Criticisms of anarchism

The theory and practice of anarchism has been controversial since it came to prominence in the 19th century. Beyond issues within anarchism, criticisms of the philosophy originate from the interest groups it opposes as well as related theories such as Marxism. Specific ideas within anarchism have been criticised, as has anarchism generally. Some charges leveled against anarchism are utopianism, authoritarianism, tendency towards nonviolence, hypocrisy and being an expression of the class interests of the petite bourgeoisie.

Utopianism

Anarchism is often criticized as unfeasible, or plain utopian, even by many who agree that it is a nice idea in principle. For example, Carl Landauer in his book European Socialism criticizes anarchism as being unrealistically utopian, and holds that government is a "lesser evil" than a society without "repressive force." He holds that the belief that "ill intentions will cease if repressive force disappears" is an "absurdity." However, not all anarchists hold the Utopian view that conflict can be eliminated. Many anarchists view anarchy as a continuing goal that in fact cannot be reached, but should be continuously worked toward. For example, Rudolf Rocker once said, "I am an anarchist not because I believe anarchism is the final goal, but because there is no such thing as a final goal" . William Godwin addressed the "anarchism as Utopia" criticism by suggesting people are "perfectible," or always capable of improvement. Godwin's belief, shared by many anarchists, is a key difference between Anarchism and attitudes of Nihilism. However, other anarchists, such as Sir Herbert Read, proudly accept the characterization "utopian."

Anarchist communists have historically fought for social change that is neither utopian nor unfeasible. The key difference being in who has the power, Marxists and statists in general agree that a centralized and hierarchical (although with elected leaders in democratic governments) apparatus is needed to keep peace and organize social life, anarchists on the other hand believe that the people are perfectly capable of doing both things by their local organizations in a direct democratic and federalist way and that a centralized government is inefficient, bureaucratic and authoritarian. Critics counter that anarchists have never produced a compelling explanation of how those decentralized local organizations could resist the organized fascist movement that the critics believe would inevitably step into the power vacuum to seize control, although decentralized armies could certainly be mustered should the need arise, as in Ukraine or the anarchist resistance observed in Spain.

Tacit authoritarianism

In recent decades anarchism (chiefly the Bakuninist concept of the revolutionary secret society) has been criticized by Situationists and others of preserving tacitly statist, authoritarian or bureaucratic tendencies. Many anarchists consider it a strawman as the organization proposed by Bakunin has only been used in times of repression where clandestine activity is needed for survival (for example, during the last Argentinian dictatorship by Resistencia Libertaria Anticapitalista).

Post-anarchists share similar concerns regarding the methods, rather than intentions, of some anarchists. For instance, they reject revolution, seeing means of forceful anarchism as effectively authoritarian and only transforming power rather than eliminating it. Most anarchists do believe in the need of revolution (taking over the means of work, abolishing the State) and the violent nature of the struggle to overthrow capitalism. However, they consider that violence has to be very focused and limited or else it would engender a new dictatorship.

The libertarian economist Bryan Caplan argues that the treatment of fascists and fascist sympathizers by Spanish anarchists in the Spanish Civil War was a form of illegitimate coercion, making the anarchists "ultimately just a third faction of totalitarians," alongside the communists and fascists. He also criticizes the willingness of the CNT to join the Republican government during the civil war, and references Stanley G. Payne's book on the Franco regime which claims that the CNT entered negotiations with the government of Spain six years after the war. Many anarcho-syndicalist and anarchist communist and other types of anarchists have criticized the CNT's mistakes during and since the events of the Spanish Civil War. Caplan himself has shown some hypocrisy in supporting the right of capitalists to attack or kill others in the name of defense of private property, which in itself has been called a form of illegitimate coercion and authoritarianism by most anarchists. Caplan's political writing and scholarship, and the essay containing these points of view has been criticized as "mostly false reporting, based upon selective presentation of evidence in order to paint a radically false picture of the Spanish Anarchist movement", by Iain McKay.

