The State

Jun, Nathan J.

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-75620-2_2

Nathan J. Jun³

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Abstract

This chapter draws upon Michael Freeden’s morphological theory of ideology to examine diverse conceptions of the State within the anarchist tradition. Its principal aim in so doing is twofold: first, to determine how and to what extent these conceptions serve to distinguish anarchism from other libertarian ideologies, and second, to explore the role they play in the formulation of diverse anarchist tendencies. As I shall argue, the particular meaning and degree of relative significance that a given conception assigns to the State depends on the internal arrangement of its ‘micro-components’ and/or on its relation to other concepts within the ideological morphology. Both of these factors must be taken into account in order to understand anarchism’s internal diversity as well as its distinctiveness among ideologies.

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Notes

1.
Mikhail Bakunin, ‘Federalism, Socialism, Anti-Theologism’ [1867], in S. Dolgoff (Ed), Bakunin on Anarchy: Selected Works by the Activist-Founder of World Anarchism (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1972), 133.
2.
Marie Fleming, The Anarchist Way to Socialism: Elisée Reclus and Nineteenth-Century European Anarchism (London: Croom Helm, 1979), 16.
3.
See, for example, Francesco Crispi, ‘The Antidote for Anarchy’, The Daily Mail 807 (1898), 4. Adolf Lenz, Der Anarchismus und des Strafrecht, in Zeitschrift für die gesamte Strafrechiswissenschaft 16:1 (1896), 1–47; Cesar Lombroso, Gli Anarchici, 2nd ed. (Torino: Fratelli Bocca, 1895); Naum Reichesberg, Sozialismus und Anarchismus (Berlin: Seibert Verlag, 1895); Ettore Sernicoli, L’Anarchia e gli Anarchici (Milano: Fratelli Treves, 1894); and Van Hamel, ‘L’Anarchisme et le Combat contre l’anarchisme au point de vue de l’anthropologie criminelle’, in Congrès international d’anthropologie criminelle, compte rendu des travaux de la quatrième session, tenue à Genève du 24 au 28 août 1896 (Genève, 1897), 254–257. For a detailed overview of early studies of anarchism, see Matthew S. Adams, ‘The Possibilities of Anarchist History: Rethinking the Canon and Writing History’, Anarchist Developments in Cultural Studies 1 (2013), 33–63.
4.
Paul Eltzbacher, Anarchism, trans. Steven T. Byington (New York: B.R. Tucker, 1908), 3. The original German text (Der Anarchismus) was published by J. Guttentag Verlagsbuchhandlung of Berlin in 1900.
5.
Ibid., vii.
6.
Ibid., viii, 3.
7.
Ibid., 3.
8.
Ibid.
9.
Ibid.
10.
Ibid., 4, 12.
11.
Ibid., 292.
12.
Kropotkin lavishly praised the book in his famous article on anarchism for the Encyclopedia Britannica (Encylopedia Britannica, 11th edition [New York: The Encyclopedia Britannica Co., 1910], 914) and Benjamin Tucker regarded it as ‘the best book on anarchism ever written by an outsider’ (James Martin, Men Against the State [Colorado Springs, CO: Ralph Myles, 1972], 271). For more on Eltzbacher’s influence, see Andrew Carlson, Anarchism in Germany (Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1972), 1–4; Marie Fleming, The Geography of Freedom (Montreal: Black Rose Books, 1988), chapter 1; Michael Schmidt and Lucien van der Walt, Black Flame: The Revolutionary Class Politics of Anarchism and Syndicalism (Oakland, CA: AK Press, 2009), chapter 1.
13.
Fleming, The Anarchist Way to Socialism, 16.
14.
Jeremy Jennings, ‘Anarchism’, in R. Eatwell and A. Wright (Eds.), Contemporary Political Ideologies, 2nd ed. (New York: Continuum, 1999), 132.
15.
J. Narveson, You and the State: A Short Introduction to Political Philosophy (Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 2008), 183.
16.
G. Crowder, ‘Anarchism’, in E. Craig (Ed), The Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy, vol. 1 (London: Routledge, 1998), 244.
17.
A. J. Simmons, ‘Philosophical Anarchism’, in J. Sanders and J. Narveson (Eds.), For and Against the State (Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 1996), 22. The literature on ‘philosophical anarchism’ of this sort is extensive. For a general overview, see Benjamin Franks, ‘Anarchism and Analytic Philosophy’, in Ruth Kinna (Ed), The Continuum Companion to Anarchism (London: Continuum, 2012), 50–71; and Nathan Jun, ‘On Philosophical Anarchism’, Radical Philosophy Review 19:3 (2016), 551–567.
18.
