Curious on anarchism

[Fedorov]

Well, as the title says I want to learn more about anarchism. I know this forum is pack full of you guys so I'm sure you can give some good information. Anyway, I'm specifically interested in any books that can give a good non-biased breakdown on what exactly the ideology is (i know there are different "flavors"). I've been reading a good amount of Leninist and Trotsky stuff and now want to explore this. Now a little more specifically, is there government or any organization in sense that we know today or....well I'm just ignorant on this topic.

[A_Ciarra]

Yay Anarchism!

I would start you off by saying that we don't need external government to organize or structure our lives. We would not fall into chaos without these external thugs. We can organize as a people, for the people - and do so differently, in different communities. We could form inter-dependent communities, and as some like, be completely autonomous individuals with very little organization... Anyway the point is we don't need heirarchical authorities deciding important issues about our lives for us, or clamping down on their whims. We need to free ourselves from all this shit, not to mention break away from this system so that we no longer lend it support in their sickening actions around this planet!!

I have a myspace page where I list 4 or 5 very good basic links on anarchism. You may take a peak if you wish. http://www.myspace.com/asannie Read down the left column and you will catch all the links. Be sure to catch the Anarchism flyer link 1/2 way down the page (you won't miss it).

[Fedorov]

So from what I gathered its rather the elimination of national governments and just organization on the community level. But what of the problems of supply and demand, say how would industry that requires high amounts of organization from different locals work? What of the military? Say you are nation X that is anarchist and nation Y for whatever reason decides to invade, wouldn't the presence of an army(its own) be too powerful for it to one day take over? I know this is a lot and rather unorganized jumble of thoughts.

*nice page by the way A_Ciarra

[A_Ciarra]

If you read nothing else, make sure it's this flyer (the same one referred to in my above post). http://struggle.ws/pdfs/whatis.pdf

Then for very extensive information see Infoshop (home of the main anarchism FAQ) http://infoshop.org/index.php?id=Home :star:

[A_Ciarra]

That is where worker's councils and some federalism could come in. But basically we can organize on a large scale, and keep it all pretty fair a long as we are organizing by new principles in trade, co-ownership and universal solidarity etc.

Look into: worker's councils, parecon (participatory economics), direct democracy, mutual aid, etc.

I'm actually still learning about those issues, so if any other anarchist can chip in on that question, I'm always into more info there too.

Parecon http://www.zmag.org/parecon/writings/wetzel_emancipation.htm

A page on mutual aid (but this is more about the reasons for solidarity and sticking together). http://www.efn.org/~danr/mal_maid.html (http://www.efn.org/%7Edanr/mal_maid.html)

And I don't mean to lead you off the site, but this dude is really into methods of organizing (post revolution) on a large scale.
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=10879055

[Cult of Reason]

Really, the best resource "out there" that I know of if you are interested in Anarchism and in getting answers about it that are reasonably comprehensive for the space is the Anarchist FAQ:

http://www.infoshop.org/faq/

Keep in mind however, all the answers are long and, therefore, the entire document is looooooooong. ;)

[A_Ciarra]

The whole Infoshop web site is just amazing, a wonderful resource all around as well as a networking resource! The FAQ is day's a week or so worth of reading, but absolutely excellent. The draw back other than length, is that someone very new to anarchism should almost have Cliff Notes for it. Very basic answers should be answered first, or it's the Infoshop FAQ becomes tedious and sluggish.

[A_Ciarra]

I just looked at the Revolutionary Left Dictionary sticky thread above and it's great! Absolutely excellent links. God knows there is plenty of shit out there, but this set of links are choice.

[lombas]

I don't really like the parts of the FAQ where the content of "anarchy" is (yes, quite) dictated.

Anarchism, for me, is the movement towards a classless, stateless society; not the ideology that is meant to define what a classless, stateless society must be. It is up to the people to do this, beside, there are just no means available to force people to live in this or that model of society this or that anarchist claims to be true anarchy.

