Anarchism

Now we may turn to a theory that stands for a categorical rejection of the State as an ‘unnecessary evil’ and advocates liberation of the individual from any form of authority. Anarchism, as a political philosophy, not only rejects state sovereignty but denounces any form of authority—yoke of private property, authority of religion and yoke of state and law. The basic Anarchist anti-state thought emerges from their belief that origin of state and any form of authority is due to force. As such, any authority or relationship based on force impedes fuller development of the individual and progress towards perfection. Prominent advocates of the Anarchist doctrine include William Godwin, Pierre Joseph Proudhon, Michael Bakunin and Prince Peter Kropotkin.

Anarchism mounts its criticism of the state and its power or sovereignty using the orthodox Marxian framework. The goal of free organization without any coercive authority advocated by Anarchism is similar to that stage in the post-revolutionary phase, which in the Marxian scheme of things comes after the state ‘withers away’. According to Kropotkin, Anarchism is ‘a principle or theory of life and conduct under which, society is conceived without government—harmony in such a society being obtained not by submission to law, or by obedience to any authority, but by free agreements concluded between the various groups, territorial and professional …’¹²¹ Thus, government or any authority or law stands abolished and a society based on free groups is envisaged. All Anarchists were driven by the vision that only in an Anarchist society the individual would be able to develop his full capacity and to realize his full potential.

Anarchists are opposed to any form of government or law or state. They believe that the State has been an instrument to protect monopolies and property, which belong to all. Government and law have so far been used to ensure what has been produced by all is shared unjustly. Anarchists show that the state is ‘superfluous’ and reason out that the State is not necessary. They invoke concrete illustrations and show that the state is not necessary for education, defence, security, art, science, or even business matters. In short, we can say that the Anarchist advocates a theory of abolition of state, law, government, courts, private property, religion and any form of power that coerces individual and corrupts men’s nature. They declare the State to be superfluous, government as unnecessary, private property as theft, religion as an ally of the state, and power as corrupting. Thus, we have a theory, which is an unmitigated denial of any authority and advocates abolition of the State.