of bombings and assassination attempts against institutions and persons they viewed as class enemies. After Galleani was deported from the United States to Italy in June 1919, his followers are alleged to have executed
21090-446: The deed. Although Frick survived the attempt on his life, Berkman was sentenced to twenty-two years in prison. Goldman was imprisoned several times in the years that followed, for "inciting to riot" and illegally distributing information about birth control . In 1906, Goldman founded the anarchist journal Mother Earth . In 1917, Goldman and Berkman were sentenced to two years in jail for conspiring to "induce persons not to register" for
21280-425: The early 1880s and the 1890s, with some still occurring in the early 1900s. Their decrease in prevalence was the result of further judicial power and of targeting and cataloging by state institutions. Anarchist perspectives towards violence have always been controversial. Anarcho-pacifists advocate for non-violence means to achieve their stateless, nonviolent ends. Other anarchist groups advocate direct action ,
21470-505: The editorial of Saul Yanovsky until 1923. Contributors have included David Edelstadt , Emma Goldman, Abba Gordin, Rudolf Rocker, Moishe Shtarkman, and Saul Yanovsky. The paper was also known for publishing poetry by Di Yunge , Yiddish poets of the 1910s and 1920s. The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) was founded in Chicago in June 1905 at a convention of two hundred socialists, anarchists, and radical trade unionists from all over
21660-744: The egoist papers that Tucker followed were the German Der Eigene , edited by Adolf Brand , and The Eagle and The Serpent , issued from London. The latter, the most prominent English-language egoist journal, was published from 1898 to 1900 with the subtitle 'A Journal of Egoistic Philosophy and Sociology ' ". Among those American anarchists who adhered to egoism include Benjamin Tucker, John Beverley Robinson, Steven T. Byington, Hutchins Hapgood, James L. Walker, Victor Yarros and Edward H. Fulton. Robinson wrote an essay called "Egoism" in which he states that "Modern egoism, as propounded by Stirner and Nietzsche, and expounded by Ibsen , Shaw and others,
21850-630: The egoists of destroying libertarianism itself. So bitter was the conflict that a number of natural rights proponents withdrew from the pages of Liberty in protest even though they had hitherto been among its frequent contributors. Thereafter, Liberty championed egoism although its general content did not change significantly." Several publications "were undoubtedly influenced by Liberty 's presentation of egoism. They included: I published by C.L. Swartz, edited by W.E. Gordak and J.William Lloyd (all associates of Liberty ); The Ego and The Egoist , both of which were edited by Edward H. Fulton. Among
22040-467: The eight-hour day was made. The event also had the secondary purpose of memorializing workers killed as a result of the Haymarket affair. Although it had initially been conceived as a once-off event, by the following year the celebration of International Workers' Day on May Day had become firmly established as an international worker's holiday. Albert Parsons is best remembered as one of four Chicago radical leaders convicted of conspiracy and hanged following
22230-557: The eight-hour workday. Over the next few days 340,000 laborers joined the strike. Parsons, amidst the May Day Strike, found himself called to Cincinnati, where 300,000 workers had struck that Saturday afternoon. On that Sunday he addressed the rally in Cincinnati of the news from the "storm center" of the strike and participated in a second huge parade, led by 200 members of The Cincinnati Rifle Union, with certainty that victory
22420-572: The employing class. Convinced of the necessity of violence to enact social change he volunteered to fight in the American Civil War, hoping thereby to bring about the end of slavery. The Freie Arbeiter Stimme was the longest-running anarchist periodical in the Yiddish language, founded initially as an American counterpart to Rudolf Rocker 's London-based Arbeter Fraynd ( Workers' Friend ). Publication began in 1890 and continued under
22610-427: 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 once more, growing in popularity and influence within anti-capitalist , anti-war and anti-globalisation movements. Anarchists employ diverse approaches , which may be generally divided into revolutionary and evolutionary strategies ; there is significant overlap between
