Portal:Anarchism

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Anarchism is a political philosophy and movement that is against all forms of authority and seeks to abolish the institutions it claims maintain unnecessary coercion and hierarchy, typically including the state and capitalism. Anarchism advocates for the replacement of the state with stateless societies and voluntary free associations. As a historically left-wing movement, this reading of anarchism is placed on the farthest left of the political spectrum, usually described as the libertarian wing of the socialist movement (libertarian socialism).

Although traces of anarchist ideas are found all throughout history, modern anarchism emerged from the Enlightenment. During the latter half of the 19th and the first decades of the 20th century, the anarchist movement flourished in most parts of the world and had a significant role in workers' struggles for emancipation. Various anarchist schools of thought formed during this period. Anarchists have taken part in several revolutions, most notably in the Paris Commune, the Russian Civil War and the Spanish Civil War, whose end marked the end of the classical era of anarchism. In the last decades of the 20th and into the 21st century, the anarchist movement has been resurgent once more, growing in popularity and influence within anti-capitalist, anti-war and anti-globalisation movements. (Full article...)

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Society is rotten. It will only be changed when the people see the greed, arrogance and brutality of those who rule them!

Anarky dialogue by Alan Grant, "Anarky", The Batman Adventures #31, April 1995.

Anarky (Lonnie Machin) is a fictional character in the DC Comics Universe. Co-created by Alan Grant and Norm Breyfogle, he first appeared in Detective Comics #608 (November 1989) as an adversary of Batman. Stories revolving around Anarky often focus on political and philosophical themes. Named after the philosophy of anarchism, the primary philosophical element that has underscored the character's appearances has been anti-statism. With Grant's transition to the philosophy of Neo-Tech, Anarky was transformed from a vehicle for socialist and populist philosophy, to rationalist, atheist, and free market based thought. Highly thematic and philosophical in tone, Alan Grant avoided using the character often, but addressed multiple social issues whenever the character appeared, including environmentalism, antimilitarism, economic exploitation, and political corruption. Inspired by multiple sources, early stories to feature the character often included homages to political and philosophical books, including notable anarchists such as Mikhail Bakunin and Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, among others. The creation of the character was also partially influenced by Alan Moore's character "V" from V for Vendetta.

Originally intended to only be used in the debut story in which he appeared, positive reception by readers and his editor convinced Grant to continue using Anarky as a recurring character throughout the early 90s. The character experienced a brief surge in media exposure during the late '90s, beginning when Norm Breyfogle convinced Grant to produce a limited series based on the character. The 1997 spin-off series, Anarky, was received with positive reviews and sales, and later declared by Grant to be among his "career highlights". Batman: Anarky, a trade paperback collection of stories featuring the character, soon followed. This popular acclaim culminated, however, in a financially and critically unsuccessful ongoing solo series. The 1999 Anarky series, in which even Alan Grant has expressed his distaste, was quickly canceled after eight issues. (read more...)

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Credit: Scott Ehardt, June 13, 2006

Members of the Spanish anarcho-syndicalist union the Confederación Nacional del Trabajo (National Confederation of Labour) taking part in strike action at Spanish supermarket chain Mercadona on 13 June 2006. July of 2006 marked the 70th anniversary of the Spanish Revolution, and in commemoration the CNT and FAI organized commemorative celebrations.

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Did you know?

... that the 1869 anarchist manifesto Catechism of a Revolutionary, which established the importance of Russian anarchist Sergey Nechayev (pictured), portrays the revolutionary as an amoral avenger?
... that Future Primitive and Other Essays by anarcho-primitivist philosopher John Zerzan is regarded as an underground classic by anarchists and technophobes alike?
... that many of the tendencies within anarchism criticized by Chaz Bufe in his pamphlet Listen, Anarchist! are thought to have stemmed from the movement's individualist, Stirnerite wing?
... that in his 2001 post-anarchist book From Bakunin to Lacan, Saul Newman questions how classical anarchism can refrain from reproducing the forms of oppression that it tries to overcome?
... that rather than await execution, Russian anarchist assassin Moishe Tokar doused himself in paraffin from his prison cell lamp and burned himself alive?

