Anarcho-pacifism: Difference between revisions
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== History == |
== History == |
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Anarchist pacifism emerged shortly before [[World War II]] in [[Holland]], [[Great Britain]] and the [[United States]] and was a strong presence in the subsequent campaigns for [[nuclear disarmament]]. The absence of pacifist sentiment before this time was such that [[propaganda of the deed]] was a prevalent form of anarchist activity in the 19th century and that as late as 1881, anarchists were agreed on the general inevitability of violence. [[Leo Tolstoy]], though he opposed the label "anarchism", was a major early influence on anarcho-pacifists, and on [[Mohandas Gandhi]], an [[Indian independence movement|Indian independence]] leader and pacifist who self-identified as an anarchist. However, Tolstoy and his followers never fully embraced the organized anarchist movement, being to some extent hostile towards it, and it was [[Ferdinand Domela Nieuwenhuis]] who established the pacifist trend within the anarchist movement.<ref name=woodcock>{{cite book | last = Woodcock | first = George | title = Anarchism: a History of Libertarian Ideas and Movements | publisher = Broadview Press | location = Peterborough | year = 2004 | isbn = 1551116294 }}</ref> |
Anarchist pacifism emerged shortly before [[World War II]] in [[Holland]], [[Great Britain]] and the [[United States]] and was a strong presence in the subsequent campaigns for [[nuclear disarmament]]. The absence of pacifist sentiment before this time was such that [[propaganda of the deed]] was a prevalent form of anarchist activity in the 19th century and that as late as 1881, anarchists were agreed on the general inevitability of violence. [[Leo Tolstoy]], though he opposed the label "anarchism", was a major early influence on anarcho-pacifists, and on [[Mohandas Gandhi]], an [[Indian independence movement|Indian independence]] leader and pacifist who self-identified as an anarchist. However, Tolstoy and his followers never fully embraced the organized anarchist movement, being to some extent hostile towards it, and it was [[Ferdinand Domela Nieuwenhuis]] who established the pacifist trend within the anarchist movement.<ref name=woodcock>{{cite book | last = Woodcock | first = George | title = Anarchism: a History of Libertarian Ideas and Movements | publisher = Broadview Press | location = Peterborough | year = 2004 | isbn = 1551116294 }}</ref> |
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[[Free market|Free-market]] [[autarchy|autarchist]] [[Robert LeFevre]] was also famously an anarcho-pascifist, and taught his brand of [[libertarianism]] during the [[1960s]] at the [[Freedom School]], later [[Rampart College]].<ref name=rfc1>{{cite book | last = Doherty | first = Brian | title = Radicals for Capitalism: A Freewheeling History of the Modern American Libertarian Movement | publisher = PublicAffairs<sup>TM</sup> | location = New York | year = 2007 | isbn = 978-1-58648-572-6 | page = 312 }}</ref> [[Brian Doherty]] sums up the great wisdoms of LeFevrean lectures as delivering "the universal law that if you trespass on someone else's property, you'll make him mad, and you wouldn't want that, would you?"<ref name=rfc2>{{cite book | last = Doherty | first = Brian | title = Radicals for Capitalism: A Freewheeling History of the Modern American Libertarian Movement | publisher = PublicAffairs<sup>TM</sup> | location = New York | year = 2007 | isbn = 978-1-58648-572-6 | page = 315 }}</ref> Although often forgotten by libertarians today, LeRevre "preached a thoroughgoing pacifism that held it to be an impermissible violation of the property rights of an assailant to destroy the ropes he'd tied you up with (just so long as they were his ropes) and just as bad to take a necklace back from a blackguard who stole it from you as it was for the blackguard to take it from you in the first place.<ref name=rfc3>{{cite book | last = Doherty | first = Brian | title = Radicals for Capitalism: A Freewheeling History of the Modern American Libertarian Movement | publisher = PublicAffairs<sup>TM</sup> | location = New York | year = 2007 | isbn = 978-1-58648-572-6 | page = 316 }}</ref> |
