⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⣾⣧⣀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢀⣠⣴⣾⣿⣿⣿⣿⡿⢿⣿⣿⣷⣦⣄⡀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢀⣴⣿⡿⠟⠋⣿⣿⠙⢿⣿⣆⠀⠈⠙⠻⢿⣿⣦⡀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
⠀⠀⠀⠀⣰⣿⡿⠋⠀⠀⢰⣿⡇⠀⠈⢻⣿⣧⠀⠀⠀⠀⠙⢿⣿⣆⠀⠀⠀⠀
⠀⠀⠀⢰⣿⡟⠁⠀⠀⢀⣿⡿⠀⠀⠀⠀⠻⣿⣷⡀⠀⠀⠀⠈⢻⣿⡆⠀⠀⠀
⠀⠀⠀⣿⣿⠀⠀⠀⠀⣼⣿⠇⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠙⣿⣷⣀⣀⣤⣤⣴⣿⣿⣿⠀⠀
⠀⠀⠀⣿⡇⠀⠀⠀⢰⣿⣿⣀⣀⣤⣤⣴⣶⣾⣿⣿⣿⣿⠿⠟⠛⢻⣿⠁⠀⠀
⠀⠀⣠⣿⣿⣤⣴⣶⣿⣿⣿⣿⠿⠿⠟⠛⠋⠉⠉⠈⢻⣿⣦⠀⠀⣿⣿⠀⠀⠀
⠀⠀⠿⢿⣿⣿⡋⣿⣿⡏⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠹⣿⣧⣼⣿⠇⠀⠀⠀
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠹⣿⣷⣿⡿⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⣹⣿⣿⣏⠀⠀⠀⠀
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠈⣿⣿⣷⣦⣄⡀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢀⣠⣴⣾⣿⠟⢿⣿⣆⠀⠀⠀
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⣸⣿⡟⠙⠻⢿⣿⣿⣷⣶⣶⣾⣿⣿⡿⠟⠋⠁⠀⠀⢻⣿⣦⠀⠀
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠠⣿⣿⠁⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠉⠀⠀⠀
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀Anarchism is a political ideology and an anti authoritarian form of socialism that is about rejecting unjust social hierarchies and social coercion such as the state and of capitalism. Anarchism is not about absolute liberty or is like the "wild west". An anarchist society seeks to create order without authority and freedom from oppression. This means things like emphasizing volunteerism over forced wage labor, cooperation over competition, and mutual aid and altruism over self interest. There could be small local voluntary councils that manage communities but not on the scale of large governments.
In many modern countries and societies, people often have to give up some autonomy to the state. For instance, some countries have mandatory conscription (like both Koreas, Switzerland, Finland, and Russia) and others have drafts in case the country has to go to war (like the United States. Young males in the US between age 18 and 25 have to sign up for the Selective Services whether they want to fight or not or else, they will receive threats from the state such as fines and jail time alongside being outed from government support programs such as student aid. The state essentially has the ability to go force people to go kill. The state is a coercive social institution since it enforces it's authority with the police and military by force and violence. Many classical liberals believe in the idea of the social contract were people voluntarily give up freedoms to the state. However, in an Anarchist view, the state gets it's power from coercion, fear, violence, and force. With the military in particular, the state trains young men learn how to kill people and hire scientists and weapons experts to create weapons of mass destruction that mainly target civilians with the possibility of experimenting on enemy civilian populations. An example of this is with American pilots dropping nuclear bombs over Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Another example is with Imperial Japanese testing on Koreans and Chinese at Unit 731 in Manchuria (known as ./ under Japanese occupation).
Anarchism is also anti capitalist since capitalism itself creates unjust hierarchies. For instance in a capitalist society, there are social divides between rich and poor, housed and homeless, landowners and renters, corporation and consumer, etc. Capitalism also has the idea of wage labor (akin to wage slavery) where people have to work for a company or employer to survive or else they can not afford shelter or food. Freedom within a capitalist system is usually for those of wealthy landowners and ceos (in Marxist terms the Bourgeoisie) who do not need to rely on wage labor to survive and are at the head of wage labor. For those who are middle class, poor, or working class (known as proletariat in Marxist terms), they are reliant on a wage to survive with the lack of other means to survive since land is privately owned and cannot just go and build a house or grow their own food without state permission. The proletariat is a slave to the bourgeoisie. Being non compliant with the bourgeoisie or non successful in capitalist system will lead to homelessness. And with renters, they are at the mercy of landowners with the possibilities of increased rent, the landowner evicts them, or the landowner sells the land to a new landowner who may get rid of old property with constructing new housing which may displace residents.
There are different forms of anarchism such as Anarcho communism, Anarcho Pacifism, Anarcho Syndicalism, Anarcho Mutualism, Christian Anarchism, etc. Some forms of anarchism can be more focused on individualism or collectivism. With collectivist forms of anarchism in particular, many who subscribe to the idea believe that the freedom of the individual requires the freedom of society. Some anarchists are anti religious while other embrace religion and view religious figures like Christ and his teachings as rejecting human authority with notable anarchist Leo Tolstoy belng inspired by Jesus' Sermon of the Mount to become an Anarcho Pacifist. Some anarchists are divided on the use of violence. Some see violent revolution as a means of achieving an Anarchist society while others view violence as coercion and domination.
There are fake forms of anarchism such as "Anarcho" Capitalism which is not authentic anarchism. This is since capitalism under anarcho capitalism would be unrestricted by the state which would promote more inequality and unjust hierarchies (imagine no social safety nets or social programs for the old and disabled). There is also the American form of libertarianism that is similar to anarchism but there are differences. For instance, American libertarians are not against private property or capitalism and are for more limited forms of government that mainly just enforce property laws and maintain civil order.
However, there are many challenges to achieving an anarchist society. It would be very difficult to dismantle state power since the state and bureaucracy are encroached into everyday life especially in more urban and suburban areas. Many people hold onto to ideas of patriotism or nationalism and view their identity as tied to their country, culture or ethnic background. There have been experiments with implementing anarchism in Catalonia during the Spanish Civil War but it got crushed by fascist soldiers under Francisco Franco. However, anarchist experimental communes in Catalonia and authoritarian tendencies of Marxist Leninism and fascism had a big influence on people like George Orwell (he was not anarchist) rejecting Stalinism, mindthink, politcally correct terms, and authoritarianism.
Achieving a society of anti unjust coercion, anti unjust hierarchy, anti capitalism, anti militarism, cooperation, altruism over self interest, and non violence would lead to an ideal world. But are humans willing to let go of their primal and tribalistic nature, but maybe humans have the ability to go past that since we are capable of technological fleets and rationality unlike other animals.
Notable anarchist thinkers include Mikhail Bakunin, Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, Peter Kropotkin, Leo Tolstoy, etc
No Rights Reserved. Powered by nothing. All content available under CC0 1.0 (public domain). Send comments and corrections to ronin at basedronin0@proton.me.