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Anarchism
Anarchism derives from the Greek αναρχία ("without archons (rulers)"). Thus anarchism, in its most general meaning, is the belief that rulers are unnecessary and should be abolished. Anarchism refers to various political philosophies and related social movements that advocate the elimination of authoritarian institutions and relationships. There is often disagreement about the meaning of "authoritarian." The state is universally seen by anarchists as an unnecessary evil that must be abolished, but other things - such as economic relationships - provoke intense controversy. In place of centralized political structures and coercive economic institutions, anarchists advocate social relations based upon voluntary association of autonomous individuals and self-governance. There is no agreement among self-described anarchists as to whether the term "anarchism" refers only to those anti-statist movements which oppose private property, or to any movement that opposes the existence of authority regardless of the proposed economic system; however, most dictionaries use the latter meaning.[http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Definitions_of_anarchism]
While anarchism is defined by what it is against, anarchists also offer differing positive visions of what they believe to be a truly free society. The word "anarchy," as anarchists use it, does not imply chaos or anomie, but rather a harmonious rulerless society. However, ideas about how an anarchist society might work vary considerably, especially with respect to economics. Also, there is disagreement about how a free society might be brought about.
Precursors of anarchism
Primitive cultures
Anarcho-primitivists assert that, before recorded history, human society was organized on anarchist principles. They point to the egalitarian structure of hunter-gatherer bands, to the lack of division of labour and accumulated wealth, non-hierarchal political organization, and the lack of decreed law as indicators of such indigenous anarchist systems. Examples of indigenous societies with Anarchist political systems include the Nuer of East Africa, the Iroquois (and by some accounts most native people) in North America.
The first use of the term anarchy to mean anti-statism was by Louis-Armand, Baron de Lahontan in his Nouveaux voyages dans l'Amérique septentrionale, (1703), where he described the indigenous American society, which had no state, laws, prisons, priests, or private property, as being in anarchy [http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/cgi-local/DHI/dhi.cgi?id=dv1-12]. Russell Means, a leader in the American Indian Movement, has repeatedly stated that he is "an anarchist, and so are all [his] ancestors." Thomas Jefferson said the native American Indians "never submitted themselves to any laws, any coercive power, any shadow of government. Their only controls are their manners, and that moral sense of right and wrong, which, like the sense of tasting and feeling in every man, makes a part of his nature..." and "I am convinced that those societies (as the Indians) which live without government, enjoy in their general mass an infinitely greater degree of happiness than those who live under the European governments" (Notes on Virginia and Letter to Colonel Carrington).
Philosophical traces
Some anarchists have claimed that Taoism, which developed in Ancient China, was a source of anarchistic attitudes [http://www.toxicpop.co.uk/library/taoism.htm][http://www.lewrockwell.com/rothbard/ancient-chinese.html]. Similarly, anarchistic tendencies can be traced to the philosophers of Ancient Greece, such as Zeno, the founder of the Stoic philosophy, Aristippus, who said that the wise should not give up their liberty to the state [http://www.blackcrayon.com/page.jsp/library/britt1910.html], and Diogenes of Sinope, the Cynic, who claimed to be a citizen of the world. Later movements — such as Stregheria in the 1300s, the Free Spirit in the Middle Ages,
the Anabaptists, The Diggers, and the Ranters
— have also expounded ideas that have been interpreted as anarchist.
Ancient Greece
The first known usage of the word anarchy appears in the play Seven Against Thebes by Aeschylus, dated 467 BC. There, Antigone openly refuses to abide by the rulers' decree to leave her brother Polyneices' body unburied, as punishment for his participation in the attack on Thebes, saying that "even if no one else is willing to share in burying him I will bury him alone and risk the peril of burying my own brother. Nor am I ashamed to act in defiant opposition to the rulers of the city (ekhous apiston tênd anarkhian polei)".
Ancient Greece also saw the first European instance of anarchism as a philosophical ideal, in the form of the stoic philosopher Zeno of Citium, who was, according to Kropotkin, "[t]he best exponent of Anarchist philosophy in ancient Greece". As summarized by Kropotkin, Zeno "repudiated the omnipotence of the state, its intervention and regimentation, and proclaimed the sovereignty of the moral law of the individual". Within Greek philosophy, Zeno's vision of a free community without government or slavery is opposed to the state-Utopia of Plato's Republic. Zeno argued that although the necessary instinct of self-preservation leads humans to egotism, nature has supplied a corrective to it by providing man with another instinct — sociability. Like many modern anarchists, he believed that if people follow their instincts, they will have no need of law, courts, or police, no temples and no public worship, and use no money (a gift economy taking the place of the exchanges). Zeno's beliefs have only reached us as fragmentary quotations. [http://www.blackcrayon.com/page.jsp/library/britt1910.html]
Taoism
Taoism is often forgotten when looking for anarchist tracings through history. However,early philosophical Taoism is very close to modern anarchism. Founded by Lao Tzu in the 6th Century BCE Taoism rejected civilization and stated that all unhappiness in the world was created by human beings not being able to do what they want. Lao Tzu felt that humans should live with nature so they can express their nature endowed talents. In the Tao Te Ching the Taoist scripture Lao Tzu's definition of nature endowed talents is akin to the Christian notion of God given talent. Lao Tzu also felt that there were many artificialties in our civilization which consisted of: culture, government institutions of all kinds including education, institutionalized morality (laws, rules, convention, manners, etiquette), institutionalized violence (arms, military), conscription, antiritualism, antimilitarism, antiintellectualism (he was not advocating ignorance, but intellectualism as far as institutionalized education was concerned). Taoism has a strong belief in the goodness of human nature. To illustrate this better there is a famous Taoist story about a man who wakes up one morning and decides to visit a friend who he has not seen a while but lives far away. The man takes half the day going to his friends house and when he gets to the door instead of knocking he stops and turns around to go back home. Many people become frustrated with this story and ask if the man took all that time to go to his friends house then he should have just visited him. But to a Taoist the man obviously did not feel like seeing his friend when he arrived and instead of forcing himself to go through with the visit anyway, and doing something he did not want to, he simply turned around and went back home.
The Anabaptists
The Anabaptists of 16th century Europe are sometimes considered to be religious forerunners of modern anarchism. Bertrand Russell, in his History of Western Philosophy, writes that the Anabaptists "repudiated all law, since they held that the good man will be guided at every moment by the Holy Spirit...[f]rom this premise they arrive at communism...." The novel Q by Luther Blissett provides a fictional depiction of this movement and its revolutionary ideology. Gerrard Winstanley of The Diggers, who published a pamphlet calling for communal ownership and social and economic organization in small agrarian communities in the 17th century, is considered another of the forerunners of modern anarchism.
History of anarchism
Justice against the state
The first essay explicitly advocating the absence of government was "[http://oll.libertyfund.org/Texts/LFBooks/Burke0061/Vindication/0339_Bk.html A Vindication of Natural Society]" (1756) by Edmund Burke. There is an ongoing historical dispute about whether this essay was serious or satirical; nevertheless, it was influential among later anarchists such as William Godwin, Benjamin Tucker, and others who praised it. William Godwin, in [http://web.bilkent.edu.tr/Online/www.english.upenn.edu/jlynch/Frank/Godwin/pjtp.html An Enquiry Concerning Political Justice]" (1793) wrote what would become core anarchist critiques of government, economics, and society; though he did not use the word anarchism, some today regard him as the "founder of philosophical anarchism"
By "political justice" Godwin meant "the adoption of any principle of morality and truth into the practice of a community," and his characteristically anarchist conclusion was that government in fact inhibits rather than fosters justice.
Godwin's philosophy was optimistic about the potential for human beings to develop and conduct social relations on the basis of reason and consent. He believed that there are no innate principles, and therefore no original propensity to evil. He considered that "our virtues and our vices may be traced to the incidents which make the history of our lives, and if these incidents could be divested of every improper tendency, vice would be extirpated from the world." The control of man by man in general, and the institution of government in particular, are detrimental to human development. "Government by its very nature counteracts the improvement of original mind." However, Godwin admitted that "we may be obliged to admit [Government] as a necessary evil for the present."
