Doctrine of anarchism without any qualifying labels
Anarchism without adjectives
is a
pluralist
tendency of anarchism that opposes
sectarianism
and advocates for cooperation between different
anarchist schools of thought
. First formulated by the
Spanish anarchists
Ricardo Mella
and
Fernando Tarrida del Marmol
, as a way to bridge the ideological divide between the
collectivists
and
communist
factions, it was later adopted by the Italian anarchist
Errico Malatesta
and the American individualist
Voltairine de Cleyre
.
Anarchists without adjectives are suspicious of
dogmatism
and criticise prescriptions for a
post-capitalist future
, which they consider
authoritarian
. Instead they hold that a new society should be allowed to
emerge spontaneously
after a
social revolution
, which they believe could result in the experimental development of different economic forms in different locations. They thus tend to focus on taking action in the present, with
contemporary forms
outright rejecting
utopianism
.
Background
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]
When
anarchist communism
was first formulated in 1876, debates over its merits led to a split within the
Anarchist International
, as French and Italian communists clashed with
collectivists
from Spain.
At the 1877 Vervies Conference, Swiss anarchist leader
James Guillaume
attempted to overcome the split by arguing that "each group be free to determine its own solutions".
This position was adopted by a number of
Spanish anarchists
, who advocated for the tolerance of different, coexisting
anarchist schools of thought
.
In 1886, Catalan anarchists around the periodical
Acracia
[
es
]
began attempting to settle the communist-collectivist split by propagating a kind of "
non-denominational
" anarchism. Despite opposition from anarchist communists around the
Tierra y Libertad
paper, these anarchists began referring to themselves as "
socialist anarchists
" and used terms such as "indifferent anarchism" or "plain and simple anarchism" in order to overcome the divide.
In 1888, the anti-sectarian campaign was adopted by a circle of anarchist intellectuals led by
Antoni Pellicer
, who formulated a perspective that rejected any qualifying labels for anarchism.
This perspective was developed further by the political theorists
Fernando Tarrida del Marmol
and
Ricardo Mella
, who articulated an "unhyphenated form of anarchism" which they termed "anarchism without adjectives" (
Spanish
:
Anarquismo sin adjetivos
).
Development
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]
By Tarrida
[
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]
A pupil of
Anselmo Lorenzo
, Tarrida had initially been attracted to
collectivist anarchism
, through the
federalism
of
Pierre-Joseph Proudhon
and
Francesc Pi i Margall
. By 1889, he had become a prolific anarchist speaker and writer for
Acracia
, winning support from many of Barcelona's workers, who delegated him to the
International Workers Congresses of Paris
.
Drawing from his background in
mathematics
, Tarrida considered anarchism to be a
universal philosophy
with scientifically-validated principles. Although himself a collectivist, he rejected rigid
doctrine
and refused to engage in the debate between the collectivists and communists, instead upholding Pellicer's formula for an anarchism that included a diversity of economic systems. From this position, he first developed his theory of "anarchism without adjectives".
Tarrida first used the term at a November 1889 meeting in Barcelona, when he called for anarchists to reject of all forms of
dogma
in order to conform closer with the principles of "
nature
,
science
and
justice
".
The communist-collectivist feud, which dominated the anarchist discourse of the time, had encouraged Tarrida to issue an appeal for an
ecumenical
approach to anarchism, calling for tolerance between different anarchist tendencies in order to focus on the cause of revolutionary anarchism. He concluded that if anarchists were to be consistent with their anti-dogmatic tendencies, which upheld freedom of thought, they ought not to impose their own economic programmes on others. Nevertheless, the feud persisted, with French communists denouncing the Spanish collectivists as authoritarian and scrutinising Tarrida's proposal for an "anarchism without adjectives".
The following year, in the pages of the French communist newspaper
Le Revolte
, Tarrida replied that the pursuit of
anarchy
and the abolition of the
State
ought to be emphasised as the common foundation of anarchism.
He held the economic question to be of "secondary importance", rejecting any rigid systematic theory and upholding the complimentary potential of different anarchist economic propositions.
