Abstract
Anarchism is a political concept and social movement associated with future or present politico-social projects without the state. It is informed by a commitment to the autonomy of the individual and the quest for voluntary consensus. In historical overviews of anarchism, it is often presented as possessing family resemblances to political, intellectual, and cultural innovations in classical Greece, ancient China, medieval Basra and medieval Europe, Civil War England, and Revolutionary Paris. Equally anthropologists will point to ‘stateless peoples’ throughout the world and human history as evidence of the deep pedigree that informs anarchist rejections of the state as an organising principle, and, indeed for most of humankind’s existence, the state did not exist. As a self-conscious ideology—as an ‘ism’—anarchism may owe its existence to the political formulations and intellectual currents that shaped Europe in the wake of the dual revolution, but it is also, crucially, a global and not merely European tradition. Anarchism’s history—its tenets, concepts, approaches, arguments, and style—was thus nurtured by global currents that spread people and ideas around the world, and its local manifestation was often shaped by domestic cultural and intellectual traditions that make anarchism an elusively protean ideology.
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Notes
- 1.
For definitions of anarchism see, B. Franks, ‘Anarchism’, in M. Freeden, L. Tower Sargent, and M. Stears (Eds), The Oxford Handbook of Political Ideologies (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013), 385–404 and L. Davis, ‘Anarchism’, in V. Geoghegan and R. Wilford (Eds), Political Ideologies. An Introduction (London: Routledge, 2014), 213–238. For an overall of the literature on the social and political history of anarchism, see C. Levy, ‘Social Histories of Anarchism’, Journal for the Study of Radicalism, 4:2 (2010), 1–44.
- 2.
See in this volume, Lucien van der Walt, ‘Anarchism and Syndicalism’.
- 3.
C. Honeywell, ‘Paul Goodman: Finding an Audience for Anarchism in Twentieth Century America’, Journal for the Study of Radicalism, 5:2 (2011), 65–83; C. Honeywell, A British Anarchist Tradition: Herbert Read, Alex Comfort and Colin Ward (London: Continuum, 2011); D. Goodway, Anarchist Seeds Beneath the Snow (Oakland: PM Press, 2012); C. Wilber & D. F. White (Eds), Autonomy Solidarity Possibility the Colin Ward Reader (Oakland: AK Press, 2011); C. Levy (Ed), Colin Ward: Life, Times and Thought (London: Lawrence & Wishart, 2013); C. Burke and K. Jones (Eds), Education, Childhood and Anarchism. Talking Colin Ward (London: Routledge, 2014); M. S. Adams, Kropotkin, Read, and the Intellectual History of British Anarchism. Between Reason and Romanticism (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015); B. J. Pauli, ‘The New Anarchism in Britain and the US: Towards a richer understanding of post-war anarchist thought’, Journal of Political Ideologies, 20:2 (2015), 134–155.
- 4.
C. Levy, “I am a Goddamned Anarchist’: C. Wright Mills, the Anarchists and Participatory Democracy’, MSS., forthcoming.
- 5.
J. Nuttall, Bomb Culture (London: MacGibbon & Kee, 1968).
- 6.
A. Cornell, Unruly Equality: US Anarchism in the Twentieth Century (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2016), 147–239.
- 7.
G. Woodcock, Anarchism: A history of libertarian ideas and movements (Cleveland: World Publishing Co, 1962), 467–476.
- 8.
G. Woodcock, Anarchism: A history of libertarian ideas and movements (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1975), 452–463.
- 9.
M. S. Adams & L. Kelly, ‘George Woodcock and the Doukhobors: Peasant radicalism, anarchism, and the Canadian state’, Intellectual History Review (2017), 1–25 & Matthew S. Adams, ‘Memory, History, and Homesteading: George Woodcock, Herbert Read and Intellectual Networks’, Anarchist Studies 23:1 (2015), 86–104.
- 10.
See in this volume, Dave Berry, ‘Anarchism and 1968’.
- 11.
M. Maekelbergh. ‘The Road to Democracy: The Political Legacy of “1968”’, International Review of Social History, 56:2 (2011), 301–322.
- 12.
C. Levy, ‘Anarchism and Leninist Communism: 1917 and all that’, Socialist History, 52 (2017), 86–88.
- 13.
Ibid., 88.
- 14.
R. Zibechi, Territories in Resistance. A Cartography of Latin American Social Movements (Oakland: AK Press, 2012); S. della Porta, Can Democracy be Saved? (Cambridge: Polity Press, 2013); P. Gerbaudo, The Mask and the Flag: Populism, Citizenism and Global Protest (London: C. Hurst & Co, 2017).
- 15.
