Nihilist anarchism

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Presently, nihilist anarchy is more a collection of scattered individuals than a tendency. Nihilist anarchists approach society with skepticism and they attempt to avoid the pitfalls of speculation, even to the point of denying a future vision of society. Some focus on the need to address the problems of the present, but do so without subscribing to the models that are seen to hold back other radicals. By doing this, they reject "progress, evolution, the general strike, the insurrection to end all insurrections, or the supremacy of theory over action."[1]

[edit] Revolutionary Skepticism

An ethical revolution does not necessarily create an ethical society.

No future is as possible as any future.
Reject the world as it is. It must be superceded before it can be valued.

All attempts to inflict radical change have failed, giving legitimacy to the idea that action is not bound by moral restraint.

There is no single method of revolt nor is there a grand scheme behind it. When these ideas are imposed is when we are promised more of the same (reaction and failure).

Revolt is not found in moral living.

Revolt despite the consequences is worth living.

Revolt is without hope, but not without casualties.

[edit] Nihilist Anarchy is not Nietzsche's Nihilism nor is it Neo-Russian Nihilism

Nihilist anarchists may or may not draw inspiration from the theories of Nietzsche and 19th century Russian nihilism, some seeing a kindred spirit in their approach. They point out that Dostoevsky was an anti-nihilist and it was Dostoevsky that influenced Nietzsche's interpretation of nihilism. While Nietzsche may describe the despair of a valueless life and the desire to overcome it, nihilists point out that Nietzsche's rebellion against nihilism has little to do with the Russian nihilists and their struggle against Russian autocracy. The Russian nihilists were very specific in their condition, fighting against Russian autocracy so that an openness similar to that which Western Europe enjoyed could also be enjoyed on Russian soil.

[edit] Concepts of Nietzsche

Some of Nietzsche's ideas can hold influence. These are an interpretation of the concepts he writes of.

[edit] Will to Power

The will to power only exists because we desire it to exist. It is a personal experiment of life. Only the individual can decide its value. The will to power is a process of becoming.

The individual desires to master all space and to extend its force but encounters other individuals doing the same and thus gives way to them or they come to a union and strive together for power.

The fears and anxieties of the individual and of society should be overcome.

[edit] The Last Man

A weak willed individual that takes no risks and seeks only comfort and security. The last man seeks to live a mediocre life with no great passion or committment. The last man only strives to earn a living and keep warm.

[edit] Übermensch

Destroy all moral sentiment, it only holds you back.

Accept that the individual and humanity are alone in this world and thus are responsible for themselves.

There are no absolute ideals only interpretations of them.

Oppose the mentality of the master and of the slave, seek neither to dominate or to be dominated.

Exert your will to power and avoid the path of the last man.

[edit] Comparisons of Nietzsche and Russian Nihilism

While Turgenev's Bazarov described the existing 'new people' of 19th century Russia as nihilists, Dmitri Pisarev popularized nihilism within the student movements at St. Petersburg. Pisarev stated "Here is the ultimatum of our camp. What can be smashed must be smashed; whatever will stand the blow is sound, what flies into smithereens is rubbish; at any rate, hit out right and left, no harm will or can come of it."

This emphasis on negation mirrors the will to destruction of Nietzsche's overman. A difference is that becoming an overman is a battle of will within the individual while the nihilism of the Russians delt with the individual's response to the values of Russian society.

[edit] About Russian Nihilism

[edit] From "Fathers and Sons" by Ivan Turgenev

An Exchange between Bazarov, Arkady, Pavel and Nikolai:

"We act by virtue of what we recognize as useful," went on Bazarov. "At present the most useful thing is denial, so we deny--"

"Everything?"

"Everything."

"What? Not only art, poetry . . . but . . . the thought is appalling . . ."

"Everything," repeated Bazarov with indescribable composure. Pavel Petrovich stared at him. He had not expected this, and Arkady even blushed with satisfaction.

"But allow me," began Nikolai Petrovich. "You deny everything, or to put it more precisely, you destroy everything . . . But one must construct, too, you know."

"That is not our business . . . we must first clear the ground."

