Forerunners of anarchism

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A declaration by the Diggers from 1649. The Diggers were a Christian movement in England that tried to change society as a whole with anarchist agricultural communes.

The forerunners of anarchism include people and groups who represented core aspects of anarchism with their writings and documented actions, even before anarchism emerged as a political theory in the second half of the 19th century . These core aspects include the criticism of the principle of rule and hierarchical institutions, as well as the emphasis on freedom as a necessary social order principle and the creation of self-governing communities.

history

prehistory

Most contemporary anthropologists , ethnologists , researchers of prehistory and early history, historians and anarchists generally agree that for millennia, that is, for the longest time before any recorded history, human societies existed without a ruling class, as did modern ethnology and investigation of all indigenous cultures is confirmed, then all stateless cultures exist, which at the same time were also egalitarian cultures and partly still are today, without a separate group of established authorities or formal political institutions according to the Canadian professor Harold Barclay , anarchism must be independent Perspective or the gentile structure which we find again on the entire planet on all continents in a modified form - having already arisen long before in the Paleolithic, before man emigrated from Africa to all over the world explain universal anarchic structures worldwide, which prevented wars and privileges less and thus made them practically impossible. For thousands of years, people have lived in completely autonomous and absolutely self-sufficient self-governing societies without ever needing an institutionalized government or political class. The emergence of the state is very different from region to region. The earliest state formation in Mesopotamia began in the 4th millennium BC. In the form of city-states, according to which the city of Eridu should be the oldest of all cities according to the Sumerian king lists. While for most African and American regions the formation of states only began with the voyages of discovery and conquests of the European seafarers, for some regions of Africa it only began in the 19th century through the colonialism and imperialism of the European powers. After the rise of hierarchical class societies in Mesopotamia and the emergence of many other city-states such as B. Adab, Kish, Larsa, Lagasch, Nippur, Shurrupak, Ur and Uruk from the 4th millennium BC BC, as well as the subsequent spread of slavery through trade and subjugation of neighboring cultures almost over the entire Middle East following the rivers of the Euphrates and Tigris, which also introduced the monarchical form of rule there, thus a city-state formation wherever the influence of the early Rich enough took place. As soon as the knowledge of bronze weapons and swords (thus also war and state) becomes archaeologically verifiable, - Egypt from 3150 BC. BC, China from 1766 BC BC and India from 1386 BC, which also makes slavery archeologically and historically verifiable there - i.e. the establishment of the state, the old gentile structures were thus shattered, which in the first place made privilege and injustice, slavery and brutality, statism and centralism possible in the first place . But only in the 1st millennium BC The anarchist ideas are also seen as a clearly formulated critical reaction to the political institutions of government on the one hand in ancient China with the writings of the Taoists and on the other hand in ancient Greece with the philosophical schools of the Cynics, the Epicureans, the Hedonists, the Eudaemonists, the school the skeptic and most clearly formulated in the school of the stoics in writing, the rejection of slavery, the appeal to natural law, as well as the unequivocal rejection of the state and all other hierarchical social relationships which sought the rule of a few people over the great mass to legitimize all other people.

Chinese antiquity

The historian Peter Marshall describes Daoism as "the first clear expression of anarchist sensitivity" and its main work Daodejing by Laozi as "one of the greatest anarchist classics." The Taoists rejected governments and strived for a life in natural and spontaneous harmony, whereby the harmony of the People with nature played a significant role. In the course of time Daoism developed a regular system of political ethics and dispensed with cults and the formation of a priestly caste. Daoism was thus also the most important countercurrent to authoritarian and bureaucratic Confucianism , which later became the Chinese state religion.

The anarchist tendencies are even clearer in the writings of the Chinese philosopher Zhuangzi (approx. 365–290 BC). He rejected any form of government and, in contrast, described a Taoist ideal society of free, self-determined individuals. The personal well-being of every individual grows to the extent that the general public is doing well, wrote Zhuangzi in his work Huai Nan Tzu, for example .

Horst Stowasser sees similar anarchist elements in Buddhism , especially in the tradition of Zen Buddhism .

Antiquity

Diogenes of Sinope on a painting by Jean-Léon Gérôme . Diogenes was one of the early social critics and preached the needlessness as the basis of freedom.

The first forerunners of anarchism in Europe can be found in ancient Greek philosophy . The historian Max Nettlau sees the mere existence of the word "An-Archia" as evidence "that there were people who consciously rejected the rule, the state."

An outspoken critic of the state was Aristippus of Cyrene (approx. 435–355 BC), who represented an early form of hedonism and was the founder of Cyrenaism . From the standpoint of the greatest possible individual freedom, he preached that man should withdraw from state life. Aristippos also rejected the idea of ​​a fatherland and advocated cosmopolitan ideas . Aristippus of Cyrene to Socrates when asked whether he would rather belong to the ruling or ruled class in the state, have answered: "None of both!"

