
— Mon Apr 17 21:23 2006 – too much bull - too little beef
Which is the Real Anarchist?
Webster's Third International Dictionary, succinctly defines anarchism as, “a political theory opposed to all forms of government and governmental restraint and advocating voluntary cooperation and free association of individuals and groups in order to satisfy their needs.”
Britannica-Webster reads, “a political theory that holds all government authority to be unnecessary and undesirable and advocates a society based on voluntary cooperation of individuals and groups.”
And the New Webster Handy College Dictionary tersely states, “the political doctrine that all governments should be abolished.”
From wiktionary we get:
anarchy
1. absence of hierarchy, power and authority
2. absence of any form of political authority or government
3. political disorder and confusion
4. absence of any cohesive principle, such as a common standard or purpose
5. without rules or laws (syn: anomie, anomy)
6. self-government
Finally my standby Random House Webster's yields:
an-ar-chism (an'uhr kiz uhm) n.
1. a doctrine urging the abolition of government or governmental restraint as the indispensable condition for full social and political liberty.
2. the methods or practices of anarchists.
[1635-45]
Now that's all patently prettier than poetry and even in good keeping with its Greek roots - so where's the rub? Well as we've seen with “monetize”, there are always plenty of quasi-literates who need to bend straight clear concepts into twisted pretzels promoting perverse purposes.
For a good sampling of what I'm talking about just drop “anarchy” into your favorite search engine, and you'll quickly find this simple idea contorted & complicated. The following quote characterizes one major branch of colonization as raw as you'd want: “Anarchism is really a synonym for socialism. The anarchist is primarily a socialist whose aim is to abolish the exploitation of man by man.” - Daniel Guérin, Anarchism. As you might anticipate, we also find: 1) anarcho-syndicalists who crave a high degree of societal structure, 2) worker's control of the means of production and distribution, 3) opposition to personal property ownership, 4) parecon, etc. Particulars include: Russian anarchists Mikhail Bakunin (1814-1876) and Peter Kropotkin (1842-1921) - Mutual Aid, Fields Factories and Workshops plus The Conquest of Bread, plus Pierre Joseph Proudhon - What is Property?.
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