Anarchy?

[wil]

I think the problem with anarchy and anarchists is the title of their movement. It gets a bad rap instantly. Although what is nature if not anarchistic. What man-made laws are being followed in the woods, in the jungle. but the ebb and flow of one animal/plant predominance, the intricacies of the social structure that occurred well...err. naturally is sublime. We call it ecosystems and have movements to struggle not to destroy such balance....yet contemplation of same for the human species is considered out of the question, not even discussable.

Yet if one were to explore and read the concepts of anarchy....like anything else the point of view is modified.

Seek first to understand....

[Ciel]

Originally Posted by Pathless

Yes. I think this is a sad commentary on the complacency of many immersed in the self-help and New Age movements. (not that I am implying that such a simplification applies to you, or anyone; it is something, however, for all of us interested in our own "consciousness raising" and "self-actualization" to be wary of. We all must guard against self-delusion and comfortable lethargy).

Move On,
Pathless

And some might say it is a delusion when another finds a path through the forest that was not there the day before, they did not know a tree had fallen and rolled creating a new span in the forest floor. So it is with the human mind function in new possibilities of creative understanding.

Can lethargy ever be called comfortable? I have never found it to be.
More like a game of chess outweighed.
But in such times good to wash and clean windows.
In such times I beat gonggggggggggg........like rolling thunder.

- c -

[Pathless]

Albert Parsons was a labor organizer and activist with the Workingmen's party in Chicago. Originally from Alabama, and having fought on the side of the Confederacy at age 13, he later denounced slavery and married Lucia Gonzales Parsons, likely an ex-slave herself.

He was executed by the state of Illinois in 1878, along with three others (not counting one prisoner who killed himself before he could be hanged). They and three others (who received life imprisonment, until they were pardoned) were implicated in the explosion of a bomb on May 4th, 1877 in Haymarket Square, after a rally.

The real reason for their deaths was their anarchism and role in the eight-hour day strikes which were rocking America. "Anarchism is on trail," proclaimed the state and a packed jury and biased judge ensured their conviction. Four anarchists were hung on November 11th, 1887 and another cheated the hangman by committing suicide. Three others has their sentences commuted to life imprisonment. Six years later, the new Governor of Illinois pardoned the Martyrs because of their obvious innocence, saying "the trail was not fair." By then, the May 1st had been adopted as international workers' day to commemorate the "Martyrdom of the Chicago Eight". May Day had been born.

--Review of "Hurrah for anarchy!" - Anarchism: Its Philosophy and Scientific Basis by Albert R. Parsons

As wil has pointed out, Anarchists get a bad rap because the name instantly conjures up associations with violence. Yet the movement grew out of labor organizing in the United States, and although violence was at times used and justified by Anarchists, it is not their primary argument or method. Unfortunately, the association is deeply ingrained.

Albert Parsons:

"anarchy is the social administration of all affairs by the people themselves; that is to say, self-government, individual liberty . . . the people . . . participate equally in governing themselves . . . the people voluntarily associate or freely withdraw from association; instead of being bossed or driven as now . . . The workshops will drop into the hands of the workers, the mines will fall to the mines, and the land and all other things will be controlled by those who posses and use them.... wealth is power . . . The chattel slave of the past -- the wage slave of today; what is the difference? The master selected under chattel slavery his own slaves. Under the wage slavery system the wage slave selects his master"

Wage labor was a new phenomenon in the late 1800s, and Parsons criticized it:

"the wage system of labour is a despotism. It is coercive and arbitrary. It compels the wage worker, under a penalty of hunger, misery and distress . . . to obey the dictation of the employer. The individuality of the wage-worker . . . is destroyed by the wage-system. . . . Political liberty is possessed by those only who also possess economic liberty. The wage-system is the economic servitude of the workers."

Anarchy at its root appears to me to be entwined with socialism and union organizing. Far from being anti-democratic, I find it to be the epitome of direct democracy. People freely organize and freely associate or dissociate with groups that have common goals of production. Ideally, groups would not just be organized for the production of goods, but also for craft, for furthering social theory, spirituality, art and music, and any number of human creative endeavors.

"Socialism . . .means that land and machinery shall be held in common by the people . . . Four hours' work would suffice to produce all that . . . is necessary for a comfortable living. Time would be left to cultivate the mind, and to further science and act . . . Some say it is un-American! Well, then, is it American to let people starve and die in ignorance? Is exploitation and robbery of the poor, American?"

Further reading:
Review of "Hurrah for anarchy!" - Anarchism: Its Philosophy and Scientific Basis by Albert R. Parsons

[Pathless]

Noam Chomsky on Anarchism (audio only):

YouTube - Anarchy: Co-operation without restraint-Noam Chomsky
YouTube - Anarchy: Co-operation without restraint-Noam Chomsky (2/5)

[Pathless]

"The world obviously cannot survive many more decades of rule by gangs of armed males calling themselves governments. The situation is insane, ridiculous and even suicidal. Whatever its varying forms of justifications, the armed State is what is threatening all of our lives at present. The State, by its inherent nature, is really incapable of reform. True socialism, peace and plenty for all, can be achieved only by people themselves, not by representatives ready and able to turn guns on all who do not comply with State directives. As to how we proceed against the pathological State structure, perhaps the best word is to outgrow rather than overthrow. This process entails, among other things, a tremendous thrust of education and communication among all peoples. The intelligence of womankind has at last been brought to bear on such oppressive male inventions as the church and the legal family; it must now be brought to reevaluate the ultimate stronghold of male domination, the State.

...

We are all socialists. We refuse to give up this pre-Marxist term which has been used as a synonym by many anarchist thinkers. Another synonym for anarchism is libertarian socialism, as opposed to Statist and authoritarian varieties. Anarchism (from the Greek anarchos--without ruler) is the affirmation of human freedom and dignity expressed in a negative, cautionary term signifying that no person should rule of dominate another person by force or threat of force. Anarchism indicates what people should not do to one another. Socialism, on the other hand, means all the groovy things people can do and build together, once they are able to combine efforts and resources on the basis of common interest, rationality and creativity."

--Siren, from "Who We Are: An Anarcho-Feminist Manifesto" found in a great little book called Quiet Rumors: an Anarcha-Feminist anthology

[Pathless]

Originally Posted by Sunny C.

Yes, we must embrace the wobble. Have you hugged your wobble today?

No, but it's early yet, and today is a new day.

**goes off to find his wobble**

Oooooh, there's one!!

[Pathless]

"Anarchism, then really stands for the liberation of the human mind from the dominion of religion; the liberation of the human body from the dominion of property; liberation from the shackles and restraint of government. Anarchism stands for a social order based on the free grouping of individuals for the purpose of producing real social wealth, an order that will guarnatee to every human being free access to the earth and full enjoyment of the necessities of life, according to individual desires, tastes, and inclinations."

--Emma Goldman

[China Cat Sunflower]

At it's core, anarchism is simply a rejection of the inherent hegemony of structural functionalism. IOW, just because things are the way they are doesn't imply an inherent efficiency, or "naturalness" within the ordering of the current structure of things. One must first put aside the notion of the inevitability of the status quo, and reject, or at the very least question, the idea that the present hierarchical order is either right or desirable.

Chris