Ruth Kinna

Annotated Bibliography on Anarchism

24 April 2019

      Introduction

      General Overviews

      Reference Works

      Bibliographies

      Anthologies

      Journals

        Peer-Reviewed Journals

        Anarchism in Non-Anarchist Academic Journals

      Anarchist Literatures

        Anarchafeminism/Anarchism and Feminism

        Anthropology

        Capitalism, the State, and Alternatives

        Class-Struggle Anarchisms

        Community and Local Activism

        Democracy and Decision Making

        Ecology, Social Ecology, and Green Anarchism

        Education and De-skooling

        Gender and Sexualities

        Postanarchism

        Postcolonial Anarchism, Indigenism, Race, and Intersectionality

        Post-left Anarchy

        Prisons, Policing, and Criminality

        Protest

        Religion

        Social Movements

        Sociology and Social Policy

        Urbanism and Utopias

        Violence

Introduction

Anarchism developed as a distinctive strain within radical and revolutionary thought in the mid-19th century. The political theory, often associated with Pierre-Joseph Proudhon (b. 1809–d. 1865), Michael Bakunin (b. 1814–d. 1876), and Peter Kropotkin (b. 1842–d. 1921), appeared in parallel with a worldwide, international movement that shaped anarchist practices and that gave expression to a critique of capitalist exploitation, state tyranny, and an idea of rebelliousness that has been influential in sociopolitical, economic, and cultural realms. Contemporary anarchists argue about both the continuities and the discontinuities between the historical and modern movements and the antecedents of European anarchism, but there is a strong consensus that anarchism cannot be reduced to a single set of principles, conceptual arrangements, or theoretical positions that might be applied in practice, analysis, or critique. Because canonical approaches to the history of anarchist ideas are typically resisted, and because the ideological boundaries of anarchism remain contested, anarchist approaches to sociological issues are distinguished by their diversity and are difficult to pin down. However, the anarchists’ traditional opposition to processes associated with state formation, and their interrogation of the complex relationships between these processes and capitalism, society, technology, and culture, are important frames for the discussion of perennial themes, notably, domination, organization, and transformation. Reflections on the rise of the modern European state and the possibility of nonstate organization have long encouraged an interest in anthropology, supporting strongly normative accounts of mutuality, cooperation, and reciprocity. In the anticapitalist mainstream, anarchism supports a rich tradition of thinking about self-regulation, self-management, and decentralized federation. The anarchists’ principled rejection of authority has fostered an interest in systems of education, law, punishment, concepts of crime, and the institutionalization of love in heterosexual relationships, generating cultural practices and literatures that are at once subversive and utopian. Anarchist utopianism is in turn an important strain in urban design, art, and ecology. The anarchist eschewal of institutional politics and advocacy of direct action have focused attention on issues of struggle, protest, and violence as well as the theorization of direct action and prefigurative change. Notwithstanding anarchist suspicions of the elitism and complicity of academic institutions, anarchism has had an influence on mainstream sociology and is equally influenced by critical strains within it. The relationship with Marxism, though often unhappy, has provided one route into sociology. Max Weber’s engagements with anarchism have provided another; and, in late-20th- and early-21st-century history, anarchists have begun to develop approaches to sociology that resonate with both traditions.

General Overviews

Since the anarchistic nature of the global protest “movement of movements” in the late 1990s and the overtly anarchist politics of anticapitalist currents within it, recent waves of social movement activism have renewed scholarly interest in anarchism, resulting in the appearance of a number of introductory texts. Shantz and Williams 2013 presents a dedicated sociological analysis that treats anarchism as a philosophy and movement. The other introductions included here are edited collections that usefully map the ground of anarchist activism and also apply anarchist social theory to an ever-expanding range of research areas. In the thirty years between the student protest movement and emergence of the global social justice campaigns, little work of this kind was available: introductions tended instead to be historical and designed to explain or defend the ideas of a movement considered to be moribund. Ehrlich 1996 (originally published in 1979) was an exception, and the revised edition remains an important statement of anarchist practices and philosophy that brings together articles by a number of leading writers, from Bob Black to Colin Ward. One of the themes probed in Ehrlich’s collection is the relationship of historical to contemporary anarchism and the degree to which the protest movements of the 1960s renewed anarchist traditions or even encouraged a metamorphosis. These themes were revived in the 1990s. Purkis and Bowen 1997 argues that anarchist practices had altered radically in the late 20th century and that this change demanded a revision in anarchist thinking. This work’s approach brought postmodernism and poststructuralist theory to bear on anarchist analysis in order to challenge what the authors saw as the class bias of anarchist theory. The trend in anarchist theory that Purkis and Bowen encouraged is now well established in a body of work referred to as postanarchism, and it is difficult to make sense of modern anarchism without engaging with postanarchist ideas about history, philosophy, and method (see Postanarchism). Rousselle and Evren 2011 provides an excellent critical guide. Although postanarchism is one of the main currents within anarchist theory, it is not the only marker of the increasing scholarly interest that has been shown in anarchism since the early 1990s. Two others are the application of anarchist critique in political and sociological analysis and as a contribution to social transformation. The collections Amster, et al. 2009, on the one hand, and Shukaitis and Graeber 2007, on the other, are exemplars. In addition, Shantz and Williams 2013 presents a pioneering analysis of anarchist and sociological traditions. Scholars continue to debate the history of anarchist ideas and probe the boundaries of anarchism as an ideology: Jun and Wahl 2010 and Kinna 2012 survey contemporary anarchism and also address the issues of continuity and discontinuity that the explosion of late-20th-century research in anarchism has provoked. Franks, et al. 2018 develops a novel framing of anarchism as an ideology, using Michael Freeden’s conceptual-morphological approach. Levy and Adams 2018 combines historical and conceptual approaches to explore the distinctiveness of anarchism.

Reference Works

There are a number of anarchist readers and reference books available in print, but the most accessible, comprehensive sources are online. Anarchism has a strong web presence, and sites usefully hold valuable information about infoshops, discussion forums, archives, organizing, and publishing. Most have blogrolls and hyperlinks to other anarchist sites: new users learn easily how to navigate anarchist networks. Sites typically have information about the host group, which helps users situate the selection of sources in the spectrum of anarchist politics. The sites listed here include some of the best-known sources for reference materials and excellent coverage of anarchist political theory, politics, and movements. The Anarchist Library specializes in contemporary anarchist writing, though it also holds historical texts: the collection is constructed by free, open subscription, and it is fast becoming the most significant repository for anarchist scholarship. The collection is mainly, but not exclusively, English language. The Research on Anarchism Forum offers access to research in French, Spanish, and English, with links to and information about film, music, and literature. The Kate Sharpley Library collects and preserves anarchist materials and produces publications based on original research. This site is an invaluable source of information for researchers working on anarchist movements. The Libertarian Labyrinth has a rich collection of historical materials, commentaries, articles, and original translations of work by Proudhon and Bakunin. Sparrows’ Nest is a growing digital archive collecting materials from the anarchist communist movement. The Spunk Library is a static site but serves as a contemporary movement archive for the period 1992–2000. The Struggle Site is particularly useful for those interested in the history of anarchist and anticapitalist actions.

