What is Anarchism?

You might think the worst of anarchists, but in reality, there is a lot we can learn from Anarchism.

Now, what exactly is anarchism? A definition by Russian activist, philosopher and scientist, Peter Kropotkin is “a name given to a principle or theory of life and conduct under which society is conceived without government – harmony in such a society being obtained, not by the submission to law, or by obedience to any authority, but by free agreements concluded between the various groups, territorial and professional, freely constituted for the sake of production and consumption, as also for the satisfaction of the infinite variety of needs and aspirations of a civilized being”.

American linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, historian, social critic, and political activist, Noam Chomsky, says "it is a tendency that is suspicious and skeptical of domination, authority, and hierarchy. It seeks structures of hierarchy and domination in human life over the whole range, extending from, say, patriarchal families to, say, imperial systems, and it asks whether those systems are justified. It assumes that the burden of proof for anyone in a position of power and authority lies on them. Their authority is not self-justifying. They have to give a reason for it, a justification. And if they can’t justify that authority and power and control, which is the usual case, then the authority ought to be dismantled and replaced by something more free and just".

The closest example one can find of an anarchist society is Revolutionary Catalonia (1936 – 1939).

Revolutionary Catalonia was controlled by various anarchist, communist, and socialist trade unions, parties, and militias of the Spanish Civil War period. Although the Generalitat of Catalonia was nominally in power, the trade unions were de facto in command of most of the economy and military forces, which included the Confederación Nacional del Trabajo (CNT, National Confederation of Labor) which was the dominant labor union at the time.

The society included management of the industries by democratic worker production organizations, based on workplace assemblies, and worker congresses for society wide economic coordination. Their program also included "free municipalities", assembly based organizations of residents in rural villages and in urban neighborhoods.

George Orwell wrote a book on the society called "Homage to Catalonia", from where he wrote:

"Waiters and shop-walkers looked you in the face and treated you as an equal" .

"There was no unemployment, and the price of living was still extremely low; you saw very few conspicuously destitute people, and no beggars except the gypsies. Above all, there was a belief in the revolution and the future, a feeling of having suddenly emerged into an era of equality and freedom".

"One had breathed the air of equality. I am well aware that it is now the fashion to deny that Socialism has anything to do with equality. In every country in the world a huge tribe of party-hacks and sleek little professors are busy 'proving' that Socialism means no more than a planned state-capitalism with the grab-motive left intact. But fortunately there also exists a vision of Socialism quite different from this".