This is going to be a quick breakdown for the far-left ideology of Anarchism and its branches. But first a quick definition of Anarchism, though many will have their own unique versions of this, Anarchism is typically defined as the political philosophy which holds a ruling power, government, class and/or the state to be undesirable, unnecessary and overall harmful to the individual or people the ruling structure is over. Anarchism typically positions itself as opposing authority and hierarchical organizations. A further breakdown word Anarchism, finds its roots from the Greek anarkhia, meaning without a ruler. While proponents of Anarchism all agree with this initial statement, Anarchist schools of thought can differ greatly, and are often in conflict over fundamentals or goals so to create order form this chaos, they are divided into differing schools of thought.
| Mutualism |
Founded in the 18th-century English and French labor movements, it then adopted an anarchist form associated with Pierre-Joseph Proudhon in France with Benjamin Tucker and William B. Greene in the United States along with several other thinkers of the time, using Mutualist ideas in the American labor movements. Mutualist Anarchism is concerned with reciprocity, free association, voluntary contract, federation and credit and currency reform. Many mutualism practitioners believe a market without government intervention drives prices down to labor-costs, eliminating profit, rent and interest according to the labor theory of value. |
| Collectivist |
Anarchism Commonly associated with Mikhail Bakunin, Johann Most and the anti-authoritarian section of the First International. Collectivist anarchists oppose all private ownership of the means of production, instead advocating that ownership be collectivized. Willing to use acts of violence on the Elite to drive workers to further action. Workers would be compensated for their work on the basis of the amount of time they contributed to production, rather than goods being distributed. |
| Anarcho Communism |
Developed out of radical Socialist movements of the French Revolution and took the theoretical work of Peter Kropotkin later and expanded on its ideals. Advocates the abolition of the state, markets, money, private property and Capitalism in favor of common ownership of the means of production, Direct Democracy and a horizontal network of voluntary associations and workers councils with production and consumption based on the guiding principle: "From each according to his ability, to each according to his need". |
| Philosophical Anarchism |
Founded by William Godwin, he developed what many consider the first expression of modern anarchist thought. Philosophical Anarchism contends that the state lacks moral legitimacy; that there is no individual obligation or duty to obey the state and conversely that the state has no right to command individuals, but it does not advocate revolution to eliminate the state. Philosophical Anarchists may accept the existence of a minimal state as an unfortunate and usually temporary "necessary evil", but argue that citizens do not have a moral obligation to obey the state when its laws conflict with individual autonomy. Instead it requires individuals to act in accordance with their own judgments and to allow every other individual the same liberty and advocates extreme individualism, proposing that all cooperation in labor be eliminated. |
| Egoist Anarchism |
Founded by Max Stirner, a 19th-century Hegelian philosopher. Typically called "Egoism", the Egoist rejects devotion to "a great idea, a cause, a doctrine, a system, a lofty calling", saying that the Egoist has no political calling but rather "lives themselves out" without regard to "how well or ill humanity may fare thereby". Stirner believed in an idea of the Union of egoists, which was first expounded in The Ego and Its Own. The Union is understood as a non-systematic association. |
| Insurrectionist Anarchism |
Theorized heavily by Alfredo Maria Bonanno and Wolfi Landstreicher. It emphasizes the theme of insurrection within anarchist practice. It opposes formal organizations such as labor unions and federations that are based on a political program and periodic congresses. Instead, insurrectionist anarchists support informal organization and small affinity group based organization. They put value in attack, permanent class conflict and a refusal to negotiate or compromise with class enemies. |
| Green Anarchism |
The foundation was the thought of the American anarchist Henry David Thoreau and his book Walden as well as Leo Tolstoy and Elisee Reclus. In the late 19th century there emerged Anarcho Naturism as the fusion of Anarchism and Naturist philosophies within individualist Anarchist circles in France, Spain and Portugal. This school takes a heavy emphasis on environmental issues and often criticize the main currents of Anarchism for their focus and debates about politics and economics instead of a focus on the ecosystem. This theory promotes libertarian municipality and green technology. |
| Anarcho Primitivism |
Critiques the origins and progress of civilization. And believe the shift from hunter-gatherer to agricultural subsistence gave rise to social stratification, coercion and alienation.They often advocate a return to non-"civilized" ways of life through de industrialization, abolition of the division of labor or specialization and abandonment of large-scale organization technologies. Some go further and are often distinguished by their focus on achieving a feral state of being through "re wilding". |
| Anarcho Naturism |
Appeared in the late 19th century as the union of anarchist and naturist philosophies and found its importance in Spain, France, Portugal and Cuba. Advocates vegetarianism, free love, nudism, hiking and an ecological world view within anarchist groups and outside them. Promotes an ecological worldview, small villages and most prominently nudism as a way to avoid the artificiality of the industrial mass society of modernity. |
