Types of Anarchism (Edexcel A Level Politics): Revision Note

Types of anarchism

• Anarchism is not a single, unified ideology

  • Different strands of anarchism disagree over human nature, economic organisation and how society should be structured once the state is abolished

Collectivist anarchism

• Collectivist anarchists believe that humans have a natural tendency to cooperate and that society should be organised around communal ownership and collective decision-making rather than individual competition

• Collectivist anarchism includes anarcho-communism, mutualism, and anarcho-syndicalism.

Anarcho-communism

• Anarcho-communists believe in:

  • The abolition of private property

  • Distribution of goods based on need

  • Self-organised communes without a centralised state

Mutualism

• Mutualists believe in:

  • Use-ownership

    • Individuals only own what they personally use, including private property

  • Markets without capitalism

    • Markets exist, but profit, wage labour and monopolies are rejected

Anarcho-syndicalism

• Anarcho-syndicalists believe in:

  • Trade unions as the basis of a post-capitalist society

  • Unions acting as the key structure of social organisation

  • Direct action as the method of change

    • Including strikes and boycotts

Key thinkers (collectivist anarchism)

Kropotkin	Bakunin	Goldman
Advocated mutual aid Supported communally owned resources	Supported worker councils replacing state structures Believed humans are naturally sociable	Bridges collectivist and individualist anarchism Argued for revolution alongside social order based on individual freedoms

Individualist anarchism

• Individualist anarchists believe that humans are primarily motivated by personal freedom and self-interest and that society should be organised through voluntary agreements rather than collective authority

  • Individualist anarchism includes anarcho-capitalism and egoism

Anarcho-capitalism

• Anarcho-capitalists believe in:

  • The abolition of the state

  • Replacement of the state with private enterprise or competing organisations

  • Private property operating within a free market

  • Laissez-faire economic conditions

  • Order arising through voluntary contracts rather than state authority

Egoism

• Egoists believe in:

  • No moral obligations to natural rights beyond individual freedom and choice

  • Cooperation occurs through self-interest rather than collective idealism

  • Rejection of all political authority as a limit on individual freedom

  • A natural order of egoists emerges from these principles

Key thinkers (individualist anarchism)

• Stirner

  • Prioritised egoism and personal freedom

  • Argued there is no individual freedom under the state

  • Advocated the union of egoists

Anarchism and the four themes

What do anarchists think about the four themes?