Social anarchist thought emphasizes community and social equality as complementary to autonomy and personal freedom through norms maintained, such as freedom of speech,
in a decentralized federalism, balanced with freedom of interaction in
thought as well as incorporating the concept of subsidiarity "that one
should not withdraw from individuals and commit to the community what
they can accomplish by their own enterprise and industry" and that
"[f]or every social activity ought of its very nature to furnish help to
the members of the body social, [should] never destroy and absorb
them", or simply the slogan "Do not take tools out of people's hands".
Social anarchism is also advocated that the conversion of a proportion of present-day and future productive private property be made into social property to offer individual empowerment through easier access to such as tools or parts, or a sharing of the commons while retaining respect for personal property. The term is used to describe the theory—contra individualist anarchism—that places an emphasis on the communitarian and cooperative aspects in anarchist theory while also opposing authoritarian forms of communitarianism associated with groupthink and collective conformity and instead favouring a reconciliation between individuality and sociality. Illegitimate authority is removed through inspection and vigilance. While self-determination is asserted as is worker's self-management and education and empowerment emphasized, both individually and through interaction with the community, a do-it-youself (DIY) mentality is combined with educational efforts within the social realm.
Social anarchism is considered an umbrella term that includes—but is not limited to—the post-capitalist economic models of anarcho-communism, collectivist anarchism and sometimes mutualism, or even non-state controlled federated guild socialism dual power industrial democracy or federated cooperatives in addition to workers' and consumers' councils, replacing much of the present state system yet still retaining basic rights as well as the trade union approach of anarcho-syndicalism, the social struggle strategies of platformism and specifism and the environmental philosophy of social ecology.
The term "social anarchism" is often used interchangeably with libertarian socialism, left-libertarianism or left anarchism. It emerged in the late 19th century as a distinction from individualist anarchism.
Social anarchism is also advocated that the conversion of a proportion of present-day and future productive private property be made into social property to offer individual empowerment through easier access to such as tools or parts, or a sharing of the commons while retaining respect for personal property. The term is used to describe the theory—contra individualist anarchism—that places an emphasis on the communitarian and cooperative aspects in anarchist theory while also opposing authoritarian forms of communitarianism associated with groupthink and collective conformity and instead favouring a reconciliation between individuality and sociality. Illegitimate authority is removed through inspection and vigilance. While self-determination is asserted as is worker's self-management and education and empowerment emphasized, both individually and through interaction with the community, a do-it-youself (DIY) mentality is combined with educational efforts within the social realm.
Social anarchism is considered an umbrella term that includes—but is not limited to—the post-capitalist economic models of anarcho-communism, collectivist anarchism and sometimes mutualism, or even non-state controlled federated guild socialism dual power industrial democracy or federated cooperatives in addition to workers' and consumers' councils, replacing much of the present state system yet still retaining basic rights as well as the trade union approach of anarcho-syndicalism, the social struggle strategies of platformism and specifism and the environmental philosophy of social ecology.
The term "social anarchism" is often used interchangeably with libertarian socialism, left-libertarianism or left anarchism. It emerged in the late 19th century as a distinction from individualist anarchism.
Historical currents
Mutualism
Pierre-Joseph Proudhon and his children by Gustave Courbet, 1865
Mutualism, originally developed by Pierre-Joseph Proudhon,
emerged from early 19th century socialism and is generally considered a
market-oriented strand within the libertarian socialist tradition.
Mutualists typically accept property rights, but with brief abandonment
time periods. In a community in which mutuality property rules were
upheld, a landowner would need to make (more or less) continuous use of
his/her land; if he/she failed to do so, his/her ownership rights would
be extinguished and the land could be homesteaded by someone else. A
mutualist property regime is often described as one rooted in "possession", "occupancy-and-use", or "usufruct".
Nevertheless, mutualism is also associated with the economic views of 19th century American individualist anarchists such as Benjamin Tucker and William Batchelder Greene. Today, Kevin Carson is a contemporary mutualist and author of Studies in Mutualist Political Economy who describes this work as "an attempt to revive individualist anarchist
political economy, to incorporate the useful developments of the last
hundred years, and to make it relevant to the problems of the
twenty-first century".
Collectivist anarchism
Collectivist anarchism (also known as anarcho-collectivism) is a revolutionary form of anarchism, commonly associated with Mikhail Bakunin and James Guillaume. It is a specific tendency, not to be confused with the broad category sometimes called collectivist or communitarian anarchism.