| Social Ecology |
Developed by Murray Bookchin in the 1960s which holds that present ecological problems are rooted in social problems, particularly in dominator hierarchical political and social systems. These have resulted in an uncritical acceptance of an overly competitive grow-or-die philosophy. It suggests that this cannot be resisted by individual action such as ethical consumerism, but must be addressed by more nuanced ethical thinking and collective activity grounded in radical democratic ideals. The complexity of relationships between people and with nature is emphasized, along with the importance of establishing social structures that take account of this. |
| Anarcho Feminism |
Inspired in the late 19th century by the writings of early Feminist Anarchists such as Lucy Parsons, Emma Goldman and Voltairine de Cleyre. It synthesizes radical Feminism and Anarchism that views patriarchy (male domination over women) as a fundamental manifestation of involuntary hierarchy which Anarchists often oppose. Often they criticize and advocate the abolition of traditional conceptions of family, education and gender roles. They are critical of marriage. For instance, the Feminist Anarchist Emma Goldman has argued that marriage is a purely economic arrangement and that "[woman] pays for it with her name, her privacy, her self-respect, her very life". |
| Queer Anarchism |
Uses Anarchism as a means of queer liberation and solution to the issues faced by the LGBT community such as homophobia, lesbophobia, transmisogyny, biphobia, transphobia, heteronormativity, patriarchy and the gender binary. People who campaigned for LGBT rights both outside and inside the anarchist and LGBT movements include John Henry Mackay, Adolf Brand and Daniel Guerin. |
| Anarcho Pacifism |
A form of Anarchism which completely rejects the use of violence in any form for any purpose. The main precedent was Henry David Thoreau who through his work Civil Disobedience influenced both Leo Tolstoy and Mohandas Gandhi's advocacy of nonviolent resistance. Violence has always been controversial in anarchism. While many anarchists during the 19th century embraced propaganda of the deed, Leo Tolstoy and other Anarcho Pacifists directly opposed violence as a means for change. Tolstoy argued that anarchism must by nature be nonviolent, since it is by definition opposition to coercion and force and that since the state is inherently violent, meaningful pacifism must likewise be Anarchistic. His philosophy was cited as a major inspiration by Gandhi, an Indian independence leader and pacifist who self-identified as an Anarchist. Ferdinand Domela Nieuwenhuis was also instrumental in establishing the pacifist trend within the Anarchist movement. |
| Religious Anarchism |
Inspired by the teachings of the organized religions, while many anarchists have traditionally been skeptical of and opposed to organized religion. Many different religions have served as inspiration for religious forms of Anarchism, most notably Christianity, Non-Christian forms of religious Anarchism include Buddhist Anarchism, Jewish Anarchism and most recently Neo-paganism. |
| Christian Anarchism |
A religious Anarchism that seeks to combine Anarchism with Christianity, claiming that anarchism is justified by the teachings of Jesus Christ. Early Christian communities have been described by Christian Anarchists and some historians as possessing Anarcho Communist characteristics. Christian anarchists such as Leo Tolstoy and Ammon Hennacy believe that the teachings of Paul of Tarsus caused a shift from the earlier more egalitarian and anarchistic teachings of Jesus. However, others believe that Paul with his strong emphasis on Gods Providence is to be understood as a holding to anarchist principles. |
| Post Left Anarchy |
Promotes a critique of Anarchism's relationship to traditional leftism. Some seek to escape the confines of ideology in general also presenting a critique of organizations and morality. Also influenced by the work of Max Stirner. Post Left Anarchy is marked by a focus on social insurrection and a rejection of leftist social organization. Individual writers associated with the tendency are Hakim Bey, Bob Black, John Zerzan, Jason McQuinn, Fredy Perlman, Lawrence Jarach and Wolfi Landstreicher. |
| Post Anarchism |
Articulated by Saul Newman as a theoretical move towards a synthesis of classical anarchist theory and post structuralist thought. Although it first received popular attention in his book From Bakunin to Lacan, it has taken on a life of its own subsequent to Newman's use of the term and a wide range of ideas including post modernism, autonomous ideologies, post left anarchy, situationism, post colonialism and Zapatismo. By its very nature, post anarchism rejects the idea that it should be a coherent set of doctrines and beliefs. Key thinkers associated with post anarchism include Saul Newman, Todd May, Lewis Call, Gilles Deleuze, Félix Guattari and Michel Onfray. |
To further posit on Anarchism and its schools of thought, there are also many Anarchist collective groups that serve as a catalyst to group anarchists together to share their thoughts and ideals, as well as participate in collective movements. While they can fall into several or all of the schools of thought, so not to be classified in this regard, can be categorized in the type of collective. But I will not be doing so in this post. While I do support the anarchist philosophy, I do not support most of the schools of thought as a functional ideology to live ones life. I will be discussing more on the topic on my particular school of thought later on, Green Anarchism