Anarchism: A Criticism and History of the Anarchist TheoryZenker, E. V. (Ernst Viktor)
History
Anarchism: A Criticism and History of the Anarchist Theory
Zenker, E. V. (Ernst Viktor)
Anarchism
England, the ancient refuge of political offenders, although it has
sheltered Bakunin, Kropotkin, Reclus, Most, Penkert, Louise Michel,
Cafiero, Malatesta, and other Anarchist leaders, and still shelters
some of them; although London is rich in Anarchist clubs and
newspapers, meetings and congresses, yet possesses no Anarchism
"native to the soil," and has formed at all times rather a kind of
exchange or market-place for Anarchist ideas, motive forces, and the
literature of agitation. London is especially the headquarters of
German Anarchism; the English working classes have, however, always
regarded their ideas very coldly, while the Government have always
regarded the eccentric proceedings of the Anarchists, as long as they
confined themselves merely to talking and writing, in the most logical
spirit of the doctrine of _laisser faire_. Certainly, when Most went a
little too far in his _Freedom_, the full power of the English law was
put in motion against him, and condemned him on one occasion to
sixteen, and on another to eighteen months' imprisonment with hard
labour. But of greater effect than this punishment was the fact that
in all London no printer could be found to set up the type for
_Freedom_. Thereupon Most left thankless Old England grumbling, and
went to the New World, where, however, he was, if possible, taken even
less seriously.
Spain was the only country where Anarchism, even under the new impulse
of the London Congress, really kept in the main to its old
Collectivist principles. In consequence of the movement proceeding
from the London Congress, the Spanish Anarchists called a national
congress at Barcelona on September 24 and 25, 1881, at which, in the
presence of one hundred and forty delegates, a programme and statutes
of organisation were drawn up and a "Spanish Federation of the
International Working-Men's Association" was founded. Its aim was to
be the political, economic, and social emancipation of all the working
classes by the establishment of a form of society founded upon a
Collectivist basis, and guaranteeing the unconditional autonomy of the
free and federally united communes. The only means of reaching this
aim was declared to be a revolutionary upheaval carried out by force.
The organisation sketched out at the Barcelona Congress is quite in
Proudhon's spirit; the arrangement of its members was to be a double
one, both by trades and districts, and both divisions had mutually to
enlarge each other. The basis of the trade organisation was to be
formed by the single local groups; these were to be united into local
associations, these into provincial associations, and these again into
a national association, the "Union." Monthly, quarterly, and yearly
conferences, and the committees attached to them, were to form the
decisive and executive organs of these associations. Parallel with the
arrangement by trades was to be the territorial arrangement, all the
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account