The tendency emerged from the most radical wing of mutualism
during the late 1860s. Unlike mutualists, collectivist anarchists oppose
all private ownership of the means of production, instead advocating
that ownership be collectivized, being made the joint property of the
commune (municipality). This was to be achieved through violent
revolution, first starting with a small cohesive group through acts of
armed insurrection, or "propaganda by the deed", which would inspire the workers and peasants as a whole to revolt and forcibly collectivize the means of production.
However, collectivization was not to be extended to the distribution of
income as workers would be paid according to time worked, rather than
receiving goods being distributed "according to need" as in anarcho-communism. This position was criticised by later anarcho-communists as effectively "uphold[ing] the wages system".
Anarchist communist and collectivist ideas were not mutually
exclusive. Although the collectivist anarchists advocated compensation
for labor, some held out the possibility of a post-revolutionary
transition to a communist system of distribution according to need,
claiming that this would become more feasible once technology and
productivity had evolved to a point where "production outstrips
consumption" in a relative sense. Collectivist anarchism arose contemporaneously with Marxism, but it opposed the Marxist dictatorship of the proletariat despite the stated Marxist goal of a collectivist stateless society.
Anarcho-communism
Anarcho-communist Peter Kropotkin believed that in anarchy workers would spontaneously self-organize to produce goods for all of society
Anarcho-communism (also known as anarchist communism and occasionally
as free communism) is a theory of anarchism that advocates the
abolition of the state, markets, money, capitalism and private property.
Politically, anarchist communists advocate replacing the
nation-state and representative government with a voluntary
confederation of free communes (self-governing municipalities), with the
commune replacing the nation as the core unit of social-political
administration. Economically, anarchist communists believe in converting
private property into the commons or public goods while retaining respect for personal property). In practice, this means common ownership of the means of production, direct democracy with production organised through a horizontal network of voluntary associations and consumption based on the guiding principle: "From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs". Some forms of anarchist communism such as insurrectionary anarchism are strongly influenced by egoism and radical individualism, believing anarcho-communism is the best social system for the realization of individual freedom. Most anarcho-communists view anarcho-communism as a way of reconciling the opposition between the individual and society.
The ideas associated with anarchist communism developed out of radical socialist currents after the French revolution, but was first formulated as such in the Italian section of the First International. The theoretical work of Peter Kropotkin took importance later as it expanded and developed pro-organizationalist and insurrectionary anti-organizationalist sections.
In terms of its vision for a post-capitalist economy, it differs
from anarcho-syndicalism in seeing the centre of political-economic
organisation as the commune, rather than the workplace, with economic
issues being administered primarily on a communal (territorial), rather
than unionist (industrial), basis. Though most anarcho-syndicalists
agree with the communist method of distribution—"From each according to
his ability, to each according to his needs"—they disagree with the
commune-based method of organising production and structuring society;
making them communists in one sense, but not the other.
To date, the best known examples of an anarchist communist
society (i.e. established around the ideas as they exist today and
achieving worldwide attention and knowledge in the historical canon),
are the anarchist territories during the Spanish Revolution and the Free Territory during the Russian Revolution. Through the efforts and influence of the Spanish Anarchists during the Spanish Revolution within the Spanish Civil War,
starting in 1936 anarchist communism existed in most of Aragon, parts
of the Levante and Andalusia as well as in the stronghold of anarchist Catalonia before being crushed by the combined forces of the regime that won the war,
Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, Spanish Communist Party repression
(backed by the Soviet Union) as well as economic and armaments blockades
from the capitalist countries and the Spanish Republic itself. During the Russian Revolution, anarchists such as Nestor Makhno worked to create and defend—through the Revolutionary Insurrectionary Army of Ukraine—anarchist communism in the Free Territory of the Ukraine from 1919 before being conquered by the Bolsheviks in 1921.
Anarcho-syndicalism
In the late 19th and early 20th century, revolutionary syndicalism
emerged as a form of radical trade union activism, sharing a close
relationship with social anarchists of both the collectivist and
communist tendencies. In the early 1920s, anarcho-syndicalism arose as a
distinct school of thought within anarchism.
With greater focus on the labour movement than previous forms of anarchism, syndicalism posits radical trade unions as a potential force for revolutionary social change, replacing capitalism and the state with a new society, democratically self-managed by the workers.