22800-637: The form of disrupting and protesting against unjust hierarchy, or the form of self-managing their lives through the creation of counter-institutions such as communes and non-hierarchical collectives. Decision-making is often handled in an anti-authoritarian way, with everyone having equal say in each decision , an approach known as horizontalism . Contemporary-era anarchists have been engaging with various grassroots movements that are more or less based on horizontalism, although not explicitly anarchist, respecting personal autonomy and participating in mass activism such as strikes and demonstrations. In contrast with
22990-433: The foundations of the future autonomy of the individual and the society, to be an act of mutual aid . Anarchist writers such as William Godwin ( Political Justice ) and Max Stirner (" The False Principle of Our Education ") attacked both state education and private education as another means by which the ruling class replicate their privileges. In 1901, Catalan anarchist and free thinker Francisco Ferrer established
23180-429: The free potential of society through equality and social ownership . In a chronological sense, anarchism can be segmented by the classical currents of the late 19th century and the post-classical currents ( anarcha-feminism , green anarchism , and post-anarchism ) developed thereafter. Beyond the specific factions of anarchist movements which constitute political anarchism lies philosophical anarchism which holds that
23370-835: The golden age of anarchism. Drawing from mutualism, Mikhail Bakunin founded collectivist anarchism and entered the International Workingmen's Association , a class worker union later known as the First International that formed in 1864 to unite diverse revolutionary currents. The International became a significant political force, with Karl Marx being a leading figure and a member of its General Council. Bakunin's faction (the Jura Federation ) and Proudhon's followers (the mutualists) opposed state socialism , advocating political abstentionism and small property holdings. After bitter disputes,
23560-579: The government to make them the agents of injustice. Thoreau was motivated in part by his disgust with slavery and the Mexican–American War . It would influence Mohandas Gandhi , Martin Luther King Jr. , Martin Buber and Leo Tolstoy through its advocacy of nonviolent resistance . It is also the main precedent for anarcho-pacifism . Anarchism started to have an ecological view mainly in
23750-510: The growing materialism which is the nature of American society in the mid-19th century". Zerzan himself included the text "Excursions" (1863) by Thoreau in his edited compilation of anti-civilization writings called Against Civilization: Readings and Reflections from 1999. Walden made Thoreau influential in the European individualist anarchist green current of anarcho-naturism . For American anarchist historian Eunice Minette Schuster, "[i]t
23940-545: The growing movement to establish the 8-hour day. In January 1880, the Eight-Hour League of Chicago sent Parsons to a national conference in Washington, D.C., a gathering which launched a national lobbying movement aimed at coordinating efforts of labor organizations to win and enforce the 8-hour workday. In the fall of 1884, Parsons launched a weekly anarchist newspaper in Chicago, The Alarm . The first issue
24130-447: The handmade clockwork movement of a watchmaker . Artisans practice a craft and may through experience and aptitude reach the expressive levels of an artist . The adjective "artisanal" is often used in describing hand-processing in contrast to an industrial process, such as in the phrase artisanal mining . Thus, "artisanal" is sometimes used in marketing and advertising as a buzz word to describe or imply some relation with
24320-527: The heyday of individualist anarchism had passed and anarcho-communism and other social anarchist currents emerged as the dominant anarchist tendency. In the post-World War II era, anarchism regained influence through new developments such as anarcho-pacifism , the American New Left and the counterculture of the 1960s . Contemporary anarchism in the United States influenced and became influenced and renewed by developments both inside and outside
24510-526: The ideological development of what became the era of classical anarchism. During the French Revolution , partisan groups such as the Enragés and the sans-culottes saw a turning point in the fermentation of anti-state and federalist sentiments. The first anarchist currents developed throughout the 18th century as William Godwin espoused philosophical anarchism in England , morally delegitimising
