Introduction to the History of Anarchism

[Music] anarchism is a difficult ideology to define an anarchism of a swords was present in many movements and ideologies throughout history from the Taoists in ancient China through to anarchism currently being practiced in reserva in northern Syria where communities are attempting to establish autonomous bottom up with Iraq democracies where anyone can vote on any issue philosophy professor Nathan June defines Ana kazama's a universal condemnation of an opposition to all forms of closed coercive Authority political and economical social etc coupled with be universal affirmation and promotion of freedom and equality in all spheres of human existence fer much of history the term anarchism was and firmly still is a derogatory term rather than the name of any movement or ideology but towards the end of the 18th century William Godwin began to define anarchism as an ideology for the first time what is now referred to as classical anarchism was popularized across the course of the nineteenth century when most terrorism in the world was also perpetrated by anarchists King Umberto the first of Italy for example was assassinated by an anarchist in 1900 at the height of the French Revolution in 1794 Godwin published an inquiry concerning political justice which while not using the term anarchism is undoubtedly one of the first modern anarchist texts and influenced the fathers of socialism and workers movements like Robert Owen and poets like Percy Shelley influenced by John Locke's argument that the mind was a blank slate Godwin argued that men were born equal and that differences were a product to their environment Godwin was also a utilitarian he believed that morality was a system of conduct which is determined by a consideration of the greatest general good at the same time he believed that man was perfectible so that when these three principles were combined the blank slate the greatest good and continual improvement and as man became more educated and rational they were become capable of governing themselves Godwin argued that property accumulation was an evil that should be replaced by a kind of communism where each is entitled to their share of a common stock and where communities that governed themselves face-to-face would replace nation-states a technological utopian Godwin also believed that if everyone took a share of the workload and the innovations of the Industrial Revolution would justly put to use work hours could be reduced just half an hour a day but Godwin was also a gradualist who believed that change would come through careful progression and reform next came max Turner Godwin died in 1836 and max Turner wrote his magnum opus the ego and its own in 1844 where Godwin looked her cooperation and community as the essence of anarchism sterner argued for a radical individualism stoner was heavily influenced by Hegel's dialectics the idea that progress occurs through the development of a thesis antithesis and synthesis that drives ideas and history instead of progressing towards the States as the embodiment of the community though as Hegel had argued sterner thought that the dialectic of history would progress towards a supreme individual freedom where each man stood on his own moral footing sterner system was supremely philosophically abstract but his fundamental point was that we are all wrists faster no we do everything for our own benefit even when we are being charitable for example we do it because it makes us look good and will benefit us in some way in the end so morality came from the individual ego the state then was superfluous because we would be moral anyway to further our own individual interests laws and government then are an unjust restraint on the personal freedom of the ego sterner famously declared that I am everything to myself and I do everything on my account for sterner there are no rights there is no transcendent morality all of these are what he called spooks invented by the powerful to oppress I and I alone decide what is right and what is wrong sterna believe that instead of the state people should ban together in unions of egoists workers for example should ban together and strike for better pay the state he argued only gets in the way because we are roughly equal as humans unions will balance each other out leading to a kind of egoistic equilibrium pierre-joseph Pradhan published what is property in 1840 and it would become one of the most influential anarchist hats of the 19th century his answer to the question what his property was the statements property is theft Pradhan argued the property that was the result of labor was legitimate but property in unused land or property that's profit was a result of rents or interest was illegitimate he was involved in a dispute with Marx and deserves praise for his foresight that and I quote the doctrinaire authoritarian dictatorial governmental communist system is based on the principle that the individual is essentially subordinate to the collective that from it alone he has his right in life that the citizen belongs to the state like a child to the family that he is in its power and possession in Manu and that he owes its submission and obedience in all things thus predicting the horrors of the totalitarian Soviet states in the 20th century Prudhomme wrote that to be governed is to be watched over inspected spied on directed legislated regimented closed in indoctrinated preached that controlled assess evaluated censored commanded Prudhomme believed instead in a bottom-up organized Federation of communes where the higher levels would be subordinated to the lower levels this would be the very opposite of a centralized system instead of laws prude on proposed contracts between people and groups this was called mutualism another anarchist involved in the dispute with Marx was Mikhail Bakunin maybe the most famous anarchist bakunin believed that justice was synonymous with equality so that the freedom of each is therefore realizable only in the Equality of all like Prudhomme bakunin believed in the commune which while federated into larger units would always retain the right to secede his ideas of collectivist anarchism argued for equal means of subsistence support education and opportunity for every child boy or girl until maturity and equal resources and facilities in adulthood to create his own well-being by his own labor while not a particularly philosophical thinker Bakunin is best known as the leader of the anarchists of the first international which lasted from 1864 to 1876 and for his bitter disputes with Marx over the question of the dictatorship of the proletariat Bakunin argued that rather than States communism workers associations should themselves own the means of production he argued that authority should be a matter of choice making the state an illegitimate form of authority he said in the matter of boots I referred to the authority of the boot maker concerning houses canals or railroads I consult that of the architect or engineer but I allow neither the boot maker nor the architect to impose his authority upon me finally closing off the end of the 19th century is Peter Kropotkin Kropotkin the eccentric who went from Russian prince and aide to Tsar Alexandre ii to world-renowned anarchist was a communist anarchist and a great geographer whose most famous work mutual aid was published in 1902 Kropotkin spent much of his life challenging those who thought that darwin's new theory of evolution as survival of the fittest justified racial and class hierarchy he argued that rather than competition and the prevailing of the dominant gene mutual aid and cooperation within species were the defining factors of evolution he argued that the phenomena of mutual aid and altruism a kind of natural morality existed biologically within humans and so the state was an unnecessary protector of order Kropotkin has much in common with someone like Rousseau who argued that humans are inherently good-natured but live under the corrosive effects of modern society while traveling the world and writing mutual aid Kropotkin observed beetles helping each other carry and bury prey too big for just one of them to eat and ants who shared food and water if they passed another in need Eagles that call on each other for aid and who let the elders and the weak eat before the young and the strongest he saw pacts and prides and schools in cooperation everywhere he looked and Kropotkin also pointed to organizations like the English lifeboat Association as an example of a voluntary organization that provides a without the coercion of the states as well as mutual aid Kropotkin wrote the conquest of bread which outlined his views on what an anarcho-communism fluent Stanek ists in Catalonia during the Spanish Civil War an anarchists today still in reserva these five thinkers provided a rough genesis of anarchist thought that were divided into separates but sometimes overlapping schools during the 19th century anarchists would generally either be communists or non communists non-communists mutualists like Pradhan usually argued for individual property rights spurts equal access to land and the means of production and the abolishment of rents profits and Taxation this was in contrast to a narco communists who would usually argue that the community rather than the individual controlled all property would abolish all market exchange and would distribute or property by need in the 1905 entry for anarchism in the Encyclopedia Britannica Kropotkin noted that there were six main schools of anarchist thought mutualist individualist collectivist communist Christian and literary collectivists for example argued that a federated system of collective communities would be in charge of the land and the means of production in its area Kropotkin neglected to include anarcho-syndicalist s-- which through unionization would put all decisions in the hands of the workers and would own the means of production and have an equal say in the decision-making process anarchism has a rich and varied history that is impossible to do justice to in a short video what I have sketched is just at the beginnings of what often I referred to as classical anarchism if you want to support than annoy them please subscribe below and most importantly click the bell here to receive notifications when I upload a new video you can also follow me on Facebook Twitter and Instagram in the links in the description below and if you're feeling really generous established channel only exists through the support of pledges on patreon where you can support new content with as little as a dollar for each new video thanks for watching see you next week [Music]