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Given his dedication to pacifism, LeFevre also spoke out against war, a product of the state. He once gave a speech called "Prelude to Hell" to a local Lions Club about what it would be like for a typical American city to get nuked as a result of "those mighty, terrible, pointless conflicts that the modern state ineviably creates."<ref name=rfc4>{{cite book | last = Doherty | first = Brian | title = Radicals for Capitalism: A Freewheeling History of the Modern American Libertarian Movement | publisher = PublicAffairs<sup>TM</sup> | location = New York | year = 2007 | isbn = 978-1-58648-572-6 | page = 318 }}</ref> According to Doherty, LeFevre was "capable of facing down angry lieutenant colonels, who raged at his pacifistic refusal to fight for the flag, and explaining his theory of human rights so patiently, so guilelessly, that in the end the crusty colonel had to admit that LeFevre was right to stand his ground."<ref name=rfc5>{{cite book | last = Doherty | first = Brian | title = Radicals for Capitalism: A Freewheeling History of the Modern American Libertarian Movement | publisher = PublicAffairs<sup>TM</sup> | location = New York | year = 2007 | isbn = 978-1-58648-572-6 | page = 319 }}</ref> |
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According to Robert Smith, LeFevre was convinced of the power of non-violent resistence after a run-in with a union. "I remember him telling the story," says Smith, "of union goons busting into a radio station he worked at. And he just fell flat on the ground and lay there. They were so nonplussed they walked out without beating the shit out of him. That convinced him of the principles of nonviolence."<ref name=rfc5>{{cite book | last = Doherty | first = Brian | title = Radicals for Capitalism: A Freewheeling History of the Modern American Libertarian Movement | publisher = PublicAffairs<sup>TM</sup> | location = New York | year = 2007 | isbn = 978-1-58648-572-6 | page = 319 }}</ref> |
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Other notable anarcho-pacifist historical figures include [[Ammon Hennacy]] and [[Jean-Paul Sartre]] (for a brief period from 1939–40).<ref>Taylor, John, "Abandoning Pacifism: The Case of Sartre", ''Journal of European Studies'', Vol. 89, 1993</ref> [[Ursula K. Le Guin]] has identified pacifist anarchism as the major utopic element in her novel ''[[The Dispossessed]]''.<ref>[[Ursula K. Le Guin|Le Guin, Ursula K.]] (1989). "A Non-Euclidean View of California as a Cold Place to Be", ''[[Dancing at the Edge of the World]]''. New York: Grove Press. ISBN 978080211105</ref> [[Sweden|Swedish]] anarchist writer [[Per Bylund]] has also expressed anarcho-pacifist inclinations.<ref>[http://www.perbylund.com/blog/?p=43 "My take on anarcho-pacifism"] on PerBylund.com accessed at [[January 24]] [[2008]]</ref> |
Other notable anarcho-pacifist historical figures include [[Ammon Hennacy]] and [[Jean-Paul Sartre]] (for a brief period from 1939–40).<ref>Taylor, John, "Abandoning Pacifism: The Case of Sartre", ''Journal of European Studies'', Vol. 89, 1993</ref> [[Ursula K. Le Guin]] has identified pacifist anarchism as the major utopic element in her novel ''[[The Dispossessed]]''.<ref>[[Ursula K. Le Guin|Le Guin, Ursula K.]] (1989). "A Non-Euclidean View of California as a Cold Place to Be", ''[[Dancing at the Edge of the World]]''. New York: Grove Press. ISBN 978080211105</ref> [[Sweden|Swedish]] anarchist writer [[Per Bylund]] has also expressed anarcho-pacifist inclinations.<ref>[http://www.perbylund.com/blog/?p=43 "My take on anarcho-pacifism"] on PerBylund.com accessed at [[January 24]] [[2008]]</ref> |
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*[[Anarcho-punk]] |
*[[Anarcho-punk]] |
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*[[Anarchism and violence]] |
*[[Anarchism and violence]] |
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*[[Christian anarchism]] |
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== References == |
== References == |
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Revision as of 22:57, 27 January 2008
Anarcho-pacifism (also pacifist anarchism or anarchist pacifism) is a form of anarchism which completely rejects the use of violence in any form for any purpose.