Godwin's masterpiece was published in 1793, in the thick of the French Revolution. The themes of his work, some of which he later retracted, would become central to the future development of anarchism. But at this point no anarchist movement yet existed, and the term anarchiste was known only as an insult hurled by the bourgeois Girondins at more radical elements in the revolution. (Some of whom, the Parisian Sans-culottes, are seen by many as the immediate predecessors of working-class anarchism.)
The first self-labelled anarchist
Sans-culottes
It is commonly held that it wasn't until Pierre-Joseph Proudhon published "[http://ns52.super-hosts.com/~vaz1net/bill/anarchism/library/WhatIsProperty/ What is Property?]" in 1840 that the term "anarchist" was adopted as a self-description. It is for this reason that some claim Proudhon as the founder of modern anarchist theory.
In What is Property Proudhon answers with the famous accusation "Property is theft." In this work he opposed the institution of "property" (propriété) in the special sense of natural resources bestowed and enforced by state privilege, but he also opposed the notion of collective ownership of such, saying "instead of inferring from this that property should be shared by all, I demand, as a measure of general security, its entire abolition." Rather, he advocated a right of individuals to occupy and use land and to individually own product of cultivating it, calling this "possession" and "usufruct"; dominion over land that is not being used or occupied would constitute "property" and therefore "theft." Consisitent with his anti-communism, he strongly supported individual property in the product of labor. His reply to the communist motto "each according to his needs" was: "To each according to his works, first; and if, on occasion, I am impelled to aid you, I will do it with a good grace; but I will not be constrained" (The Philosophy of Misery). Proudhon's vision of anarchy, which he called mutualism (mutuellisme), thus involved an exchange economy where individuals and groups could trade goods valued by the labour time expended to produce them. The system would be supported by interest-free national banks.
Proudhon generally opposed violent expropriation of property; instead he advocated programs whereby workers would create mutual organisations that could supplant capitalism and render the state superfluous. For example, he advocated the formation of interest-free community-owned banks - the prototype for modern credit unions. Proudhon's ideas began to exert some influence within French working class movements, and his followers were active in the Revolution of 1848 in France. However authoritarian socialist tendencies such as Blanquism were a stronger force in Proudhon's own time.
Proudhon's work on property raised a central issue in the future development of anarchism. The question of property, and its place in an anarchist society, is sometimes seen as dividing anarchism thereafter into two major streams or tendencies which can loosely be called 'individualism' and 'collectivism'. Proudhon consistently opposed ideas of communism, and his reply to the motto "each according to his needs" was: "To each according to his works, first; and if, on occasion, I am impelled to aid you, I will do it with a good grace; but I will not be constrained" (The Philosophy of Misery). Proudhon also debated the French économistes (Frederic Bastiat, Gustave de Molinari, et. al.), who shared Proudhon's anti-statism but did not share his antipathy toward capital and interest. See Frederic Bastiat's debate with Proudhon.
Egoism
Max Stirner is considered to be the first egoist of the individualist anarchists. Stirner considered the world and everything in it, including other persons, available to one's taking or use without moral constraint --that rights do not exist in regard to objects at all. Stirner is a supporter of property but holds that a right to property is an illusion, or "ghost"; property is only a matter of control --it is not based in any moral right but solely in the right of might: "Whoever knows how to take, to defend, the thing, to him belongs property." He sees no rationality in taking the interests of others into account unless doing so furthers one's self-interest, which he believed is the only legitimate reason for acting. His embrace of egoism is in stark contrast to Godwin's altruism. He denies society as being an actual entity, calling society a "spook" and that "the individuals are its reality" (The Ego and Its Own). Stirner argued that most commonly accepted social institutions - including property rights and the very notion of society itself - were mere illusions or ghosts, saying rather that "the individuals are its reality." He advocated a form of amoralism, in which individuals would unite in 'associations of egoists' only when it was in their self interest to do so.
The philosophy of Max Stirner, which he described as egoism is considered a form of individualist anarchism. Whether individualist anarchism is properly justified by self-interest (egoism) or natural law has been a subject of debate among later individualists. For example, Lysander Spooner argued that private property was based in natural law and espoused a labor theory of property, while Benjamin Tucker's ideas on property were founded on egoism, as he believed that property could only come about by self-interested parties contracting to establish it: "the right of might and the right of contract -are the only rights that ever have been or ever can be."
Individualist anarchism
See also: Individualist anarchism, American individualist anarchist, mutualism
In 1825, the American Josiah Warren had participated in a collectivist experiment headed by Robert Owen called "New Harmony" that failed in a few years amidst much internal conflict. Warren came to the conclusion that the community's failure was due to a lack of individual sovereignty and private property. He held that in order to have a well-functioning society,
:"Society must be so converted as to preserve the SOVEREIGNTY OF EVERY INDIVIDUAL inviolate. That it must avoid all combinations and connections of persons and interests, and all other arrangements which will not leave every individual at all times at liberty to dispose of his or her person, and time, and property in any manner in which his or her feelings or judgment may dictate. WITHOUT INVOLVING THE PERSONS OR INTERESTS OF OTHERS" - "Practical Details" (Warren's capitalization)
Warren believed that "by dispensing with government we shake off the greatest invader of human rights" (Equitable Commerce). He put his theories to practice by organizing anarchist colonies, including Utopia and Modern Times.
Modern Times]
In 1872 Benjamin Tucker first met Warren and William B. Greene in Boston at the New England Labor Reform League. He became familiar with Warren's ideas on the cost the limit of price (an application of the labor theory of value) and Greene's ideas on mutual banking. Tucker incorporated these ideas, as well as the market anarchism of Proudhon and Max Stirner's egoism, Herbert Spencer's "law of equal freedom," and other theorists, into what is seen as a formalized individualist anarchist theory. This form of individualist anarchism strongly supports "private property" (a right of an individual to exercise exclusive domain over the product of his labor, as opposed to this product being relegated to a collective pool shared equally by the community) and a market economy where this property may be bought and sold. Wage labor is also supported, as long as wages adhere to the labor theory of value. As capitalism is commonly understood to be a system where profit is permissable, the philosophy differs from capitalism.
Other 19th century individualists include Lysander Spooner, Stephen Pearl Andrews, and Victor Yarros. While some individualists looked to natural law to justify individualism, many, in accordance with Stirner's "Egoism" hold that self-interest is the only legitimate justification for action. For example, Lysander Spooner holds that there are natural property rights, but egoists such as Benjamin Tucker agree with Stirner that there are no natural property rights, but rather come about by contract between individuals. The American author and tax resister Henry David Thoreau (1817 – 1862) was a quasi-anarchist. He wrote the influential essay Civil Disobedience (available at wikisource) on resistance to civil government.
Though marginalized in the 20th century due to the popularity of anarcho-communism and syndicalism, individualist anarchism continued on. Around the early to mid-20th century, some individualist anarchists, such as Emile Armand, Henry Meulen and Ulrich von Beckerath, in a departure from the earlier individualist cost is the limit of price belief, began to adopt a subjective theory of value where price was subject to individual judgement. For instance, in 1945 French individualist anarchist E. Armand, in Our Demands as Individualist Anarchists, made the following demand: "FULL AND UNRESTRICTED RIGHT to determine and change the value or price of any goods, either one's own products or consumer goods, of whatever kind, according to one's own discretion. Likewise untouchable is the right to negotiate in this respect, to use an arbitrator or to do without any determination of values."
The International
In Europe, a period of harsh reaction followed the widespread revolutionary activity of 1848. The next major phase of revolutionary activity began almost twenty years later with the founding of the International Workingmen's Association, sometimes called the 'First International', in London in 1864.1864]
The International Workingmen's Association, at its founding, was an alliance of diverse groups, including French Mutualists, Blanquists, English Owenites, Italian followers of Mazzini and other socialists of various persuasions. Over its short life it grew into a major movement, with local federations in many countries developing strong bases of working class activism. Karl Marx was a constant, and leading, figure from the start - he was elected to every succeeding General Council of the association.
