Global InformationIndividualist anarchism in Europe information
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Individualist anarchism in Europe proceeded from the roots laid by William Godwin[1] and soon expanded and diversified through Europe, incorporating influences from individualist anarchism in the United States. Individualist anarchism is a tradition of thought within the anarchist movement that emphasize the individual and his or her will over external determinants such as groups, society, traditions, and ideological systems.[2][3] While most American individualist anarchists advocate mutualism, a libertarian socialist form of market socialism, or a free-market socialist form of classical economics, European individualist anarchists are pluralists who advocate anarchism without adjectives and synthesis anarchism, ranging from anarcho-communist to mutualist economic types.[4]
Early European individualist anarchism was influenced by many philosophers, including Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, Max Stirner and Henry David Thoreau.[5] Proudhon was an early pioneer of anarchism as well as of the important individualist anarchist current of mutualism.[6][7] Stirner became a central figure of individualist anarchism through the publication of his seminal work The Ego and Its Own which is considered to be "a founding text in the tradition of individualist anarchism".[8] The philosophy of Max Stirner supports the individual doing exactly what he pleases, taking no notice of God, state, or moral rules.[9] To Stirner, rights were spooks in the mind and held that society does not exist but "the individuals are its reality". Stirner supported property by force of might rather than moral right,[10] advocated self-assertion and foresaw union of egoists drawn together by respect for each other's self-ownership.[11] Thoreau's emphasis on the promotion of simple living, environmental stewardship and civil disobedience were influential in European individualist anarchists.[5] Influential European individualist anarchists include Albert Libertad, Anselme Bellegarrigue, Oscar Wilde, Émile Armand, Lev Chernyi, John Henry Mackay, Han Ryner, Adolf Brand, Miguel Giménez Igualada, Renzo Novatore and Michel Onfray.[12][13]
An important tendency within European individualist anarchism in general is the emphasis on individual subjective exploration and defiance of social conventions. Individualist anarchist philosophy attracted "amongst artists, intellectuals and the well-read, urban middle classes in general".[14] Murray Bookchin describes a lot of individualist anarchism as people who "expressed their opposition in uniquely personal forms, especially in fiery tracts, outrageous behavior, and aberrant lifestyles in the cultural ghettos of fin de siecle New York, Paris, and London. As a credo, individualist anarchism remained largely a bohemian lifestyle, most conspicuous in its demands for sexual freedom ('free love') and enamored of innovations in art, behavior, and clothing".[15] In this way, free love[16][17] currents and other radical lifestyles such as naturism[17][18] had popularity among individualist anarchists. Other important currents common within European individual anarchism include free love,[19] illegalism[20] and freethought.[21]
- ^ Woodcock, George. 2004. Anarchism: A History of Libertarian Ideas and Movements. Broadview Press. p. 20.
- ^ "What do I mean by individualism? I mean by individualism the moral doctrine which, relying on no dogma, no tradition, no external determination, appeals only to the individual conscience."Mini-Manual of Individualism by Han Ryner Archived September 27, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "I do not admit anything except the existence of the individual, as a condition of his sovereignty. To say that the sovereignty of the individual is conditioned by Liberty is simply another way of saying that it is conditioned by itself.""Anarchism and the State" in Individual Liberty
- ^ McKay, Iain, ed. (2012) [2008]. An Anarchist FAQ. Vol. I/II. Stirling: AK Press. ISBN 9781849351225.
- ^ a b Cite error: The named reference
tesisenxarxa1923was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ George Edward Rines, ed. (1918), Encyclopedia Americana, New York: Encyclopedia Americana Corp., p. 624, OCLC 7308909
- ^ Hamilton, Peter (1995), Emile Durkheim, New York: Routledge, p. 79, ISBN 978-0-415-11047-1
- ^ Leopold, David (August 4, 2006). "Max Stirner". In Zalta, Edward N. (ed.). Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
- ^ Miller, David (1987). The Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Political Thought. Blackwell Publishing. p. 11.
- ^ "What my might reaches is my property; and let me claim as property everything I feel myself strong enough to attain, and let me extend my actual property as fas as I entitle, that is, empower myself to take…" From The Ego and Its Own, quoted in Ossar, Michael (1980). Anarchism in the Dramas of Ernst Toller. State University of New York Press. p. 27.
- ^ Woodcock, George (2004). Anarchism: A History of Libertarian Ideas and Movements. Broadview Press. p. 20.
- ^ Onfray says in an interview "L'individualisme anarchiste part de cette logique. Il célèbre les individualités...Dans cette période de libéralisme comme horizon indépassable, je persiste donc à plaider pour l'individu."Interview des lecteurs : Michel Onfray Par Marion Rousset| 1er avril 2005 Archived April 4, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Au-delà, l'éthique et la politique de Michel Onfray font signe vers l'anarchisme individualiste de la Belle Epoque qui est d'ailleurs une de ses références explicites.""Individualité et rapports à l'engagement militant Individualite et rapports a l engageme".. par : Pereira Irène Archived April 24, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Richard Parry. The Bonnot Gang: The Story of the French Illegalists
- ^ ""2. Individualist Anarchism and Reaction" in Social Anarchism or Lifestyle Anarchism – An Unbridgeable Chasm". Archived from the original on April 18, 2020. Retrieved January 3, 2011.
- ^ "The Free Love Movement and Radical Individualism By Wendy McElroy". Archived from the original on June 14, 2011. Retrieved March 6, 2011.
- ^ a b Cite error: The named reference
frenchexperimentationwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Cite error: The named reference
naturismowas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ "Voluntary non-submission. Spanish individualist anarchism during dictatorship and the second republic (1923–1938)" by Xavier Diez Archived May 26, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Parallel to the social, collectivist anarchist current there was an individualist one whose partisans emphasized their individual freedom and advised other individuals to do the same. Individualist anarchist activity spanned the full spectrum of alternatives to authoritarian society, subverting it by undermining its way of life facet by facet." Thus theft, counterfeiting, swindling, and robbery became a way of life for hundreds of individualists, as it was already for countless thousands of proletarians. The wave of anarchist bombings and assassinations of the 1890s (Auguste Vaillant, Ravachol, Émile Henry, Sante Caserio) and the practice of illegalism from the mid-1880s to the start of the First World War (Clément Duval, Pini, Marius Jacob, the Bonnot Gang) were twin aspects of the same proletarian offensive, but were expressed in an individualist practice, one that complemented the great collective struggles against capital."
- ^ Xavier Diez. El anarquismo individualista en España (1923–1939) Virus Editorial. 2007. pg. 152