 |
This article or section has multiple issues. Please help improve the article or discuss these issues on the talk page.
|
Criticisms of anarchism originate from groups it opposes as well as related theories such as Marxism[citation needed]. Specific ideas within anarchism have been criticized, as has anarchism generally. Some charges leveled against anarchism by its critics are utopianism, authoritarianism, tendency towards violence, hypocrisy and being an expression of the class interests of the petite bourgeoisie[citation needed].
Contents |
Allegation of utopianism
Anarchism is often labeled by some of its critics as unfeasible, or plain utopian, even by those who agree that it may be an appealing principle. For example, former European history professor Carl Landauer, in his book European Socialism claimed that anarchism is 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."[1]
Tacit authoritarianism
In recent decades, some schools of 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.[2] The anarcho-capitalist 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 Confederación Nacional del Trabajo (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.[3] Many anarcho-syndicalists, anarcho-communists, and other types of anarchists have criticized the CNT's mistakes during and since the events of the Spanish Civil War.[4]
Violence
Since a section of the anarchist movement has often been associated with violence and destruction[5], it has often been portrayed as being inherently violent.[6] 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[5]. Communist 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?"[7]
Alleged hypocrisy
Some critics point to the alleged sexist[8] and racist views of some prominent anarchists, notably Proudhon and Bakunin, as examples of alleged hypocrisy. Some anarchists criticise the modern anarchist movement for continuing to be Eurocentric and reference the impact of anarchist thinkers like Proudhon on fascism through groups like Cercle Proudhon.[9]
Class character
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.[10]
References
- ^ Landauer, Carl. European Socialism: A History of Ideas and Movements (1959)
- ^ Debord, Guy. "paragraph 91". Society of the Spectacle. translated by Ken Knabb. London: Rebel Press. ISBN 0-946061-12-2.
- ^ Caplan, Bryan. "The Anarcho-Statists of Spain", An Anarchy FAQ
- ^ Dolgoff, Sam. "Controversy: Anarchists in the Spanish Revolution"
- ^ a b Fowler, R.B. The Western Political Quarterly, Vol. 25, No. 4. (Dec. 1972), pp. 743-744
- ^ Armster, R. Contemporary anarchist studies: an introductory anthology of anarchy in the academy, Page 90
- ^ On Authority
- ^ Jenny P. d'Hericourt, "Contemporary feminist critic of Proudhon"
- ^ Anarchist Integralism
- ^ G. V. Plekhanov Anarchism and Socialism
External links
- "What criticisms have been made of anarchism?" from Bryan Caplan's Anarchy F.A.Q.
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
