Global Studies 120 Short Paper

19th & 20th Century Anarchism Possibilities and Practice

GLOBAL 120, OCTOBER 8, 2019

PROFESSOR KAI M. THALER

SECTION LEADERS NATHANIEL BUROLA, T INA GUIRGUIS , EUGENE RIORDAN

Anarchism: General Principles • Liberation from political and economic oppression

• No government

• “Where industry is everything and man is nothing begins the realm of a ruthless economic despotism whose workings are no less disastrous than those of any political despotism.” – Bakunin

• Worker control

• No hierarchies

• Ending social discrimination

• Gender, race, religion, sexual orientation, etc.

• Freely forming community ties and confederations

• Free speech, education, and individual choice

• Solidarity and mutual exchange among individuals & larger unions

Early Anarchist Thought and Practice • Indigenous societies

• Lao Tzu and Zhuang Zhou’s Taoism

• Zeno of Citium’s Republic

• “we should look upon all people in general to be our fellow-countryfolk and citizens, observing one manner of living and one kind of order, like a flock feeding together with equal right in one common pasture” – Plutarch on Zeno’s vision

• Peasant revolts and communal formations

The Diggers • Mid-16th century England around Civil War

• Gerrard Winstanley and the ‘True Levellers’

• “the earth was not made purposely for you, to be Lords of it, and we to be your Slaves, Servants, and Beggers; but it was made to be a common Livelihood to all, without respect of persons: And that your buying and selling of Land, and the Fruits of it, one to another, is The cursed thing.” – Winstanley, et al.

• Land occupation and cultivation

Godwin’s Next-Level Liberalism • Inspired by earlier Enlightenment Liberals and French Revolution

• Government authority inhibits human nature

• People naturally communal, cooperative, and peaceful

• Liberation only comes with economic freedom

• Economic freedom through collective ownership and free cooperation

Paris Commune of 1871 • Emerged after Napoleon III defeat in Franco-Prussian War

• March 1871 retreat of central government from Paris

• Election of Commune Council

Paris Commune of 1871 • Proudhonism

• New policies • Religious freedom and seizing Church property

• Abolishing child labor

• Abolishing interest on debts

• Employees could take over abandoned businesses

• Free education and social services

• Brief, two month existence: defeat by government forces in May 1871

Mikhail Bakunin • Equity blocked by state, capitalism, and Church

• Authority is one thing, domination another

• On experts’ authority • “I listen to them freely and with all the respect merited by

their intelligence, their character, their knowledge, reserving always my incontestable right of criticism and censure.”

Kropotkin and Mutualism • Challenge to social Darwinism • “that capacity for sympathy with others in which all social ethics,

all ideas of social justice, have their origin, develop best in freedom”

•Anarchism vs. conservative libertarianism

• How do Kropotkin’s ideas clash with the right-wing

libertarianism of market fundamentalists like Friedrich

Hayek and Milton Friedman?

Anarchism and Violence • ‘Propaganda of the deed’ • Justification: “capitalist society was a place of constant violence: every law, every church, every

paycheck was based on force. In such a world, to do nothing, to stand idly by while millions suffered, was itself to commit an act of violence.” - Gage

• Terrorism in Europe and US

• Debates about extent to which violence necessary or not

Trial of Goldman and Berkman • Anarchist activists and journalists

• Strongly egalitarian • Goldman advocating sexual freedom, birth control

• Opposed to US intervention in WWI and conscription • “I believe the war is merely for the purpose of furthering capitalistic

interests. I believe the people have nothing to gain from this war, neither

the people of Europe nor the people of America. I believe in universal peace.”

•Show trial with Goldman and Berkman poking holes in prosecution • “We stand here accused of being Anarchists. A vain accusation! We are Anarchists...”

• “Emma Goldman and Alexander Berkman are, beyond doubt, two of the most dangerous anarchists in this country and return to the community will result in undue harm.” – J. Edgar Hoover

Anarchism in Civil War Spain • Republican government included anarchist, socialist, and moderate politicians

• After Nationalist invasion, anarchists seizing initiative • “It is we [the workers] who built these palaces and cities, here in Spain and in America and everywhere.

We, the workers. We can build others to take their place. And better ones!” – Durruti

• New anarchist organization in urban Catalunya and rural Aragón

Spanish Anarchism: Failures and Contradictions • Violence against ‘enemies’

• Failure of large-scale coordination

• Inability to cooperate and coordinate with other Republican forces

• Difficulties of discipline in a non-hierarchical organization • “One day a man suddenly refused to go to a certain post, which he said quite truly was exposed to

enemy fire. He was a feeble creature, and I seized hold of him and began to drag him towards his post. This roused the feelings of the others against me, for Spaniards, I think, resent being touched more than we do. Instantly I was surrounded by a ring of shouting men:’ Fascist! Fascist! Let that man go! This isn't a bourgeois army. Fascist!’” - Orwell

• Machismo and failure to challenge patriarchy

Beyond the Spanish Civil War • Repression of anarchism in Europe and US during Cold War

• Revival in 1950s and 1960s

• Can anarchism only emerge at large scale during a war?

First Short Paper • 1250-1500 words, double spaced

• Citations for references to readings or lectures

• Your choice of citation format

• Due in class October 15 with cover page and rubric

• Talk to section leaders ASAP about extension requests

Next Class: Marxism • What is ‘historical materialism’?

• What different socioeconomic classes are there?

• How should workers gain control of production?

• What role does the state play in a Marxist society?

• Does Marxism lead to gender equality?

• Does communism align with indigenous communal ideas?