Anarchism without adjectives
Anarchism without adjectives (from sp. Anarquismo sin adjetivos ) refers in the words of the historian Esenwein to a “form of anarchism without a hyphen, ie a doctrine without a descriptive label such as communist , collectivist , mutualist or individualistic . Others understood it as tolerating the coexistence of the various anarchist schools. ” Fernando Tarrida del Mármol published an article with this title in the magazine Le Révolté in 1890 and is considered to be the founder of this trend. Other important representatives were Voltairine de Cleyre ,Errico Malatesta and Max Nettlau .
origin
The term was probably founded by Fernando Tarrida del Mármol, who was born in Cuba . In November 1889 he used the term anarquismo sin adjetivos in articles that he wrote in Barcelona . Tarrida del Mármol used this expression to address the communist and collectivist anarchists of Spain, who at the time were conducting an intense debate about the merits of their theories. Anarchism without adjectives was an attempt to bring greater tolerance into the various anarchist currents and to postulate that anarchists should not impose a pre-prepared economic plan on anyone, whether in practice or theory. Anarchists without adjectives tended either to reject all anarchist economic models as flawed, or to maintain them all in a pluralistic attitude to certain limits so that they could be measured against one another. The economic question itself is also viewed by these anarchists as secondary on the way to abolishing all authority. Free experimentation, on the other hand, should become one of the basic guidelines of free society.
history
The theoretical perspective known as anarquismo sin adjetivos was the product of an intense debate within the anarchist movement between collectivist and communist anarchists. The origins can be taken from the development of communist anarchism after Bakunin's death in 1876. Communist anarchism was not entirely different from Bakunin's collectivist anarchism, as its representatives, as James Guillaume noted in his well-known work On Building the New Social Order, understood its economic development towards anarchist communism. Communist anarchists developed, deepened and enriched Bakunin's work just as Bakunin developed, deepened and enriched Proudhon's theory. Communist anarchism has been associated with the anarchists Elisée Reclus , Carlo Cafiero , Errico Malatesta and, most notably , Peter Kropotkin .
Anarcho-communist ideas replaced anarcho-collectivist as the mainstream in Europe, except in Spain. Here the main question was not that of communism, although it was important for Ricardo Mella , but the question of the modification of the anarcho-communist strategies. At that time, the 1880s, the anarcho communists favored local militant cells and opposed unions for their anti-organization stance. In the wake of the debate about changing strategy and tactics, there was extensive discussion on the part of the anarchist collectivists, who strongly supported organizations and struggles of the working class .
This conflict spread from Spain and the discussion found its expression in the Paris magazine La Révolte . This led some anarchists to agree with Malatesta that “it is not our business to split us on pure hypotheses.” Little by little, most anarchists agreed - in Max Nettlau's words - that “we cannot foresee the economic development of the future”, and struggled to work out their similarities rather than different visions of the future organization of a free society. As time went on, most anarcho-communists noticed that ignorance of the labor movement resulted in their ideas not being adopted by the workers, while still upholding their commitment to communist ideals and implementing it sooner rather than later - after the revolution - expected.
In the United States at the same time there was a similar debate between individualist and communist anarchists. Benjamin Tucker claimed that anarcho-communists are not anarchists, while Johann Most said the same about Tucker's ideas. Just as Mella and Tarrida promoted the idea of tolerance between anarchist groups, anarchists like Voltairine de Cleyre came to “simply refer to themselves as an 'anarchist' and, like Malatesta, invoked 'anarchism without adjectives' because the lack of government is certain would try in many different experiments in different places in order to find the most suitable form. "Voltarine pursued the reconciliation of the different schools and wrote in her essay Anarchism :" There is nothing unanarchistic about any [these systems] until the element of coercion itself Gives access and forces unwilling people to remain in communities whose economic agreements they do not support. "
Well-known representatives
Although a large number of anarchists could be subsumed under the term "anarchism without adjectives" in one way or another, only a few more have expressly endorsed or promoted it. These are Élisée Reclus , Sébastien Faure , Jared Zavala , Louise Michel and Fred Woodworth .
Individual evidence
- ^ Esenwein, George Richard: Anarchist Ideology and the Working Class Movement in Spain, 1868-1898 [p. 135]
- ↑ cit. after Nettlau, Max: History of Anarchy, Volume III. Anarchists and social revolutionaries . Bremen 1978, p. 6.
- ↑ cit. according to en: WP Max Nettlau, A Short History of Anarchism [p. 201]
- ↑ Marshall, Peter: Demanding the Impossible [S. 393]