From the 5th century BC, Diogenes of Sinope (approx. 400–324 BC) preached the return to a natural life. He and the students of the school of the Cynics , which he founded, saw the original needlessness as a desirable state. According to the Cynics, social harmony would prevail instead of mutual struggle and social conflict, as these result from man's greed for material possessions and the pursuit of honor.

The historian Georg Adler sees the ideas of anarchism developed for the first time in world history in the teachings of Zeno von Kition (approx. 333–262 BC) . Zeno, the founder of the Stoa , was a great critic of Plato's ideal of a society that should find a moral coexistence with absolute state power. In contrast to Plato, Zeno drafted his own ideal of a free stateless community that would better suit human nature. Instead of following the written law, people should follow their true natural urges through insight. This would lead people to love others and to justice. Just as there is unity, harmony and equilibrium in external nature, so would this also apply in human society. From this follows the negation of the law, the courts, the police, school, marriage, money, the state religion and the state. Man would live in perfect equality across all national borders. Everyone should work voluntarily according to their abilities and be allowed to consume according to their needs.

In the early Christian period there were a large number of sects that represented very different interpretations of the Christian faith. One of them was the sect of the Gnostic Carpocrates in Alexandria in the 2nd century . He was the founder of the Christian sect of the Carpokratians , who practiced free communism and love in their communities. Karpokrates' son Epiphanes recorded the teachings of his father in the scripture Peri dikaiosynes (English: About justice). For Karpokrates the righteousness of God presented itself as a community of human beings in equality. In addition, God gave all the goods of the earth equally. And he also implanted the sexual drive in people, which is why it should not be curbed. The Carpokratians in Alexandria were probably destroyed in 202 during the persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire .

Middle Ages and Reformation

The lay theologian and reformer Petr Chelčický (1390-1460) was a forerunner of Christian anarchism and outlined in his works a radical pacifist vision with pronounced anarchist elements.

In late antiquity and in the Middle Ages, there were various persecuted sects and heretics with liberal characteristics. However, anarchist elements were first documented in the Middle Ages by the heretic Amalrich von Bena and his followers, the Amalricans . The same applies to the Christian-mystical brothers and sisters of the free spirit in the 12th and 13th centuries who placed themselves outside of society and its laws.

In contrast to the authoritarian-nationalist Hussites, the Bohemian Brothers worked in the Czech Republic in the 15th and 16th centuries . They were a religious community with a pacifist orientation , whose members preached the renunciation of secular rule and oriented themselves towards early Christianity . Its founder was the lay theologian and reformer Petr Chelčický (1390–1460), who advocated equality among people in his writings and developed a radical, pacifist vision.

Among the persecuted sects in Holland and Flanders, according to Max Nettlau, the Klompdraggers and Kloeffers and the movement of the Loïsten and Libertins of Antwerp had elements of freedom.

16th / 17th century

The important novelist François Rabelais (1494–1553) designed the Abbey of Thélème in his cycle of novels Gargantua and Pantagruel , which is considered the first utopian creation in French literature. Under the motto "fais ce que vouldras" (outdated French for do what you want ), Rabelais described a utopia of the serene enjoyment of life without governmental direction:

“Their whole rule consisted of this single sentence: Do what you want , because free, well-born, well-behaved people, used to decent society, have by nature an instinct and drive which always drive them to virtuous deeds and keep them from vice: this is called honor. The same people, when subjugated and enslaved by miserable oppression and coercion, turn away from this noble disposition which formerly drove them to virtue, to shaking off the bonds of bondage. "

- François Rabelais : Gargantua, first book .

Various designs for a liberal social order can also be found in the utopias Mondo savio (German: The wise world ) by Antonio Doni and in Aventure de Télémaque (German: The adventures of Telemach ) and Lettres persanes (German: Persian letters ) by Bischof François Fénelon . The radical German journalist Georg Friedrich Rebmann the description comes from Abenazar's little Republic , a liberal-communist idyll Hans Kiekindiewelts travel to all four continents and the moon by 1794. The French author Gabriel de Foigny noted in his utopia Les avantures de Jacques Sadeur dans la découverte et le Voyage de la Terre Australe (English: The adventures of Jacques Sadeur during the discovery and the journey to the south ) presented a society without state and law.