Like anarchist-communists, anarcho-syndicalists seek to abolish
the wage system and private ownership of the means of production, which
they believe lead to class divisions. Important principles include
workers' solidarity, direct action (such as general strikes and workplace recuperations) and workers' self-management of enterprises and the economy as a whole.
In terms of post-capitalist vision, anarcho-syndicalists most often subscribe to communist or collectivist anarchist economic systems on the issue of distributing goods.
The aim is to use a radical trade union movement to achieve either a
collectivist or communist (moneyless) mode of distribution; or first the
former and then the latter, once a certain degree of
technical-productive capacity has enabled production to outstrip
consumption, making a moneyless economy more viable. However,
anarcho-syndicalists differ from anarcho-communists on wanting
federations of (trade-based) workers' syndicates as the locus of
organising the economy, rather than confederations of (territory-based)
free communes.
Its advocates propose labour organization as a means to create
the foundations of a trade union centered anarchist society within the
current system and bring about social revolution. An early leading
anarcho-syndicalist thinker was Rudolf Rocker, whose 1938 pamphlet Anarchosyndicalism outlined a view of the movement's origin, aims and importance to the future of labour.
Although more often associated with labor struggles of the early 20th century (particularly in France and Spain), many syndicalist organizations are active today, united across national borders by membership in the International Workers' Association, including the Central Organisation of the Workers of Sweden in Sweden, the Italian Syndicalist Union in Italy, the National Confederation of Labour and the General Confederation of Labour in Spain, the Workers Solidarity Movement of Ireland and the Industrial Workers of the World in the United States.
Platformism and specifism
Platformism is a tendency (or organized school of thought)
within the anarcho-communist movement which stresses the need for
tightly organized anarchist organizations that are able to influence
working class and peasant movements to achieve anarchist communism.
It is in many ways identical to specifism (especifismo) and has an antecedent in the work of Mikhail Bakunin,
advocating a strategy of "organisational dualism", which entails: (1)
building specifically anarchist organisations with a general agreement
on ideas and practices; and (2) anarchists working within broader
popular organisations and movements that aren't specifically anarchist,
hoping to maintain theoretical consistency as well as pushing popular
movements in a more anarchistic direction from within.
Platformist/specifist groups reject the model of Leninist
vanguardism. They instead aim to "make anarchist ideas the leading
ideas within the class struggle",
while also opposing the anarcho-syndicalist tendency of seeing the
class struggle and anarchist struggle as synonymous; holding that
non-union political organisations are a necessary part of achieving
anarchist ends. According to the Organisational Platform for a General Union of Anarchists, the four main principles by which an anarchist-communist organisation should operate are:
- Ideological Unity: A general agreement on anarchist theoretical issues.
- Tactical Unity: A general agreement on strategy and tactics for achieving anarchist ends.
- Collective Responsibility: A coherence between individual acts and actions of the organisation.
- Federalism: The autonomy of individual chapters within the organisation.
In general, these groups aim to win the widest possible influence for
anarcho-communist ideas and methods in the working class and peasantry
(the popular classes), oriented towards "ordinary" people, rather than
to the extreme left milieu. This usually entails a willingness to work
in single-issue campaigns, trade unionism and community groups and to
fight for immediate reforms while linking this to a project of building
popular consciousness and organisation. They therefore reject approaches
that they believe will prevent this, such as insurrectionist anarchism, as well as "views that dismiss activity in the unions" or that dismiss anti-imperialist movements.
The name "platformist" derives from the 1926 Organisational Platform of the General Union of Anarchists (Draft). This was published by the Group of Russian Anarchists Abroad, in their journal Dielo Truda ("Workers' Cause" in Russian). The group, which consisted of exiled Russian anarchist veterans of the 1917 October Revolution (notably Nestor Makhno who played a leading role in the anarchist revolution in the Ukraine of 1918–1921), based the Platform on their experiences of the revolution and the eventual victory of the Bolsheviks over the anarchists and other groups. The Platform attempted to address and explain the anarchist movement's failures during the Russian Revolution outside of the Ukraine.
The document drew both praise and criticism from anarchists worldwide and sparked a major debate within the anarchist movement.
Today, platformism is an important current in international anarchism.
Around thirty platformist and specifist organisations are linked
together in the Anarkismo.net project, including groups from Africa,
Latin America, North America and Europe. Further theoretical developments of platformism/specifism include the Manifesto of Libertarian Communism (1953) by Georges Fontenis and Social Anarchism and Organisation (2008) by FARJ (Anarchist Federation of Rio de Janeiro).
