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Anarchism Quotes

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Anarchism Quotes

“Anarchists are extreme libertarian socialists , "libertarian" meaning the demand for freedom from prohibition, and "socialist" meaning the demand for social equality . ...Complete freedom implies equality, since if there are rich and poor, the poor cannot be permitted to take liberties with riches. Complete equality implies freedom, since those who suffer restrictions cannot be the equals of those who impose them.”

IfsSufferingSocialPoorLibertyRichDemandExtremesLibertarianRichesSocialistRestrictionAnarchismAnarchistRich And PoorProhibitionComplete FreedomSocial Equality
Book:What is Anarchism?: An Introduction
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“Anarchism is opposed to states, armies, slavery, the wages system, the landlord system, prisons, monopoly capitalism, oligopoly capitalism, state capitalism, bureaucracy, meritocracy, theocracy, revolutionary governments, patriarchy, matriarchy, monarchy, oligarchy, protection rackets, intimidation by gangsters, and every other kind of coercive institution. In other words, anarchism opposes government in all its forms.”

KindStatesGovernmentFormCapitalismArmyInstitutionsSlaveryPrisonProtectionPatriarchyWagesBureaucracyMonopolyAnarchismMonarchyGangstersIntimidationOligarchyRacketLandlordTheocracyMatriarchyOligopoly
Author:Donald Rooum
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“Creeds like pacifism or anarchism, which seem on the surface to imply a complete renunciation of power, rather encourage this habit of mind. For if you have embraced a creed which appears to be free from the ordinary dirtiness of politics ... the more you are in the right (and) everybody else should be bullied into thinking otherwise.”

IfsThinkingShouldMindSeemsAtheismHabitOrdinaryPositive AtheismSurfaceCreedsAnarchismBulliedRenunciationPacifismHabits Of MindDirtiness
Book:All Art Is Propaganda: Critical Essays
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“The realizations of anarchist ideas and practices are like sociopolitical ecosystems. Local versions resemble each other, but they are endlessly adaptive and everywhere different to meet their needs in their environments. Anarchism can be adapted to meet the culture, economics, ecology, and politics of various people or communities. That's the beauty of it.”

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Author:Scott Crow
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“If we trace origins of anarchism in the United States, then probably Henry David Thoreau is the closest you can come to an early American anarchist. You do not really encounter anarchism until after the Civil War, when you have European anarchists, especially German anarchists, coming to the United States. They actually begin to organize. The first time that anarchism has an organized force and becomes publicly known in the United States is in Chicago at the time of Haymarket Affair.”

IfsFirstsWarStatesForceUnitedKnownUnited StatesFirst TimeAffairCivil WarEncountersOrganizedChicagoClosestOrganizeAnarchismAnarchistDavid Thoreau
Author:Howard Zinn
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“Transcendentalism is, we might say, an early form of anarchism. The Transcendentalists also did not call themselves anarchists, but there are anarchist ideas in their thinking and in their literature. They were all suspicious of authority. We might say that the Transcendentalism played a role in creating an atmosphere of skepticism towards authority, towards government.”

ThinkingIdeasGovernmentMightFormLiteratureRolesAuthorityCreatingAtmosphereSkepticismSuspiciousAnarchismAnarchistTranscendentalism
Author:Howard Zinn
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“The term anarchism has become associated with two phenomena with which real anarchist don't want to associate themselves with. One is violence, and the other is disorder or chaos. The popular conception of anarchism is on the one hand bomb-throwing and terrorism, and on the other hand no rules, no regulations, no discipline, everybody does what they want, confusion, etc. That is why there is a reluctance to use the term anarchism.”

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Author:Howard Zinn
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“No doubt that anarchist ideas are frightening to those in power. People in power can tolerate liberal ideas. They can tolerate ideas that call for reforms, but they cannot tolerate the idea that there will be no state, no central authority. So it is very important for them to ridicule the idea of anarchism to create this impression of anarchism as violent and chaotic. It is useful for them.”