[edit] The Narodnik

Russian nihilism started as a cultural movement in the 1860s with young people rebelling against the old ways of Russian society. Later, nihilism entered the student movement, with many nihilists holding sympathy for the recently freed peasants and the harsh conditions they were forced to endure. Student revolts were the beginning of the radical activity, but many felt they had to break out of their educated class and enter into peasant life to encourage them to revolt.

This sympathy lead to them learning the customs of the peasant (the Narod), including dance, clothing and in some cases, language. They ultimately failed in reactionary areas being seen as outsiders and provacateurs. In areas where tension existed, they had some minor success until the Imperial secret police repressed them. Many Narodnik and their peasant sympathizers were beaten, imprisoned and exiled. In 1877, the Narodniks revolted with the support of thousands of revolutionaries and peasants. However, the movement was again swiftly and brutally crushed. Open spontaneous revolt had been repressed.

The repression of the peasants and the Narodnik led to the formation of Narodnaya Volya, the Peoples Will. Many within this Party believed that open revolt was made impossible and that a political revolution would be the only answer, others thought social and political revolution could both be achieved together. Despite differences, they agreed that the Tzar was ultimately responsible for the brutal repression of their friends and comrades. Within the Peoples Will, what became the Pervomartovtsi is now written in history with their assassination of the Tzar.

[edit] The Catechism of a Revolutionist

The Catechism served as a major influence on the Russian nihilist revolutionist. Sergei Nechayev, its author, felt that the forces they were up against were brutal and that the only possible way of defeating them was by being just as brutal. Nechayev offers a vision of an underground a revolutionary cell structure and the various attitudes to be taken towards the individual, their comrades and society. Here are some of those attitudes:

The revolutionary is a dedicated man. He has no interests of his own, no affairs, no feelings, no attachments, no belongings, not even a name. Everything in him is absorbed by a single exclusive interest, a single thought, a single passion- the revolution.

In the very depths of his being, not only in words but also in deeds, he has broken every tie with the civil order and the entire cultured world, with all its laws, proprieties, social conventions and its ethical rules. He is an implacable enemy of this world, and if he continues to live in it, that is only to destroy it more effectively.

The revolutionary despises all doctrinairism and has rejected the mundane sciences, leaving them to future generations. He knows of only one science, the science of destruction. To this end, and this end alone, he will study mechanics, physics, chemistry, and perhaps medicine. To this end he will study day and night the living science: people, their characters and circumstances and all the features of the present social order at all possible levels. His sole and constant object is the immediate destruction of this vile order .

He despises public opinion. He despises and abhors the existing social ethic in all its manifestations and expressions. For him, everything is moral which assists the triumph of revolution. Immoral and criminal is everything which stands in its way.

The revolutionary is a dedicated man, merciless towards the state and towards the whole of educated and privileged society in general; and he must expect no mercy from them either. Between him and them there exists, declared or undeclared, an unceasing and irreconcilable war for life an death. He must discipline himself to endure torture.

Hard towards himself, he must be hard towards others also. All the tender and effeminate emotions of kinship, friendship, love, gratitude and even honor must be stifled in him by a cold and single-minded passion for the revolutionary cause. There exists for him only one delight, one consolation, one reward and one gratification-the success of the revolution. Night and day he must have but one thought, one aim- merciless destruction. In cold-blooded and tireless pursuit of this aim, he must be prepared both to die himself and to destroy with his own hands everything that stands in the way of its achievement.

The nature of the true revolutionary has no place for any romanticism, any sentimentality, rapture or enthusiasm. It has no place either for personal hatred or vengeance. The revolutionary passion, which in him becomes a habitual state of mind, must at every moment be combined with cold calculation. Always and everywhere he must be not what the promptings of his personal inclinations would have him be, but what the general interest of the revolution prescribes.

[edit] Influences in Classic Anarchy

[edit] The International Workingmen's Association

The International's common history was written by Marxists. The history below is commonly overlooked which shows the activity and development of the anarchists within the international after Marx expelled Bakunin from the International.