Due to the wide variety of philosophies present in the First International, there was conflict from the start. The first objections to Marx's came from the Mutualists who opposed communism and statism. However, shortly after Mikhail Bakunin and his followers (called Collectivists) joined in 1868, the First International became polarised into two camps, with Marx and Bakunin as their respective figureheads. Perhaps the clearest differences between the groups emerged over their proposed strategies for achieving their visions of socialism. The anarchists grouped around Bakunin favoured (in Kropotkin's words) "direct economical struggle against capitalism, without interfering in the political parliamentary agitation." Marxist thinking, at that time, focused on parliamentary activity. For example, when the new German Empire of 1871 became the first country to introduce manhood suffrage, many German socialists became active in the Marxist Social Democratic Party of Germany.
Bakunin characterised Marx's ideas as authoritarian, and predicted that if a Marxist party gained to power its leaders would end up as bad as the ruling class they had fought against (notably in his [http://www.litencyc.com/php/adpage.php?id=1969 Statism and Anarchy].) In 1872, the conflict in the First International climaxed with a final split between the two groups at the Hague Congress. This clash is often cited as the origin of the long-running conflict between anarchists and Marxists. From then on, the authoritarian and libertarian currents of socialism had distinct organisations, at various points including rival 'internationals'.
Unfortunately, many of the debates between the opposing camps became heated to the point of abusiveness. Bakunin did not restrain himself from hurling anti-German and anti-semitic slurs at Marx.
Anarchist Communism
Main article: Anarchist communism
Unlike Marxism, anarchism has never had one central set of texts or authorities. But in the last three decades of the nineteenth century the anarchism of many of Bakunin's followers did gradually develop into a clearer position embracing an idea of communism. (Although Bakunin himself was not a communist - his view, sometimes called collectivism, combined collective ownership of the means of production with support for private possession of the produce of labour.)
An early proponent of anarchist communism was Joseph Déjacque. In 1857 Déjacque, who was initially a follower of Proudhon, wrote to Proudhon arguing that: "it is not the product of his or her labor that the worker has a right to, but to the satisfaction of his or her needs, whatever may be their nature." Déjacque propagated his views through his journal called Le Libertaire, published in the United States from 1858-1861. Déjacque is also notable as the first person to describe himself as a "libertarian", and the 1857 letter contains the first appearance of the term in print.[http://recollectionbooks.com/bleed/Encyclopedia/DejacqueJoseph.htm][http://joseph.dejacque.free.fr/ecrits/lettreapjp.htm]
libertarian
The Italian federation of the First International, which overwhelmingly took the Bakuninist line, was perhaps the first organisation to set out an explicit vision of communist anarchism. The Italian anarchists included Carlo Cafiero, Errico Malatesta, Andrea Costa and other ex-Mazzinian Republicans. At its Florence Conference of 1876, their federation stated its principles as follows:
:"The Italian Federation considers the collective property of the products of labour as the necessary complement to the collectivist programme, the aid of all for the satisfaction of the needs of each being the only rule of production and consumption which corresponds to the principle of solidarity."
In his Anarchie et Communisme, Cafiero argued that private property even in the product of labor (Mutualist 'possession') will lead to unequal accumulation of capital, and therefore to class distinctions.
Perhaps the most important theorist of anarchist communism was Peter Kropotkin. In a number of works including The Conquest of Bread and Fields, Factories and Workshops, Kropotkin plotted his views of what anarchist communist society might look like and how it might be achieved. Kropotkin's anarchist communism was closely linked to his scientific theory based on evolution in which co-operation equaled or surpassed competition in importance, as illustrated in Mutual Aid: A Factor in Evolution (1897).
Subsequent figures in the theory of anarchist communism include Emma Goldman and Alexander Berkman. The anarcho-syndicalist movements (see below) generally saw anarchist communism as their objective. Isaac Puente's 1932 Comunismo Libertario was adopted by the Spanish CNT as its manifesto for an anarchist communist society.
Propaganda by the deed
CNT]]
:(Main article: Anarchist terrorism)
Anarchists have often been portrayed as dangerous and violent, due mainly to a number of high-profile violent acts including riots, assassinations, insurrections, and terrorism by some communist anarchists. Some revolutionaries of the late 19th century encouraged acts of political violence, such as bombings and the assassinations of heads of state to further anarchism. Such actions have sometimes been called 'propaganda by the deed'.
One of the more outspoken advocates of this strategy was Johann Most, who said "the existing system will be quickest and most radically overthrown by the annihilation of its exponents. Therefore, massacres of the enemies of the people must be set in motion." Most's preferred method of terrorism, dynamite, earned him the moniker "Dynamost." Most anarchists, however, have condemned the use of terrorism and assassination. Even anarchists who see acts of violence as justified in a context of insurrection and class war would often view individual acts of terrorism as ineffective and counter-productive.
However, there is no consensus on the legitimacy or utility of violence in general. Perhaps the majority of anarchists have advocated revolutionary expropriation, by violent means if necessary. Mikhail Bakunin and Errico Malatesta, for example, wrote of violence as a necessary and sometimes desirable force. [http://flag.blackened.net/revolt/anarchists/malatesta/rev_haste.html]
Other anarchists, sometimes identified as pacifist anarchists, share a belief in nonviolence. Leo Tolstoy, whose philosophy is often viewed as a form of Christian anarchism, believed that nonviolent resistance was the only method to achieve any lasting social change. For Tolstoy and other pacifists all violence is illegitimate, irrespective of whether it is perpetrated by the state or by its opponents. Some of Proudhon's French followers took a similar position: some saw strike action as coercive and refused to take part in such traditional socialist tactics. (citation needed)
Anarchism at work
See also: Anarcho-syndicalism
Anarcho-syndicalism
In the late 19th century, anarcho-syndicalism developed as a movement pursuing industrial actions, especially the general strike, as the primary strategy to achieve anarchist revolution, and "build the new society in the shell of the old". Most anarcho-syndicalists shared a belief in anarchist communism as the best form of the future society, although not all anarchist communists agreed with syndicalism.
According to the preamble to the constitution of the US-based Industrial Workers of the World (also called IWW or Wobblies) syndicalist union:
::It is the historic mission of the working class to do away with capitalism. The army of production must be organized, not only for everyday struggle with capitalists, but also to carry on production when capitalism shall have been overthrown. By organizing industrially we are forming the structure of the new society within the shell of the old.[http://pdx.iww.org/preamble.html]
Anarcho-syndicalism formed a new wave of anarchism in beginning in the 1890's and 1900's. Even more than the anarchism of the International, this was anarchism brought out of the philosophy books and embodied in the ongoing struggle of millions of working class people.
After the fall of the Paris Commune in 1871 French anarchists and socialists had suffered a dark period of repression similar to the aftermath of the 1848 revolution. Anarchism began to resurface in the 1880's and 1890's, and was a particular influence upon the Bourses de Travails of autonomous workers groups and trade unions. It was from this ground that the CGT trade union confederation, founded in 1895, was born. The CGT was the first major anarcho-syndicalist movement.
CGT members Emile Pataud and Emile Pouget wrote the classic syndicalist text in 1909. The fictionalised How we will bring about the revolution (Comment nous ferons la revolution) tells the story of the birth of libertarian communism in a French general strike. However the CGT soon veered away from anarchism, and after the Russian Revolution of 1917 fell into the Communist camp. (The CGT is still an important French trade union, though now thoroughly reformist in sympathy.)
In Chicago in June 1905, a convention of two hundred socialists, anarchists, and radical trade unionists from all over the United States founded the IWW. At its peak in 1923 the organization claimed some 100,000 members in good standing, and could marshal the support of perhaps 300,000 workers. The anarcho-syndicalist orientation of many early American labor unions played a large part in the formation of the American political spectrum. The United States is the only industrialized former British colony to not have a labor-based political party.