24700-738: The incident in which the important Italian social anarchist Errico Malatesta became involved "in a dispute with the individualist anarchists of Paterson , who insisted that anarchism implied no organization at all, and that every man must act solely on his impulses. At last, in one noisy debate, the individual impulse of a certain Ciancabilla directed him to shoot Malatesta, who was badly wounded but obstinately refused to name his assailant." Some anarchists, such as Johann Most , were already advocated publicizing violent acts of retaliation against counterrevolutionaries because "we preach not only action in and for itself, but also action as propaganda." By
24890-565: The individualist anarchist group around Benjamin Tucker. Encouraged by news of labor struggles and industrial disputes in the United States, the German anarchist Johann Most emigrated to the US upon his release from prison in 1882. He promptly began agitating in his adopted land among other German émigrés. Among his associates was August Spies , one of the anarchists hanged for conspiracy in the Haymarket Square bombing, whose desk police found to contain an 1884 letter from Most promising
25080-611: The infamous Section 12 of the 1st International , expelled by Marx for its anarchist, feminist, and spiritualist tendencies". An important current within American individualist anarchism was free love. Free love advocates sometimes traced their roots back to Josiah Warren and to experimental communities, and viewed sexual freedom as a clear, direct expression of an individual's self-ownership. Free love particularly stressed women's rights since most sexual laws discriminated against women: for example, marriage laws and anti-birth control measures. The most important American free love journal
25270-732: The influence of Johann Most, the best-known anarchist in the United States, and an advocate of propaganda of the deed— attentat , or violence carried out to encourage the masses to revolt. Berkman became a typesetter for Most's newspaper Freiheit . Inspired by Most's theories of Attentat, Goldman and Berkman, enraged by the deaths of workers during the Homestead strike , put words into action with Berkman's attempted assassination of Homestead factory manager Henry Clay Frick in 1892. Berkman and Goldman were soon disillusioned as Most became one of Berkman's most outspoken critics. In Freiheit , Most attacked both Goldman and Berkman, implying Berkman's act
25460-576: The journal of the International Working People's Association (IWPA) that she and Parsons, among others, founded in 1883. In 1886 her husband, who had been heavily involved in campaigning for the eight-hour day , was arrested, tried and executed on November 11, 1887, by the state of Illinois on charges that he had conspired in the Haymarket Riot , an event which was widely regarded as a political frame-up and which marked
25650-557: 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 end marked
25840-627: The latter were against anything that would resemble a political party. Seeing the victories of the Bolsheviks in the October Revolution and the resulting Russian Civil War , many workers and activists turned to communist parties , which grew at the expense of anarchism and other socialist movements. In France and the United States, members of major syndicalist movements such as the General Confederation of Labour and
26030-465: The major currents of social anarchism ( collectivist , communist and syndicalist ). They differ on organisational and economic aspects of their ideal society. Mutualism is an 18th-century economic theory that was developed into anarchist theory by Pierre-Joseph Proudhon. Its aims include "abolishing the state", reciprocity , free association , voluntary contract, federation and monetary reform of both credit and currency that would be regulated by
26220-444: The methods by which these forms should be opposed. The principle of equal liberty is closer to anarchist political ethics in that it transcends both the liberal and socialist traditions. This entails that liberty and equality cannot be implemented within the state, resulting in the questioning of all forms of domination and hierarchy. Anarchists' tactics take various forms but in general serve two major goals, namely, to first oppose
26410-607: The mid-19th century. Since the 1890s and beginning in France, libertarianism has often been used as a synonym for anarchism; its use as a synonym is still common outside the United States. Some usages of libertarianism refer to individualistic free-market philosophy only, and free-market anarchism in particular is termed libertarian anarchism . While the term libertarian has been largely synonymous with anarchism, its meaning has more recently been diluted by wider adoption from ideologically disparate groups, including both