Schmidt and van der Walt, Black Flame, 43. See also S. Clark, Living Without Domination: The Possibility of an Anarchist Utopia (London: Routledge, 2016), 9–10; Paul McLaughlin, Anarchism and Authority: A Philosophical Introduction to Classical Anarchism (London: Routledge, 2016), 27–28; David Weick, ‘The Negativity of Anarchism’, in Howard Ehrlich et al. (Eds), Reinventing Anarchy (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1979), 139.
19.
Michael Freeden, Ideologies and Political Theory: A Conceptual Approach (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1996), 77, 88; Michael Freeden, Liberalism: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015), 54, 59, 76–77.
20.
Michael Freeden, ‘The Morphological Analysis of Ideology’, in Michael Freeden et al. (Eds), The Oxford Handbook of Political Ideologies (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013), 124–125.
21.
Wieck, ‘The Negativity of Anarchism’, 139.
22.
All of these questions involve certain fundamental concepts, the precise meanings of which is a matter of considerable dispute. This chapter makes no pretense toward settling such disputes, and any definitions it assigns to these concepts are merely stipulated for the sake of facilitating the investigation to follow.
23.
Dennis Hume Wong, Power: Its Forms, Bases, and Use (New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers, 1980), 1.
24.
Ibid., 2–5.
25.
McLaughlin, Anarchism and Authority, 56.
26.
Ibid.
27.
Ibid. Cf. Richard De George, The Nature and Limits of Authority (Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas, 1985), 19–20; A. John Simmons, Boundaries of Authority (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016), 16.
28.
McLaughlin, Anarchism and Authority, 56.
29.
Ibid.
30.
Richard Sylvan, ‘Anarchism’, in Robert Goodin and Philip Petit (Eds), A Companion to Contemporary Political Philosophy (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1993), 221.
31.
Crispin Sartwell, Against the State: An Introduction to Anarchist Political Theory (Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 2008), 25–28.
32.
Martin van Crevald, The Rise and Decline of the State (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999), 1.
33.
Ibid.
34.
See, for example, Mikhail Bakunin, ‘The Bear of Berne and the Bear of St. Petersburg’ [1870] in Sam Dolgoff (Ed), Bakunin on Anarchism (Montreal: Black Rose Books, 2002), 221; Mikhail Bakunin, Marx, Freedom, and the State, ed. and trans. K. J. Kenafick (London: Freedom Press, 1950), 33; Alexander Berkman, What is Anarchism? [1928] (Oakland, CA: AK Press, 2003), 205; Alexander Berkman, The Life of an Anarchist: The Alexander Berkman Reader, ed. Gene Fellner (New York: Seven Stories Press, 2005), 273, 300; Peter Kropotkin, ‘The State: Its Historic Role’, in George Woodcock (Ed), Fugitive Writings (Montreal: Black Rose Books, 1993), 200–201; Errico Malatesta, Life and Ideas, ed. and trans. Vernon Richards (London: Freedom Press, 1965), 47, 135, 186.
35.
Iris Marion Young, Justice and the Politics of Difference (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1990), 38.
36.
Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, General Idea of the Revolution in the Nineteenth Century [1851], trans. J. B. Robinson (London: Freedom Press, 1923), 294.
37.
McLaughlin, Anarchism and Authority, 36–37.
38.
Peter Kropotkin, ‘Anarchist Morality’ [1892], in Roger Baldwin (Ed), Kropotkin’s Revolutionary Pamphlets (New York: Dover, 1970), 98.
39.
Emma Goldman, ‘Free Speech Suppressed in Barre, Vt.,’ Free Society (March 5, 1899), 3.
40.
Mikhail Bakunin, ‘God and the State’ [1871], in Bakunin on Anarchy, 229–230; cf. Errico Malatesta, Anarchy [1891], ed. V. Richards (London: Freedom Press, 1974), 37; Uri Gordon, ‘Power and Anarchy’, in Nathan Jun and Shane Wahl (Eds), New Perspectives on Anarchism (Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2009), 45.
41.
Bakunin, ‘God and the State’, 230.
42.
Ibid., 229.
43.
Ibid., 230.
44.
Mikhail Bakunin, ‘Address to the League of Peace and Freedom’ [1867], in The Political Philosophy of Bakunin, ed. G. P. Maximoff (New York: Free Press, 1953), 224.
45.
Ibid.
46.
Bakunin, ‘Federalism, Socialism, and Anti-Theologism’, in The Political Philosophy of Bakunin, 221.
47.
Bakunin, ‘The Program of the Alliance’ [1871], in The Political Philosophy of Bakunin, 248.
48.
Rudolf Rocker, Nationalism and Culture [1937] (Montreal: Black Rose Books, 1998), 63.
49.
Jura Federation of the First International, ‘The Sonvillier Circular’ [1871], quoted in E. H. Carr, Michael Bakunin (London: Macmillan, 1937), 427.
50.
Bakunin, ‘Statism and Anarchy’ [1873], in The Political Philosophy of Bakunin, 249.
51.
Peter Kropotkin, ‘Declaration of the Anarchists Arraigned Before the Criminal Court in Lyon’ [1883], in Daniel Guérin (Ed), No Gods, No Masters: An Anthology of Anarchism, Book One (Oakland, CA: AK Press, 1989), 299.
