What is Anarchism?

Anarchism is "The theory or doctrine that all forms of government are oppressive and undesirable and should be abolished." [The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Third Edition] Etymologically, 'anarchism' comes from Greek words translating as "an" (without) + "arch" (rule or ruler).

The definition above is the most general of various definitions put forward by philosophers and political theorists. Naturally there are variations in formulation among the many diverse branches of anarchist thought. But a perusal of the literature makes it clear that all branches, from the ancient Chinese Daoists through the classical socialist anarchists to the modern anarcho-capitalists, agree to this core point that anarchism is anti-state.

For any political philosophy, there are two fundamental questions to answer:

What is the proper purpose of the State.
What is the proper extent of the State.

Anarchism answers the first question with 'There is no proper purpose.' and the second question with 'none.' While anarchism is the radical absolutist position on the extent of the state, we can learn much from those who are close to the same ideology. In particular, there is a large body of literature by people supporting a strictly limited State. A government restricted to providing police, judicial and defense services is called the minimal state. Those supporting such a government are minarchists. The term 'libertarian' is used to denote the general anti-statist end of the spectrum, and should be understood to include both minarchists and anarchists.

Beware the provincialism of political writers who would expropriate the word "anarchism" for their own version of a stateless society. While essays such as Between Anarchism and Libertarianism by Jeff Draughn and Libertarianism: Bogus Anarchy by Peter Sabatini are quite erudite and interesting from a historical perspective, they should not deter the astute reader from using the conceptual definition of anarchism given above. Draughn and Sabtini seem to be arguing for a definition based on (western based) historical considerations. The meaning of the Greek word "anarchia" will not change, no matter how many Bakunin quotes you throw at it. (Similarly, the word "libertarian" is claimed in the article Ayn Rand and the Perversion of Libertarianism.)

There are significant differences of opinion in anarchist thought. You are invited to survey some of them in the next section called:

Types of Anarchism

The author, Hogeye Bill, speaks from an anarcho-capitalist point of view. For a socialist anarchist perspective on 'what is anarchism?', see the essay by Liz Highleyman called An Introduction to Anarchism. Also, see an excellent reply to Sabatini's Libertarianism: Bogus Anarchy in Timothy Virkkala's essay Bogus Critique.

Send comments to: abcritter@yahoo.com. Revised 12/17/96