Lucy Parsons & The Anarchist Movement

Theories about anarchism and how it can be achieved or applied range widely, from anarcho-syndicalism and anarchist-communism, to anarcha-feminism, anarcha-Islam, Christian anarchism, social ecology, mutualism, collectivism, individualism, and beyond. Lucy identified as an anarcho-communist, which rejects both authority and private property, but she was never dogmatic, and most of her work centered around anarcho-syndicalist union agitating. Anarchists have always been unique, in that they call for a social revolution, instead of a political one. Political revolutions replace one master for another, while social revolutions call for the permanent abolition of all rulers.

"Government is for slaves; free men govern themselves"! —Albert Parsons

At the core of anarchist theory "is the desire to free society of all political and social coercive institutions which stand in the way of the development of a free humanity", writes Rudolph Rocker. Anarchists view the state, their corporate masters, and the myriad of power dynamics and oppression which result from these institutions as not only unnecessary, but counter-productive to human freedom and aspirations. "Anarchy is the negation of force; the elimination of all authority in social affairs", stated Albert Parsons, "it is the denial of the right of domination of one man over another. It is the diffusion of rights, of power, of duties, equally and freely among all the people."

Anarchists believe that most of society's inequities, violence and conflict stem from unequal power relations between rulers and ruled, masters and servants, bosses and workers, men and women, and so on. Wars, social violence, widespread racism, patriarchy, poverty and wage slavery are in large part the results of arbitrary social relations designed to serve the interests of the rich and powerful and their authoritarian institutions. Anarchists seek to identify these power dynamics and systems of control, and challenge their legitimacy. If they cannot be justified then they should be considered illigitimate and abolished.

Noam Chomsky explains it best: "At a very general level we should be concerned with any structure of authority and domination and hierarchy that exists - any, from whether it's inside the family, to international affairs. And we should question it. We should ask: is it legitimate? Does it have a justification? The burden of proof is on authority... Not many kinds of authority can be justified, and if they can't we should be moving to dismantle them and to create a more free and just society."(1)

In praxis, anarchism can most easily be understood as anti-authoritarian socialism. It is "the confluence of the two great currents", explains German anarchist Rudolf Rocker; "Socialism will be free or it will not be at all. In its recognition of this fact lies the genuine and profound justification of Anarchism." Russian anarchist Mikhail Bakunin also believed that every anarchist must necessarily be a socialist, but demanded stateless socialism: "Freedom without socialism is privilege and injustice; socialism without freedom is slavery and brutality." Many anarchists started as socialists, but converted to anarchism, including Lucy and Albert Parsons. "I, after careful study..." she declared, "turned from a sincere, earnest, political Socialist to the non-political phase of Socialism, Anarchism, because in its philosophy I believe I can find the proper conditions for the fullest development of the individual units in society, which can never be the case under government restrictions." Her Haymarket comrade, Adolph Fischer, simplified it: "Every anarchist is a socialist, but not every socialist is necessarily an anarchist." Another term for anarchism is libertarian socialism.

While the terms are used interchangeably, "anarchy" and "anarchism" can embody very different meanings. At face value, "anarchy" can aptly be interpreted as simply no government, lawlessness, disorder, and chaos. "Anarchism", however, is a well-developed and broad-based ideology with a rich history of movements for social change. Anarchism is "the very finest thing," wrote Alexander Berkman, "that humanity has ever thought of."

Prominent anarchists of history include William Godwin (the first person to write about anarchism in his book Political Justice), Pierre Joseph Proudhon (the first person to declare himself an anarchist), Mikhail Bakunin, Louise Michel, Peter Kropotkin (the father of anarcho-communism), Rudolph Rocker, Emma Goldman, Alexander Berkman, Johann Most, Annie Netter, Lucy Parsons, the Haymarket martyrs, Lizzie (Swank) Holmes, Voltairine de Cleyre, Leo Tolstoy (the most famous proponent of Christian anarchism), Errico Malatesta, Kate Austin, Marie Louise Berneri, Ricardo Flores Magón, Mollie Steimer, Max Stirner, Henry David Thoreau, Sacco and Vanzetti, Luisa Capetillo, Maria Rosa Hincapié, Ashanti Alston, Buenaventura Durruti, Federica Montseny, Syusui Kotoku, Nelly Roussel, Martin Sostre, Murray Bookchin, Augustin Souchy, Benjamin Tucker, Luisa Capetillo, Sophie Karp, Martin Sostre, Dorothy Day, Esther and Sam Dolgoff, Kuwasi Balagoon, Noam Chomsky, Natasha Notkin, Lorenzo Kom'boa Ervin and countless others all over the world.