The peer-reviewed journal, Anarchist Studies, started publication in 1993 and is still going strong.
- 16.
C. Levy and S. Newman (Eds), The Anarchist Imagination: Anarchism encounters the Humanities and the Social Sciences (London: Routledge, 2018)
- 17.
S. Whimster (ed), Max Weber and the Culture of Anarchy (New York: St Martin’s Press, 1999); J. Shantz and D. M. Williams, Anarchy and Society: Reflections on Anarchist Sociology (Chicago: Haymarket Books, 2014).
- 18.
D. Graeber, The Democracy Project: A History, a Crisis, a Movement (London: Allen Lane, 2013).
- 19.
J. C. Scott, Two Cheers for Anarchism. Six Easy Pieces on Autonomy, Dignity, and Meaningful Work and Play (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2012).
- 20.
C. Bantman and Bert Altena (Eds), Reassessing the Transnational Turn. Scales of Analysis in Anarchist and Syndicalist Studies (London: Routledge, 2015).
- 21.
Most historical works on anarchism have been excluded. T. May, The Political Philosophy of Poststructuralist Anarchism (University Park: Pennsylvania State University, 1994); J. Purkis and J. Bowen (Eds), Twenty-First Century Anarchism (London: Cassell, 1997); S. Newman, From Bakunin to Lacan: Anti-authoritarianism and the dislocation of power (Lanham: Lexington Books, 2001); S. Newman, The Politics of Postanarchism (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2011); S. Newman, Postanarchism (Cambridge: Polity Press, 2015); M. Albert, Parecon. Life after Capitalism (London: Verso, 2003); S. M. Sheehan, Anarchism (London: Reaktion, 2003); J. Bowen and J. Bowen (Eds), Changing Anarchism. Anarchist Theory and Practice in a Global Age (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2004); C. Ward, Anarchism: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004); R. Graham (Ed), From Anarchy to Anarchism (300 CE to 1939): A Documentary History of Libertarian Ideas. Volume One (Montréal: Black Rose Books, 2005); R. Graham, Anarchism. A Documentary History of Libertarian Ideas. Volume Two. The Emergence of the New Anarchism (1939–1977) (Montréal: Black Rose Books, 2009); R. Graham, Anarchism. A Documentary History of Libertarian Ideas. Volume 3. The New Anarchism, 1974–2012 (Montréal: Black Rose Press, 2013); R. Kinna, Anarchism. A Beginner’s Guide (Oxford: Oneworld, 2005); R. J. F. Day, Gramsci is Dead: Anarchist currents in the newest social movements (London: Pluto Press, 2005); B. Franks, Rebel Alliances: The means and ends of contemporary British Anarchism (Edinburgh: AK Press and Dark Star, 2006); J. Suissa, Anarchism and Education: A Philosophical Perspective (London: Routledge, 2006); A. Antliff, Anarchy and Art: From the Paris Commune to the fall of the Berlin Wall (Vancouver: Arsenal Pulp Press); S. Clark, Living without Domination: The possibility of an anarchist utopia (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2007); P. McLaughlin, Anarchism and Authority: A philosophical introduction to classical anarchism (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2007); U. Gordon, Anarchy Alive! Anti-Authoritarian Politics from Practice to Theory (London: Pluto Press, 2008); R. Amster, A. DeLeon, L. A. Fernandez, A. J. Nocella II, and D. Shannon (Eds), Contemporary Anarchist Studies. An Introductory Anthology of Anarchy in the Academy (London: Routledge, 2009); M. A. Bamyeh, Anarchy as Order. The History and Future of Civic Humanity (Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, 2009); L. David and R. Kinna (Eds), Anarchism and Utopianism (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2009); B. Franks and M. Wilson (Eds), Anarchism and Moral Philosophy (Houndmills: Palgrave Macmillan, 2010); N. Jun and S. Wald (Eds), New Perspectives on Anarchism (Lanham: Lexington Books, 2010); J. Shantz, Constructive Anarchy: Building Infrastructures of Resistance (London: Routledge, 2010); A. Christoyannopoulos, Christian Anarchism: A Political Commentary on the Gospel (Exeter: Imprint Academic, 2011); A. Christoyannopoulos (Ed), Religious Anarchism: New Perspectives (Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2011); A. Christoyannopoulos and M. S. Adams (Eds), Essays in Anarchism and Religion: Volume I (Stockholm: Stockholm University Press, 2017); S. Evren (Eds), Post-Anarchism. A Reader (London: Pluto Press, 2011); J. Heckert and R. Cleminson (Eds), Anarchism & Sexuality: Ethics, relationships and power (London: Routledge, 2011); J. C. Klausen and J. Martel (Eds), How not to be Governed. Readings