Bibliographies

There are a significant number of bibliographies available online. Support for those new to anarchism can also be obtained through a number of academic anarchist groups, notably, the Anarchist Studies Network (ASN) and the North American Anarchist Studies Network (NAASN). Requests for help are readily met by members, and a number of subject-specific reading lists have been created and are available on the ASN site. For a consolidated bibliography, including a guide to work in French, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Finish, German, Chinese, Russian, and Italian, see Kinna 2012 (cited under General Overviews). The Anarchy Archives is an excellent starting point for online historical research. The site is easy to navigate, and the bibliographies are linked to particular writers, movements, and events. Nursey-Bray 1992 is still an invaluable guide, particularly for those new to anarchism. An Anarchist FAQ: Bibliography and Anarchism: The Unfinished Revolution; Bibliography are organized alphabetically, excellent for browsing and for finding publishing details of books and pamphlets. The latter includes links to some online material and contains Robert Goehlert’s “Anarchism: A Bibliography of Articles, 1900–1975,” a guide to academic scholarship on anarchism. The Bibliothèque Libertaire lists works by author and theme and has links to online French-language texts.

Anthologies

Readers looking for insight into anarchist history and practices have a choice of three important documentary collections. Guérin 2005 provides a guide to the development of the European libertarian movement. Graham 2005–2013 outlines a broader history of anarchist ideas extending beyond Europe. Graham’s volumes examine the relationship between self-identifying anarchists and other antiauthoritarians and draw from a range of anarchist currents: anarcho-communists and anarchafeminists, class-struggle anarchists, and art activists. Antliff 2004 is a unique introduction to art activism and grassroots organizing. The materials this work brings together have been gathered from the Canadian movement, but the scope of the activism and the creative, playful approaches are indicative of wider trends.

Journals

Anarchism is well served by scholarly journals, though a greater number of exchanges are conducted through a range of insightful and provocative magazines and periodicals produced in activist communities. Nursey-Bray 1992 (cited under Bibliographies) and Kinna 2012 (cited under General Overviews) both contain extensive lists of contemporary and historical activist journals.

Peer-Reviewed Journals

There are a number of active and historic peer-review journals. Anarchist Developments in Cultural Studies encourages work that leans toward cultural studies and cuts across disciplinary boundaries. Affinities and Ephemera similarly encourage theoretical innovation and work that is politically engaged. Both publications are scholarly but seek to challenge academic conventions. Ephemera is not explicitly anarchist but presents innovative work in organizational studies and is open to anarchist approaches; Affinities stresses anticapitalist activism and alternative community and group action. Anarchist Studies and Perspectives on Anarchist Theory provide an outlet for multidisciplinary scholarship on socialist anarchism; the latter principally publishes online and is explicitly committed to social theory relevant to anticapitalist activism. Theory in Action also supports activist scholarship and has a particular interest in issues of social justice. Réfractions is a French-language journal, offering cutting-edge research that is usually themed.

Anarchism in Non-Anarchist Academic Journals

A number of nonanarchist journals have published a substantial body of anarchist research, notably, the Journal of Political Ideologies, International Review of Social History, and Antipode. A selection of special issues on anarchism is provided here. Each has a particular disciplinary focus. Antipode is a journal for radical geographers, and this special issue (Ness 2012) explores anarchist theory and practice using concepts of spatiality and territoriality familiar in the field. The collection includes articles on contemporary activism, indigenism, and pedagogy. Contemporary Chinese Thought publishes translations of articles from Chinese sources, principally scholarly journals, and the special issue Rapp and Youd 2015 explores the work of the writer and political activist Ba Jin (Li Yaotang, b. 1904–d. 2005). The Contemporary Justice Review (Sullivan 2003) is an interdisciplinary journal that looks at issues of restorative justice, and it has an activist learning. This issue includes essays written from anarchist perspectives. Antliff 2014, a special issue of the Journal of Modern Periodical Studies, is devoted to the study of periodicals, modernist or otherwise, between 1880 and 1950. The Journal of Political Ideologies offers scholarly work in the field of ideologies and examines the methodological issues raised by the study of ideology and this special issue (Newman 2011) explores themes of utopianism and servitude. The Journal for the Study of Radicalism (Larabee and Versluis 2010) is a scholarly journal devoted to the discussion of radical social movements and their histories. The 2010 and 2011 special issues were stimulated by the attention anarchism attracted as a result of the global justice movement. The 2016 issue has a historical focus. Working USA (Special Issue: The Rebirth of Labor’s Militant Legacy: Anarchism, Syndicalism, and Class Struggle) also has a movement focus but encourages the analysis of labor movements through cross-disciplinary social science methods. Millennium is a journal that publishes work in international relations, and this issue (Prichard 2010) includes seven papers that discuss issues of globalization and protest as well as anarchist-informed theoretical approaches to international anarchy. SubStance is a journal of literature and culture, though the special issue on anarchism (Hutchens 2007) studies postanarchist politics.

Anarchist Literatures

When anarchism developed as a distinctive and recognizable current within revolutionary and radical movements in the late 19th century, leading figures within them made strenuous efforts to explain and propagate anarchist ideas. These ideas remain influential, and packaged, as “classical theory,” they continue to provide a springboard for contemporary anarchist theory (see Postanarchism). However, the political, cultural, and historical parameters of anarchist ideas are contested, and anarchists are resistant to the canonization of ideas and to the scholarly reification that sometimes results from sustained academic scrutiny. For this reason, there is no consensus about core ideas and no single body of work to which anarchists refer as a touchstone to elaborate their ideas. The following sections have been chosen to provide an indicative guide to anarchist debates, particularly those in which anarchist interests touch on sociological themes, and to outline some of the important theoretical and political strains within the contemporary anarchist movement. The commentaries indicate when crosscurrents within the anarchist movement have affected the framing of debates. The list does not include major works in anarchist history or in political theory, for example; for this and other literatures, see Bibliographies.