The French communists, he argued, had become too ideologically rigid and puritanical, which had isolated them from other anarchist groups and rendered them ineffective as a force against the
bourgeoisie
. He concluded by encouraging them to drop their
utopian tendencies
to preconceive an immutable future anarchist society, so that they could better adapt to the changing social and economic conditions of the present.
He also criticised the French communists for attempting to impose a "foreign style of anarchism" on Spanish collectivists, whose organisationalist tendencies had arisen from different material conditions and had proven an effective response to those conditions.
Although Tarrida rejected the communists' indiscriminate anti-organizational stance, he was also opposed to rigidity within Spanish collectivism, arguing that the
Federation of Workers of the Spanish Region
(FTRE) had "outlived its usefulness" by growing increasingly bureaucratic and accepting its dissolution.
By Mella
[
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]
A different approach to "anarchism without adjectives" was taken up by the prolific anarchist theorist
Ricardo Mella
. In contrast to Tarrida, who recommended that different anarchist systems be synthesised, Mella called for free experimentation to determine the best system for a given circumstance. Mella believed that the great divide within anarchism wasn't between communism and collectivism, but between tolerance and intransigence, the latter of which created divisions over the supremacy of different forms of dogma.
When Mella began writing for
Acracia
, he initially called for tolerance between anarchist tendencies as a way to prevent communist ideas from becoming predominant in Spain. In his article
La reaccion y la revolucion
, Mella argued against dogmatic economic prescriptions for a future anarchist society, declaring that a revolutionary movement could only arise from a diversity of perspectives that could "proceed according to whatever traditions and customs best suited the circumstances at hand."
Although Mella remained a staunch collectivist and anti-communist,
he nevertheless opposed the internecine split between the two factions, attempting to keep the debate between them healthy by continuing his advocacy of non-denominational anarchism.
As time went on, he became more tolerant of communism, considering it to be possible for it to coexist alongside other economic systems. He even went on to defend anarchist communists from attacks by the Italian criminologist
Cesare Lombroso
and translated the work of
Peter Kropotkin
, although he remained uncomfortable fully endorsing communist views for the rest of his life.
In 1889, Mella published the apotheosis of his development of anarchism without adjectives: his
utopian novella
La Nueva Utopia
, which examined the possible social and economic forms of a future anarchist society. In the book, Mella depicts a society that had undergone a
social revolution
, resulting in the complete satisfaction of their needs and a harmonious cooperation between its inhabitants.
Such an economic and social reorganization of society had been achieved after multiple centuries of experimentation and hard work, driven by scientific and technological progress, which had eliminated both toil and environmental pollution.
Growth and adoption
[
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]
In Europe
[
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]
Throughout the 1890s, Tarrida and Mella continued their campaign for the adoption of a non-sectarian form of anarchism, eventually achieving some success. Many other anarchists, including
Anselmo Lorenzo
and
Joan Montseny
, began calling for an end to the dogmatic schism between communists and collectivists, with the adjectives themselves even taking on negative connotations among those that had tired of the split.
Inspired by Tarrida and Mella, many other European anarchists began to eschew hyphenated labels and refer solely to anarchy as their end goal, rejecting prescriptions for a future society as inherently
authoritarian
.
Anarchism without adjectives was taken up by
Elisee Reclus
and
Max Nettlau
,
the latter of whom called for a non-sectarian anarchism that accounted for both
communism
and
individualism
, without universalizing either, leaving room for experimentation in different possibilities of economic organization.
The position was also adopted by the Italian communist
Errico Malatesta
,
who likewise argued against dogmatism within the anarchist movement,
declaring: "Let us do away with all exclusivism of schools of thinking."
Malatesta warned that "one must beware, at the risk of certain disaster, of supposing that one’s system is the only, and infallible, one [...] and that its success must be assured at all costs, by means other than those which depend on persuasion, which spring from the evidence of facts."
Malatesta posited that as anarchism centres
spontaneity
, it would be wrong for anarchists to impose economic prescriptions. He concluded that different anarchist tendencies should therefore unite within a single organisation, which centred a shared anarchist method. Malatesta also began referring to himself as an "
anarchist socialist
", in order to promote inclusivity of different anarchist schools.
In the pages of
Le Revolte
, Malatesta declared that "[i]t is not right for us, to say the least, to fall into strife over mere hypotheses".