One of the forerunners of anarchism is Étienne de La Boétie (1530–1583), who at the age of 18 wrote the fundamental work Discours de la servitude volontaire ou le Contr'un (German: From voluntary servitude or against one [the monarch ]) wrote. The basic question of the Discours de la servitude is: Where does it come from that a whole people let themselves be tormented, mistreated and directed against his will by a single person. Monarchs don't rely on repression just to maintain their rule. Much more important for Étienne de la Boétie is the fact that the subjects voluntarily surrender to their servitude and only then transfer power to one person. If the subjects refused to serve the monarch, the monarch would in turn no longer have any power. La Boétie first formulated a basic criticism of anarchism, the master / bondage relationship in society, for the modern era.

In 1649, a year of great social unrest, the religious-anarchist movement of the Diggers arose in England under the influence of Gerrard Winstanley . The Diggers tried to break the existing social order and the rule of the big landowners by founding small, agricultural communities on an egalitarian basis. Through the voluntary union of all common people, the rulers should be starved if they do not join the communes. As early as 1651, the colonies of the jointly managed dissident group were destroyed again by the authorities and local landowners.

Enlightenment and the time of the French Revolution

The English scholar William Godwin (1756–1836) in a painting from 1802. In his works Godwin had already anticipated almost all essential points of anarchist theory.

The writer and enlightener Denis Diderot scattered anarchist remarks in many of his writings. This is the case, for example, in a father's conversation with his children and in his famous philosophical novel Supplément au Voyage de Bougainville (English: Addendum to Bougainville's Voyage ) from 1796, where many anarchist thoughts are taken up and discussed. Diderot also wrote the phrase “Je ne veux ni donner ni recevoir des lois” (German: “I neither want to make laws, nor be subject to laws”).

The French poet and enlightener Sylvain Maréchal (1750-1803) was a critic of absolutism and later took part in the French Revolution . Maréchal represented an agrarian socialism in his works and campaigned for the liberation of people from all forms of slavery. He was one of the most important atheists of his time and saw religion as an instrument of governments for the economic exploitation of people. In his play Jugement dernier des rois (German: The Last Judgment on the Kings ) from 1793, he anticipates the idea of ​​the general strike as a revolutionary instrument and shows the vision of an anarchist revolution.

William Godwin (1756-1836) was an English scholar and critic of the authoritarian development of the French Revolution. In 1793, in his major work Inquiry concerning political justice , Godwin came to the conclusion that a free society can only arise in free discussion of reasonable people. That is why the state and every ruling institution is to be rejected, because an authoritarian leadership prevents free decision-making. With his work Inquiry concerning political justice Godwin had already anticipated almost all essential points of the anarchist theory.

Early 19th century

The early socialist Charles Fourier (1772–1837) influenced the development of the anarchist movement with his ideas. Although he was not an outspoken anarchist himself, Fourier's anti-authority ideas formed the basis for his experimental socialist phalansteries . These federalist egalitarian communities have been established in numerous locations with moderate success. Among his followers was the later Communard Victor Considerant (1808-1893), a man who was even closer to anarchism and who developed more liberal ideas in his writings.

The early socialist Robert Owen (1771–1858) also described the image of a future society with many anarchist elements. The so-called townships were small, federated municipalities that were supposed to prevent any government through their grassroots democratic structure.

The Irish socialist William Thompson (1775-1833), however, was a critic of the authoritarian tendencies in Robert Owen and his opponent in the English cooperative movement. Thompson was heavily influenced by Godwin's Inquiry concerning political justice and planned liberal commune experiments. Max Nettlau sees in him one of the most conscious and intelligent representatives of liberal socialism in England.

Ludwig Börne (1786–1837) was the first to speak out in favor of anarchy in society in German-speaking countries, although historically he cannot be clearly assigned to anarchism and represented changing political positions: “It does not matter that power is in one or the other Hand is: the power itself must be reduced, in which hand it is also. But no ruler yet has the power that he possessed, and no matter how nobly he used it, he willingly let it weaken. Rule can only be limited if it is ownerless - freedom only arises from anarchy. We must not turn our faces away from the necessity of the revolution because it is so sad. As men of danger, we have to look straight in the eye and not tremble at the surgeon's knife. Freedom only emerges from anarchy - that is our opinion, that is how we have understood the lessons of history. "

In the early 19th century, some men in the United States acted as precursors to individualistic anarchism . The social reformer Josiah Warren (1798–1874) was one of the few thinkers who attributed the failure of the Owenist commune in New Harmony to a lack of freedom and the restriction of the members' initiative. With the so-called time stores , Warren created shops in which instead of profit maximization, the fair exchange of goods was sought. Other precursors of individualistic anarchism in the USA were Lysander Spooner , Stephen Pearl Andrews and Henry David Thoreau .

