Let's Call It What It is: Anarchy

What Is Anarchy?

Ideology, of itself, is really a form of philosophy. Thus, it can be said anarchy is a philosophical ideology.

The History of Anarchy

Primarily, anarchy began as a 19th century movement established by French philosopher, socialist and Libertarian political writer, Pierre Joseph Proudhon, considered the "Father of Anarchism."

Born in Besancon, France in 1809, to a poor laboring family, his first studies began at a local secular school. By age 19, he was forced to find work in a printing establishment in Besancon.

By 1837, Proudhon published his first philological treatise, "Essai de grammaire generale." As a philologist, it was his job to study of literary texts, as well as oral and written records, the establish their authenticity and original form, and determine their meaning. One year later, he was awarded a pension by the Academy of Besancon. It would be forfeited in 1840. The forfeiture was due to his publishing his now most famous tome, "What is Property? (English translation)"

To understand anarchy better, it is necessary to understand that Proudhon questioned the ownership of property in a pamphlet with the title (English Translation) "Property is Theft."

This led to his arrest and prosecution for holding such revolutionary opinions that was a backhanded insult to the French government and then, King Louis Phillipe I.

The jury was not capable of understanding his abstruse arguments and thus his case was dismissed.

In his next and most important political treatise, Systeme des contradictions economiques ou philosophie de la misere in 1846, he outlined his revolutionary doctrines.

When he moved to Lyon in 1843, he began an active radical movement there. An attempt to operate an interest free bank based on gratuitous credit soon failed. In 1849, he was sent to prison for his violent attacks on the government.

As a result of his imprisonment, he became less and less an active agitator and polemicist, instead devoting himself to political reform in government.

Not one to be silenced, in 1858, he published "De la justice dans la revolution et dans l'eglise that aroused a storm of protest from the Church and other institutions he attacked. .He was forced to flee France for Brussels. When he returned to Paris,years later much of his former activism and attacks on formalized government and organizations he'd attacked faded. He died in 1865 in Paris, leaving behind the remnants of his philosophical ideology popularized in his book, "What is Property?" among a wide field of anarchistic proponents.

The Formal Definition of Anarchy

The formal definition of anarchy is holding the belief that society should be controlled entirely by voluntarily organized groups and not by the political state.

Coercion, according to anarchistic doctrine is to be dispensed with in order that each individual may attain his most complete development.

Most anarchists lean heavily toward a syndicalist structure of these voluntary groups under which goods are exchanged without profit with participants sharing equally in the produce.

Anarchism is divided between those who favor nonviolent means to attain their goals and those who use terror, "the propaganda of the deed."

There were two prior major anarchist uprisings in the US. The Haymarket Square riot of 1886 and the of US President McKinley in 1901 by anarchists. This assassination led to the US prohibiting anarchists from entering the country.

The Haymarket Square Riot

Though it is rarely mentioned in most history books today, the Haymarket Square Riot took place in Chicago’s Haymarket Square. It began as a labor protest that turned violent when someone threw a bomb at police. Eight people were left dead.

According to the dictates of the times, the bombing attack on police was viewed as a violent form of anarchy.

It was later determined that the emerging American labor movement included a radical faction of communists, socialists and anarchists who believed the capitalist system should be dismantled due to exploitation of workers. Numbered among those radical labor protesters were immigrants, many of whom were from Germany.

The Assassination of President William McKinley

President William McKinley served two terms, chief among his economic policies was his questioning of his own high tariff doctrines in September 1901.

In an about face, McKinley advocated a world reduction in customs rates by way of reciprocal treaties. With his proposal in Congress, he would not live to see it adopted.

He was killed on September 14, 1901 by anarchist, Leon Czolgosz. from Alpena, Michigan who was a steel worker at Cleveland Rolling Mill Company. When the Crash of 1893, closed this company, Czolgosz's interest in labor strikes and anarchy. Downtrodden, he moved to his father's farm in Ohio.

He became more interested in political radicals like Emma Goldman, to whom he expressed disappointment in socialists. She introduced him to her anarchist friends like Emil Schilliing and Abraham Isaak, publisher of the Free Society newspaper.

He attended the Pan American Expo in Buffalo,NY which President McKinley also attended. armed with a concealed .32 caliber Iver Johnson "Safety Automatic Revolver he purchased a four days prior.

He President McKinley, standing in a receiving line inside the Temple of Music where the president greeted the public for 10 minutes. at 4:07, Czolgosz reached the front of the line. The president extended his hand to Czolgosz who slapped it away. He shot the President in the abdomen twice at point blank range. But, the first bullet ricocheted off a coat button and lodged in McKinley's jacket; the other seriously wounded him in his stomach.

President McKinley died eight days later on September 14 of an infection which had spread from the wound.

Czolgosz was charged with first degree murder and died by electrocution.

Is White Nationalism Linked to Anarchy?

White nationalism on its face is racism. But, if you look behind the face of racism, you see how easily white nationalism is linked to anarchy.

White Nationalists hold that white people should maintain their majority in majority-white countries, maintain their political and economic dominance, and that their cultures should be foremost. So while the focus is pivotally racist on white people, it maintains the same basis of political and economic dominance over those they consider inferior.

White Nationalists and those who espouse it behave in the same radical ways out of their specific ideological philosophy as anarchists also do.

There may even exist a divergent group within White Nationalists known as National Anarchists who are radical, anti state, anti capitalist and anti-Marxist ideologues.

As with anarchists,ideally power rests in the hands of voluntary hate groups such as "Proud Boys," a neo Fascist, radical far right group. This group was was started in 2016 by Gavin McInnes, co founder and former commentator on Vice Media.

Proud Boys is open to men only and openly promotes political violence as anarchists do.

In 2018, USA Today reported that the number of hate groups rose to its highest levels in 20 years.

Anarchy on Our Doorsteps?

If you study those who espouse anarchy, there a single thread that seems to link all anarchists and hate group members: Rejection of authority which in their ideological view does not justify itself.

We hear labels today like "far right, far left, progressives, centrists and Evangelists. The reality is that anarchy is not a label but an attempt to take freedom from others. You can be far right and be killed by an anarchist if you dissent from their directives. You can be far left and speak out against anyone who tries to demolish your government and be mowed down by an angry anarchist.

It isn't that all anarchists are violent savages. It is that ALL anarchists want to possess autonomous authority, the very issue they claim to be most at odds with.

The basic premise of authority that justifies itself is the foundation of an organized society. However, of itself, authority can be easily bastardized for psychological, emotional and sociological power. This is proves anarchy has no basic use.

How close is the US to anarchy on our doorsteps? It is as close as the next knock on your door by an anti government hater group member.

The entire force behind today's anarchists is to demolish the US government and replace it with a small powerful self appointed group.

It is true that US government and democracy is not perfect. The Founding Fathers didn't expect it to be perfect. Is anarchy perfect?

The brilliance of the Preamble to the US Constitution states it best:

"We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of States.

In anarchy, there is no perfect union. There is only promulgated authority of the few for the many. There is no real union either because anarchy can be violent depending on the attitudes and interpretation of "authority."

Thus, a society dependent on the whims of a self appointed voluntary group that grabs authority for the purpose of dissent may be the first step toward dissolution of civilization as we know it.