Anarchism had been introduced into Spain by followers of Bakunin in the late 1860's, and quickly established itself as the dominant force within the Spanish socialist and working class movements. (See also - Anarchism in Spain.) Spanish anarchist trade union federations were formed in the 1870's and in 1900. But the most famous and most successful was the Confederación Nacional del Trabajo founded in 1910. The CNT was to become the major force in Spanish working class politics - it had a membership of 1.58 million in 1934. The CNT played a major role in the Spanish Civil War (see below).
In Berlin in 1922 the CNT was amongst trade unions who joined together to form the International Workers Association, an anarcho-syndicalist successor to the First International.
In Mexico, anarcho-syndicalists including Ricardo Flores Magón were key figures in the 1910-17 Mexican Revolution which overthrew the dictator Porfirio Diaz, exerting a strong influence on Anarchism throughout Latin America. This influence extends to the modern day Zapatista rebellion and the factory occupation movements in Argentina and elsewhere.
In other parts of the world, anarcho-syndicalism lives on - although it is far from the force it once was (see below). Whilst engaging in everyday workplace struggles, anarcho-syndicalist trade unions distance themselves from the methods of the dominant 'reformist' trade unions which in their view merely seek short-term and compromising improvements. Anarcho-syndicalists in general uphold principles of workers solidarity, direct action, and self-management (see Anarcho-syndicalism).
The Russian Revolution
The Russian Revolution of 1917 was a seismic event in the development of anarchism as a movement and as a philosophy.
Anarchists participated alongside the Bolsheviks in both February and October revolutions, many anarchists initially supporting the Bolshevik coup. However the Bolsheviks soon turned against the anarchists and other left-wing opposition, a conflict which culminated in the 1918 Kronstadt rebellion. Anarchists in central Russia were imprisoned or driven underground, or joined the victorious Bolsheviks. In Ukraine anarchists fought in the civil war against both Whites and Bolsheviks within the Makhnovshchina peasant army led by Nestor Makhno).
Expelled American anarchists Emma Goldman and Alexander Berkman before leaving Russia were amongst those agitating in response to Bolshevik policy and the suppression of the Kronstadt uprising. Both wrote classic accounts of their experiences in Russia, aiming to expose the reality of Bolshevik control. For them, Bakunin's predictions about the consequences of Marxist rule had proved all too true.
The victory of the Bolsheviks in the October Revolution and the resulting Russian Civil War did serious damage to anarchist movements internationally. Many workers and activists saw Bolshevik success as setting an example; Communist parties grew at the expense of anarchism and other socialist movements. In France and the US for example, the major syndicalist movements of the CGT and IWW began to realign themselves away from anarchism and towards the Communist International.
In Paris, a group of Russian anarchist exiles around Nestor Makhno concluded that anarchists needed to develop new forms of organisation in response to the structures of Bolshevism. Their manifesto known as the Platform, or the "Organizational Platform of Libertarian Communists", was supported by some Anarchist Communists, but opposed by many others.
Religion
See also: Christian anarchism, Anarchism and religion
Anarchism and religion
Christian anarchism is the belief that there is only one source of authority to which Christians are ultimately answerable, the authority of God as embodied in the teachings of Jesus. Christian anarchists therefore feel that earthly authority such as government, or indeed the established church do not and should not have power over them. Christian anarchists are pacifists and oppose the use of all physical force, both proactive and reactive.
Christian anarchists believe that freedom from earthly authority will only be guided by the grace of God if individuals display compassion for others and turn the other cheek when confronted by violence. Its adherents believe this quest for freedom is justified spiritually and quote the teachings of Jesus, some of whom are critical of the existing establishment and church. They believe all individuals can directly communicate with God and will eventually unify in peace under this one God.
The most famous advocate of Christian anarchism was Leo Tolstoy, author of The Kingdom of God is Within You, who called for a society based on compassion, nonviolent principles and freedom.
Some Christian anarchists oppose war and other statist aggression through tax resistance, while others submit to taxation. Tolstoy wrote that if the act of resisting taxes requires physical force to withhold what a government tries to take, then it is important to submit to taxation. Ammon Hennacy, who like Tolstoy also believed in nonresistance, managed to resist taxes without using force. Many Christian anarchists are vegetarian or vegan.
Spiritual Anarchism, or Divine Anarchy, was originally expressed by the political revolutionary, poet and yogi Sri Aurobindo during the First World War in a series of articles published in the Arya, and later made available in two books, The Human Cycle and The Ideal of Human Unity. The exaggerations of both individualistic and communistic streams of anarchist thought are harmonized by going beyond the vital and intellectual foundations of most other schools of anarchism and rooting itself firmly in the spiritual realization and dynamic perfection of the individual and universal godhead in the race.
A spiritual anarchist holds that a perfect form of social organization can only be achieved by governing our individual and collective life by a higher light than the intellectual reason, a deeper law of solidarity and oneness than emotional or mental bonds of association. Although it has deviated significantly from its course, the international township of Auroville was originally intended to be organized as a Divine Anarchy, and may well one day fulfill its purpose.
Other forms of religious Anarchism include the Buddhist Anarchism of Tai-Xu which was strongly influenced by Tolstoy, but also looked to the ancient well-field system for inspiration. Buddhist Anarchism is one of several types of Chinese Anarchism which was influential in mainland China in the 1920's.
Anarchism and feminism
China
See also: Anarcha-Feminism
Anarcha-feminism is a kind of radical feminism that espouses the belief that patriarchy is a fundamental problem in society. While anarchist feminism has existed for more than a hundred years, its explicit formulation as anarcha-feminism dates back to the early 70s [http://www.anarcha.org/sallydarity/Anarcho-FeminismTwoStatements.htm], during the second-wave feminist movement. Anarcha-feminism, views patriarchy as the first manifestation of hierarchy in human history; thus, the first form of oppression occurred in the dominance of male over female. Anarcha-feminists then conclude that if feminists are against patriarchy, they must also be against all forms of hierarchy, and therefore must reject the authoritarian nature of the state and capitalism.
Anarcho-primitivists see the creation of gender roles and patriarchy a creation of the start of civilization, and therefore consider primitivism to also be an anarchist school of thought that addresses feminist concerns. Eco-feminism is often considered a feminist variant of green anarchist feminist thought.
Anarcha-feminism is most often associated with early 20th-century authors and theorists such as Emma Goldman and Voltairine de Cleyre, although even early first-wave feminist Mary Wollstonecraft held proto-anarchist views, and William Godwin is often considered a feminist anarchist precursor. In the Spanish Civil War, an anarcha-feminist group, "Free Women", organized to defend both anarchist and feminist ideas.
In the modern day anarchist movement, many anarchists, male or female, consider themselves feminists, and anarcha-feminist ideas are growing. The publishing of Quiet Rumors, an anarcha-feminist reader, has helped to spread various kinds of anti-authoritarian and anarchist feminist ideas to the broader movement.
The fight against fascism
In the 1920s and 1930s the familiar dynamics of anarchism's conflict with the state were transformed by the rise of fascism in Europe. In many cases, European anarchists faced difficult choices - should they join in popular fronts with reformist democrats and Soviet-led Communists against a common fascist enemy? Luigi Fabbri, an exile from Italian fascism, was amongst those arguing that fascism was something different:
:Fascism is not just another form of government which, like all others, uses violence. It is the most authoritarian and the most violent form of government imaginable. It represents the utmost glorification of the theory and practice of the principle of authority.
In France, where the fascists came close to insurrection in the February 1934 riots, anarchists divided over a 'united front' policy.[http://melior.univ-montp3.fr/ra_forum/en/people/berry_david/fascism_or_revolution.html] In Spain, the CNT initially refused to join a popular front electoral alliance, and abstention by CNT supporters led to a right wing election victory. But in 1936, the CNT changed its policy and anarchist votes helped bring the popular front back to power. Months later, the right responded with an attempted coup, and the Spanish Civil War was underway.
In the history of anarchism the Spanish Civil War of (1936-1939) is a defining event on at least the scale of the First International or the Russian Revolution of 1917. A widely popular anarchist movement supported by anti-fascist militias took control of the industrial stronghold of Barcelona, and rural areas mainly in northeast Spain where they collectivized the land. For a few brief months in 1936-37 libertarian communism was being put into practice.