[edit] Context of the Times

Between 1859 and 1871 there were three great European wars, the Austro-French, the Austro-Prussian, and the Franco-German, in addition to such minor conflicts as the wars of Austria and Russia with the Danes, the map of Europe had been remade, the French Empire had fallen, there had been a constitutional struggle in Prussia; Austrian absolutism had collapsed. United Italy had come into being, there had been a long-continued revolution in Spain, the Commune of Paris had been established and suppressed, serfdom had been abolished in Russia, the mass movement of the workers had begun in some of the chief countries of Europe and so on.

[edit] The End of the General Council and the Rise of the Anarchists

Bakunin leads an uprising in Lyons 1870.

Between 20,000 and 30,000 Parisians were killed outright and an estimate of 50,000 were later executed or imprisoned in the slaughter of the Paris Commune in 1871. However the experiment exposed a model of revolt that deeply affected the First International.

The Jura Federation attacked the general council of the First International and administrative centralism in 1871, which caused the Spanish, Belgian, and Italian federations to rally to their side. The Italian federation, whose leadership included Malatesta, Costa, and Cafiero, even went so far as to refuse to send delegates to the Hague Congress and broke off all relations with the General Council. The Bakuninists demanded the General Council to revert to its primary role of a corresponding and statistical bureau and have all power taken from it. They also opposed the International's attempt to create a unified political tactic.

The First International, due to the events surrounding the Paris Commune, reconsidered their strategy, which was focused on economic struggle up til then. The social democrats wanted to have a political party to ensure working class interests and to train its forces to deal with political conflicts while the Bakuninists opposed this direction.

The social democrats in the First International overrided the Bakuninists at the Hague Congress in 1872, expelling Bakunin and Guillaume, leaders of the Jura Federation, in the process. The International also widened the powers of the General Council and then relocated its headquarters to New York City. This ended the General Council's existence for political reasons and ended the International for the social democrats.

The anarchists did not acknowledge the decisions of the Hague Congress and they worked to rally others to their flag. In Zurich 1872, the anarchists gathered and adopted the rules Bakunin had drafted for an international secret organization.

The Jura Federation reached out to the other federations and developed a free pact between all federations. The Jura Federation, being the federation of Bakunin, was also blessed with an influx of most Russian (often nihilist) refugees and stood as a leader among the remaining International.

The Saint Imier Congress in 1872 saw the International take on an anarchist method of organization, federalism and an anarchist outlook, with the International saying “the autonomy and independence of the working-class sections and federations constitute the essential condition of the emancipation of the workers.” The congress also developed a mutual defence pact and “categorically denied the legislative right of all congresses, whether general or regional, and recognised that such congresses had no other mission than to show forth the aspirations, the needs, and the ideas of the proletariat in the various localities or countries, so that such ideas may he harmonised and unified ... ; in no case can the majority of a congress ... impose its resolutions upon the minority.”

It was at the Saint Imier Congress that the International finally adopted the anarchist position on political power. Their points: 1) the destruction of every kind of political power is the first task of the proletariat 2) the organisation of political power, even though nominally temporary and revolutionary, to farther the aforesaid destruction, can be nothing but deception, and would be as dangerous to the proletariat as any extant government 3) the proletarians of all lands, spurning all compromises in the achievement of the social revolution, must establish, independently of bourgeois politics, the solidarity of revolutionary union. The International was now effectly anarchist, though the name anarchist wasn't to be adopted until the late 1870s, anti-authoritarian collectivist or social revolutionary being the preferred term.

[edit] The Anti-Authoritarian International

In the Geneva Congress of 1873, the General Council was declared abolished and a federal bureau was established as a correspondence point. Here, after debate, it was decided that the focus of the International should be expanded outside of manual workers. Also, the general strike was generally adopted among the International, though with the federal bureau having no real power, no official positions could come from the International directly. However, several national congresses adopted the idea of the general strike and so the nuances of the general strike were debated, such as the use of partial strikes to secure reforms. It was decided not to condemn partial strikes for the sake of growth stating "no complete solution of the question of the general strike is possible, (the International) urgently recommends the workers to undertake international trade-union organisation and to engage in active socialist Propaganda.”