Anarchafeminism/Anarchism and Feminism

Anarchism has attracted a number of feminist voices: Louise Michel (b. 1830–d. 1905), Emma Goldman (b. 1869–d. 1940), Voltairine de Cleyre (b. 1866–d. 1912), and Lucy Parsons (b. 1853–d. 1942) are the best known, but there were important non-European voices, too. Bowen Raddeker 1997 documents the activism of Japanese anarchists, and Liu, et al. 2013 is an excellent introduction to early-20th-century Chinese feminism. The historical record of anarchist feminism is contested. Gemie 1996 and Cleminson 1998 investigate the issues in the European context, the deeply antifeminist bias of leading anarchist writers, notably, Pierre-Joseph Proudhon (b 1809–d. 1865) and the sidelining of topics of particular interest to women, in mainstream anarchist campaigning. A number of writers have observed that 19th- and early-20th-century American anarchist feminists were often attracted to individualist ideas. Goldman, for example, was sympathetic to Friedrich Nietzsche, and de Cleyre mapped American anarchism to concepts of self-reliance familiar to homestead, frontier thinking. Although many feminists such as Goldman identified as communists (de Cleyre refused labels), the division of anarchists into individualist and communist schools presents significant challenges for the interpretation of synthetic philosophies. The libertarian influences acting on anarchist feminisms, sometimes sidelined in anarcho-communist histories, are discussed in Brown 1993 and McElroy 2001. McElroy’s research also examines the efforts that anarchist feminists made to bring about social transformations by changing their own behaviors. The work of Judy Greenway, offered on her website (Judy Greenway), explores similar themes and considers some of the utopian experiments with which anarchist feminists were involved. She also brings a contemporary interest in gender politics and anarchist methodology to the research (see also Gender and Sexualities). Anarchafeminism emerged as a powerful current in anarchism in the late 20th century. The roots of the contemporary movement are often said to lie in so-called second-wave feminism. Dark Star Collective 2012, which first appeared in the 1970s, is an excellent starting point for those unfamiliar with anarchafeminism and usefully distinguishes this current of anarchism from other nonanarchist socialist forms. James 2010 is another useful guide for the analysis of sex, race, and class. Hemmings 2018, a study of Emma Goldman, is a challenging and novel contemporary feminist analysis of anarchism. Further information on anarchafeminism can be found through the Anarcha Library. See also Gender and Sexualities.

Anthropology

The desire to challenge the claim that the state is the most desirable, inevitable, or sophisticated form of human organization, or a combination of these, underpins anarchist interests in prestate and nonstate societies. This interest extends back to the 19th century, notably, to Kropotkin 2006 (originally published in 1902), which drew on Victorian anthropological research and is sometimes identified as the pioneering work in the field. Barclay 1990 is a classic modern statement of anarchist anthropology that examines the practices of leaderless communities to support a critical analysis of state theory. Scott 2009 has provided a fresh, anarchist-friendly anthropology of resistance to state processes. Morris 2005 offers a good, concise guide to historical and modern literatures, setting Kropotkin’s work in context and highlighting the ways in which anarchism has resonated with academic anthropologists. Falleiros 2018 examines the relationship between European anarchist thought (notably, Proudhon’s ideas), classical anthropology, and indigenous thinking. In some anticivilization and ecoanarchist literatures (see also Ecology, Social Ecology, and Green Anarchism), anthropology is employed in the critique of civilization and, especially, work practices. Whereas Kropotkin drew on anthropology to illustrate his concept of mutual aid and cooperation, Black 1992 looks at a plethora of anthropological studies to support a critique of work and advocate its abandonment for leisure. As well as exploiting anthropological findings, anarchists have also studied anthropological methods and, more recently, a growing number of radical theorists have borrowed the ethnographic techniques widely adopted by cultural anthropologists to engage with contemporary protest cultures. Graeber 2004 promoted this approach as a way of understanding anarchism from the inside, avoiding both the imposition of analytical frameworks that distort activist ideas and the objectification of anarchism as a discrete field of study. The influence of Graeber’s ethnography is detectable in discussions of Occupy, with which Graeber is also strongly associated. The essays collected in Juris and Razsa 2012 all apply anthropological insights and approaches creatively to deal with anarchist actions.

Capitalism, the State, and Alternatives

The critique of capitalism and the state and the power relationships that capitalist states foster is central to anarchist thinking. Kropotkin and Rudolf Rocker (b. 1873–d. 1958) provide two classic statements of state formation: Kropotkin 1997 and Rocker 1998. Both contest liberal political theory, dismiss notions of contract and consent, and argue that the origin of the state rests on force. For Kropotkin, the state claims sovereignty at the individual’s expense, and the coercive power of religious, military, and political elites combines to enforce a particular set of government arrangements and economic power relations that undermine cooperation and popular, organic organizational arrangements, institutionalizing exploitation in the process. Rocker relates a similar story but introduces a cultural dynamic to the analysis of state power, discussing issues of nationalism and the tendency of state power to extend to all areas of moral and social life. Goodman 2012 develops a critique of consumerism; suburban development; the ghettoization of poor, usually black, communities; and the rule of “science” in technocracy. The sociological trends pointed to a loss of community and the creation of what the author calls “the empty society.” Fredy Perlman’s poetic sociology of the state brings yet another dimension to the account of state repression by charting the rise of the “megamachine,” a term borrowed from Lewis Mumford (b. 1895–d. 1990) (see Ecology, Social Ecology, and Green Anarchism, Urbanism and Utopias). In this critique, state expansion is associated with economic exploitation, but the strongly militaristic aspects of state development are linked to the development of technologies and processes of domestication predicated on the destructive domination of the natural world. Perlman 1983, highly influential in ecological and anticivilization anarchist circles, is both a functional analysis of exploitation and an organization critique of domination in all its forms. This work also chimed with observed changes in capitalist production and the decline of industrial capitalism between the late 19th and 20th centuries. Bonnano 1998 outlines this shift, offering a strategic anarchist response based on riotous rebellion. Bonnano has produced a rich and influential body of work, and in light of the emergence of the global justice movement, this essay appears prescient. Following the banking crisis of the first decade of the 21st century, anarchists have begun to examine the socioeconomic practices supporting capitalist exchanges. Graeber 2011 highlights the coerciveness of monetary economies and the social and cultural impact of global capitalism. Noam Chomsky gives the best-known anarchist/libertarian left critique of the international state system. His work, some of which is available on his website (Chomsky.info), documents a postwar history of state terrorism and, in particular, of US state and corporate power. Anarchists have explored a number of alternatives to capitalism. Some of these are available on the Z Communications site. Shannon, et al. 2012 includes a number of proposals and sketches, alongside critiques of global exploitation, and Glasberg, et al. 2018 advances a complex anarchist theoretical model of the state to consider strategic initiatives.