But even before the eventual fascist victory, the anarchists were losing ground in a bitter struggle with the Stalinists. The CNT leadership often appeared confused and divided, with some members entering the government. Stalinist-led troops suppressed the collectives, and persecuted both dissident marxists and anarchists. The revolution was destroyed. Anarchism has never since come so close to realising the dream of "libertarian communism in one country" as in that short summer of anarchy.
Contemporary anarchism
Anarchism today comprises a range of philosophies, strategies and traditions. Below are brief profiles of some of these tendencies (in alphabetical order).
Anarcho-capitalism
See also: Anarcho capitalism
Anarcho capitalism
Anarcho-capitalism envisions a stateless society where private ownership of the means of production is supported, and economic decisions are made privately through the operation of a free market. They believe that all voluntary (non-coerced) transactions between consenting adults should be legal, so have no opposition to employment or interest. Anarcho-capitalism is an anti-state form of liberalism derived from classical liberal and Austrian economics, abolitionism and some topics from 19th century American individualist anarchism. Rather than adhering to a labor theory of value as many anarchists do, anarcho-capitalists tend to hold to the subjectivist theory of value, and as a consequence, do not oppose profit, capitalist authority or wage labour.
Much of the credit for the foundations of anarcho-capitalist theory has been granted to Murray Rothbard who formally synthesized classical liberalism with Austrian economics. Rothbard defines anarchism in terms of the non-aggression principle: "an anarchist society [is] one where there is no legal possibility for coercive aggression against the person or property of any individual." However, individualist anarchism with no opposition to profit preceeded Rothbard but had not yet been called anarcho-capitalism, because the generally opposed to wage labor or capitalist hierarchy. For example, Rothbard said that Gustave de Molinari, in the 19th century, was the first to theorize anarcho-capitalism. Jakob Mauvillon is another 18th century individualist who has been called an anarcho-capitalist. Auberon Herbert advocated anarcho-capitalism in the 19th century, calling it "voluntaryism." While Rothbard based his anarchism on Natural Law, David Friedman ("The Machinery of Freedom") based it on utilitarianism, and Jan Narveson on contractarianism. Other important anarcho-capitalists include Hans-Hermann Hoppe, Lew Rockwell, and Bryan Caplan. Some minarchists, such as Ayn Rand, Robert Nozick, and Robert A. Heinlein, have also contributed to the theory or popularity of anarcho-capitalism. Early influences on anarcho-capitalism include Gustave de Molinari, Herbert Spencer, Lysander Spooner, and Benjamin Tucker.
Many anarchists, social and individualist, deny that anarcho-capitalism is a form of anarchism, arguing that authoritarian institutions are inevitable in any capitalist system. On the other hand, there are American individualist anarchists that do regard it as a form of anarchism. [http://world.std.com/~bbrigade/badpp3.htm] [http://www.attackthesystem.com/capitalism.html] [http://www.spaz.org/~dan/individualist-anarchist/ac-vs-ia.html] Moreoever, anarcho-capitalists Wendy McElroy and Guglielmo Piombini regard their philosophy as "individualist anarchism." Anarcho-capitalism is compared and contrasted with classical individualist anarchism in the article Individualist anarchism and anarcho-capitalism.
Anarcho-primitivism
See also: anarcho-primitivism
anarcho-primitivism]
Beginning in the later part of the 20th century anarchist John Zerzan wrote in Elements of Refusal, and later, Future Primitive that civilization — not just the state — would need to fall for anarchy to be achieved. A rejection of industrial technology is also prominent in the views of many green anarchists. This worldview was associated with the growth of the anti-roads movement in the UK, Earth First! and the Earth Liberation Front in the US.
Primitivism is a philosophy advocating a return to a pre-industrial and usually pre-agricultural society, and a critique of industrial civilization, and the alienation that technology, progress, etc, have created between people and the natural world. Primitivism believes that industrial society inevitably produces oppressive structures through specialization of tasks or division of labor, and that technology has similar negative implications. Most forms of primitivism question civilization itself. Primitivism general
Greek language
Greek (Greek Ελληνικά, IPA – "Hellenic") is an Indo-European language with a documented history of 3,500 years. Today, it is spoken by 15 million people in Greece, Cyprus, the former Yugoslavia, particularly The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Bulgaria, Albania and Turkey. There are also many Greek emigrant communities around the world, such as those in Melbourne, Australia which is the third-largest Greek-populated city in the world, after Athens and Thessaloniki.
Greek has been written in the Greek alphabet, the first true alphabet, since the 9th century B.C. and before that, in Linear B and the Cypriot syllabaries.
Greek literature has a long and rich tradition.
History
This article does not cover the reconstructed history of Greek prior to the use of writing. For more information, see main article on Proto-Greek language.
Greek has been spoken in the Balkan Peninsula since the 2nd millennium BC. The earliest evidence of this is found in the Linear B tablets dating from 1500 BC. The later Greek alphabet (q.v.) is unrelated to Linear B, and was derived from the Phoenician alphabet (abjad); with minor modifications, it is still used today. Greek is conventionally divided into the following periods:
- Mycenean Greek: the language of the Mycenean civilisation. It is recorded in the Linear B script on tablets dating from the 16th century BC onwards.
- Classical Greek (also known as Ancient Greek): In its various dialects was the language of the Archaic and Classical periods of Greek civilisation. It was widely known throughout the Roman empire. Classical Greek fell into disuse in western Europe in the Middle Ages, but remained known in the Byzantine world, and was reintroduced to the rest of Europe with the Fall of Constantinople and Greek migration to Italy.
- Hellenistic Greek (also known as Koine Greek): The fusion of various ancient Greek dialects with Attic (the dialect of Athens) resulted in the creation of the first common Greek dialect, which gradually turned into one of the world's first international languages. Koine Greek can be initially traced within the armies and conquered territories of Alexander the Great, but after the Hellenistic colonisation of the known world, it was spoken from Egypt to the fringes of India. After the Roman conquest of Greece, an unofficial diglossy of Greek and Latin was established in the city of Rome and Koine Greek became a first or second language in the Roman Empire. Through Koine Greek it is also traced the origin of Christianity, as the Apostles used it to preach in Greece and the Greek-speaking world. It is also known as the Alexandrian dialect, Post-Classical Greek or even New Testament Greek (after its most famous work of literature).
- Medieval Greek: The continuation of Hellenistic Greek during medieval Greek history as the official and vernacular (if not the literary nor the ecclesiastic) language of the Byzantine Empire, and continued to be used until, and after the fall of that Empire in the 15th century. Also known as Byzantine Greek.
- Modern Greek: Stemming independently from Koine Greek, Modern Greek usages can be traced in the late Byzantine period (as early as 11th century).
Two main forms of the language have been in use since the end of the medieval Greek period: Dhimotikí (Δημοτική), the Demotic (vernacular) language, and Katharévousa (Καθαρεύουσα), an imitation of classical Greek, which was used for literary, juridic, and scientific purposes during the 19th and early 20th centuries. Demotic Greek is now the official language of the modern Greek state, and the most widely spoken by Greeks today.
It has been claimed that an "educated" speaker of the modern language can understand an ancient text, but this is surely as much a function of education as of the similarity of the languages. Still, Koinē , the version of Greek used to write the New Testament and the Septuagint, is relatively easy to understand for modern speakers.
Greek words have been widely borrowed into the European languages: astronomy, democracy, philosophy, thespian, etc. Moreover, Greek words and word elements continue to be productive as a basis for coinages: anthropology, photography, isomer, biomechanics etc. and form, with Latin words, the foundation of international scientific and technical vocabulary. See English words of Greek origin, and List of Greek words with English derivatives.
Classification
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European language family. The ancient languages which were probably most closely related to it, Ancient Macedonian language (which may be regarded as a dialect of Greek) and Phrygian, are not well enough documented to permit detailed comparison. Among living languages, Armenian seems to be the most closely related to it.