In the Brussels Congress of 1874, the Italian Federation could not make it to this congress, having gone underground. Instead they sent a manifesto to be read, here is an extraction: "“Italy will not be represented at the congress, for in Italy the International no longer has any public existence, and no group of our underground organisation is disposed to lose one of its members who might to-morrow, arms in hand, render a very different kind of service to our cause. Yes, in Italy, the International no longer exists publicly. For this fortunate issue, we are wholly indebted to the government. The Italian masses, who have a leaning towards conspiracy, were inclined, at the outset, to be suspicious of the International. Their mistrust was not directed towards the principles of our great association, but towards the fact that it was organised above ground .... However, the truth and justice of our principles triumphed in the end, and the International began to spread more and more widely, but at the same time its organisation assumed a very different form from that which had been adopted in other lands. This organisation made of the International in Italy a huge conspiracy organised in the full light of day. That simple definition suffices to show the absurdity of such a system.”

The Brussels Congress of 1874 focused on the organization of public services and they searched for a way to utilize such services for the greater good of the people. Desputes over laid out blueprints and the need for some sort of workers' state dominated this debate. Though all agreed to the destruction of the state through social revolution, some saw different legs of struggle and supported political revolution and seizing the state where social revolution seemed unlikely to occur out of a desire for self-preservation. Others insisted on a complete skepticism of political action. Like the last European congress of the American International, they came to the decision that political action (parties) would be left to the decision of their national federations.

The Jura Federation adopts the policy of political absenteeism and suggests direct action as an alternative. Also suggested by some is the end of support for cooperatives, seeing the support of these as support for a new class of capitalists. Those still loyal to Bakunin's ideas begin to develop into the Insurrectionist tendency and is seen as a purer interpretation of Bakunin's ideas than the general strike, which he hardly spoke of. Around this time a secret federation is formed by the French.

In 1876, Social democracy was returning to strength with a new social democractic international in Italy forming. Shortly afterward, social democratic parties began to appear throughout Europe, despite anarchist efforts otherwise. The anarchist tendency is in decline among working people as the hope for universal sufferage grows.

In 1876 At the Berne Congress the International heard a proposal for a unified socialist international came to the table, but was not accepted. Further splits were forming due to the changing climate over the issue of absenteeism but at the same time a propaganda fund was created using member dues.

In 1877 the International held its last Congress in Verviers. It was held in a way so that delegates could also attend the Universal Socialist Congress in Ghent. They discussed several positions such as giving material and moral solidarity to others internationally (they decided only those within the International), not supporting any political party of any flavor and supporting trade unions that go beyond reform.

At the Congress in Ghent they debated several positions and the anarchists were heavily contested. A private meeting without the anarchists established Ghent as the home of the Federal Bureau for this universal congress. The debates ranged from labor unions to political parties to propaganda by deed. Kropotkin made a brief appearance but had to flee fearing Russian agents were onto him. It was becoming clear that there could be no unification with social democrats and anarchists. The Anti-Authoritarian International was seen by many as dead.

[edit] The Italian Federation

Italian Insurrectionism grew more than other Insurrectionist movements early on. In 1872 they refused to join the movement for universal sufferage.

In 1874 Italy, Famine raged and riot spread throughout the country in demand for bread. The Italian Federation gave full support to these riots, saying that the peasant nature of the Italians and the lack of advanced industrialism created a different situation than in other areas. They gave support to spontaneous uprisings as opposed to "..a more or less mechanical association of the individual producers.”

The Italian Federation continued on this vein giving support to a new idea that was coming into vogue, stating: “The peaceful propaganda of revolutionary ideas has had its day; it must yield place to the clamorous and solemn propaganda of the rising and the barricades.” And: “The Italian Federation believes that the insurrectionary deed, intended to affirm socialist principles by actions, is the most efficient means of propaganda, the only one which, neither cheating nor depraving the masses, is able to make its way effectively into the lowermost social strata, and to direst the living forces of mankind into the support of the international struggle.”