History
Anarchist pacifism emerged shortly before World War II in Holland, Great Britain and the United States and was a strong presence in the subsequent campaigns for nuclear disarmament. The absence of pacifist sentiment before this time was such that propaganda of the deed was a prevalent form of anarchist activity in the 19th century and that as late as 1881, anarchists were agreed on the general inevitability of violence. Leo Tolstoy, though he opposed the label "anarchism", was a major early influence on anarcho-pacifists, and on Mohandas Gandhi, an Indian independence leader and pacifist who self-identified as an anarchist. However, Tolstoy and his followers never fully embraced the organized anarchist movement, being to some extent hostile towards it, and it was Ferdinand Domela Nieuwenhuis who established the pacifist trend within the anarchist movement.[1]
Free-market autarchist Robert LeFevre was also famously an anarcho-pascifist, and taught his brand of libertarianism during the 1960s at the Freedom School, later Rampart College.[2] Brian Doherty sums up the great wisdoms of LeFevrean lectures as delivering "the universal law that if you trespass on someone else's property, you'll make him mad, and you wouldn't want that, would you?"[3] Although often forgotten by libertarians today, LeRevre "preached a thoroughgoing pacifism that held it to be an impermissible violation of the property rights of an assailant to destroy the ropes he'd tied you up with (just so long as they were his ropes) and just as bad to take a necklace back from a blackguard who stole it from you as it was for the blackguard to take it from you in the first place.[4]
Given his dedication to pacifism, LeFevre also spoke out against war, a product of the state. He once gave a speech called "Prelude to Hell" to a local Lions Club about what it would be like for a typical American city to get nuked as a result of "those mighty, terrible, pointless conflicts that the modern state ineviably creates."[5] According to Doherty, LeFevre was "capable of facing down angry lieutenant colonels, who raged at his pacifistic refusal to fight for the flag, and explaining his theory of human rights so patiently, so guilelessly, that in the end the crusty colonel had to admit that LeFevre was right to stand his ground."[6]
According to Robert Smith, LeFevre was convinced of the power of non-violent resistence after a run-in with a union. "I remember him telling the story," says Smith, "of union goons busting into a radio station he worked at. And he just fell flat on the ground and lay there. They were so nonplussed they walked out without beating the shit out of him. That convinced him of the principles of nonviolence."[6]
Other notable anarcho-pacifist historical figures include Ammon Hennacy and Jean-Paul Sartre (for a brief period from 1939–40).[7] Ursula K. Le Guin has identified pacifist anarchism as the major utopic element in her novel The Dispossessed.[8] Swedish anarchist writer Per Bylund has also expressed anarcho-pacifist inclinations.[9]
Ideological variance
While anarcho-pacifism is most commonly associated with religious anarchism, such as Tolstoyian Christian anarchism and Buddhist anarchism, irreligious or even anti-religious tendencies have emerged. The punk rock band Crass polemicised a variant of anarcho-pacifism whilst at the same time explicitly rejecting all religions, especially the symbols of 'establishment' Christian mythology, even going so far as to incur the threat of legal prosecution in England for criminal blasphemy due to their composition "Reality Asylum".[10] Opposition to the use of violence has not prohibited anarcho-pacifists from accepting the principle of resistance or even revolutionary action provided it does not result in violence; in fact it was their approval of such forms of opposition to power that lead anarcho-pacifists to endorse the anarcho-syndicalist concept of the general strike as the great revolutionary weapon.[1]
Related topics
References
- ^ a b Woodcock, George (2004). Anarchism: a History of Libertarian Ideas and Movements. Peterborough: Broadview Press. ISBN 1551116294.
- ^ Doherty, Brian (2007). Radicals for Capitalism: A Freewheeling History of the Modern American Libertarian Movement. New York: PublicAffairsTM. p. 312. ISBN 978-1-58648-572-6.
- ^ Doherty, Brian (2007). Radicals for Capitalism: A Freewheeling History of the Modern American Libertarian Movement. New York: PublicAffairsTM. p. 315. ISBN 978-1-58648-572-6.
- ^ Doherty, Brian (2007). Radicals for Capitalism: A Freewheeling History of the Modern American Libertarian Movement. New York: PublicAffairsTM. p. 316. ISBN 978-1-58648-572-6.
- ^ Doherty, Brian (2007). Radicals for Capitalism: A Freewheeling History of the Modern American Libertarian Movement. New York: PublicAffairsTM. p. 318. ISBN 978-1-58648-572-6.
- ^ a b Doherty, Brian (2007). Radicals for Capitalism: A Freewheeling History of the Modern American Libertarian Movement. New York: PublicAffairsTM. p. 319. ISBN 978-1-58648-572-6.
- ^ Taylor, John, "Abandoning Pacifism: The Case of Sartre", Journal of European Studies, Vol. 89, 1993
- ^ Le Guin, Ursula K. (1989). "A Non-Euclidean View of California as a Cold Place to Be", Dancing at the Edge of the World. New York: Grove Press. ISBN 978080211105
- ^ "My take on anarcho-pacifism" on PerBylund.com accessed at January 24 2008
- ^ Aitch, Iain. "'Why should we accept any less than a better way of doing things?'". Guardian Unlimited Arts. The Guardian. Retrieved 2007-12-26.
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