26600-478: The militant anarchism of the Haymarket anarchists, he fought for the clemency of the accused because he did not believe they were the perpetrators. In 1888, Labadie organized the Michigan Federation of Labor, became its first president, and forged an alliance with Samuel Gompers . Dyer Lum was a 19th-century American individualist anarchist labor activist and poet. A leading anarcho-syndicalist and
26790-466: The more scholarly American Journal of Eugenics . Heywood's philosophy was instrumental in furthering individualist anarchist ideas through his extensive pamphleteering and reprinting of works of Josiah Warren, author of True Civilization (1869), and William B. Greene. At a 1872 convention of the New England Labor Reform League in Boston, Heywood introduced Greene and Warren to eventual Liberty publisher Benjamin Tucker. Heywood saw what he believed to be
26980-780: The movement and attempts were made to prevent anarchists immigrating to the US , including the Immigration Act of 1903 , also called the Anarchist Exclusion Act. Illegalism was another strategy which some anarchists adopted during this period. Despite concerns, anarchists enthusiastically participated in the Russian Revolution in opposition to the White movement , especially in the Makhnovshchina ; however, they met harsh suppression after
27170-667: The movement shaped 21st century radicalism, wider embrace of anarchist principles signaled a revival of interest. Anarchism has continued to generate many philosophies and movements, at times eclectic, drawing upon various sources and combining disparate concepts to create new philosophical approaches. The anti-capitalist tradition of classical anarchism has remained prominent within contemporary currents. Contemporary news coverage which emphasizes black bloc demonstrations has reinforced anarchism's historical association with chaos and violence. Its publicity has also led more scholars in fields such as anthropology and history to engage with
27360-408: The murder of the deceased officer. The men became international political celebrities among the labor movement. Four of the men were executed and a fifth committed suicide prior to his own execution. The incident became known as the Haymarket affair and was a setback for the labor movement and the struggle for the eight-hour day. In 1890 a second attempt, this time international in scope, to organise for
27550-460: The myth of Antigone to illustrate the conflict between laws imposed by the state and personal autonomy . Socrates questioned Athenian authorities constantly and insisted on the right of individual freedom of conscience . Cynics dismissed human law ( nomos ) and associated authorities while trying to live according to nature ( physis ). Stoics were supportive of a society based on unofficial and friendly relations among its citizens without
27740-440: The new world of industrial capitalism, providing early hints that the rise of Morganization would not come without violent resistance from below. —Beverly Gage, 2009. Italian anti-organizationalist individualist anarchism was brought to the United States by Italian born individualists such as Giuseppe Ciancabilla and others who advocated for violent propaganda by the deed there. Anarchist historian George Woodcock reports
27930-549: The newly instated draft . After their release from prison, they were arrested—along with hundreds of others—and deported to Russia . Initially supportive of that country's Bolshevik revolution, Goldman quickly voiced her opposition to the Soviet use of violence and the repression of independent voices. In 1923, she wrote a book about her experiences, My Disillusionment in Russia . While living in England, Canada, and France, she wrote an autobiography called Living My Life . After
28120-414: The news media. In the current era, Italian anarchist Alfredo Bonanno , a proponent of insurrectionary anarchism , has reinstated the debate on violence by rejecting the nonviolence tactic adopted since the late 19th century by Kropotkin and other prominent anarchists afterwards. Both Bonanno and the French group The Invisible Committee advocate for small, informal affiliation groups, where each member
28310-644: The notes at local time stores for goods that took the same amount of time to produce". He put his theories to the test by establishing an experimental "labor for labor store" called the Cincinnati Time Store , where trade was facilitated by notes backed by a promise to perform labor. The store proved successful and operated for three years after which it was closed so that Warren could pursue establishing colonies based on mutualism . These included Utopia and Modern Times . Warren said that Stephen Pearl Andrews ' The Science of Society , published in 1852,