Class-Struggle Anarchisms

Class-struggle anarchism describes a current in the international movement, advanced by two major federations of anarchists. The parameters of class-struggle anarchism have come into sharp definition as arguments about the historical discontinuity of contemporary anarchism with 19th-century traditions (see Introduction) have evolved. Christie and Meltzer 1970 is a classic early statement of the position. Class-struggle anarchists disagree about the overlap between their own positions and contemporary currents of anarchism but agree that anarcho-communism and anarcho-syndicalism occupied the main ground of historical anarchism and that these movements were principally concerned with addressing issues of worker exploitation, economic injustice, the organization of labor, and the process of production. There is a degree of common ground between class-struggle anarchism and nonanarchist socialism, including forms of Marxist socialism, and these are discussed by the contributors to Prichard, et al. 2017, but as Franks 2006 argues, class-struggle anarchists typically reject Karl Marx’s theory of history and, uniformly, the adoption of Leninist vanguard strategies. There are two international federations of class-struggle anarchism. The International of Anarchist Federations (IFA), which traces its roots to the 19th-century Anarchist International and the International Workers Association/Asociación internacional de los trabajadores (IWA-AIT), an organization of syndicalist and libertarian socialist groups. Global communication between class-struggle groups and individuals is also facilitated by the Anarkismo.net site. Class-struggle anarchists resist the suggestion that the focus on class exploitation precludes consideration of nonclass cleavages, such as gender or forms of oppression extending from colonialism and racism. Franks’s examination of British class-struggle anarchism outlines the politics of the constituent groups and offers a rigorous analysis of underlying theoretical principles. Schmidt and van der Walt 2009 recovers a history of class-struggle activism to configure anarchism ideologically as a class-struggle movement, challenging histories of ideas that focus on key writers or individuals. Organization is a central theme in class-struggle anarchism, and Makhno 1996 is seminal to these debates. Makhno’s legacy, platformism, remains a live tradition in anarchist activism, and the South African organization Zabalaza is a leading exponent.

Community and Local Activism

Community activism is important to anarchists because it supports grassroots, bottom-up initiatives, facilitates direct action outside the formal power structures, and provides a locus for the development of caring social relationships and networks that are considered central to the construction of alternative, anarchist ways of living. The examinations by Colin Ward (b. 1924–d. 2012) of the possibilities of community resistance, social networking, and local activism have inspired generations of activists. Kropotkin 2006 (cited under Anthropology) was an important influence on Ward 1982: the last two chapters of this book highlight the vitality of nonstate organizations and cooperative ventures from which anarchists still take inspiration when advancing alternatives to statist and for-profit systems. The book also gives a classic account of the ethics of community activism. Van Duyn 1972 and Baldelli 2010 present two 20th-century restatements, the former drawing explicitly on Kropotkin’s work. For many activists, issues of ethical practice are intimately connected with the creation of alternative, or autonomous, spaces, or what Hakim Bey calls temporary autonomous zones (TAZs) (Bey 1991). Working outside formal structures, anarchists are involved in Anarchist Black Cross, Copwatch (see Prisons, Policing, and Criminality), and Food Not Bombs as well as a range cooperatives, independent media organizations, and cultural activities (music, publishing, education). In the context of labor organizing, local activism is sometimes identified as one prong of a two-pronged strategy. Members of the UK Solidarity Federation (Introduction to SolFed) are members not only of the industrial network, but also, primarily, of local groups. Locals organize actions within workplaces and communities in support of members and in solidarity with groups fighting against sexism, racism, homophobia, and other forms of domination. One of the distinctive features of anarchist engagement in community initiatives is the practices that anarchists adopt. These are described as direct and prefigurative, indicating, as Milstein 2010 details, that the actions anarchists engage in are consistent with the changes they seek to realize. Within or without TAZs, the process of decision making is an important aspect of community activism and prefigurative change. Ackelsberg 2010 examines how networks of local grassroots feminist movements have challenged liberal democratic theory and contributed to the reconstruction and reshaping of decision making (see also Democracy and Decision Making). Democratic processes and consensus decision making within collectives, firmly established in the early 21st century, as part of anarchist practice are outlined in Common Wheel Collective 2002, an online resource, and Seeds for Change: Consensus Decision Making.

Democracy and Decision Making

One of the distinctive features of anarchist politics is the rejection of parliamentary, electoral politics and the principle of representation. Four critiques, CrimethInc. Ex-Workers Collective 2016, Wilson 2002, Landauer 1896, and Black 2011, are included to illustrate the historical continuity of the critique and the different perspectives that anarchists have brought to the analysis of liberal democratic models. As Clark and Gemie 2003 argues, anarchist approaches to democracy typically prioritize society, rather than the state, as the locus for decision making and root analysis in lived practice, rather than abstract models of citizenship. Bookchin 2007, one of the most influential models of pro-democracy communalism, synthesizes anarchism with classical democratic theory to rework decentralized federalism in an age of environmental degradation and class decomposition. Anarchists also discuss democracy and decision making in the context of protest and activism. In Martin 1993 and Writings on Demarchy and Democracy, questions of decision making are tackled in a discussion of social defense, nonviolence, and social change. In addition, Martin presents a critique of representative democracy and electoral systems and outlines an alternative process, demarchy. Graeber 2013 has also outlined an alternative consensual process of decision making by drawing on the experience of the New York Occupy movement. Szolucha 2017 uses the author’s involvement in Occupy in Ireland and San Francisco to examine democracy in social movements. Lundström 2018 presents a conflict in Stockholm to reflect on the relationship between democracy and anarchy. As well as being interested in the processes of decision making, anarchists have reflected on the organizational context best suited to anarchist principles: decentralized federalism. Proudhon 1989 is a classic. See also Community and Local Activism and Protest.