Geographic distribution
Modern Greek is spoken by about 15 million people mainly in Greece and Cyprus. There are also Greek-speaking populations in Georgia, Ukraine, Egypt, Turkey, Albania, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Southern Italy. The language is spoken also in many other countries where Greeks have settled, including Armenia, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Netherlands, Sweden, United Kingdom, and the United States.
Official status
Greek is the official language of Greece where it is spoken by about 99.5% of the population. It is also, alongside Turkish, the official language of Cyprus. Due to the membership of Greece and Cyprus, Greek is one of the 20 official languages of the European Union.
Phonology
This section generally describes the post-Classic phonology of the Greek language.
:All phonetic transcriptions in this section use the International Phonetic Alphabet
Vowel sounds
Greek has 5 vowel sounds, all phonemic:
Archon
Archon (Gr. αρχων, pl. αρχοντες) is a Greek word that means "ruler" or the like, though it is frequently encountered as the title of some specific public office. In form the word is simply the masculine participle of the verb stem αρχο-, derived from the same root that appears in words such as monarch and hierarchy.
In the early literary period of ancient Greece the chief magistrates of various Greek city states were called Archons. The term was also used throughout Greek history in a more general sense, ranging from "club leader" to "Roman governor" to "Satan" (as the ruler of the Cosmos).
In Athens a system of three concurrent Archons evolved, the three office holders being known as the Archon Eponymous, the Polemarch, and the Archon Basileus. Originally these offices were filled from the aristocracy by elections every ten years. During this period Archon Eponymous was the chief magistrate, the Polemarch was the head of the armed forces, and the Archon Basileus was responsible for the civic religious arrangements. After 683 BCE the offices were held for only a single year, and the year was named after the Archon Eponymous. (Many ancient calendar systems did not number their years consecutively as we do.) After 487 BCE the archonships were assigned by lot to any citizen and the Polemarch's military duties were taken over by a new class of generals known as strategoi. The Polemarch thereafter had only minor religious duties. The Archon Eponymous remained the titular head of state even under the democracy, though of much reduced political importance. After 457 BCE ex-archons were automatically enrolled as life members of the Areopagus, though that assembly was no longer extremely important politically at that time. (See Archons of Athens.)
Archons of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople
From time to time, laity of the Orthodox Church in communion with the Patriarch of Constantinople have been granted the title of Archon to honor their service to Church administration. In 1963, Archons were organized into a service society dedicated to Saint Andrew. This Archon status is not part of the Church hierarchy and is purely honorary.
Gnostic Archons
In late antiquity some variants of Gnosticism used the term Archon to refer to several servants of the Demiurge, the "creator god" that stood between the human race and a transcendent God that could only be reached through gnosis. In this context they have the role of the angels and demons of the Old Testament.
The Egyptian Gnostic Basilideans accepted the existence of an archon called Abraxas who was the prince of 365 spiritual beings (Irenaeus, Adversus Haereses, I.24). The Orphics accepted the existence of seven archons: Iadabaoth or Ialdabaoth (who created the six others), Iao, Sabaoth, Adonaios, Elaios, Astaphanos and Horaios (Origen, Contra Celsum, VI.31). Ialdabaoth had a head of a lion, just like Mithraic Kronos (Chronos), Persian Zervan (Zurvan) and Vedic Narasimha, a form of Vishnu. Their wrathful nature was mistaken as evil. The snake wrapped around them is Ananta (Sesha) Naga (mythology).
The term now appears fairly frequently as the title of rulers in English language stories, shows, and games of the science fiction and fantasy genres. (The Invisibles, for example.) It is also a common title in collegiate fraternity and sorority organizations.
See also
- Wrathful deities
References
- A Greek-English Lexicon (aka Liddell and Scott), ISBN 0-19-864226-1
- The Oxford Companion to Classical Literature, ISBN 0-19-866121-5.
- [http://www.archons.patriarchate.org/ Archons of the Ecumenical Patriarchate]
- [http://www.public-domain-content.com/books/classic_greece_rome/mom/mom07.shtml#img_20 Mithraic Kronos from Ostia]
- [http://www.public-domain-content.com/books/classic_greece_rome/mom/mom07.shtml#img_21 Mithraic Kronos from Florence]
- [http://www.public-domain-content.com/books/classic_greece_rome/mom/mom07.shtml#img_22 Mithraic Kronos from Rome]
- [http://www.public-domain-content.com/books/classic_greece_rome/mom/mom07.shtml#img_23 Mithraic Kronos from Ostia]
- [http://www.public-domain-content.com/books/classic_greece_rome/mom/mom10.shtml#img_49 Mithraic Kronos from Modena]
Category:Gnostic demons
Category:Titles
Category:Ancient Greek titles
ja:アルコン
Social movement. Here, Martin Luther King is giving his "I Have a Dream" speech, in front of the Lincoln Memorial during the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom]]
Social movements are a type of group action. They are large informal groupings of individuals and/or organizations focused on specific political or social issues, in other words, on carrying out a social change.
Modern social movements became possible through education (the wider dissemination of literature), and increased mobility of labour due to the industrialisation and urbanisation of 19th century societies. The freedom of expression, education and relative economic independence prevalent in the modern Western culture is responsible for the unprecedented number and scope of various contemporary social movements.
Political science and sociology have developed a variety of theories and empirical research on social movements. For example, some research in political science highlights the relation between popular movements and the formation of new political parties as well as discussing the function of social movements in relation to agenda setting and influence on politics.
History
Political movements that evolved in late 18th century, like those connected to the French Revolution and Polish Constitution of May 3, 1791 are among the first documented social movements. The labor movement and socialist movement of the late 19th century are seen as the prototypical social movements, leading to the formation of communist and social democratic parties and organisations.
From 1815, Britain after victory in the Napoleonic Wars entered a period of social upheaval aformed from 1905 as pressure for reform continued, resulting in the collapse of the Russian State at the end of the First World War.
In 1945, Britain after victory in the Second World War entered a period of radical reform and change. In the 1970s, women's rights, peace, civil rights and environmental movements emerged, often dubbed New Social Movements.They led inter alia to the formation of green parties. Some find in the end of the 1990s the emergence of a new global social movement, the anti-globalization movement.
Key processes
Several key processes lie behind the history of social movements. The process of urbanisation, which created large cities, facilitated social interaction between scores of people. It was in cities, where people of similar goals could find each other, gather and organise, that those early social movements first appeared. Similarly, the process of industrialisation which gathered large masses of workers in the same region was responsible for the fact that many of those early social movements addressed matters important to that social class. Many other social movements were created at universities, where the process of mass education brought many people together. With the development of communication technologies, creation and activities of social movements became easier - from printed pamphlets circulating in the 18th century coffeehouses to newspapers and Internet, all those tools became important factors in the growth of the social movements. Finally, the spread of democracy and political rights like the freedom of speech made the creation and functioning of social movements much easier.
Types of social movements
Sociologists distinguish between several types of social movements:
- scope
- reform movements - movements dedicated to changing some norms, usually legal ones. Examples of such a movement would include a trade union with a goal of increasing workers rights, a green movement advocating a set of ecological laws, or a movement supporting introduction of a capital punishment or right to abortion. Some reform movements may advocate a change in custom and moral norms, for example, condemnation of pornography or proliferation of some religion.
- religion was an important factor in the fall of the Soviet Union]] radical movement - movements dedicated to changing some value systems. Those are usually much larger in scope than the reform movements, Examples would include the American Civil Rights Movement which demanded full civil rights and equality under the law to all Americans, regardless of race, or the Polish Solidarity (Solidarność) movement which demanded the transformation of communist political and economy system into democracy and capitalism.
- type of change
- innovation movement - movements which want to introduce new norms, values, etc. The singularitarianism movement advocating deliberate action to effect and ensure the safety of the technological singularity is an example of an innovation movement.
- conservative movement - movements which want to preserve existing norms, values, etc. The anti-machines 19th century Luddites movement or the modern movement opposing the spread of the genetically modified food are examples of conservative movements.
- target audience
- group-focus movements - focused on affecting groups or society in general, for example, advocating the change of the political system. Most of such groups eventually transform into or join a political party.