28500-797: The outbreak of the Spanish Civil War , she traveled to Spain to support the anarchist revolution there. She died in Toronto on May 14, 1940, aged 70. During her life, Goldman was lionized as a free-thinking "rebel woman" by admirers and denounced by critics as an advocate of politically motivated murder and violent revolution. Her writing and lectures spanned a wide variety of issues, including prisons, atheism , freedom of speech , militarism , capitalism , marriage, free love, and homosexuality . Although she distanced herself from first-wave feminism and its efforts toward women's suffrage , she developed new ways of incorporating gender politics into anarchism. After decades of obscurity, Goldman's iconic status
28690-633: The pieces at him. She later regretted her assault, confiding to a friend, "At the age of twenty-three, one does not reason." Emma Goldman was an anarchist known for her political activism, writing, and speeches. She played a pivotal role in the development of anarchist political philosophy in North America and Europe in the first half of the 20th century. Born in Kovno in the Russian Empire (present-day Kaunas, Lithuania ), Goldman emigrated to
28880-454: The police during demonstrations and riots, especially in countries such as Canada , Greece , and Mexico . Militant black bloc protest groups are known for clashing with the police; however, anarchists not only clash with state operators, they also engage in the struggle against fascists and racists , taking anti-fascist action and mobilizing to prevent hate rallies from happening. Anarchists commonly employ direct action . This can take
29070-463: The presence of a state. In medieval Europe , there was no anarchistic activity except some ascetic religious movements. These, and other Muslim movements, later gave birth to religious anarchism . In the Sasanian Empire , Mazdak called for an egalitarian society and the abolition of monarchy , only to be soon executed by Emperor Kavad I . In Basra , religious sects preached against
29260-466: The realm of economics". M.E. Lazarus was an American individualist anarchist from Guntersville, Alabama . He is the author of several essays and anarchist pamphlettes including Land Tenure: Anarchist View (1889). A famous quote from Lazarus is "Every vote for a governing office is an instrument for enslaving me." Lazarus was also an intellectual contributor to Fourierism and the Free Love movement of
29450-449: The reformer, ethical anarchism, to the independent mechanic, economic anarchism. The former is concerned with philosophy, the latter with practical demonstration. The economic anarchist is concerned with constructing a society on the basis of anarchism. Economically he sees no harm whatever in the private possession of what the individual produces by his own labor, but only so much and no more. The aesthetic and ethical type found expression in
29640-480: The school used Montessori methods and equipment, and emphasized academic freedom rather than fixed subjects, such as spelling and arithmetic. The Modern School magazine originally began as a newsletter for parents, when the school was in New York City, printed with the manual printing press used in teaching printing as a profession. After moving to the Stelton Colony, New Jersey, the magazine's content expanded to poetry, prose, art, and libertarian education articles;
29830-813: The socialism of Robert Owen and Charles Fourier . After success of his British venture, Owen himself established a cooperative community within the United States at New Harmony, Indiana during 1825. One member of this commune was Josiah Warren , considered to be the first individualist anarchist. The Peaceful Revolutionist , the four-page weekly paper Warren edited during 1833, was the first anarchist periodical published, an enterprise for which he built his own printing press, cast his own type and made his own printing plates. After New Harmony failed, Warren shifted his ideological loyalties from socialism to anarchism which anarchist Peter Sabatini described as "no great leap, given that Owen's socialism had been predicated on Godwin's anarchism". The emergence and growth of anarchism in
30020-403: The state and Ferrer was later arrested. Nonetheless, his ideas formed the inspiration for a series of modern schools around the world. Christian anarchist Leo Tolstoy , who published the essay Education and Culture , also established a similar school with its founding principle being that "for education to be effective it had to be free." In a similar token, A. S. Neill founded what became
30210-411: The state as a whole. Anarchist schools of thought have been generally grouped into two main historical traditions, social anarchism and individualist anarchism , owing to their different origins, values and evolution. The individualist current emphasises negative liberty in opposing restraints upon the free individual, while the social current emphasises positive liberty in aiming to achieve