Ecology, Social Ecology, and Green Anarchism

There are multiple currents within the anarchist ecological movement, and no single philosophy. Murray Bookchin (b. 1921–d. 2006) is often identified as a pioneer of ecoanarchism, and in Our Synthetic Environment (New York: Knopf), published under the pseudonym Lewis Herber, in 1962, he outlined the principles of social ecology. To Bookchin’s disappointment the book was eclipsed by Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring, published that same year (Boston: Houghton Mifflin), and was not widely read. Bookchin subsequently explored social ecology in several other books: Bookchin 2004 is one of his most accessible statements and is regarded as pioneering. Bookchin’s is not the only account, however. Clark 1997 draws on different philosophical influences, notably, Daoism (see Religious Anarchisms) and, within anarchism, the work of the 19th-century geographer Élisée Reclus (b. 1830–d. 1905). Social ecologists have been accused by deep ecologists and biocentrists of wrongly attaching priority to social transformation in tackling environmental problems. An important debate between Bookchin and Dave Foreman, the cofounder of the anarchistic Earth First!, divided anarchist opinion, exposing the gaps between social and deep ecology. The cleavages are set out in Bookchin 1997. Social ecology has also been challenged by antitechnology/anticivilization and primitivist anarchists (see Anthropology). Ted Kaczynski’s outline of antitechnologist ideas attracted public interest largely because of the violence of his activism. Also known as the Unabomber, Kaczynski published his manifesto, Kaczynski 1995, as part of his ecological campaign (see Violence). John Zerzan is one of the best known writer-activists to promote antitechnologist anarchist ideas, and Zerzan 2002 is one of several collections of essays in which he sets out the principles of his primitivist anarchism. Ecoanarchism is linked with a variety of activist practices, such as veganism, animal liberation, anti-road-building, cycling, the protection of wilderness, and climate camps. The final issue of Do or Die (see Special Issue: Voices from the Ecological Resistance) is an excellent guide to the range of ecoanarchist concerns and the inventiveness of militancy. Dysophia’s Special Issue: Green Anarchism; Tools for Everyday Life details the ways in which green anarchism informs an approach to anarchist activism and, in particular, questions of ethical practice (see Community and Local Activism). Eco- and green anarchists typically regard Kropotkin as an anthropocentric thinker and technologist. Yet, his proposals for the integration of agriculture and industry in decentralized communes, in addition to his elaboration of the principle of mutual aid, remain influential. The ideas contained in Kropotkin 1912 were, moreover, taken up by subsequent generation of thinkers, notably, Mumford, who provided a bridge between 19th- and 21-century anarchist traditions (see Capitalism, the State, and Alternatives and Urbanism and Utopias). Ryley 2013 presents an important analysis of “individualist” anarchist environmental history and shows why it is still relevant in contemporary politics.

Education and De-skooling

Anarchism’s philosophical defense of independent judgment and the rejection of authority as command helps explain both the profound interest in pedagogy and schooling and the existence of a history of educational writing and experimental practice in anarchist activism. A number of leading anarchists were educationalists: Louise Michel, Voltairine de Cleyre, and Francisco Ferrer. Anarchist interest is manifest in three areas: the critique of institutional learning, proposals for alternative practices and experiments in free schooling (sometimes spelled “skooling”), and the analysis of the role of education in anarchist theory. Goodman 1964 sets out some of the concerns about orthodox educational methods and, in particular, the institutionalization of learning in schools. Herbert Read and Colin Ward advanced similar critiques, contrasting education with schooling (for Herbert Read, see Read 1958). Ward’s ideas are examined in Burke and Jones 2014. The concerns of Read and Ward dovetailed with a critique that extends back to the 19th century and was profoundly influenced by the work of Francisco Ferrer (b. 1859–d. 1909). Resistance to and complicity in institutionalized educational practices and repression remains a live topic in contemporary anarchism, and the emergence of a small but significant body of academics in university posts has encouraged reflection on the role and scope of activism in academia. Nocella, et al. 2010 and Nocella and Jurgensmeyer 2017 bring together some leading voices to discuss the issue and examines the effects of the terror attacks of 11 September 2001 on academic freedom (see also Shukaitis and Graeber 2007, cited under General Overviews). Ferrer 1913, an open challenge to the authority of the Spanish church and state, led to Ferrer’s trial by military tribunal and execution in 1909. Nevertheless, his work provided a model that was adopted in Europe and America. Avrich 2006 gives a detailed historical account of free-school experiments in the United States between 1901 and 1960 and an evaluation based on the participants’ reflections of the experiences. Haworth 2012 considers the history of anarchist engagements in education and looks at alternative educational practices and learning spaces and the role these play in collective actions. Suissa 2010 debunks the idea that anarchy is rooted in a naive concept of human nature and offers an analysis that not only probes the nature of anarchist education in the context of the philosophical arguments anarchists have presented on issues of freedom, authority, and justice, but also shows the distinctiveness of anarchist free-school traditions.

Gender and Sexualities

Anarchist explorations of sexuality have evolved, in part, through analysis of internal and external constraint and, in part, in connection with the exploration of anarchist ethics (see Community and Local Activism). Walter 2009 examines sexual practice as self-liberation and social subversion through the work of the Marquis de Sade. Walter’s claim that anarchists have as much reason to treat Sade as a worthy, though flawed, precursor of anarchism, like William Godwin, opens up the history of anarchist thought to review and also questions the wisdom of reading anarchist ideas within a narrowly philosophical analytical framework. The thorny question of limits to freedom that Walter considers in Sade were discussed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries by the anarchist John Henry Mackay, specifically with reference to homosexuality and pederasty. Mackay popularized the ideas of Max Stirner (b. 1806–d. 1856) to defend what Mackay, publishing under the pseudonym Sagitta, called man–boy love. Mackay 2002, set in interwar Berlin, is a remarkable analysis of a relationship and the shifting power dynamics between the two protagonists. Kennedy 1983, a study of Mackay’s life, shows how his sexuality shaped his politics and lent it a particular, individualistic coloring. Daniel Guérin (b. 1904–d. 1988) also acknowledged the influence that Stirner’s thinking exercised on his thinking about anarchism and sexuality, and homosexuality in particular. In challenging the puritanical, often aggressively heterosexual norms of the predominantly male libertarian movement in Guérin 1969, Guérin incorporated insights from the work of Wilhelm Reich and Alfred Kinsey into his anarchism and contended that sexual freedom was as important to revolutionary transformation as the struggle for social justice. As Kissack 2008 asserted, some anarchists have long championed the freedom of individuals to define their sexuality without prohibition, but as Guérin discovered, resistance to personal liberation and, specifically experiments in same-sex relationships, has come from within the anarchist movement as well as from outside it. Kissack’s work, a recovery of the history of anarchist sexual politics and the battles that sexuality provoked, addresses issues that contemporary anarchists continue to wrestle with (see also Postcolonial Anarchism, Indigenism, Race, and Intersectionality). Broader ethical questions about hierarchy, domination, and sexual practices as well as anarchist feminist perspectives on sexuality are explored both in the Dysophia 2010 collection Special Issue: Anarchism and Polyamory and in the essays in Heckert 2010. The latter collection also looks at issues of activism and militancy. Heckert and Cleminson 2011 provides another excellent overview of contemporary anarchist activism and debate on gender and sexual politics (see also Anarchafeminism/Anarchism and Feminism).

