Anarchism Quotes
More Anarchism Quotes
There is absolute truth in anarchism and it is to be seen in its attitude to the sovereignty of the state and to every form of state absolutism. ... The religious truth of anarchism consists in this, that power over man is bound up with sin and evil, that a state of perfection is a state where there is no power of man over man, that is to say, anarchy. The Kingdom of God is freedom and the absence of such power... the Kingdom of God is anarchy.
nikolai berdyaev— Slavery and Freedom (1939), p. 147
Cleansed of its leftist residues, anarchy — anarchism minus Marxism — will be free to get better at being what it is.
bob black— Introduction
If you say that you reject violence when it exceeds the limits imposed by the needs of defense, they accuse you of pacifism, without understanding that violence is the whole essence of authoritarianism, just as the repudiation of violence is the whole essence of anarchism.
errico malatesta— "Anarchism, Authoritarian Socialism and Communism" in Fede (28 October 1923); also in What Is Anarchism? : An Introduction edited by Donald Rooum (1992, 1995) p. 59
"Whoever denies authority and fights against it is an anarchist," said Sebastien Faure. The definition is tempting in its simplicity, but simplicity is the first thing to guard against in writing a history of anarchism. Few doctrines or movements have been so confusedly understood in the public mind, and few have presented in their own variety of approach and action so much excuse for confusion.
George Woodcock— Prologue
anarchism is a creed inspired and ridden by paradox, and thus, while its advocates theoretically reject tradition, they are nevertheless very much concerned with the ancestry of their doctrine. This concern springs from the belief that anarchism is a manifestation of natural human urges, and that it is the tendency to create authoritarian institutions which is the transient aberration. If one accepts this view, then anarchism cannot merely be a phenomenon of the present; the aspect of it we perceive in history is merely one metamorphosis of an element constant in society.
George Woodcock— The Family Tree
Because anarchism is in its essence an anti-dogmatic and unstructured cluster of related attitudes, which does not depend for its existence on any enduring organization, it can flourish when circumstances are favourable and then, like a desert plant, lie dormant for seasons and even for years, waiting for the rains that will make it burgeon. Unlike an ordinary political faith, in which the church-party becomes the vehicle of the dogma, it does not need a movement to carry it forward…
George Woodcock— Postscript (July 1973)
There are several recognized varieties of anarchism, among them: individualistic anarchisms, anarcho-capitalisms, anarcho-communisms, mutualisms, anarcho-syndicalisms, libertarian socialisms, social anarchists and now eco-anarchisms.
— Sylvan, Richard. Anarchism. A Companion to Contemporary Political Philosophy, editors Goodin, Robert E. and Pettit, Philip. Blackwell Publishing, 1995, p.231.
Anarcho-capitalism is a form of anarchism whose prime tenet is that the free market, unhampered by government intervention, can coordinate all the functions of society currently carried out by the state, including systems of justice and national defense. Anarcho-capitalists believe that a system of private property based on individual rights is the only moral system - a system that implies a free market, or total voluntarism, in all transactions.
— Brown, Susan Love, The Free Market as Salvation from Government: The Anarcho-Capitalist View, Meanings of the Market: The Free Market in Western Culture, edited by James G. Carrier, Berg/Oxford, 1997, p. 99. (Article is a criticism of anarcho-capitalism. Brown is not an anarcho-capitalist.)
Pro-capitalist anarchism is, as one might expect, particularly prevalent in the US where it feeds on the strong individualist and libertarian currents that have always been a part of the American political imaginary. To return to the point, however, there are individualist anarchists who are most certainly not anti-capitalist and there are those who may well be.
— Tormey, Simon. Anti-Capitalism: A Beginner's Guide, One World, 2004.
Individualist, as distinct from socialist, anarchism has been particularly strong in the USA from the time of Josiah Warren (1798-1874) onwards and is expressed today by Murray Rothbard and the school of 'anarcho-capitalists'.
— Ostergaard, Geofrey. Resisting the Nation State - the anarchist and pacifist tradition, Anarchism As A Tradition of Political Thought. Peace Pledge Union Publications [1]
There is absolute truth in anarchism and it is to be seen in its attitude to the sovereignty of the state and to every form of state absolutism . [...] The religious truth of anarchism consists in this, that power over man is bound up with sin and evil , that a state of perfection is a state where there is no power of man over man, that is to say, anarchy. The Kingdom of God is freedom and the absence of such power... the Kingdom of God is anarchy.
nikolai berdyaev— Nikolai Berdyaev, Slavery and Freedom (1939), pp.147–8
While the popular understanding of anarchism is of a violent, anti-State movement, anarchism is a much more subtle and nuanced tradition then a simple opposition to government power. Anarchists oppose the idea that power and domination are necessary for society, and instead advocate more co-operative, anti-hierarchical forms of social, political and economic organization.