30400-428: The state lacks moral legitimacy , without necessarily accepting the imperative of revolution to eliminate it. A component especially of individualist anarchism, philosophical anarchism may tolerate the existence of a minimal state but claims that citizens have no moral obligation to obey government when it conflicts with individual autonomy . Anarchism pays significant attention to moral arguments since ethics have
30590-504: The state such as the anti-nuclear , environmental , and peace movements , the counterculture of the 1960s , and the New Left . It also saw a transition from its previous revolutionary nature to provocative anti-capitalist reformism . Anarchism became associated with punk subculture as exemplified by bands such as Crass and the Sex Pistols . The established feminist tendencies of anarcha-feminism returned with vigour during
30780-413: The state vary. Robert Paul Wolff believed that the tension between authority and autonomy would mean the state could never be legitimate. Bakunin saw the state as meaning "coercion, domination by means of coercion, camouflaged if possible but unceremonious and overt if need be." A. John Simmons and Leslie Green , who leaned toward philosophical anarchism, believed that the state could be legitimate if it
30970-556: The state with a new society democratically self-managed by workers. The basic principles of anarcho-syndicalism are direct action , workers' solidarity and workers' self-management . Individualist anarchism is a set of several traditions of thought within the anarchist movement that emphasise the individual and their will over any kinds of external determinants. Early influences on individualist forms of anarchism include William Godwin , Max Stirner , and Henry David Thoreau . Through many countries, individualist anarchism attracted
31160-412: The state, Max Stirner 's thinking paved the way to individualism and Pierre-Joseph Proudhon 's theory of mutualism found fertile soil in France . By the late 1870s, various anarchist schools of thought had become well-defined and a wave of then-unprecedented globalisation occurred from 1880 to 1914. This era of classical anarchism lasted until the end of the Spanish Civil War and is considered
31350-543: The state. In Europe, various religious sects developed anti-state and libertarian tendencies. Renewed interest in antiquity during the Renaissance and in private judgment during the Reformation restored elements of anti-authoritarian secularism in Europe, particularly in France. Enlightenment challenges to intellectual authority (secular and religious) and the revolutions of the 1790s and 1848 all spurred
31540-492: The theories of dual power ), based on mutual interdependence and voluntary cooperation. Scholar Carissa Honeywell takes the example of Food Not Bombs group of collectives, to highlight some features of how contemporary anarchist groups work: direct action , working together and in solidarity with those left behind. While doing so, Food Not Bombs provides consciousness raising about the rising rates of world hunger and suggest policies to tackle hunger, ranging from de-funding
31730-462: The time. Belief in political nihilism has been espoused by anarchists. Despite separation, the various anarchist schools of thought are not seen as distinct entities but rather as tendencies that intermingle and are connected through a set of shared principles such as autonomy, mutual aid , anti-authoritarianism and decentralisation . Inceptive currents among classical anarchist currents were mutualism and individualism . They were followed by
31920-482: The time. Jo Labadie was an American labor organizer, individualist anarchist, social activist, printer, publisher, essayist, and poet. Without the oppression of the state, Labadie believed, humans would choose to harmonize with "the great natural laws ... without robbing [their] fellows through interest, profit, rent and taxes." However, he supported community cooperation, as he supported community control of water utilities, streets, and railroads. Although he did not support
32110-477: The transformation of America from a pre-capitalist to a capitalist society, [...] the non-capitalist nature of the early U.S. can be seen from the early dominance of self-employment (artisan and peasant production). At the beginning of the 19th century, around 80% of the working (non-slave) male population were self-employed. The great majority of Americans during this time were farmers working their own land, primarily for their own needs" and so "individualist anarchism
