Toward a New Understanding of Anarchism

America, not one. Toward the end of the first quarter of the present century it became accepted practice for political scientists to draw a hard and fast distinction between anarchism and anarchist communism or collectivism on the grounds that the former did not embrace violence whereas the later did. Thus in 1926 Charles E. Merriam maintained that anarchist groups in the United States may be divided into the philosophical and the fighting anarchists, one believing in the attainment of anarchy by the peaceful processes of evolution and the other by the employment of force and by revolution.' A few years later Westel W. Willoughby gave support to Merriam's definition when he maintained that the anarchist is to be distinguished from the anarchist of deed or of action on the grounds that the former believes that anarchism must be established by the peaceful processes of persuasion and enlightenment, whereas the latter does not believe that society will naturally evolve toward its perfection without the assistance of the revolutionary act.2 This neat but misleading dichotomy has dogged the anarchist movement ever since with the persistence of a shadow. But a careful study of anarchist theory reveals that the division of anarchist ideas into two separate categories on the basis of whether or not violence is considered a legitimate social means is not a valid distinction

Action (physics) · Aesthetics · Communism · Enlightenment · Epistemology · Perfection · Political philosophy · Political science · Politics · Psychoanalysis · Shadow (psychology) · Sociology · Anarchism and Radical Politics · History · Law · Philosophy · Political Economy and Marxism · Psychology

• American individualist anarchism

  Frank H Brooks•Journal of Political Ideologies•1996

  Incluir item

• Emma Goldman and the United States

  Open Access•Francois Jacob, Frank Jacob•Left History An Interdisciplinary…•2023

  Incluir item

• Anarchist Direct Actions

  Randy Borum, CHUCK TILBY•Studies in Conflict and Terrorism•2005

  Incluir item

• Kropotkin and Huxley

  Open Access•Ruth Kinna•Politics•1992

  Incluir item

• Anarchism

  Open Access•Robert Goehlert•Political Theory•1976

  Incluir item