The Italians hoped that armed uprisings would spur social revolution. In Bologna 1874, they attempted and failed at an armed uprising, but got few numbers are were chased out of town by the authorities.

As part of propaganda by deed, in 1877 another attempt was made to create a roaming armed band freeing peasants so they might experience socialism in action, creating space for them. This attempt was to also fail.

[edit] The American Federation, A Sidenote

The American Federation brought in union ranks and created the National Labor Union. However those ranks were often immigrants and weren't seen to reflect the general working class. The American Federation conflicted with itself due to the outside and sometimes direct influences from Europe and not one European federation offered support to the General Council once it moved to New York. The American International soon developed organizations throughout the country and they became the sections of the International.

The New York movement created the Social Party in 1868 and dissolved after elections. The more active spirits within organized the General German Labor Association and joined the National Labor Union, withdrawing in 1870. With the start of the Franco-German war, the German Labor Association agitated against the war and the anti-German jingoism attached with it. A split was resolved by the General Council revolving around several primarily German and French sections, disbanding several and forcing them to join other sections.

At the end of 1870, the New York Sections of the International, under guidance from the General Council, set up a provisional Central Committee for the United States. Once the General Council moved to New York City, it became powerless but continued to urge the working class to join unions. At the Geneva Congress in 1873 the General Council was exposed as bankrupt of all its authority. It couldn't send any delegates and the decisions made there didn't inform the General Council and it faded into the background until the next congress. The Congress decided that organizing political parties would be up to national federations and promoted the organizing of labor unions. Marx wrote a letter ment to disregard the decisions of the Geneva Congress.

The organ of the North American International, Arbeiter Zeitung, and the German sections headed up a strategy agitating for the relief of the unemployed. Another split formed within the International as its membership came to grips that it was primarily an organization of immigrants. Old members insisted on keeping to the decisions of the General Council while others felt the basis of the International needed widening. Some formed political Labor parties outside of the International while others withdrew from the International to do the same.

In 1874 the Philadelphia Congress dissolved the Federal Council and transferred its power to the General Council. It also repudiated all cooperation and connection with political parties of the possessing class. They still backed legislation in favor of better working conditions but would “not enter into a truly political campaign or election movement before being strong enough to exercise a perceptible influence.”

The split heightened into a general split when Arbeiter Zeitung was suspended and the New York section that backed its editor was expelled by the General Council. Loyalty to the General Council dissappeared and a proposal was submitted to suspend the General Council after its secretary resigned. In Philadelphia in 1876 the International decided to formally dissolve itself.

[edit] "The International Socialist Revolutionary Association"

Not its official name (it was still officially the International Workingmen's Association) and it was also known as the Black International, below is about its founding London Congress.

In 1880 the La Chaux-de-Fonds Congress of the Jura Federation debated using anarchist communist to differ from collectivism, which was now associated with state socialism. From here on, the anarchists were frank anarchist communists.

A new socialist revolutionary (anarchist) congress was being organized for London 1881, aiming towards the revival of the International Workingmen's Association. The secret police of France had infiltrated an anarchist magazine and promoted the congress and was found out, leading some to feel that the congress was in the hands of provacateurs. Contraversy continued to surround the congress because the International's Federal Bureau was still intact and some questioned why they needed to revive a body that still exists. The response was that this congress was not a congress of the International Workingmen's Association, but rather a congress open to the International and others outside it for the purpose of creating a new organization that can bring them together.

The London Congress discussed many issues and had many participants in it that weren't in previous International congresses. Opinions were very much against the theories and ideas of Marx and the social democrats. They attacked centralism and they challenged the urban working class as a revolutionary class.

The Italians (unlike the Russian nihilists) were more developed in theory and up against a weaker monarchy and easily stated that "Participation in the political struggle can only injure the socialist cause, and the establishment of a bourgeois republic is likely to postpone the social revolution for half a century.” They Italians continued with this vein of thought and favored the formation of “groups of action” which were to be secretly organized and were to function within the International.