32300-477: The two. Evolutionary methods try to simulate what an anarchist society might be like, but revolutionary tactics, which have historically taken a violent turn, aim to overthrow authority and the state. Many facets of human civilization have been influenced by anarchist theory, critique, and praxis . The etymological origin of anarchism is from the Ancient Greek anarkhia (ἀναρχία), meaning "without
32490-475: The use of decentralized technologies such as the Internet . A significant event of this period was the 1999 Seattle WTO protests . For anarchist historian Eunice Minette Schuster, American individualist anarchism "stresses the isolation of the individual—his right to his own tools, his mind, his body, and to the products of his labor. To the artist who embraces this philosophy it is ' aesthetic ' anarchism, to
32680-409: The worldwide anarchist movement such as platformism , insurrectionary anarchism , the new social movements ( anarcha-feminism , queer anarchism and green anarchism ) and the alter-globalization movements. Within contemporary anarchism , the anti-capitalism of classical anarchism has remained prominent. Around the turn of the 21st century, anarchism grew in popularity and influence as part of
32870-602: The writings of American individualist anarchist and transcendentalist Thoreau. In his book Walden , he advocates simple living and self-sufficiency among natural surroundings in resistance to the advancement of industrial civilization: "Many have seen in Thoreau one of the precursors of ecologism and anarcho-primitivism represented today in John Zerzan . For George Woodcock , this attitude can be also motivated by certain idea of resistance to progress and of rejection of
33060-416: Was Lucifer the Lightbearer (1883–1907) edited by Moses Harman and Lois Waisbrooker but also there existed Ezra Heywood and Angela Heywood 's The Word (1872–1890, 1892–1893). M. E. Lazarus was an important American individualist anarchist who promoted free love. Hutchins Hapgood was an American journalist, author, individualist anarchist and philosophical anarchist who was well known within
33250-716: Was a 19th-century anarchist market socialist and libertarian socialist periodical published in the United States by Benjamin Tucker from August 1881 to April 1908. The periodical was instrumental in developing and formalizing the individualist anarchist philosophy through publishing essays and serving as a format for debate. Contributors included Benjamin Tucker, Lysander Spooner, Auberon Herbert , Dyer Lum , Joshua K. Ingalls, John Henry Mackay , Victor Yarros , Wordsworth Donisthorpe , James L. Walker , J. William Lloyd , Florence Finch Kelly , Voltairine de Cleyre, Steven T. Byington , John Beverley Robinson , Jo Labadie , Lillian Harman, and Henry Appleton . Included in its masthead
33440-552: Was a belief that the state should be removed from interpersonal and sexual relationships. Freedom from state sexual control included, in Goldman’s view, the freedom to choose a sexual or romantic partner regardless of their gender. It was free-love anarchists like Goldman who, during this period, introduced the beginnings of a homosexual rights movement to the United States. Anarchists on this issue, however, were not united and many disagreed with Goldman’s inclusion of homosexuality and free love in an anarchist belief system. Described by
33630-403: Was a co-editor of Freethought and, for a time, The Truth Seeker . E.C. Walker was co-editor of the free-thought/free love journal Lucifer, the Light-Bearer ". "Many of the anarchists were ardent freethinkers; reprints from freethought papers such as Lucifer, the Light-Bearer , Freethought and The Truth Seeker appeared in Liberty ...The church was viewed as a common ally of the state and as
33820-433: Was a concern for anarchists such as Benjamin Tucker , who opposed age of consent laws , believing they would benefit predatory men. A historical current that arose and flourished during 1890 and 1920 within anarchism was free love . In contemporary anarchism, this current survives as a tendency to support polyamory , relationship anarchy , and queer anarchism . Free love advocates were against marriage, which they saw as
34010-438: Was a notable feature of the international syndicalist movement. In China , small groups of students imported the humanistic pro-science version of anarcho-communism. Tokyo was a hotspot for rebellious youth from East Asian countries, who moved to the Japanese capital to study. In Latin America, Argentina was a stronghold for anarcho-syndicalism , where it became the most prominent left-wing ideology. During this time,