Postanarchism

Postanarchism is a theoretical current within anarchism associated with a number of authors who have different philosophical perspectives but who have advanced a common critique of historical anarchist traditions. The anarchism that postanarchists move beyond is labeled “classical anarchism,” and it describes the political theory of the canonical thinkers in the historical movement: Proudhon, Bakunin, and Kropotkin. Postanarchists endorse the politics of classical anarchism, particularly the critique of revolutionary elitism, but they argue that theoretical foundations of classical thought limit the scope, impeding the development of a truly libertarian, emancipatory project. At the heart of Newman’s postanarchist critique is the claim that classical anarchists mistakenly identified power exclusively with the state and believed, as a result, that it might be abolished in a transformative moment of revolution, providing an escape from exploitation and oppression and leading to harmonious anarchy. His critique has softened over time and his recent statement (see Newman 2016) is more focused on situating postanarchism in the longer history of ideas than in substantiating the postanarchist rupture of historical anarchist traditions. For this reason, classical anarchism is sometimes associated with a form of blueprint utopianism (see Urbanism and Utopias), a conception of history that is teleological and an idea of freedom that naively draws on an essentialist understanding of human nature. The emergence of postanarchism has been linked to the rise of the campaigns for social justice and sometimes represented as a theoretical expression of the fluid horizontalism of the protest movements (see Social Movements). This claim has encouraged historicism, in the sense that the 19th-century movement tends to be identified with a narrow form of class-struggle politics (see Class-Struggle Anarchisms). However, postanarchists reject the claim that they have treated postanarchism itself as the result of historical shifts. Indeed, the critique of classical epistemology has highlighted the existence of postanarchist currents within the 19th-century movement. Stirner and Gustav Landauer (b. 1870–d. 1919) are frequently celebrated, in the early 21st century, as forerunners of postanarchist thinking. May 1994 predates the emergence of postanarchism, but this study of poststructuralism and its affinity with anarchism laid the foundation for the epistemological critique developed in Newman 2010 and Call 2002. Some studies challenge the assumptions of postanarchist theory, the originality of its insights, and the construction of the classical anarchist tradition, such as Franks 2007. Yet, postanarchist approaches in political theory chime with a number of activist movements, though not, typically, those that identify with class-struggle anarchisms. For an overview of the debates, see Rousselle and Evren 2011 (cited under General Overviews).

Postcolonial Anarchism, Indigenism, Race, and Intersectionality

Critical reflection on anarchist history, on the establishment of a canon within the history of ideas, together with the emergence of indigenous resistance movements, notably, the Zapatistas, as well as groups in North America and the Antipodes, has stimulated discussion of postcolonial anarchism. As Roger White argues in Post Colonial Anarchism, postcolonial anarchism has a number of dimensions, touching on issues of culture, nationalism, and race; concepts of universalism and internationalism; and understandings of what it means to be antiauthoritarian (see also Aguilar 2004). His analysis suggests that anarchism, as an ideological construct with roots in European history, adopted perspectives that are deeply problematic and colonial. The practical implications of colonial thinking and the tension between Eurocentric anarchisms and indigenous movements are discussed in Aragorn! 2005. As Motta 2012 shows, these tensions are not resolved by the adoption of critical postanarchist or post-left anarchy approaches. What is required, instead, is a negotiation of traditions, and this essay sets out a theoretical framework for the task. The accounts of history and political theory on which postcolonial anarchism has drawn are contested, and Hirsch and van der Walt 2010 presents a picture of non-Western European anarchist syndicalist activisms to highlight anarchism’s anticolonial and anti-imperialist dimensions. Mbah and Igariwey 1997 considers the anarchistic quality of African communalism, and Ramnath 2011 looks at the overlaps between anarchism and Indian anti-colonialism. The relevance of anarchism to black liberation struggles and the possibility of building an anticapitalist mass movement based on principles of mutual aid and solidarity, notwithstanding the failures of predominantly white anarchist movements to attract nonwhite engagement, are outlined in Ervin 1994. Ervin adopts a class-struggle approach to anarchism (see also Class-Struggle Anarchisms). Intersectional approaches acknowledge the intractability of the tensions between different activist perspectives and forms of domination, notably, race, gender, and class (see also Gender and Sexualities), while still working on the development of shared strategies of resistance. Shannon and Rogue 2009 explores the role that anarchist feminism has played in the articulation of intersectional struggle. The essays offered on the Colours of Resistance Archive deal with intersectionalism in the context of antiracism, as well as gender activism, in order to reflect on anarchist practice, movement building, and the development of effective resistance strategies.

Post-left Anarchy

Post-left anarchy is a current that emerged as a critique of the objectification of anarchism as an ideology and of the class-biased leftism of dominant groups within the anarchist movement. Post-left anarchists are attracted to ideas of self-emancipation, individual autonomy, and creative self-expression and are defiantly resistant to norms and abstract ideas, anarchist or otherwise. The construction of social relationships and the ability to resist the regulatory pressures of commercial culture (in marking time, organizing work, and patterning consumption) are some of the central concerns of post-left anarchy explored by Bob Black. Refusing to conform to the values, goals, and principles of others, Black has been attracted to the egoism of Stirner (see Black 1986). In this, though little else, post-left anarchy dovetails with some forms of postanarchism (see Postanarchism). Themes of individual rebellion are also central to Hakim Bey and Ontological Anarchy. Bey’s communiqués talk about revolution and insurrection, dreaming, chaos, and surrealism and highlight the loveless, dull, deadening reality of middle-class living and consumerism. His enduring contribution to anarchism is the idea of the temporary autonomous zone (TAZ) (see Community and Local Activism). Post-left anarchist thinking is sometimes also associated with playful subversion, influenced by situationism, and with the celebration of the wild and wilderness; however, leading voices within this current, particularly that expressed in Landstreicher 2009, are nonprimitivist anticivilizationists (see also Ecology, Social Ecology, and Green Anarchism, Anthropology), and the provocative, militant and anticorporate activism of CrimethInc. Ex-Workers Collective (CWC) has a distinctly urban tone.