Market anarchism

Further information: Criticisms of anarcho-capitalism

Anarcho-capitalism (as well as other forms of market anarchism) has come under criticism for essentially being representations of traditional "republican liberalism" (propertarianism) — capitalism that is the same as it was before, yet far worse: with the taxes, government social services, health regulations and socialized medical care programs removed and resulting in a society similar to the way it is depicted in movies like Blade Runner and most Cyberpunk literature. Such modern industrial societies were illustrated in books like Upton Sinclair's The Jungle and much of the writing of Charles Dickens. However, positive views are portrayed in novels like Robert A. Heinlein's 1966 novel The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress and Vernor Vinge's Marooned in Realtime. It is argued that in such societies without a state in which all material resources (including land and capital goods) are owned privately by individuals and businesses the poor would be left to their own devices and the gap between the rich and the poor would naturally exacerbate. This was not what happened during the Spanish revolution, as solidarity was widespread (for example, the Barbers union donated 100000 pesetas to the Asco collectivity for irrigation works). Also, in most places there was a family salary (and all salaries were more or less equal) which varied in accordance to the number of persons dependent of the worker. In other places money was abolished and replaced with quotas of consumption.

Violence

Main article: Anarchism and violence

Since anarchism has often been associated with violence and destruction, it has been portrayed as being inherently violent. This is a matter of much debate between anarcho-pacifists and those who argue for the right to use violence in self-defense, whether of individuals or of class interests.

Friedrich Engels criticized anarchists for not being violent enough:

"A revolution is certainly the most authoritarian thing there is; it is the act whereby one part of the population imposes its will upon the other part by means of rifles, bayonets and cannon — authoritarian means, if such there be at all; and if the victorious party does not want to have fought in vain, it must maintain this rule by means of the terror which its arms inspire in the reactionists. Would the Paris Commune have lasted a single day if it had not made use of this authority of the armed people against the bourgeois?"

This is considered dishonest by many anarchists as Bakunin and most anarchists in the past have historically advocated for the use of revolutionary violence. The true difference lies in the way anarchists have organized to defend the revolution, that is, voluntary popular militias with elected officers and without the use of coercion to impose obedience to orders from a centralized command (see Nestor Makhno and Buenaventura Durruti for two anarchist military leaders), contrast this with forced conscription with unelected officers (and political officers to control them, as they were reactionaries most of the time) in a centralized and hierarchical chain of command, and death penalty for insubordination and desertion (see Trotsky and Stalin for two Marxist military leaders). Also, anarchists advocate revolutionary pluralism instead of one-party dictatorship (as Lenin imposed, although allegedly as a temporary measure, and Stalin and Mao defended as the form of the Dictatorship of the Proletariat), not taking revenge towards reactionaries for being reactionaries (only taking measures in the case of active opposition, like sabotage, spying, or murder, and when the person had acted ruthlessly against workers previously to the revolution) and convincing others to join collectivities by example instead of under threat (this can be seen in the Spanish revolution, most collectivities were partial, individualists were allowed to work land plots without hired labor, compare it with Mao's Great Leap Forward or Stalin's forced collectivization).

Hypocrisy

Some critics point to the sexist and racist views of some prominent anarchists, notably Proudhon and Bakunin, as examples of alleged hypocrisy. While many anarchists, however, dismiss that the personal prejudices of some 19th century theorists influence the beliefs of present-day anarchists, others criticise modern anarchism for continuing to be Eurocentric and reference the impact of anarchist thinkers like Proudhon on fascism through groups like Cercle Proudhon. However, the tremendous number of anarchist opponents of fascism in its earliest history, plus the large number of Jewish anarchist followers of Bakunin from the past 120 years appears to attest to the power of his positive ideas about basic human freedom and the rejection by anarchists of his and Proudhon's negative statements (both in their times, like Dejacques and today). Anarchists point out that the people who focus on this area of these two people's writings tend to be Marxists trying to discredit anarchism, or nationalists pursuing a racist agenda, and not anarchists. The Jewish anarchist position has been to argue that while the stupidity of anti-semitism whom many otherwise progressive intellectuals possessed should not be forgotten or overlooked, it should not make us forget the positive work some who fell into this trap in past history have contributed to humanity. The argument that anarchism is Eurocentric or "Western" in philosophical orientation have largely been disproved by the histories of large Cuban anarchist (see Frank Fernández), Chinese anarchist (see Ba Jin) and African anarchism, Latin American anarchist (see Augusto César Sandino & Ricardo Flores Magón) movements in the 1920s.

Class character

See also: Anarchism and Marxism

Marxists have characterized anarchism as an expression of the class interests of the petite bourgeoisie or perhaps the lumpenproletariat. For example, Georgi Plekhanov supplied a Marxist critique in 1895. Anarchists point out how Marxist revolutions create a new bourgeoisie based on being a bureaucrat. Marxists claim that many anarchists are petite bourgeois; however, many of those such anarchists are merely ordinary working class people who happen to be intellectuals and excessively "street smart".