Thus, I think many anarchists should accept the twofold path to anarchy. First, to support a revolutionary movement or gradual endeavoring towards anarchy, second, to join an intellectual debate - probably on a (very) local scale - to discuss what will happen in a "state" (pun very intended) of anarchy.

[A_Ciarra]

I hear ya Lombas.

I myself view the Infoshop FAQ more as philosophical commentary to help people get their mind around the concepts of anarchism. I myself don't view the FAQ as any sort of a structural dictate, just a well communicated guide to help people formalize what anti-hierarchical concepts are all about.

I really think most anarchist's are right their with you in believing we should always be open and flexible rather than dogmatic. Obviously most anarchist's would agree on certain things such as boundries - knowing that "my rights stop where yours begin" (I do not have a right to violate you, in order to fulfill myself) and others. But that's getting into another topic.
I hear ya though. :cool:

[lombas]

I hear ya Lombas.

I myself view the Infoshop FAQ more as philosophical commentary to help people get their mind around the concepts of anarchism. I myself don't view the FAQ as any sort of a structural dictate, just a well communicated guide to help people formalize what anti-hierarchical concepts are all about.

I really think most anarchist's are right their with you in believing we should always be open and flexible rather than dogmatic. Obviously most anarchist's would agree on certain things such as boundries - knowing that "my rights stop where yours begin" (I do not have a right to violate you, in order to fulfill myself) and others. But that's getting into another topic.
I hear ya though. :cool:

;)

[Y Chwyldro Comiwnyddol Cymraeg]

join revlefts anarchist group and we have a thread on books:D

[F9]

anarchists group is public anyway!You can see them without join!;)

[Apollodorus]

Anyway, I'm specifically interested in any books that can give a good non-biased breakdown on what exactly the ideology is (i know there are different "flavors").

The two primary flavours are what I would call left-anarchism and right-anarchism. Left-anarchism was devised by Europeans like Bakunin and Proudhon, right-anarchism by American libertarians (not to be confused with European libertarianism) like Spooner and Tucker. They differ, as their names suggest, not only in their origins, but in their support for economic systems. Left-anarchism supports anarchism with socialism, syndicalism, collectivism or any other left-wing economics, while right-anarchism supports anarchism with right-wing economics, viz. the free market. This forum, by the way, is almost entirely composed of left-anarchists.

A good source of information about left-anarchism (and there are a lot of sub-varieties) would be, as comrade Y Chwyldro Comiwnyddol Cymraeg (I had to Ctrl + C that =P ) said, would be the anarchist forum. A good forum for right-anarchist discussion is www.anti-state.com , if you are interested.

[Fedorov]

Hmm... thanks for all the links and information, now only if I can muster 10 hours of free time...

[Os Cangaceiros]

The two primary flavours are what I would call left-anarchism and right-anarchism. Left-anarchism was devised by Europeans like Bakunin and Proudhon, right-anarchism by American libertarians (not to be confused with European libertarianism) like Spooner and Tucker. They differ, as their names suggest, not only in their origins, but in their support for economic systems. Left-anarchism supports anarchism with socialism, syndicalism, collectivism or any other left-wing economics, while right-anarchism supports anarchism with right-wing economics, viz. the free market. This forum, by the way, is almost entirely composed of left-anarchists.

A good source of information about left-anarchism (and there are a lot of sub-varieties) would be, as comrade Y Chwyldro Comiwnyddol Cymraeg (I had to Ctrl + C that =P ) said, would be the anarchist forum. A good forum for right-anarchist discussion is www.anti-state.com (http://www.anti-state.com) , if you are interested.

I don't know if I would classify people like Tucker as "right libertarians", per se. I think he and Spooner were sufficiently egalitarian as to warrant putting them closer to the left side of the spectrum than the right. People on the hard right of anarchist ideology would be people like Gustave Molinari, I would think.

Anyway, for the OP, I would utilize the Anarchist Archives. It's a great resource for primary sources that I like quite a bit.