Contemporary currents
More recent political tendencies which emerged out of social anarchism are the post-capitalist economic models of inclusive democracy and participatory economics,
both of which could be regarded as updated forms of the collectivist
anarchism of Mikhail Bakunin, as well as the environmental philosophy of
social ecology and its associated politics of Post-Scarcity Anarchism and Communalism.
Inclusive Democracy
Inclusive Democracy is a political theory and political project that aim for direct democracy, economic democracy in a stateless, moneyless and marketless economy, self-management
(democracy in the social realm) and ecological democracy. The
theoretical project of Inclusive Democracy (ID; as distinguished from
the political project that is part of the democratic and autonomy
traditions) emerged from the work of political philosopher, former
academic and activist Takis Fotopoulos in Towards An Inclusive Democracy and was further developed by him and other writers in the journal Democracy & Nature and its successor The International Journal of Inclusive Democracy, an electronic journal freely available and published by the International Network for Inclusive Democracy.
According to Arran Gare, Towards an Inclusive Democracy
"offers a powerful new interpretation of the history and destructive
dynamics of the market and provides an inspiring new vision of the
future in place of both neo-liberalism and existing forms of socialism".
As David Freeman points out, although Fotopoulos' approach "is not
openly anarchism, yet anarchism seems the formal category within which
he works, given his commitment to direct democracy, municipalism and
abolition of state, money and market economy".
Participism
Participism is a 21st century form of libertarian socialism which comprises two related economic and political systems called participatory economics or "parecon" and participatory politics or "parpolity".
Parecon is an economic system proposed primarily by activist and political theorist Michael Albert and radical economist Robin Hahnel,
among others. It uses participatory decision making as an economic
mechanism to guide the production, consumption and allocation of
resources in a given society. Proposed as an alternative to contemporary
capitalist market economies and also an alternative to centrally
planned socialism or coordinatorism, it is described as "an anarchistic
economic vision" and it could be considered a form of socialism as under
Parecon, the means of production are owned by the workers. The
underlying values that Parecon seeks to implement are equity,
solidarity, diversity, workers' self-management and efficiency
(efficiency here means accomplishing goals without wasting valued
assets). It proposes to attain these ends mainly through the following
principles and institutions: workers' and consumers' councils utilizing
self-managerial methods for decision making, balanced job complexes,
remuneration according to effort and sacrifice and participatory
planning.
Under parecon, the current monetary system would be replaced with
a system of non-transferable "credit", which would cease to exist upon
purchase of a commodity.
Parpolity is a theoretical political system proposed by Stephen R. Shalom.
It was developed as a political vision to accompany Parecon. The values
on which parpolity is based are freedom, self-management, justice,
solidarity and tolerance. According to Shalom, the goal is to create a
political system that will allow people to participate as much as
possible in a face to face manner. Participism as a whole is critical of
aspects of modern representative democracies and capitalism
arguing that the level of political control by the people is not
sufficient. To address this problem, parpolity suggests a system of
"Nested Councils", which would include every adult member of a given
society. With five levels of nested councils it is thought, could
represent the population of the United States.
Under participism, the state as such would dissolve into a mere
coordinating body made up of delegates, who would be recallable at any
time by the nested council below them.
Social ecology and Communalism
Social ecology is closely related to the work and ideas of Murray Bookchin and influenced by anarchist Peter Kropotkin. Social ecologists assert that the present ecological crisis
has its roots in human social problems and that the domination of
human-over-nature stems from the domination of human-over-human.
Bookchin later developed a political philosophy to complement social ecology that he called Communalism
(spelled with a capital "C" to differentiate it from other forms of
communalism). While originally conceived as a form of social anarchism,
he later developed Communalism into a separate ideology that
incorporates what he saw as the most beneficial elements of anarchism,
Marxism, syndicalism and radical ecology.
Politically, Communalists advocate a network of directly
democratic citizens' assemblies in individual communities/cities
organized in a confederal fashion. This method used to achieve this is
called libertarian municipalism,
which involves the establishment of face-to-face democratic
institutions that are to grow and expand confederally with the goal of
eventually replacing the nation state. Unlike anarchists, Communalists
are not opposed to taking part in parliamentary politics—especially
municipal elections—as long as candidates are libertarian socialist and
anti-statist in outlook.
Economically, Communalism favours the abolition of markets and money and the transition to an economy similar to libertarian communism and according to the principle "From each according to his ability, to each according to needs".