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“

Yes, our first ancestors, our Adams and our Eves, were, if not gorillas, very near relatives of gorillas, omnivorous, intelligent and ferocious beasts, endowed in a higher degree than the animals of another species with two precious faculties - the power to think and the desire to rebel.

These faculties, combining their progressive action in history, represent the essential factor, the negative power in the positive development of human animality, and create consequently all that constitutes humanity in man.

The Bible, which is a very interesting and here and there very profound book when considered as one of the oldest surviving manifestations of human wisdom and fancy, expresses this truth very naively in its myth of original sin. Jehovah, who of all the good gods adored by men was certainly the most jealous, the most vain, the most ferocious, the most unjust, the most bloodthirsty, the most despotic, and the most hostile to human dignity and liberty - Jehovah had just created Adam and Eve, to satisfy we know not what caprice; no doubt to while away his time, which must weigh heavy on his hands in his eternal egoistic solitude, or that he might have some new slaves. He generously placed at their disposal the whole earth, with all its fruits and animals, and set but a single limit to this complete enjoyment. He expressly forbade them from touching the fruit of the tree of knowledge. He wished, therefore, that man, destitute of all understanding of himself, should remain an eternal beast, ever on all-fours before the eternal God, his creator and his master. But here steps in Satan, the eternal rebel, the first freethinker and the emancipator of worlds. He makes man ashamed of his bestial ignorance and obedience; he emancipates him, stamps upon his brow the seal of liberty and humanity, in urging him to disobey and eat of the fruit of knowledge.

”

—Mikhail Bakunin, God and the State, 1871.

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Anniversaries for June 2

1906 - After having attempted to kill Alfonso XIII of Spain at his wedding, Catalan anarchist Mateu Morral (pictured) killed the guard transporting him to prison, and then committed suicide.
1876 - Christo Botev (Khristo Bôtef) (1848-1876) dies. Bulgarian poet & revolutionist, propagandist, writer; first Bulgarian anarchist. Leads a partisan army of 200 fighters into Bulgaria to overthrow Ottoman rule. Dies in battle.
1890 - Louise Michel's political opponents attempt to place her in an insane asylum. Michel flees to England.
1919 - Anarchists influenced by Luigi Galleani carry out a series of coordinated bombings across the eastern United States. Explosions also damage the homes of Attorney General Alexander Mitchell Palmer & Assistant Secretary of the Navy Franklin D. Roosevelt; the bomber is killed in the process.
1919 - Luigi Bertoni & Italian anarchists, implicated in the "Plot of Zurich", appear in a Swiss court today, after being held in detention the previous 13 months. The so-called "plot" was a political pretext to arrest Bertoni, publisher of "Le Réveil communiste anarchiste", & others opposing World War I. A nationwide protest movement agitated for their release.
1925 - Gueorgui Cheitanov dies (1896 &ndash 1925). Anarchist militant captured & executed, along with his companion Mariola Sirakova & others, by the Aleksandar Tsankov led government during a crackdown on leftists following a Communist bombing in Sofia.
1944 - Benoît Broutchoux dies (1879-1944). French anarchist, adherent of Neo-Malthusianism ideas & a "free love" advocate.
1970 - Lucía Sánchez Saornil (1895-1970) dies in Valence. Spanish poet, painter & militant anarchist-feminist. A founder of the famed "Mujeres Libres."
1991 - Procession in Sofia to the monument of Christo Botev, the first Bulgarian anarchist & national hero, who perished in the struggle for liberation of Bulgaria from Turkish power today in 1876 (noted above).
1997 - Richard "Tet" Tetenbaum dies. San Franciscan anarchist activist, co-founder of Bound Together Anarchist Books, where he worked for 20 years. 200 attend his memorial.

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