52.
Errico Malatesta, Anarchy [1891], ed. V. Richards (London: Freedom Press, 1974), 14.
53.
Emma Goldman, ‘The Individual, Society, and the State’ [1940], in Red Emma Speaks: An Emma Goldman Reader, ed. A. K. Shulman (Albany, NY: Humanity Books, 1998), 115.
54.
Proudhon, The General Idea of Revolution in the Nineteenth Century, 108.
55.
Rudolf Rocker, Anarcho-Syndicalism: Theory and Practice [1938] (Oakland, CA: AK Press, 2004), 13.
56.
Bakunin, ‘Federalism, Socialism, and Anti-Theologism’, in Bakunin on Anarchy, 134.
57.
Ibid.
58.
van Crevald, The Rise and Decline of the State, 1.
59.
Malatesta, Anarchy, 11.
60.
Goldman, ‘The Individual, Society, and the State’, 113.
61.
Gustav Landauer, ‘Weak Statesmen, Weaker People’ [1910] in Revolution and Other Writings: A Political Reader, ed. and trans. Gabriel Kuhn (Oakland, CA: PM Press, 2010), 214.
62.
Rocker, Nationalism and Culture, 35.
63.
Rocker, Anarcho-Syndicalism, 33.
64.
Peter Kropotkin, ‘Words of a Rebel’ [1881], in No Gods, No Masters, 301.
65.
Goldman, ‘The Individual, Society, and the State’, 98; cf. Bakunin, ‘Revolutionary Catechism’ [1866], in Bakunin on Anarchy, 76.
66.
Malatesta, Anarchy, 10, 15.
67.
Rocker, Anarcho-Syndicalism, 33.
68.
Goldman, ‘The Individual, Society, and the State’, 115.
69.
Rocker, Anarcho-Syndicalism, 33.
70.
Ibid.
71.
Peter Kropotkin, ‘Finland: A Rising Nationality’, The Nineteenth Century 27:97 (Mar. 1885), 530.
72.
Cf. Emma Goldman, ‘Patriotism: A Menace to Liberty’, in Anarchism and Other Essays (New York: Mother Earth Publishing Association, 1910), 127–144; Leo Tolstoy, ‘Patriotism and Government’, in Government Is Violence: Essays on Anarchism and Pacifism, ed. D. Stephens (London: Phoenix Press, 1990), 77–92.
73.
Kropotkin, Quoted in Jean Caroline Cahm, ‘Kropotkin and the Anarchist Movement’, in E. Cahm and V. C. Fišera (Eds), Socialism and Nationalism, vol. 1 (Nottingham, UK: Spokesman, 1978), 56.
74.
Young, Justice and the Politics of Difference, 38; cf. A. Cudd, Analyzing Oppression (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006), 52.
75.
Jun, ‘On Philosophical Anarchism’, 559; cf. Cudd, Analyzing Oppression, 25, 50, 52.
76.
Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, What is Property? (London: William Reeves, 1969), 43.
77.
Bakunin, ‘Science and the Urgent Revolution Task’ [1870], in The Political Philosophy of Bakunin, 211.
78.
Bakunin, ‘Statism and Anarchy’, in Bakunin on Anarchy, 328.
79.
Ibid., 330.
80.
Proudhon, What is Property?, 43.
81.
Peter Kropotkin, ‘Modern Science and Anarchism’ [1912], in Kropotkin’s Revolutionary Pamphlets, 181.
82.
Bakunin, ‘Science and the Urgent Revolutionary Task’, 358.
83.
Lucien van der Walt, ‘Anarchism and Marxism’, in Nathan Jun (Ed), Brill’s Companion to Anarchism and Philosophy (Leiden: Brill, 2017), 523.
84.
Bakunin, ‘Science and the Urgent Revolutionary Task’, 365.
85.
Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, ‘The Manifesto of the Communist Party’ [1848], in The Marx-Engels Reader, ed. Robert Tucker (New York: Norton, 1978), 475.
86.
Vladimir Lenin, ‘The State and Revolution’ [1917], in The Essential Works of Lenin, ed. H. Christman (New York: Dover, 1987), 274.
87.
van der Walt, ‘Anarchism and Marxism’, 523; cf. Karl Marx, ‘After the Revolution: Marx Debates Bakunin’, in The Marx-Engels Reader, 544.
88.
Mikhail Bakunin, ‘Letter to La Liberté’ [1872], in Bakunin on Anarchy, 282–283.
89.
Marx, ‘After the Revolution’, 544.
90.
Bakunin, ‘Science and the Urgent Revolutionary Task,’ 365.
91.
van der Walt, ‘Anarchism and Marxism’, 522–523.
92.
Jun, ‘On Philosophical Anarchism’, 561.
93.
Goldman, Anarchism and Other Essays, 67.
94.
Jun, ‘On Philosophical Anarchism’, 563.
95.
McLaughlin, Anarchism and Authority, 28.

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Department of English, Humanities, and Philosophy, Midwestern State University, Wichita Falls, TX, USA
Nathan J. Jun

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Department of Politics and International Relations Goldsmiths, University of London, London, UK
Carl Levy
Department of Politics, History and International Relations, Loughborough University, Loughborough, UK
Matthew S. Adams

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Jun, N.J. (2019). The State. In: Levy, C., Adams, M.S. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Anarchism. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-75620-2_2

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-75620-2_2
Published: 23 June 2018
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