Anarchist struggles have manifested themselves in the Paris Commune of 1871, the Haymarket Affair, the powerful Cuban anarcho-syndicalist movements, the Russian revolution, the Chinese revolution, the massive Argentine anarchist rebellions, the Brazilian anarchist labor movements, the Filipino anarchist punk resurgences, the Korean anarchist struggles, the African anarchist movements, the anti-colonial anti-authoritarian protests of Indonesia, the anarchist revolutionary currents in Malaysia, and most notably the Spanish revolution and civil war of 1936-1939 (arguably the most successful and important anarchist event in history). Buenaventura Durruti and Federica Montseny are two of the most most well known anarchists who fought in Spain. George Orwell also battled alongside the anarchists against fascism (he wrote about it in his 1938 memoir Homage to Catalonia).

Anarchists were the first people to openly speak up on behalf of gay rights. "Anarchist writings about homosexuality", writes Michael Bronski in his book A Queer History of the United States, "is a radical break from most thinking in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. They argued that sexuality is natural and positive, that sex can be solely about pleasure and, if consensual, should not be the subject of any laws. These basic precepts about sexuality, and homosexuality, that are present today in the LGBT movement - both its liberatory and civil rights sides - find their roots in anarchist thinking." While Lucy Parsons was more ambiguous and private about sexuality, other figures in the anarchist movement such as Emma Goldman and Alexander Berkman were vocal about sexual freedom for all people long before queer liberation movements emerged. Berkman's Prison Memoirs of an Anarchist is one of the first books to frankly discuss homosexuality, and Goldman's publication Mother Earth was one of the first to address issues of sexuality, love, and the societal norms surrounding them.

Anarchism made a resurgence in the wake of the 1970's with English anarchist punk bands such as Crass. In the 1980's, AK Press began publishing anarchist books out of Scotland, and soon became international in scope. In the 1990's, the Love and Rage Revolutionary Anarchist Federation paved the way in North America. In 2000, Anarchist People of Color (APOC) emerged as a network to address the intersection of anarchism and issues faced by people of color, aiming to create a space for voices often marginalized within both anarchist and broader activist communities. Other recent revivals within the anarchist movement have been expressed in the anti-globalization actions in Seattle and beyond, the Zapatista uprisings in Latin America, Palestinian solidarity actions (such as Anarchists Against the Wall and, more currently, Punks for Palestine), the rise of the Black Rose Anarchist Federation, the Occupy movement of 2011, and a growing new radicalism among peace and justice movements around the world.

There are many progressives today that do not necessarily identify as anarchists, due to negative connotations and misunderstandings about the terminology (or because they do not find the labels useful for organizing), but nevertheless embrace anarchist principles of anti-authoritarianism and collective liberation. In North America, organizations such as Food Not Bombs, Earth First!, the IWW, the Ruckus Society, Direct Action to Stop the War (DASW), the Catalyst Project, the Black Lives Matter movement, and many others share, embrace and organize around anarchist principles without defining themselves as anarchists. Many of the people who participate in these organizations and movements, however, are in fact seasoned anarchists. The labor movement, climate justice movement, and many modern day struggles for human rights are also comprised of folks motivated by anarchist principles.

Anarchism now encompasses a broader and deeper analysis of power and inequality, recognizing the importance of intersectional struggles on behalf of class, race, gender, and every form of oppression that shackles us from being free, while also maintaining a commitment to anti-capitalist and anti-authoritarian protest and direct action. Anarchism is both a lens through which to understand and deconstruct power, and an ideological framework for manifesting freedom in every sphere of life. Anarchists envision advancing a society built on principles of collective liberation, mutual aid, self-determination, and uprooting dominator culture.

Note: The term "collective liberation" was coined by bell hooks in her book Outlaw Culture (1994). The term "dominator culture" was coined by Riane Eisler in her book The Chalice and the Blade (1987).