By the turn of the 20th century, anarchism without adjectives had spread beyond Europe to the
Americas
, where many anarchists were increasingly migrating. In
Buenos Aires
, Antoni Pellicer argued that Argentine workers ought to reject dogmatism and embrace anarchism without adjectives. It also found its way to the
United States
, where American anarchists were brought over to the idea by the arguments of Tarrida del Marmol.
In the United States
[
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]
In the United States, there was also an intense debate between
individualist anarchists
around
Benjamin Tucker
and the anarchist communists around
Johann Most
, who dismissed each other's ideas as un-anarchistic.
Troubled by the "bitter debates" between anarchists from divergent schools of economic thought, those who did not see a need to confine themselves to one particular school of thought called for more tolerance among anarchists, with some of them explicitly terming it "anarchism without adjectives".
Starting in the 1880s, many American anarchists began to prioritize their commonly-held
anti-statism
over their differing economic methods, which they saw as of secondary importance and something to be left until the future.
In 1893,
William
and
Lizzie Holmes
organized an international anarchist conference in
Chicago
, where they attempted to formulate a common programme for anarchists to unite behind. They were joined by
Voltairine de Cleyre
,
Honore Jackson
,
C. L. James
,
Lucy Parsons
and
William Henry van Ornum
, but the conference was boycotted by Benjamin Tucker and Johann Most, who were still locked in an ideological conflict.
Over the subsequent years, the Holmes couple and their circle continued attempting to reconcile the different anarchist factions, even going as far as to advocate for an anti-authoritarian
united front
with
Georgists
,
socialists
and
nationalists
. In 1895, the Jewish anarchist
J. A. Maryson
began calling for a "pure and simple" anarchism that upheld freedom of opinion, arguing that diversity was an essential component of freedom.
By the 1900s, the most visible American exponent of anarchism without adjectives was Voltairine de Cleyre,
who adopted the term from Tarrida del Marmol,
and likewise advocated for cooperation between different anarchist philosophies and strategies.
She criticised economic dogmatism,
believing that after the
state
was abolished, different localities would be free to experiment in different economic forms of anarchism,
ranging from
mutualism
to
communism
.
During the last years of her life, de Cleyre argued passionately against anarchist sectarianism, declaring her desire to rid the anarchist movement of "those outrageous
excommunications
which belong properly to the
Church of Rome
, and which serve no purpose but to bring us into deserved contempt with outsiders."
Skeptical of "high-sounding theories", which she considered to be indicative of
intellectual elitism
, de Cleyre preferred to support
action
in the present rather than indulge in debates over the future.
She believed that a future free society could not be forecast, due to the uncertainty of how society might evolve, and thus upheld all experiments in the direction of greater freedom as intrinsically good.
As she saw shortcomings in each anarchist school of thought, arguing for the best elements of each to be synthesized into a more
pragmatic philosophy
, historian
Paul Avrich
argued that de Cleyre "cannot be fitted into any single anarchist category".
Until the end of her life, she insisted on labelling herself simply as an "anarchist",
even as she personally moved from
American individualism
towards the
anarchist communism
advocated by
Emma Goldman
.
Herself inspired by
Max Stirner
's
individualist anarchism
, Goldman also came to reject visionary thinking of "blueprints for the future", instead declaring that anarchist methods must be adapted depending on the circumstances of different places and times.
Anarchism without adjectives was later taken up by
Luigi Galleani
and the
Galleanisti
, who went so far as to reject formal organizational structures, claiming the end point of any organization was to move towards
conservatism
and eventually become
reactionary
.
Other Italian-American anarchists, who were not followers of Galleani, also came to consider themselves anarchists without adjectives, rejecting specific currents and individual leaders.
Contemporary developments
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]
Eventually, the term "anarchism without adjectives" largely fell out of use, although its anti-sectarian principles were still implicitly upheld by some
contemporary anarchists
, following the development of diverse
new social movements
.
Research by Dana M. Williams found that North American anarchists were more likely to reject the labels of "
red
" or "
green anarchist
", in favour of simply identifying as "anarchist", "anti-authoritarian" or some form of "anarchist without adjectives".