and Interpretations from a Critical Anarchist Left (Lanham: Lexington Books, 2011); J. Shantz, Against all Authority: Anarchism and the literary imagination (Exeter: Imprint Academic, 2011); R. Amster, Anarchism Today (Santa Barbara: Praeger, 2012); C. B. Daring, J. Rogue, D. Shannon, and A. Volcano (Eds), Queering Anarchism. Addressing and Undressing Power and Desire (Oakland: AK Press, 2012); R. H. Haworth (Ed), Anarchist Pedagogies. Collective Actions, Theories, and Critical Reflections on Education (Oakland: PM Press, 2012); R. Kinna (Ed), The Continuum Companion to Anarchism (London: Continuum, 2012); N. Jun, Anarchism and Political Modernity (London: Continuum, 2012); A. Prichard, R. Kinna, S. Pinta, and D. Berry (Eds), Libertarian Socialism. Politics in Back and Red (Houndmills: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012); M. Ramnath, Decolonizing Anarchism: An Anti-Authoritarian History of India’s Liberation Struggle (Oakland: AK Press, 2012); D. Shannon, A. J. Nocella II, & J. Asimakopoulos (Eds), The Accumulation of Freedom. Writings on Anarchist Economics (Oakland: AK Press, 2012); J. Shantz, Green Syndicalism: An alternative red/green vison (Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 2012); J. Blumenfeld, C. Bottici, and S. Critichley (Eds), The Anarchist Turn (London: Pluto Press, 2013); J. R. Clarke, The Impossible Community. Realising Communitarian Anarchism (London: Bloomsbury, 2013); J. A. Meléndez Badillo and N. J. Jun (Eds), Without Borders or Limits. An Interdisciplinary Approach to Anarchist Studies (Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Press, 2013); Z. Vodovnik, A Living Spirit of Revolt. The Infrapolitics of Anarchism (Oakland: PM Press, 2013); J. S. Cohn, Underground Passages: Anarchist resistance culture, 1848–2011 (Edinburgh: AK Press, 2015); R. Craib and B. Maxwell (Eds), No Gods, No Masters, No Peripheries: Global Anarchisms (Oakland: PM Press, 2015); M. Lopes et al. (Eds), Theories of Resistance. Anarchism, Geography, and the Spirit of Revolt (London: Rowman and Littlefield, 2016); S. Springer, The Anarchist Roots of Geography. Towards Spatial Emancipation (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2016); S. Springer et al. (Eds), The Radicalisation of Pedagogy. Anarchism, Geography, and the Spirit Revolt (London: Rowan and Littlefield, 2016); N. Jun, Brill’s Companion to Anarchism and Philosophy (Leiden: Brill, 2017); D. M. Williams, Black Flags and Social Movements. A Sociological Analysis of Movement Anarchism (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2017); B. Franks, N. Jun, and L. Williams (Eds), Anarchism. A Conceptual Approach (London: Routledge, 2018); F. Ferretti, G. Barrera de la Torre, Anthony Ince, and F. Toro (Eds), Historical Geographies of Anarchism. Early Critical Geographies and Present-Day Scientific Challenges (London: Routledge, 2018). The contributors to this volume have also published in this period, but we invite you to read their chapter and endnotes to gather their other manifold contributions. We should also point to the ongoing series of academic monographs published first by Continuum, then Bloomsbury Press and now Manchester University Press. A selection of Noam Chomsky’s writings on anarchism for all three waves can be found in N. Chomsky, On Anarchism (New York: The New Press, 2013).
- 22.
Many historical works on anarchism have been excluded. Woodcock, Anarchism; I. L. Horowitz (Ed), The Anarchists (New York: 1964); I. L. Horowitz (Ed), The Anarchists (New York: Dell, 1964); J. Joll, The Anarchists (London: Eure & Spottiswoode, 1964); L. Krimmerman and L. Parry (Eds), Patterns of Anarchy (New York: Garden City, 1966); D. Guérin, Anarchism from Theory to Practice (New York: Monthly Review Press, 1970); R. P. Wolff, In Defense of Anarchism (New York: Harper and Row, 1970); D. E. Apter and J. Joll (Eds), Anarchism Today (London: Macmillan, 1971); A. Carter, The Political Theory of Anarchism (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1971); M. Shatz (Ed), The Essential Workers of Anarchism (New York: Bantam Book, 1971); C. Ward, Anarchy in Action (London: George Allen & Unwin, 1973); and for a selection of articles from the important journal, Anarchy, see C. Ward (Ed), A Decade of Anarchy (1961–1970) (London: Freedom Press, 1987); G. Baldelli, Social Anarchism (London: Penguin, 1972); T. Perlin (Ed) Contemporary Anarchism (New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Books, 1979).