From 1840, anarchism developed as an independent philosophy, especially in France. Pierre-Joseph Proudhon (1809–1865) and the communist-anarchist magazine Humanitaire first used the word “anarchist” or “anarchist” as a self-designation.

literature

Web link

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Robert Graham: Anarchism: A Documentary History of Libertarian Ideas: From Anarchy to Anarchism . Black Rose Books, Montréal 2005, ISBN 1-55164-250-6 , pp. xi-xv (http://www.blackrosebooks.net / anarism2.htm [accessed August 11, 2010]).
  2. ↑ Harold Barclay: Peoples Without Government: An Anthropology of Anarchism. Kahn & Averill, London 1982.
  3. ↑ Harold Barclay: Peoples Without Government: An Anthropology of Anarchism. Kahn & Averill, London 1982.
  4. ↑ Peter Marshall : Demanding the Impossible - A History of Anarchism. HarperCollins, London 1992. Quoted from: Horst Stowasser: Anarchie! Idea, history, perspectives. Edition Nautilus, Hamburg 2007, p. 181.
  5. ↑ Horst Stowasser : Anarchy! Idea, history, perspectives. Edition Nautilus, Hamburg 2007, p. 181ff.
  6. ↑ Horst Stowasser: Anarchy! Idea, history, perspectives. Edition Nautilus, Hamburg 2007, p. 182.
  7. ↑ Horst Stowasser: Anarchy! Idea, history, perspectives. Edition Nautilus, Hamburg 2007, p. 183ff.
  8. ↑ Jochen Schmück: Anarchy - On the history of a stimulus and catchphrase. Quoted from Max Nettlau: History of Anarchy. Volume I: The Early Spring of Anarchy. Your historical development from the beginnings to the year 1864. Berlin 1925 [exp. Reprint o. O .: Library Thélème 1993], p. 17. Christian Meier is also of the opinion that the negative meaning that the term anarchy acquired in ancient Greece can be traced back to the existence of “ concrete anarchist groups ”. In his opinion, however, these groups did not represent any declared anti- statistic views, rather it was a question of the “ wildly roaring abandonment of a crowd ” or the “ cheeky lack of control of a sailor camp. “Compare Ludz and Meier: Anarchy, Anarchism, Anarchist. P. 50.
  9. ↑ Georg Adler : History of Socialism and Communism from Plato to the Present. Hirschfeld, Leipzig 1899, p. 47.
  10. ↑ a b c Georg Adler: History of Socialism and Communism from Plato to the Present. Hirschfeld, Leipzig 1899, p. 46ff.
  11. ^ Mathias Schreiber, Matthias Schulz: The testament of the sectarians . In: Der Spiegel . 16/2009, Retrieved May 21, 2012.
  12. ↑ Max Nettlau : The early spring of anarchy. Their historical development from the beginnings to the year 1864. Verlag Der Syndikalist, Berlin 1925, pp. 20ff.
  13. ↑ Theological Realenzyklopädie , articles Alexandria I .
  14. ↑ Max Nettlau: The early spring of anarchy. Their historical development from the beginning up to the year 1864. Verlag Der Syndikalist, Berlin 1925, p. 23.
  15. ↑ Max Nettlau: The early spring of anarchy. Their historical development from the beginning up to the year 1864. Verlag Der Syndikalist, Berlin 1925, p. 23.
  16. ↑ Max Nettlau: The early spring of anarchy. Their historical development from the beginnings to the year 1864. Verlag Der Syndikalist, Berlin 1925, p. 29.
  17. ↑ Max Nettlau: The early spring of anarchy. Your historical development from the beginnings to the year 1864. Verlag Der Syndikalist, Berlin 1925, p. 30ff.
  18. ↑ Étienne de La Boétie : Of the voluntary servitude of people in the Gutenberg-DE project
  19. ↑ Max Nettlau: The early spring of anarchy. Their historical development from the beginnings to the year 1864. Verlag Der Syndikalist, Berlin 1925, p. 42.
  20. ↑ Max Nettlau: The early spring of anarchy. Your historical development from the beginnings to the year 1864. Verlag Der Syndikalist, Berlin 1925, p. 46ff.
  21. ^ Markus Henning: William Godwin . In: Lexicon of Anarchy .
  22. ↑ Max Nettlau: The early spring of anarchy. Their historical development from the beginnings to the year 1864. Verlag Der Syndikalist, Berlin 1925, p. 78ff.
  23. ↑ Max Nettlau: The early spring of anarchy. Their historical development from the beginnings to the year 1864. Verlag Der Syndikalist, Berlin 1925, p. 88ff.
  24. ↑ Max Nettlau: The early spring of anarchy. Their historical development from the beginnings to the year 1864. Verlag Der Syndikalist, Berlin 1925, p. 93.
  25. ^ DadA quotation from Gustav Landauer: Börne and the anarchism. (First published in: Sozialistische Monatshefte. No. 2, 1900), in: ders .: Knowledge and Liberation . Selected speeches and essays. Frankfurt am Main 1976, p. 20.