PeopleImportantIdeasStatesDoubtAuthorityViolentImpressionReformNo DoubtFrighteningTolerateRidiculeAnarchismAnarchistChaotic
Author:Howard Zinn
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“The idea of direct action against the evil that you want to overcome is a kind of common denominator for anarchist ideas and anarchist movements. I think one of the most important principles of anarchism is that you cannot separate means and ends. Anarchism requires means and ends to be in line with one another. I think this is in fact one of the distinguishing characteristics of anarchism.”

ThinkingWantKindMeanImportantIdeasEndsFactsActionEvilLinesCommonPrinciplesMovementDirectOvercomingCharacteristicsAnarchismAnarchistCommon DenominatorDirect Action
Author:Howard Zinn
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“Freedom is the very essence of life, the impelling force in all intellectual and social development, the creator of every new outlook for the future of mankind. The liberation of man from economic exploitation and from intellectual and political oppression, which finds its finest expression in the world-philosophy of Anarchism, is the first prerequisite for the evolution of a higher social culture and a new humanity.”

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Book:Anarcho-Syndicalism: Theory and Practice
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“Anarchism is a definite intellectual current in the life of our times, whose adherents advocate the abolition of economic monopolies and of all political and social coercive institutions within society. In place of the present capitalistic economic order Anarchists would have a free association of all productive forces based upon co-operative labour, which would have as its sole purpose the satisfying of the necessary requirements of every member of society, and would no longer have in view the special interest of privileged minorities within the social union.”

PoliticalPurposeOrderForceSocialInterestViewsEconomicSpecialMembersIntellectualInstitutionsUnionsCurrentsOur TimeProductiveMinoritiesLabourSatisfyingAssociationSoleDefiniteRequirementsPrivilegedMonopolyAnarchismAnarchistSpecial InterestsAbolitionEconomic Order
Book:Anarcho-Syndicalism: Theory and Practice
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“Anarchism is grounded in a rather definite social-psychological hypothesis: that forceful, graceful and intelligent behaviour occurs only when there is an uncoerced and direct response to the physical and social environment; that in most human affairs, more harm than good results from compulsion, top-down direction, bureaucratic planning, pre-ordained curricula, jails, conscription, states.”

HumansStatesSocialResultsEnvironmentDirectIntelligentResponseAffairHarmPlanningPsychologicalJailAnarchyBehaviourDefiniteGroundedHypothesisCompulsionAnarchismTop DownConscriptionSocial Environment
Book:Like a conquered province: the moral ambiguity of America
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“Whatever its future success as a historical movement, anarchism will remain a fundamental part of human experience, for the drive for freedom is one of our deepest needs and the vision of a free society is one of our oldest dreams. Neither can ever be fully repressed; both will outlive all rulers and their States.”

NeedsHumansStatesDreamVisionMovementFundamentalsHistoricalAnarchyRulersHuman ExperienceAnarchismFree SocietyRepressedFuture Success
Book:Demanding the Impossible: A History of Anarchism
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“With subjectivity in philosophy, anarchism in politics goes hand in hand. Already during Luther's lifetime, unwelcome and unacknowledged disciples had developed the doctrine of Anabaptism, which for a time dominated the city of Munster. The Anabaptists repudiated all law since they held that good men will be guided at every moment by the Holy Spirit, who can not be bound by formulas. From this premise they arrive at communism and sexual promiscuity; they were therefore exterminated after a heroic resistance.”

MenPhilosophyMomentsHandsLawSpiritCitiesHolyLifetimeBoundsResistanceDoctrineCommunismHoly SpiritGood ManFormulasHeroicDiscipleCan NotLutherPremisesAnarchismHand In HandSubjectivityPromiscuityUnwelcome
Author:Bertrand Russell
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“Anarchism may be described as the doctrine that all the affairs of men should be managed by individuals or voluntary associations, and that the State should be abolished..... Nor does the Anarchistic scheme furnish any code of morals to be imposed upon the individual. "Mind your own business" is its own moral law. Interference with another's business is a crime and the only crime, and as such may properly be resisted.”

