Anarchism

Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)

a tendency founded upon anarchy in human society. By anarchy is not to be understood the word in its exaggerated sense of chaos and disorder, but literally a state of society in which authority does not exist; that is, a society with the greatest imaginable independence of the individual, without law and without any relations whatever of superior and inferior. There were tendencies to anarchy in the thought of antiquity and of the Middle Ages as well as in modern times. Anarchistic tendencies first became notably influential as a phase of thought toward the middle of the 19th century, when they were developed under an increasing sense of the misery of the oppressed masses of humanity. The founder of modern anarchism was Peter Joseph Proudhon (1809- (1865) who wrote "What is Property?" He held that under the compulsion of the laws of property there existed between employers and workingmen a condition of exchange in commodities most unfavorable to the latter, in consequence of which the capitalist, without working himself, appropriated to himself, most unjustly, a portion of the earnings of the worker. Hence Proudhon's famous conclusion: "Property is robbery." As a remedy for these these unjust conditions, Proudhon held that there should be a free activity of industrial forces under which there would be a just exchange of commodities corresponding to the actual relations of value. In order to achieve such conditions Proudhon rejected law and authority of every kind and demanded a social condition in which there should be absolutely no authority. As a characterization of this condition he was the first to employ the word "anarchy." In his essay, "A General Idea of the Revolution" (1 (1851), he set forth his theory. It found much approval in Germany At the first. The at doctrine was elaborated cieties by Max Stirner in a book called "The Individual and His Property," published in 1845. Stirner acknowledges nothing but the will of the individual. He rejects every combination among men toward a higher unity, every compulsion of civilized principles-all of these signifying for him nothing but the enthralment of the individual will. Stirner advocated the path of revolution. The triumph of the reaction in 1848 crowded anarchistic teachings into the background. In 1852 Proudhon himself in his essay on "The Federative Principle," declared anarchy to be impracticable, and held the correct form of government to be a federation of autonomist communities. The labor agitations that began in the '60's were accompanied by a development of the anarchistic party, chiefly under the influence of Russian agitators. The founder of this party was Michael Bakunin (1814-1876). Since 1864 Bakunin was active in Switzerland as an anarchistic agitator. Unlike Proudhon, he advocated revolution as the means to the end, but he drew the line at murder. Bakunin sent his disciple, Sergei Netshaye, to Russia and there, in 1869, the latter developed the so-called "propaganda of action"; that is, an agitation by means of deeds of violence, murder and disorder, not for the purpose of overcoming the existing order of society, but simply to arouse sentiment by the effect of horrible deeds. One of the most eminent representatives of anarchistic doctrines is the Russian Prince Krapotkin (born in 1842). Krapotkin advocates a system of communistic anarchy based upon the idea of free production and consumption, with a free development of industrial powers in groups and societies. According to his theory, everybody should share as he pleased in production and also in the enjoyment of the fruits of collective effort. This is the programme of the greater number of the anarchists of to-day, especially of those who are called the Latin anarchists, being those believers in the doctrine who live in western Switzerland, the S. of France, in Italy and in Spain. With the growing development of the Social Democratic organization, anarchy fell more and more into disfavor. These two tendencies, anarchy and socialism, have a common source in a sense of the misery of the oppressed masses, but their ends are directly opposed, the aim of anarchy being to achieve the extreme of individualism, while that of socialism aims to realize the extreme of collectivism. Congress of International Soof Workingmen, held at The Hague, in 1872, at the instance of Carl Marx, the International Alliance of the Social Democracy, which followed the doctrines of Bakunin, was excluded, and ever since the hostility between the tendencies has been increasing. The German law against socialism, passed in 1878, caused, for the time, a tendency toward anarchism in consequence of the formation of revolutionary groups under the leadership of Most (1846), a former member of the German Reichstag. In consequence of this Most was expelled from the Social Democratic Party and went to London, but, in 1882, he came to New York and advocated the "propaganda of action." Most sought to improve upon the teaching of Proudhon by advocating the regulation of production and price through common action among groups of workers. In Germany, unlike the Latin countries, the anarchistic agitation has never had much significance. The "propaganda of action," however, has resulted in various of deeds violence for instance, the attempted assassination of Emperor Wilhelm I., by Hoedel (1878), and the attempt of Reinsdorf against the German princes at the dedication of the Niederwald monument, in 1883. The latter caused the enactment of the law against the criminal use of explosives on June 9, 1884. In consequence of the assassination of the French President Carnot by an Italian anarchist, in December, 1894, there was an attempt made to increase the severity of the German laws, but the proposition was rejected by by the Reichstag. The assassination of the Empress Elizabeth of Austria, by an Italian anarchist, in 1898, and also that of the Spanish statesman Cánovas by an Italian anarchist led the Italian Government to feel that it was its duty to call for some international action for the suppression of anarchists and an antianarchist conference was held at Rome in the latter part of 1878. It had, however, no further result than a proposition to institute a sort of international intelligence service for the watching of anarchists. King Humbert of Italy was, notwithstanding this vigilance, assassinated by an anarchist, in 1900 (July 29). Francisco Ferrer, who at one period of his life had been actively engaged in anarchistic propaganda, but had later abandoned it, was arrested in 1909, following serious riots in Barcelona, Spain. It was charged that his teachings were responsible for the uprising. In spite of the impossibility of proving these charges definitely, he was executed on Oct. 12, 1909. In November, 1910, an attempt was made by a group of anarchist Socialists to assassinate the Mikado of Japan. Twelve of these were executed. King George of Greece was assassinated at Salonica on March 18, 1913. Following the assassination of President McKinley in 1902 by an avowed anarchist, Leon Czolgosz, Congress passed laws excluding anarchists from the classes permitted to immigrate into the United States. In 1892 France passed the law imposing the death penalty upon those who should cause damage amage to property by the use of explosives. After the attempt of Vaillant in the Chamber of Deputies and the murder of President Carnot, special laws against anarchists were passed in 1893 and 1894, whereby the glorification of anarchistic crime and the incitement thereto were made criminal offenses and the punishment of anarchists was provided for. In 1894, Switzerland passed a law against the criminal use of explosives and the incitement of such crimes. Similar laws were also passed in 1894-1896 in Spain and Italy. Disordered conditions following upon the end of the World War gave the anarchists an opportunity for carrying on effective propaganda. Although anarchists as a class did not dominate in the Bolshevik revolution in Russia, both the leaders and the rank and file of the movement carried out to a large degree the principles of anarchism. There was persistent propaganda carried on in the United States with the greatest audacity, following the war, by avowed anarchists, the most prominent of whom were Emma Goldman and Alexander Berkman. The officers of the Government, under authority given by war ANATOMY measures, began vigorous measures in December, 1919, for the suppression of anarchistic and communistic propaganda. The headquarters of the radical societies throughout the country were raided and many of the leaders were taken prisoners for the purpose of deportation. In the same month about 300 anarchists, including Emma Goldman and E Berkman, were deported. Several thousand other anarchists were held in confinement pending examination.