The Italian delegate, laying stress on the important part played in the Italian movement by persons belonging to the declassed intelligentsia, proposed that the International Workingmen’s Association should change its name to the International Socialist Revolutionary Association. The delegate stated that it was a mistake to make the labor organizations the foundation of the revolutionary movement, the contemporary working man was apt to be a source of weakness rather than a source of strength. Only those who accepted the principle of propaganda by deed ought to be admitted to membership of the proposed revolutionary association. “The general foundation of our activities must be insurrectionist,” said one delegate. Another declared that there had been enough talking and writing, and that it was time to substitute actions for words. But how were they to get the support of the masses, since it is impossible to do so without them. According to the Italians, there was only one way, economic terror. It was necessary, he said, to blow up the factories, hang the owners, and so on.

The Spanish reported that among the trade unions, there were local groups consisting of persons following various occupations. Within the framework of these, the fighting elements were secretly organised.

The London Congress had an interesting cast of characters. The U.S. delegate claimed one of the Revolutionary elements in the states was the Hoodlums or Bears’ Cubs of California, a group of workers and transients that had allegedly got control of California and had modified the State constitution; “but they had found that this had not improved their position in any way, and they were determined henceforward to rely on bombs instead of the ballot box.” Another is the society of Sea Rebels, which were sailors that agitated aboard the immigrant ships that were bound for america. The tramps (sic) were seen as "the most fully developed of all the revolutionists in the States.”

The International reiterated the "federative pact" of 1866, amendments from 1873 and added a new admendment “The representatives of the socialist revolutionaries of the Old and the New World, meeting in London on July 14, 1881, and all in favour of the complete and forcible destruction of the existing political and economic institutions, have accepted the following declaration of principles: They declare, in conformity with the view that has always been taken by the International that the word ‘moral' in the Preamble to the General Rules is not to be understood in the sense given to that word by the bourgeoisie; but in the sense that, inasmuch as extant society is founded upon immorality, the abolition of extant society, by any means that are possible, will inaugurate morality. Considering that it is time to pass from the period of affirmation to the period of action, and to supplement spoken and written propaganda, the futility of which has been proved by propaganda by deed and insurrectionist activity, the congressists submit to the affiliated groups the following resolutions: The International Workingmen’s Association declares itself opposed to parliamentary policy...”

The International outlined another resolution "“Considering that the International Workingmen’s Association has regarded it as necessary to supplement spoken and written propaganda by propaganda by deed: Considering, farther, that the epoch of a general revolution is not distant, and that the revolutionary elements will ere long be called upon to show their devotion to the proletarian cause and to manifest their strength in action.

The congress desires the organizations that are affiliated to the International Workingmen’s Association to note the following propositions: It is absolutely essential that we should do all that we possibly can, by way of action, to diffuse the revolutionary idea and the spirit of revolt in that great section of the masses which does not yet participate actively in the movement, and is still a prey to illusions as to the morality and efficacy of legal [constitutional] methods.

When abandoning the platform of legality [constitutional methods], to which up to now activity has in our days generally been confined, in order to develop our activities upon the platform of illegality unconstitutional methods, which is the only way to bring about the revolution, we must have recourse to means that are appropriate to this aim. In view of the persecutions to which the revolutionary press is everywhere exposed, we must henceforward organise secret periodicals.

Since most of the rural workers are still outside the framework of the socialist revolutionary movement, it is essential that we should turn our attention in this direction, bearing in mind that the very simplest onslaught on existing institutions has more effect on the masses than thousands of leaflets and a flux of oratory, and that propaganda by deed is even more important in the countryside than in the towns.

Inasmuch as the technical and chemical sciences have already been of service to the revolutionary cause, and are capable of being even more serviceable in the future, the congress recommends organisations and individuals belonging to the International Workingmen’s Association to pay special attention to the theory and practice of these sciences both for defensive and offensive purposes.”

[edit] Aftermath

On the founding of the 2nd International, a handfull of Congresses were held about admitting anarchists, but it was ultimately decided they had nothing in common. The International continued to have congresses in Paris (1889), Chicago (1893), Zurich (1893), and London (1896) and there was an international anarchist congress in Amsterdam (1907).

[edit] Sources and External Links

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Categories: Anarchism | Nihilism