MenShouldMindMayDoeStatesLawIndividualMoralCrimeAffairDoctrineCodeAssociationSchemesAnarchismInterferenceOwn BusinessMind Your Own BusinessMoral LawMind Your Own
Author:Benjamin Tucker
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“If I rule out violent anarchism, there remains pacifist, anti-nationalist, anti-capitalist, moral, and anti-democratic anarchism (i.e., that which is hostile to the falsified democracy of bourgeois states). There remains the anarchism which acts by means of persuasion, by the creation of small groups and networks, denouncing falsehood and oppression, aiming at a true overturning of authorities of all kinds as people at the bottom speak and organize themselves.”

PeopleIfsKindMeanStatesSpeakMoralDemocracyGroupsCreationAuthorityRemainsDemocraticBottomViolentAll KindsOppressionCapitalistFalsehoodOrganizePersuasionHostileAnarchismBourgeoisSmall GroupsPacifist
Author:Jacques Ellul
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“Anarchism means all sort of things to different people but the traditional anarchists' movements assumed that there'd be a highly organized society, just one organized from below with direct participation and so on. Actually, one piece of the media confusion has a basis because there really are two different strands in the occupy movement, both important, but different.”

PeopleMeanTwoImportantDifferentPiecesMediaMovementDirectBasesConfusionTraditionalOrganizedJust OneParticipationDifferent PeoplesAnarchismAnarchistStrandsOne PieceOccupy Movement
Author:Noam Chomsky
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“Anarchism as the name for an ideal total social form is a really complicated question. I have never found satisfying answers from anarchists about the definition of the state they are opposed to. Most are opposed to coercive forms of state power. Questions about large scale systems of organization and how they will be funded - those are questions it's hard to get anarchists to give good answers to.”

GivingHardStatesFormFoundNamesSocialAnswersIdealsOrganizationDefinitionsComplicatedScalesSatisfyingAnarchismAnarchistLarge Scale
Author:Cynthia Kauffman
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“In the early period of Left struggles, in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, there were many different trajectories for the struggle, whether you call it 'syndicalism' or 'anarchism' or, at the time, 'social democracy', eventually 'Communism', these were different theories of struggle. But all of them shared a basic understanding that the people...experience exploitation, they experience oppression, but they're not prepared to rise up.”

PeopleDifferentLeftSocialUnderstandingStruggleDemocracyCenturyTheoryPeriodsLatePreparedOppressionCommunismExploitationTwentieth CenturyAnarchismTrajectorySocial Democracy
Author:Vijay Prashad
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“You see, one strand...of anarchism believed that you needed to use essentially homeopathic doses of terror by assassinating people, et cetera, the so-called 'propaganda of the deed', and that this propaganda of the deed would rouse people up, give them confidence to rise up. Another section believed 'No, it was not by seeing something happen that people get confidence, but it's by acting', in other words, the movements must go among the people and produce small struggles, bigger struggles, to give people greater and greater confidence.”

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Author:Vijay Prashad
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“I learned that [Trotskyism] were no different from the Stalinists, and they expelled me, which is the typical Marxist-Leninist way of dealing with dissenters. From that point on, I migrated by the 1950s into anarchism, increasingly emphasizing decentralization. Also, I made the all-important step of bridging my social philosophy with ecology. I did that in 1952 and went on to write a whole series of books developing an anarcho-ecological approach.”

WayWritingMadeImportantBookDifferentPhilosophyWholeSocialStepsApproachSeriesDevelopingEcologyTypicalAnarchismEcologicalMarxistDecentralization
Author:Murray Bookchin
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“I've been criticized by many anarchists as believing that anarchism is impossible without affluence. On the contrary, I think affluence is very destructive to anarchism. If you are absorbed by that commodity world then you're not going to move toward any radical positions, you're going to move toward a stance of protectiveness.”

IfsThinkingWorldBelieveMovingImpossiblePositionContraryRadicalDestructiveCommodityAnarchismAnarchistStanceAffluenceProtectiveness
Author:Murray Bookchin
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