core ideas

• Core Ideas

  • A rejection of the state as well as rejection of all coercive relationships, 
  • By belief in the autonomy of the individual, the widest possible freedom of choice for all 
  • That society without the state will be naturally harmonious and ordered.
• Human Nature  - Agreements

  • Human  nature should be seen optimistically 
  • Social order can arise from human nature and does not require the presence of rules imposed from above by the state. 
  • Human nature is ‘plastic’ and moulded by the social, political and economic environment. Negative traits are created by the coercive institutions of modern society and the state. 
• Human Nature - Tension

  • Individualist: Human nature is egotistical and desires autonomy. End of all coercive institutions so the individual is free - anarcho capitalists argue the market allows full expression of the individual. Stirner favoured a Union of Egoists.
  • Collectivist: human nature is social and cooperative - has potential for good but also corruption - shaped by the political, social and economic environment. Kropotkin found evidence for the sociability of humanity in mutual aid; both proudhon and bakunin saw a natural sense of justice that informs our relationships with others. 
• The State  - Agreement 

  • The traditional state should be rejected in any form, as it is unjust, controlling, coercive and corrupting. 
  • A society without a compulsory state will be a society of natural order and harmony. 
  • The rejection of the state is necessary to create liberty. 
  • The rejection of the state means that any attempt to capture it through either democracy or dictatorship of the proletariat is doomed to fail. 
• The State - Tensions 

  • Individualist: the state is coercive and controlling. Anarcho capitalists see the state as predatory, stealing wealth through taxation - the free market is to be a place of free exchange. 
  • Collectivist The state develops a body to protect private property and the inequalities between the few and the many - corrupts human nature. Bakunin saw the capitalist state as exploiting the many; Proudhon argued the overthrowing of the state would be evolutionary; Kropotkin, Goldman and Bakunin saw direct actions important to create revolt to abolish the state. 
• Society  - Agreement 

  • Society without the state will lead to natural, spontaneous harmony with natural order. 
  • Existing society is coercive and existing political, economic and social institutions must be replaced to create freedom for all. 
  • Society exists for man, not man for society, the interests of humanity are served by society. Freedom and equality are the basis of the new society, but there is no clear blueprint for anarchist society. 
• Society - Tension 

  • Individualists: fear the power of collective over the individual, Goldman feared uniformity; Proudhon argued possession was important for individuals; Stirner argued for the removal of all the spooks for autonomy, seeing the new society as the union of egoists. Rothbard saw society as ordered through the invisible hand of the market. 
  • Collectivist: existing society must be removed, natural order will emerge due to the social nature of humanity. The new society needs to be based on self managing communes, with society ordered from the bottom up 
• Economy  - Agreement 

  • Economic freedom is essential to the freedom of the individual 
  • Private ownership of the means of production is opposed as it creates exploitative relationships between the few and the many. 
  • Inequality is opposed as it is a cause of conflict in society (except for anarcho capitalists. 
• Economy - Disagreement 

  • Individualist: Stirner saw private property and capitalism as part of the ‘fixed ideals’ that limit autonomy. Proudhon made the case for possessions to protect against the will of the collective. Rothbard argued the state should be removed from the market - freedom can exist without equality. 
  • Collectivist: Proudhon and the mutualists oppose private property and capitalism - replaced by possessions, production organised by workers, who keep the fruits of their labour. Bakunin and Kropotkin go further, taking all property into common ownership.