Voltairine de Cleyre's contributions to anarchism without adjectives have been particularly influential on the development of contemporary anarchism,
which has often neglected prescriptive models for alternatives to
globalization
and
neoliberalism
.
de Cleyre's conception of anarchism without adjectives was adopted by the anarchist historian
Peter Marshall
, who argued against
false binaries
that separate economic systems or dichotomise the
individual
against the
community
.
The anarchist communist Wayne Price has also proposed that a post-capitalist transition would be carried out in an "experimental, pluralist, and decentralized society," which would utilise different solutions to the specific issues that affect them.
Post-anarchism
, while attaching an adjective to anarchism, has also argued for a
polythetic classification
of different anarchist schools of thought, proposing an "anarchism with many possible adjectives".
See also
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References
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]
Bibliography
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]
- Avrich, Paul
(1978). "Anarchism without Adjectives".
An American Anarchist: The Life of Voltairine de Cleyre
.
Princeton University Press
. pp. 144?170.
ISBN
0-691-04657-3
.
LCCN
78-51153
.
- Avrich, Paul
(1995).
Anarchist Voices: An Oral History of Anarchism in America
.
Princeton University Press
.
ISBN
0-691-03412-5
.
OCLC
30476588
.
- Campbell, Michelle M. (2013).
"Voltairine de Cleyre and the Anarchist Canon"
.
Anarchist Developments in Cultural Studies
(1): 64?81.
ISSN
1923-5615
.
- Carson, Kevin
(2017). "Anarchism and Markets". In Jun, Nathan (ed.).
Brill's Companion to Anarchism and Philosophy
.
Leiden
:
Brill
. pp. 81?119.
doi
:
10.1163/9789004356894_005
.
ISBN
978-90-04-35689-4
.
- Esenwein, George Richard (1989). "Anarquismo sin adjectivos".
Anarchist Ideology and the Working-class Movement in Spain, 1868-1898
.
University of California Press
. pp. 134?154.
ISBN
978-0520063983
.
- Heroux, Erick (2010).
"PostAnarchia Repertoire"
.
Anarchist Developments in Cultural Studies
.
2010
(1): 19?30.
ISSN
1923-5615
.
- Graham, Robert (2018). "Anarchism and the First International". In Adams, Matthew S.; Levy, Carl (eds.).
The Palgrave Handbook of Anarchism
. London: Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 325?342.
doi
:
10.1007/978-3-319-75620-2_19
.
ISBN
978-3319756196
.
S2CID
158605651
.
- Marshall, Peter H.
(2008) [1992].
Demanding the Impossible: A History of Anarchism
.
London
:
Harper Perennial
.
ISBN
978-0-00-686245-1
.
OCLC
218212571
.
- Nettlau, Max
(1996).
A Short History of Anarchism
.
Freedom Press
. pp. 195?201.
ISBN
978-0900384899
.
OCLC
37529250
.
- Sartwell, Crispin (2017). "Anarchism and Nineteenth-Century American Political Thought". In Jun, Nathan (ed.).
Brill's Companion to Anarchism and Philosophy
.
Leiden
:
Brill
. pp. 454?483.
doi
:
10.1163/9789004356894
.
ISBN
978-90-04-35689-4
.
S2CID
171479284
.
- Shannon, Deric (2018). "Anti-Capitalism and Libertarian Political Economy". In Adams, Matthew S.; Levy, Carl (eds.).
The Palgrave Handbook of Anarchism
. London: Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 91?106.
doi
:
10.1007/978-3-319-75620-2_5
.
ISBN
978-3319756196
.
S2CID
242094330
.
- Turcato, Davide (2018). "Anarchist Communism". In Adams, Matthew S.; Levy, Carl (eds.).
The Palgrave Handbook of Anarchism
. London: Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 237?248.
doi
:
10.1007/978-3-319-75620-2_13
.
ISBN
978-3319756196
.
S2CID
242094330
.
- Williams, Dana M. (2009). "Red vs. green: regional variation of anarchist ideology in the United States".
Journal of Political Ideologies
.
14
(2): 189?210.
doi
:
10.1080/13569310902925816
.
S2CID
33888366
.
Further reading
[
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]
- Aragorn! (2007).
"Anarchy Without Road Maps or Adjectives"
.