- 23.
Most historical works on anarchism have been excluded. J. Roland Pennock and J. W. Chapman (Eds), Anarchism (New York: NYU, 1978); H. J. Ehrlich et al. (Eds), Reinventing Anarchy: What are anarchists thinking these days? (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1979); A. Ritter, Anarchism, a Theoretical Analysis (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1980); M. Taylor, Community, Anarchy & Liberty (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1982); M. Taylor, The Possibility of Cooperation (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987); D. Miller, Anarchism (London: J. M. Dent, 1984); J. P. Clark, The Anarchist Moment: Reflections on culture, nature and power (MontréL: Black Rose Books, 1984); A. Carter, Marx: A Radical Critique (Brighton: Harvester Wheatsheaf, 1988); D. Goodway (Ed), For Anarchism. History, Theory, and Practice (London: Routledge, 1989); H. Ehrlich et al. (Eds), Reinventing Anarchy, Again (Edinburgh: AK Press, 1996). There are various works by Murray Bookchin which were published in different formats in later years, but see the discussion of Andy Price in this volume. The anarchism of Punk was expressed in zines, music, and fashions and these material culture is discussed in M. Dines and M. Worley (Eds), Aesthetic of Our Anger (Colchester: Minor Compositions, 2016) and M. Worley, No Future: Punk, Politics and British Youth Culture, 1976–1984 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2017).
- 24.
R. Kinna and S. Evren (Eds), ‘Blasting the Canon’, Anarchist Developments in Cultural Studies, (1), 2013.
- 25.
C. Ross, The Leaderless Revolution: How ordinary people will take power and change politics in the 21st century (London: Simon & Schuster, 2012).
- 26.
It is also worth reading, M. Wilson, Rules without Rulers (Winchester: Zero Books, 2014).
- 27.
For further discussions of anarchism, an anarchist methodology and the sociology of science see, P. Feyerabend, Against Method (London: Verso, 1975) and S. Restivo, Red, Black and Objective: Science, sociology, and anarchism (London: Routledge, 2016).
- 28.
L. A. Dugatkin, The Altruism Equation. Seven Scientists Search for the Origins of Goodness (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2006).
- 29.
Kevin A. Carson, Studies in Mutualist Political Economy (NP: Booksurge, 2007).
- 30.
R. Michels, Political Parties: A sociological study of oligarchical tendencies in modern democracy (London: Jarrold & Sons, 1915).
- 31.
For the most recent treatment of the First International see, F. Bensimon, Q. Deleurmoz, & J. Moisand (Eds), ‘Arise Ye Wretched of the Earth’. The First International in a Global Perspective (Leiden: Brill, 2018).
- 32.
C. Levy, ‘Malatesta and the war interventionist debate 1914–17: From the ‘Red Week’ to the Russian Revolution’, in M. S. Adams and R. Kinna (Eds), Anarchism 1914–18. Internationalism, Anti-Militarism and War (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2017), 69–94.
- 33.
For attempts to apply Machajski and later New Class theories to the socialism of the Second International, see C. Levy (Ed), Socialism and the Intelligentsia 1880–1914 (Routledge Library Editions: Social and Political Thought in the Nineteenth Century) (London: Routledge, 2017, First edition 1987).
- 34.
It is also worthwhile consulting his recent book, Personal Modernism. Anarchist Networks and the Later Avant-Gardes (Edmonton: University of Alberta Press, 2014).
- 35.
His recent book is also useful, Anarchism and Art: Democracy in the Cracks and on the Margins (Albany: SUNY Press, 2016).
- 36.
For a cautionary tale of the limits of grassroots cyber-organising see, Z. Tufekci, Twitter and Tear Gas: The Power and Fragility of Networked Protest (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2017).
- 37.
First published in The Humane Review, January 1901.
- 38.
A. M. Bonanno, The Anarchist Tension, translated by Jean Weir (London: Elephant Editions, 1998), 3.
- 39.
H. Read, ‘Philosophy of Change’, in J. R. M. Brumwell (Eds), This Changing World: A series of contributions by some of our leading thinkers, to case light upon the pattern of the modern world (London: Reader’s Union, 1945), 263–268 (267); See also, Matthew S. Adams, ‘Art, Education, and Revolution: Herbert Read and the Reorientation of British Anarchism’, History of European Ideas, 39:5 (2013), 709–728; Matthew S. Adams, ‘To Hell with Culture: Fascism, Rhetoric, and the War for Democracy’, Anarchist Studies, 23:2 (2015), 18–37.
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Levy, C., Adams, M.S. (2019). Introduction. In: Levy, C., Adams, M.S. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Anarchism. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-75620-2_1
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