Prisons, Policing, and Criminality

As Ferrell 1998 argues, anarchist criminology been shaped by a strong sense of the value of disobedience and resistance and a general belief that the enforcement of compliance to laws is not only unjust, to the extent that law is designed to uphold and protect the interests of particular elites, but also destructive of the social ties that forge community (see also Community and Local Activism). Indeed, in a seminal work, originally published in 1950, Comfort 1970 used the anarchist conviction that anarchy is order and that state rule is organized chaos as a springboard for illuminating the criminality of government. The same approach is adopted in the film The Corporation (DVD, 2005; Zeitgeist) to reveal the psychopathic tendencies of corporations, and it informs anarchist responses to the actions of law enforcement to control not only protests, which Fernandez 2008 and Shantz 2012 discuss (see also Protest), but also the everyday policing of local communities. For this reason, anarchists are actively involved in Copwatch, a network established to document and challenge police misconduct (see also Postcolonial Anarchism, Indigenism, Race, and Intersectionality). Williams 2015 discusses the violence of policing and presents a history. While anarchists have helped pioneer critical approaches to criminology, they have also produced a considerable literature about the operation of prison systems, typically informed by personal experience. Berkman 1912 is a well-known account, celebrated both because Berkman reflected on the dehumanizing effects of incarceration and his own activism and because he documented his reflections on his sexuality (see also Gender and Sexualities). The creation of the Anarchist Black Cross, an active prisoner support network, is a practical outcome of the intimate experience of imprisonment and the politicization of criminality (see also Community and Local Activism). The outlawing of anarchism, resulting from a tradition of actual illegal practice and from the principled disobedience that the rejection of authority suggests, has helped forge a cultural identity between anarchists and groups that mainstream society stereotypes as outcasts: pirates, tramps, gypsies, hobos, and a range of folklore rebels, for example, the Molly Maguires and Ned Kelly. Foner 1966, a study of the labor organizer and songwriter Joe Hill, provides insight into this aspect of anarchist criminality and the lethal persecution associated with it.

Protest

Anarchism boasts a rich protest literature, and most of it has emerged from active involvement in protest movements. One strain of this material deals with the forms that anarchist protest might take. Walter 2011, a discussion of anarchist participation in post–World War II antinuclear movements, examines the idea of revolution, principles of protest, and relationship between protest and revolutionary change. Having emerged from the same movement, Carter 1973 outlines the principles of direct action as it was practiced within the peace, unilateralist and New Left movements, the traditions of protest from which these movements drew, and the place of direct action in democracy (see also Democracy and Decision Making). Franks 2003 considers the prefigurative ethics that inform anarchist engagement (see also Community and Local Activism). Another strain of the literature considers the diversity of anarchist tactics. In the global justice campaigns sparked by the 1999 Seattle World Trade Organization (WTO) protest, the black bloc, discussed in ACME Collective 1999, attracted considerable attention from the mainstream media. Yet, as Grindon 2004 argues, carnival was an equally prominent feature of anarchist actions, inspired both by situationism and by Hakim Bey’s poetic terrorism (see also Post-left Anarchy). Still another strain of the material documents the experience of protest and anarchist engagement in mass actions (see also Democracy and Decision Making). Aragorn! 2012, Campagna and Campiglio 2012, Taylor and Gessen 2011, and the documentaries produced in Brandon Jourdan have all emerged from early-21st-century events, specifically the global banking crisis and Occupy and the antiausterity and prodemocracy campaigns with which Occupy is associated.

Religion

There are pronounced anticlerical and atheistic currents in anarchism. Bakunin’s reversal of Voltaire’s dictum, if God were necessary, it would be necessary to abolish him, captures this mood. The strictly rationalist curriculum developed by Ferrer is another tangible reflection of the struggle that anarchists have entered into with church authorities (see Education and De-skooling). Yet, it is precisely the irrationalism and utopianism of religious thinking that appeals to contemporary writers such as Peter Lamborn Wilson (also known as Hakim Bey; see Post-left Anarchy). Wilson 1996 is a history of religious practices designed to think about intentional dreaming. In the history of anarchist ideas, Landauer integrated mystical and religious ideas into his anarchism. His conception of soul and spirit, outlined in Landauer 1978, were central to his critique of Marxism and to his understanding of individual rebellion and relational change, and they also shaped his rejection of industrial capitalism (see also Urbanism and Utopias). As Christoyannopoulos 2009 argues, it is also possible to identify a religious dynamic in apparently rationalist anarchisms, to isolate antiauthoritarian principles and practices in a range of nonconformist religious movements, and to trace a history of dissent that unites political and religious activists. The Christian anarchism of Tolstoy 1894 is a central focus of discussions of religious anarchism, not least because Tolstoy’s critique of 19th-century anarchist terrorism led him to expound a principle of nonviolent resistance that influenced Mohandas Gandhi and that has since been a significant factor in the development of anarchist nonviolent and pacifist activism (see also Protest and Violence). Yet, as Bender 1983 demonstrates, not all religious anarchisms are Christian. Clark 2005 notes the productive interplay between anarchism and Daoism. Indeed, this informs Clark’s philosophical conception of social ecology (see also Ecology, Social Ecology, and Green Anarchism). This relationship is examined in Rambelli 2013, a collection of the writings of the Buddhist Uchiyama Gudō. Rapp 2012 has also explored the resonances of Daoism and Western anarchism and highlighted the richness of religious traditions for anarchist practices.

Social Movements

The appearance of the global justice movement prompted a number of authors to develop new theoretical approaches to the analysis of protest and to consider how best to capture the practices and organizational features of the movement of movements. Day 2005, Chesters and Welsh 2006, and Gordon 2008 offer very different alternatives, but each provides a framework for the analysis of contemporary anarchism and horizontalism. Dupuis-Déri 2014 analyzes the movement tactic, black bloc (see Violence). New works, such as Grattan 2016 and Gerbaudo 2017, on anarchism and social movement activism have been stimulated by the experience of Occupy. Collections such as White, et al. 2016 and Lopes de Souza, et al. 2016 examine recent protest waves through the lens of critical geography. Shukaitis 2016 offers a different view of movement activism, focusing on culture and aesthetics.