AJODA
. No. 63 – via The Anarchist Library.
- De Cleyre, Voltairine
(1914a).
"Anarchism"
. In
Berkman, Alexander
;
Havel, Hippolyte
(eds.).
Selected Works of Voltairine de Cleyre
. New York: Mother Earth Publishing Association. pp. 96?117.
OCLC
170244
.
- De Cleyre, Voltairine
(1914b).
"The Making of an Anarchist"
. In
Berkman, Alexander
;
Havel, Hippolyte
(eds.).
Selected Works of Voltairine de Cleyre
. New York: Mother Earth Publishing Association. pp. 154?163.
OCLC
170244
.
- Gelderloos, Peter
(2007).
"A Survey of the US Anarchist Movement"
.
Social Anarchism
. No. 40.
ISSN
0196-4801
.
- Goldman, Emma
(1910).
"Anarchism: What It Really Stands For"
.
Anarchism and Other Essays
. Mother Earth Publishing Association.
OCLC
346693
.
- Grubacic, Andrej
;
Graeber, David
(2004).
"Anarchism, Or The Revolutionary Movement Of The Twenty-first Century"
.
Z Network
.
- Holmes, William (1896).
"The Historical, Philosophical and Economic Bases of Anarchy"
.
Liberty Library
. No. 1.
Columbus Junction, Iowa
.
OCLC
83042711
– via The Anarchist Library.
- Lum, Dyer
(1886).
"Communal Anarchy"
.
The Alarm
. Vol. 2, no. 15. p. 2 – via The Libertarian Labyrinth.
- Malatesta, Errico
(1965).
"Anarchist-Communism"
. In Richards, Vernon (ed.).
Errico Malatesta: His Life and Ideas
.
London
:
Freedom Press
. pp. 34?37.
OCLC
803165281
.
- Malatesta, Errico
(2014).
"Our Plans"
. In Turcato, Davide (ed.).
The Method of Freedom: An Errico Malatesta Reader
.
Oakland, California
:
AK Press
.
ISBN
9781849351447
.
LCCN
2013481880
.
OCLC
859185688
.
- Mella, Ricardo
(1887?1888).
"La reaccion en la Revolucion"
.
Acracia
(in Spanish). Vol. 2?3, no. 21?28 – via The Libertarian Labyrinth.
- Mella, Ricardo
(1889a).
"Tolerancia e Intransigencia"
.
La Solidaridad
(in Spanish). Translated by Wilbur, Shawn – via The Libertarian Labyrinth.
- Mella, Ricardo
(1889b).
"Evolucion y Revolucion"
.
La Solidaridad
(in Spanish) – via Ricardo Mella Archive.
- Mella, Ricardo
(1890).
"La Nueva Utopia"
.
Certamen Socialista
(in Spanish). Vol. 2 – via Ricardo Mella Archive.
- Mella, Ricardo
(1900).
"Collectivism and Communism"
.
Les Temps Nouveaux
. Translated by Wilbur, Shawn – via The Libertarian Labyrinth.
- Montseny, Joan
;
Mane, Teresa
(1891).
Las Preocupaciones de los Despreocupados
(in Spanish).
Barcelona
: "La Academia" de Viuda.
OCLC
83043424
.
- Neal, Dave (1997).
"Anarchism: Ideology or Methodology?"
.
Spunk Library
.
- Nettlau, Max
(1914).
"Anarchism: Communist or Individualist? Both"
.
Mother Earth
. Vol. 9, no. 5. pp. 170?175 – via The Libertarian Labyrinth.
- Tarrida del Marmol, Fernando
(1889).
"Revolutionary Theory"
. Translated by Wilbur, Shawn – via The Libertarian Labyrinth.
- Tarrida del Marmol, Fernando
(1890).
"Anarchism Without Adjectives"
.
La Revolte
. Vol. 3, no. 51. Translated by McNab, Nestor – via The Anarchist Library.
- van Ornum, William Henry (1896).
"Fundamentals in Reform"
.
Liberty Library
. No. 5.
Columbus Junction, Iowa
.
OCLC
367437215
– via The Anarchist Library.
- Winn, Ross
(1894).
"Let Us Unite"
.
Twentieth Century
– via
Wikisource
.