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Views: 140,144

Rating: 4.9037538 out of 5

Keywords: Bakunin, William Godwin, Max Stirner, Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, Anarcho-Communism, Individualism, Anarcho-Syndicalism., Kropotkin, Anarchism, History of Anarchism, Introduction of Anarchism, Philosophy of anarchism, anarchist philosophy

Id: OJ_qg23orFM

Length: 13min 49sec (829 seconds)

Published: Mon Aug 13 2018

Reddit Comments

[u/FluorineWizard]

This is an alright video, though it does take some unfortunate shortcuts.

For one, Proudhon's critique of "communism" was essentially aimed at pre-Marxist conceptions of the term, since he died before Marx's work became widely known. What he argued against was what Marx himself would refer to as "vulgar communism", a form of anti-individualist socialism in which the individual is strictly a subject of the commune, akin to religious orders. Later conceptions of communism put a much larger emphasis on individual freedom.

Similarly, the presentation of the different approaches to property rights lacks nuance and is prone to giving less knowledgeable people the wrong impression. Especially since you can't directly compare different socialist approaches without explaining in which ways they define property differently. Saying that ancoms wish to abolish all property is very misleading, for example.

Actually now that I'm thinking about it the way the video presents marxism is also too rushed. There's just no way to give an accurate outline of the ideological split in such a short format. It ends up doing a disservice to both sides.