Sociology and Social Policy

In its discussion of anarchism and sociology, Purkis 2012 argues that scholarly traditions in sociology have not provided a fertile ground for anarchism and that anarchist research is more easily conducted outside than inside academic institutions. The potential for the development of an anarchist sociology, rooted in critique and ethical principles of anarchist practice, is similarly the concern of Williams and Shantz 2011 (see also Community and Local Activism). Yet, notwithstanding the constraints of academic research cultures (see Education and De-skooling), there is a history of sociological engagement with anarchist ideas, as Whimster 1999 indicates, and anarchists have long framed their anarchism sociologically. Proudhon used Auguste Comte as one of the springboards for his anarchism. A substantial part of Ward’s work (Ward 2011, Ward 2002) was directed toward the anarchist analysis of sociological problems and issues in social policy, from transport, housing, squatting, and homelessness to leisure, play, childhood, and federalism. Shukaitis 2009 has integrated cultural, social, and political theory, influenced by autonomist critique, to rethink the role of imagination in radical thinking, a distant echo of C. Wright Mills’s anarchist-friendly approach to sociology and imagination. One of Weber’s worries about anarchism was that Tolstoyan conviction discouraged political responsibility (see Religion). Other classical sociologists, especially Michels, concentrated instead on the viability of anarchist alternatives to bureaucratic state organization. Organization is a thorny issue in anarchist thinking, because blanket acceptance or rejection has become a fracture line between some class struggle and post-left anarchists (see Class-Struggle Anarchisms and Post-left Anarchy). Two important essays, by Jo Freeman and Cathy Levine, on organization and structurelessness, respectively, appear in Wilson 2002 (cited under Democracy and Decision Making). However, as Ehrlich 1996 asserts, there is scope for the development of anarchist sociology of organization, as an alternative to liberal and Marxist approaches. Indeed, as Glasberg and Shannon 2011 contends, the critique of elitism, alongside the defense of nonhierarchical alternatives to organizing, remains a central concern for radical political sociologists (see also Democracy and Decision Making).

Urbanism and Utopias

The relationship between urbanism and utopia is explained by the influence that late-19th-century radicals, particularly William Morris (b. 1834–d. 1896) and Kropotkin, exercised on a subsequent generation of urban planners, including Patrick Geddes (b. 1854–d. 1932) and Mumford (see Capitalism, the State, and Alternatives, Ecology, Social Ecology, and Green Anarchism). Observing the spread of urban living and the social problems associated with city life, a number of 20th-century anarchists argued that planning offered a means of creating environments conducive to the expression of alternative ways of living, bringing the utopian ideals of the 19th-century anarchists into a new framework, of urban design. Goodman and Goodman 1990 is an early example that integrates the discussion of technology, education, work, and leisure into the planning process. Ward 1990 looks at the city from a child’s perspective, to consider issues of community. Ward wrote separately on the subject of utopia and, like Parker, et al. 2007, he maintained that the ability to think beyond the apparent reality of existing social and political arrangements is an important part of resistance; p.m. 2011 is an anarchistic example of an anticapitalist and overtly utopian text. Similarly, as Horrox 2009 shows, the potential to structure everyday life according to utopian ideals through the construction of intentional communities can be transformative. Landauer, as Buber recognized, was a utopian in this sense and an important influence on anarchist communitarianism (see Religion). Both Berneri 1982 and Buber 1996 claim that there is a strong element of utopianism in anarchism. Yet, this utopianism has a particular form, which Berneri described as nonauthoritarian. Contemporary anarchists talk instead about resistance to blueprint planning, but the idea is similar. Postanarchists, especially, are not only suspicious of blueprints, but also critical of 19th-century classical anarchists, whom, they assert, either provided detailed outlines of anarchy or believed that anarchy described a fixed condition, set by the realization of a specific idea of human flourishing (see Postanarchism, Post-left Anarchy). Divorcing themselves from blueprint utopianism, postanarchists advocate a form of utopianism that is open-ended and without definite content. The claim that classical anarchists were blueprint utopians is contested, and the debates, together with a discussion of a broad tradition of anarchist utopian thinking, are rehearsed by contributors to the collection Davis and Kinna 2009.

Violence

It is not unusual to see analyses of anarchism open with a discussion of violence or a denial that anarchism is a necessarily or unusually violent doctrine, or both. The reputation that anarchism has for violence derives, in part, from a 19th-century wave of individual anarchist acts of terror. These reached their height in Europe and America between 1892 and 1900 and resulted in a number of high-profile assassinations. The adoption of terrorist methods by radical groups in the 1960s, though not all anarchist, cemented this association. Moreover, anarchism is associated with violence because of the conduct of anarchists in protest actions. Neither property damage nor the willingness to engage in physical resistance is the exclusive preserve of anarchists, but the popular association of anarchy with chaos, combined with the anarchists’ rejection of authority (see Prisons, Policing, and Criminality), explains the ease with which the generic descriptor “anarchist” is sometimes applied. These caveats are important because arguments about the principled rejection of violence have long divided anarchists, and the use of violence and terrorist methods are defended by groups within the movement; it would be difficult to make sense of these debates if anarchism were simply dismissed as a form of aggression. The list here includes discussion of terrorist methods and protest violence. Richards 2000 brings together articles published in the London journal Freedom in the aftermath of an unsuccessful assassination attempt on Hendrik Verwoerd, the architect of South African apartheid, and in response to the editorial “Too Bad He Missed.” Libertarian Socialist Organisation, et al. 1985 is a classic rejection of terrorist methods. The involvement of anarchists in post–World War II antiwar and antinuclear movements encouraged the adoption of nonviolent strategies of protest (see Protest). In this the doctrine of nonresistance, advanced in Tolstoy 1990, was and remains a key influence (see also Religion). For anarchists such as Ostergaard, nonviolence committed anarchists to pacifism. He outlines his reasons in Ostergaard 1982. Not all anarchists agree, and, following the principle of civil disobedience advanced by Henry David Thoreau (b. 1871–d. 1862), some root the determination of conduct in individual conscience. Thoreau outlined his position in Thoreau 1849. Kaczynski adopted Thoreau’s position to support his ecological campaign (see Ecology, Social Ecology, and Green Anarchism). The concept of “tactical diversity” that encompasses this view is outlined in Feigenbaum 2007. In the context of the alterglobalization movement protests, arguments about violence are strongly linked to the principle of tactical diversity, discussed in the activist collection Green Mountain Anarchist Collective 2001. McQuinn 2001, written in light of criticisms of the black bloc, confronts condemnations of property damage with a counterblast on policing.

DOI: 10.1093/OBO/9780199756384-0059
LAST REVIEWED: 03 MARCH 2021. LAST MODIFIED: 24 APRIL 2019.