34200-449: Was acceptable as long as it did not involve force. However, according to anarchist author Iain McKay, she embraced the ideals of stateless communism . In her 1895 lecture entitled Sex Slavery, de Cleyre condemns ideals of beauty that encourage women to distort their bodies and child socialization practices that create unnatural gender roles . The title of the essay refers not to traffic in women for purposes of prostitution , although that
34390-455: Was also an important anti-slavery activist and became a member of the First International . Some Boston anarchists, including Tucker, identified themselves as socialists which in the 19th century was often used in the sense of a commitment to improving conditions of the working class (i.e. " the labor problem "). The Boston anarchists such as Tucker and his followers are considered socialists to this day due to their opposition to usury. Liberty
34580-457: Was at hand. In 1886, the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions (FOTLU) of the United States and Canada unanimously set 1 May 1886, as the date by which the eight-hour work day would become standard. In response, unions across the United States prepared a general strike in support of the event. On 3 May, in Chicago, a fight broke out when strikebreakers attempted to cross the picket line, and two workers died when police opened fire upon
34770-442: Was dated October 4, 1884, and was produced in a press run of 15,000 copies. The publication was a 4-page broadsheet with a cover price of 5 cents. The Alarm listed the IWPA as its publisher and touted itself as "A Socialistic Weekly" on its page 2 masthead . On May 1, 1886, Parsons, with his wife Lucy and their two children, led 80,000 people down Michigan Avenue, in what is regarded as the first-ever May Day Parade, in support of
34960-410: Was designed to arouse sympathy for Frick. Goldman's biographer Alice Wexler suggests that Most's criticisms may have been inspired by jealousy of Berkman. Goldman was enraged and demanded that Most prove his insinuations. When he refused to respond, she confronted him at next lecture. After he refused to speak to her, she lashed him across the face with a horsewhip, broke the whip over her knee, then threw
35150-416: Was first formulated as such in the Italian section of the First International . It was later expanded upon in the theoretical work of Peter Kropotkin , whose specific style would go onto become the dominating view of anarchists by the late 19th century. Anarcho-syndicalism is a branch of anarchism that views labour syndicates as a potential force for revolutionary social change, replacing capitalism and
35340-499: Was moved to Chicago; however, legal harassment continued. The United States Postal Service seized and destroyed numerous issues of the journal and, in May 1905, Harman was again arrested and convicted for the distribution of two articles, namely "The Fatherhood Question" and "More Thoughts on Sexology" by Sara Crist Campbell. Sentenced to a year of hard labor , the 75-year-old editor's health deteriorated greatly. After 24 years in production, Lucifer ceased publication in 1907 and became
35530-399: Was my habit to talk glibly of the right of man to land. It was a bad habit, and I long ago sloughed it off ... Man's only right to land is his might over it." In adopting Stirnerite egoism (1886), Tucker rejected natural rights which had long been considered the foundation of libertarianism . This rejection galvanized the movement into fierce debates, with the natural rights proponents accusing
35720-419: Was not a fourierist, but he lived through the brief craze for phalansteries in America and adopted a lot of fourierist principles and practices [...], a maker of worlds out of words. He syncretized abolitionism, Free Love , spiritual universalism, Warren, and Fourier into a grand utopian scheme he called the Universal Pantarchy. [...] He was instrumental in founding several 'intentional communities,' including
35910-423: Was revived in the 1970s, when feminist and anarchist scholars rekindled popular interest in her life. The anti-authoritarian sections of the First International were the precursors of the anarcho-syndicalists, seeking to "replace the privilege and authority of the State" with the "free and spontaneous organization of labor." After embracing anarchism Albert Parsons , husband of Lucy Parsons, turned his activity to
36100-434: Was the most lucid and complete exposition of Warren's own theories. Catalan historian Xavier Diez report that the intentional communal experiments pioneered by Warren were influential in European individualist anarchists of the late 19th and early 20th centuries such as Émile Armand and the intentional communities started by them. Henry David Thoreau was an important early influence in individualist anarchist thought in
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