- individual-focused movements - focused on affecting individuals. Most religious movements would fall under this category. Those movements rarely transform into political parties.
- methods of work
- religious movement independence]] peaceful movements - opposed to using violent means. Mentioned American Civil Rights movement, Polish Solidarity movement or Mahatma Gandhi civil disobedience movements would fall into this category
- violent movements - various armed resistance movements up to and including terrorist organisations. Examples would include the Palestinian Hezbollah, Basque Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA) or Ireland Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) movements.
- old and new
- old movements - most of the 19th century movements which recruited their followers from a specific social class (only workers, only peasants, only whites, only aristocrats, only protestants, etc.). They were usually centered around some materialistic goals like improving the standard of living of the given social class.
- new movements - movements which became dominant from the second half of the 20th century - like the feminist movement, civil rights movement, environmental movement, gay rights movement, peace movement, anti-nuclear movement, anti-globalization movement, etc. Sometimes they are known as postmodernism movements. They are usually centered around a non-materialistic goal.
Dynamics of social movements
Social movements are not eternal. They have a life cycle: they are created, they grow, they achieve successes or failures and eventually, they dissolve and cease to exist.
They are more likely to evolve in the time and place which is friendly to the social movements: hence their evident symbiosis with the 19th century proliferation of ideas like individual rights, freedom of speech and civil disobedience. They are more likely to form in the societies and cultures allowing expression of ideas by individuals - like most of the Western culture, which explains why most social movements exist in United States and Europe, and fewer in more autocratic places like Russia or China. Such friendly context and environment is only a background facilitating the creation of the social movement. There must also be polarizing differences between groups of people: in case of 'old movements', they were the poverty and wealth gaps. In case of the 'new movements', they are more likely to be the differences in customs, ethics and values. Finally, the birth of a social movement needs what sociologist Neil Smelser calls an initiating event: a particular, individual event that will begin a chain reaction of events in the given society leading to the creation of a social movement. For example, American Civil Rights movement grew on the reaction to black women, Rosa Parks, riding in the whites-only section of the bus (although it is important to note that Rosa Parks was not acting alone or spontaneously -- typically activist leaders lay the groundwork behind the scenes of interventions designed to spark a movement). Polish Solidarity movement, which eventually toppled the communist regimes of Eastern Europe, developed after trade union activist Anna Walentynowicz was fired from work. Such an event is also described as a volcanic model - a social movement is often created after a large number of people realise that there are others sharing the same value and desire for a particular social change. Thus, one of the main difficulties facing the emerging social movement is spreading the very knowledge that it exists. Second is overcoming the free rider problem - convincing people to join it, instead of following the mentality 'why should I trouble myself when others can do it and I can just reap the benefits after their hard work'.
free rider problem
Many social movements are created around some charismatic leader, i.e. one possessing charismatic authority. After the social movement is created, there are two likely phases of recruitment. The first phase will gather the people deeply interested in the primary goal and ideal of the movement. The second phase, which will usually come after the given movement had some successes and its fs trendy; it would look good on a résumé. People who join in this second phase will likely be the first to leave when the movement suffers any setbacks and failures.
Eventually, the socia crisis can be encouraged by outside elements, like opposition from government or other movements. However, many movements had survived a failure crisis, being revived by some hardcore activists even after several decades.
References
- Encyclopedia of American Social Movements, Edited by Immanuel Ness, 2004, ISBN 0-7656-8045-9
List of social movements
See list of social movements for a more complete list of social movements. The below list contains only very few selected movements not mentioned in the main article above:
- Afrisecal movement
- Animal rights movement
- Conservation movement
- Cultural movement
- Ecology movement
- Ethiopian movement
- Labor movement
- Reform movements in the United States
- Taisho democracy in Japan
- Unity of science
Category:Sociology
Category:Social movements
Category:Society
State:This article discusses states as sovereign political entities; for other meanings, see state (disambiguation).
A state is an organized political community occupying a definite territory, having an organized government, and possessing internal and external sovereignty. Recognition of the state's claim to independence by other states, enabling it to enter into international agreements, is often important to the establishment of its statehood, although some theories do not make this a requirement - for instance, the Montevideo Convention. The "state" can also be defined in terms of domestic conditions, specifically, as conceptualized by Max Weber, "a state is a human community that (successfully) claims the monopoly of the legitimate use of physical force within a given territory." [http://www.mdx.ac.uk/www/study/xweb.htm] The exact meaning of this definition depends on what is understood by "legitimate". For more information see government.
Introduction
The word "state" in contemporary parlance often means the "Westphalian state", in reference to the Peace of Westphalia of 1648. In this sense, the modern state is an entity that enjoys extensive autonomy in its domestic economic and social policy, largely free from interference from other states and powers. A number of modern commentators have claimed that we are experiencing the decline of the Westphalian state as the principal actor of the international system, pointing to economic, cultural, political, and technological changes in the world, such as globalization and the emergence of regional and supernational groupings such as the European Union.
The term "state" is also used to describe subnational territorial divisions within a federal system, as in the case of the United States of America. See state (law) and state (non-sovereign).
In common speech, the terms country, nation and state are casually used as synonyms, but in a more strict usage they are distinguished:
- country is the geographical area.
- nation designates a people (however, national and international both confusingly refer as well to matters pertaining to what are strictly states, as in "national capital", "international law").
- state refers to the government, and an entity in international law.
Currently, the entire land surface of the Earth is divided among the territories of the roughly two hundred states now existing, with the special case of Antarctica, a variety of disputed territories, and a number of areas where state power exists in theory, but not in practice (the most significant of these being Somalia and Iraq).
Etymology
The word "state" originates from the medieval state or throne upon which the head of state (usually a monarch) would sit. By process of metonymy, the word state became used to refer to both the head of state and the power entity he represented (though the former meaning has fallen out of use). A similar association of terms can today be seen in the practice of referring to government buildings as having authority, for example "The White House today released a press statement..."
Formation of the state
The birth of the state, in the broadest sense of the word, coincides with the rise of civilization. For most of the existence of the human species, people lived as nomadic hunter-gatherers. That lifestyle began to change with the invention of agriculture around the 9th millennium BC. The practice of agriculture made it necessary for human beings to build permanent settlements and spend most of their lives in close proximity to the land they cultivated. Thus, control over land became an issue for the first time. To express that control, various forms of property rights developed, with people claiming different kinds of rights over various areas of land. Disagreements over the nature and extent of such claims of ownership degenerated into violence and the first "wars".
In some parts of the world, notably Mesopotamia and the Nile valley, natural conditions favoured the concentration of land ownership in few hands. Eventually, a small group of people found themselves owning the land on which many other people worked for a living. This control over the land meant control over the people whose livelihoods depended on the land; thus, the first primitive states arose. These states were usually despotic and unstable, with the ruler(s) holding absolute power over their subjects until some other ruler(s) displaced them. Since there were no laws and no infrastructure, and since power was exercised arbitrarily, some political theorists and historians do not consider such early forms of despotic rule to have been states in the proper sense of the word; they are sometimes called proto-states.
One of the earliest known sets of laws, the Code of Hammurabi, has been dated to ca. 1700 BC. It was around this time that the concept of law - one of the foundations of the modern state - began to appear. But the rulers of the Ancient Near East had a long tradition of holding absolute power and claiming the status of god-kings (see hydraulic despotism). Thus, laws limiting the power of monarchs did not develop very far in that region.
The city-states of Ancient Greece were the first to establish states whose powers were clearly defined in laws (even if the laws themselves could usually be changed quite easily). Also, notably, the idea of democracy was born in ancient Athens (see Athenian democracy).
Many institutions of the modern state (especially in Western Europe and areas once dominated by Western-European empires) can trace their origins back to Ancient Rome, which inherited the political traditions of the Greeks and developed them further (particularly the rule of law, albeit in incomplete form). However, the Roman Republic gave way to the Roman Empire - which, in turn, created the concept of universal empire: the idea that the entire world was (or should be) under the authority of one single legitimate state.