— L. Susan Brown, The Politics of Individualism : Liberalism, Liberal Feminism and Anarchism (1993), p. 106
If you say that you reject violence when it exceeds the limits imposed by the needs of defense, they accuse you of pacifism , without understanding that violence is the whole essence of authoritarianism , just as the repudiation of violence is the whole essence of anarchism.
— Errico Malatesta, "Anarchism, Authoritarian Socialism and Communism" in Fede (28 October 1923); also in What Is Anarchism? : An Introduction edited by Donald Rooum (1992, 1995) p. 59
I am an anarchist not because I believe anarchism is the final goal, but because there is no such thing as a final goal.
— Rudolf Rocker, in The London Years (1956)
The two principles referred to are Authority and Liberty, and the names of the two schools of Socialistic thought which fully and unreservedly represent one or the other of them are, respectively, State Socialism and anarchism. Whoso knows what these two schools want and how they propose to get it understands the Socialistic movement. For, just as it has been said that there is no half-way house between Rome and Reason, so it may be said that there is no half-way house between State Socialism and anarchism.
benjamin tucker— ¶ 4
This brings us to anarchism, which may be described as the doctrine that all the affairs of men should be managed by individuals or voluntary associations, and that the State should be abolished.
benjamin tucker— ¶ 17
An anarchist is someone who doesn't need a cop to make him behave. anarchism is voluntary cooperation with the right of secession. The individual or the family or the small group as a unit instead of the State.
— Ammon Hennacy, in The Book of Ammon (1965), p. 31
anarchism ...rests upon the doctrine that no man has a right to control by force the action of any other man.
— Lyman Abbott, "The Cause and Cure of Anarchism" in The Outlook, Volume 70 (February 1902)
anarchism … The theory or doctrine that all forms of government are oppressive and undesirable and should be abolished … Rejection of all forms of coercive control and authority.
— The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth edition (2000)
anarchism is a cluster of doctrines and attitudes centred on the belief that government is both harmful and unnecessary.
— The Britannica Guide to Political Science and Social Movements That Changed the Modern World (2009) edited by Heather M. Campell , Ch. 5: Anarchism, p. 180
anarchism is a theory of political science and is opposed to government in the political sense.
— Steven T. Byington, as quoted in "To Anarchists" by Henry Bool in Ithaca Journal (17 September 1901)
anarchism is that political philosophy which advocates the maximization of individual responsibility and the reduction of concentrated power regal, dictatorial, parliamentary: the institutions which go loosely by the name of "government" to a vanishing minimum.
— Alex Comfort, in the Preface of People Without Government (1982) by Harold Barclay, p. 7
anarchism: The philosophy of a new social order based on liberty unrestricted by man-made law; the theory that all forms of government rest on violence, and are therefore wrong and harmful, as well as unnecessary.
— Emma Goldman "Anarchism : What It Really Stands For" in Anarchism and Other Essays (1910)
What is anarchism? It is logical human liberty . It is the ideal of human life without a master.
— John William Lloyd, in "Anarchist Socialism (c. 1914-8), published in Liberty, Vol. 19, No. 6 (June 2005), p. 41
I believe that anarchism and Socialism are both needed in human society that they represent two strong trends in human psychology the trend toward liberty and individual variation, and the trend toward cooperation, sympathy and solidarity , and that therefore they should work together. Socialism greatly needs anarchism as a critic and to keep it from sacrificing the individual and his originality to the domination of the mass.
— John William Lloyd, in Anarchist Socialism (c. 1914-8), published in Liberty, Vol. 19, No. 6 (June 2005), p. 41
anarchism as a political philosophy seeks to dissolve all forms of authority and power, and if possible, wishes their complete abolition.
— Peter Marshall, in Demanding the Impossible: A History of Anarchism (1992), p. 47
Our principle is: to prevent all command over man by his fellowmen, to, make state, government, laws, or whatsoever form of compulsion existing, a thing of the past, to establish full freedom for all. anarchism means first and foremost freedom from all government.
— Johann Most, in The Social Monster : A Paper on Communism and Anarchism (1890)