The fall of the Roman Empire and the Great Migrations changed the character of European politics. The "barbarian" (i.e., non-Roman) kingdoms and chieftains that followed the Roman Empire were ephemeral and transitory and bore little resemblance to the modern state. Even the kingdom of Charlemagne was fleeting; without the tradition of primogeniture, it dissolved into three smaller kingdoms with the Treaty of Verdun in 843. These kingdoms were treated more as land holdings by the royalty that ruled them. Once again, the state became little more than an expression of the ruler's private ownership of a certain area of land.
The lack of a real successor to the Roman Empire in Western Europe created a power vacuum. The kingdoms of Western Europe were besieged by invaders on the frontiers - first, the Muslim invasions from the south, then a series of new migrations from the east and finally the Viking invasions from the north. At the same time, the various kingdoms (and smaller political units) were often involved in wars with each other over territory and succession.
The solution that evolved out of these affairs was decidedly opposed to the system of independent states and temporary alliances that dominate the modern international system. Religion, which had rarely been a factor in the power calculations of Ancient Greece and the Roman Empire, became the cornerstone of an extremely loose pan-European defensive bloc under the aegis of the Catholic Church. This system produced an extensive framework of institutions - sometimes called "feudalism" - that regulated internal conflict and enabled Western Europe to confront exterior threats, even while no individual secular entity was truly independent in the sense of the modern state.
This system asserted itself abroad in the form of the Crusades as the Middle Ages progressed. In 1302, Pope Boniface VIII stated that the political powers of Christendom exercised their prerogatives "at the command and sufferance of the priest." This limited the power of kings, who were obliged to pledge their ultimate allegiance to the Pope.
The Holy Roman Empire, one of the strongest medieval authorities, emerged as a competitor to Papal power under Holy Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarossa, who invaded Italy to press his claims to secular authority in the mid-12th century. The weakening of the papacy was a major theme of the Middle Ages; the Western Schism in the later 14th century, a dispute over papal succession, was exploited by secular authorities and contributed to their growing power. The emergence of large, stable land holdings by single dynasties - for instance, France and Castile - enabled them to take a more active and independent role than their traditionally subsidiary role in the earlier middle ages.
This shift to more independent, more secular actors would become a major point of controversy in Early Modern Europe. The great dynasties of Europe dramatically consolidated power by the beginning of the 16th century; additionally, the external threats to Europe had considerably lessened. The Reformation was to have a powerful impact on the structure of European politics; the dispute was not only theological, but also threatened the very fabric of the ancient political institutions of feudalism. The bloody conflicts that followed, blending the religious and political, pitted those who asserted the authority of the Pope (and in Germany, the Holy Roman Emperor) against those who asserted the authority of secular authorities and their sovereign ability to make internal policy, particularly when that policy reflected religious affiliation, Roman Catholic or Protestant.
These conflicts culminated in the Thirty Years' War of the 17th century. In 1648, the powers of Europe signed the Treaty of Westphalia which ended the religious violence for purely political motives and the Church was stripped of temporal power - even though religion continued to play a political role as the foundation of the divine right of kings. The principle of "cuius regio, eius religio" established at Westphalia and previously in the Peace of Augsburg set a precedent of noninterference in other states' internal affairs that was key in the evolution of the modern state. In Germany, the office of the Holy Roman Emperor, the most prominent symbol of lingering institutions of feudalism, was emasculated as a secular authority in favor of the constituent elements of the Holy Roman Empire. The modern state was born.
The state continued to develop as monarchs brought nobles and free towns into line and amassed spectacular resources and prestige. The growing numbers of civil servants eventually became known as the bureaucracy after the elevation of the Republican ideal.
Nearly a century and a half after the Peace of Westphalia, the state became fully modern through the French Revolution. Claiming 'national will' as its justification, Napoleon and the Grande Armee of France swept over Europe. In response, conquered and neighboring principalities discarded their old systems and adopted the new model of the nation state. The nation state has remained the dominant political entity all over the world ever since, even though the many ideologies of the 19th and 20th century have created numerous different ways of running the affairs of nation states, as well as numerous different forms of internal and external organization (see political system and economic system).
International point of view
The legal criteria for statehood are not obvious. A document that is often quoted on the matter is the Montevideo Convention from 1933, the first article of which states:
:The state as a person of international law should possess the following qualifications: (a) a permanent population; (b) a defined territory; (c) government; and (d) capacity to enter into relations with the other states.
Also, in article 3 it very clearly states that statehood is independent of recognition by other states. This is the declarative theory of statehood. While the Montevideo is a regional American convention and has no legal effect outside the Americas, some have nonetheless seen it as an accurate statement of customary international law.
On the other hand, article 3 of the convention is attacked by the advocates of the constitutive theory of statehood, where a state exists only insofar as it is recognized by other states. Which theory is correct is a controversial issue in international law. An example in practice was the collapse of central government in Somalia in the early 1990s: the Montevideo convention would imply that the state of Somalia no longer existed, and the subsequently declared republic of Somaliland (comprising part of the so-called "former" Somalia) may meet the criteria for statehood. However the self-declared republic has not achieved recognition by other states.
Article 1 of the convention is also attacked by those who claim that it fails to take into account the complicated situations of military occupation, territorial cession, and governments in exile. Richard W. Hartzell is a leading proponent of this view, and stresses that the four criteria of article 1 need to be expanded to nine. See [http://www.taiwanadvice.com/conventions/montconv.htm The Montevideo Convention and Military Occupation].
The domestic point of view
Looked at from the point of view of an individual nation, the state is a centralized organization of the whole country. Those studying this dimension emphasize the relationship between the state and its people. The English political philosopher Thomas Hobbes argued that in order to avoid a multi-sided civil war, in which life was "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short", individuals must necessarily surrender many of their "natural rights" -- including that of attacking each other -- to the "Leviathan", a unified and centralized state. In this tradition, Max Weber and Norbert Elias defined the state as an organization of people that has a monopoly on the legitimate use of force in a particular geographic area. Also in this tradition, the state differs from the "government": the latter refers to the group of people who make decisions for the state.
For Weber, this was an "ideal type", or model, or pure case of the state. Many institutions that have been called "states" do not live up to this definition. For example, in countries such as Afghanistan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the central state has so far not succeeded in monopolizing the legitimate use of force, and must compete with various local warlords. These cases are sometimes called "failed states".
One of the most basic characteristics of a modern state is regulation of property rights, investment, trade and the commodity markets (in food, fuel, etc.) typically using its own currency. Although many states (by their own decision) increasingly cede these powers to trade bloc entities, e.g. North American Free Trade Agreement, European Union, it is always controversial to do so, and opens the question of whether these blocs are in fact simply larger states. The study of political economy, which evolved into the modern study of economics, deals with these specific questions in more detail.
However, although states are often influenced in their decisions and no longer hold an absolute jurisdiction over their internal affairs, they are nonetheless much stronger in relation to international organizations or to other states than lower (substate) political subdivisions normally are. But the trend at the moment is for the power of superstate levels of governance to increase, and there is no sign of this increase abating. Many (especially those who favour constitutional theories of international law) therefore reject as outdated the idea of sovereignty, and view the state as just the chief political subdivision of the planet.
Philosophies of the state
Different political philosophies have distinct opinions concerning the state as a domestic organization. In the modern era, these philosophies emerged with the rise of capitalism, which coincided with the (re)emergence of the state as a separate and centralized sector of society. Philosophers such as Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau pondered issues concerning the ideal and actual roles of the state. Recent philosophers like John Rawls and Robert Nozick were more concerned with distributive justice and the morality of exercising political power.
There are four theories about the origin (and indirectly the justification) of the state. They are:
- Supernatural or natural authority - In this view, the state is either ordained by a higher power (such as God for the "Divine right of kings") or arises naturally out of a presumed human need for order and authority.
- Natural rights - According to this theory, human beings have certain rights that are "natural" (the implications of this word may vary), and establish states for the protection of those rights.
- Social contract - This idea holds that the state is established by the people (i.e. through the consent of the governed) in order to provide fo | | |
