anarchy

plural anarchies

1. uncountableThe state of a society being without authorities or an authoritative governing body.

   Oui, l’anarchie c’est l'ordre; car, le gouvernement c’est la guerre civile.

   Anarchy, a Journal of Order

   2002 [1850], Anselme Bellegarrigue, “Manifeste de l’Anarchie [Anarchist Manifesto]”, in Paul Sharkey, transl., L'anarchie, Journal de l'Ordre [Anarchy, a Journal of Order], number 1, translation of original in French

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   La propriété et la royauté sont en démolition dès le commencement du monde ; comme l’homme cherche la justice dans l’égalité, la société cherche l’ordre dans l’anarchie. Anarchie, absence de maître, de souverain, telle est la forme de gouvernement dont nous approchons tous les jours, et que l’habitude invétérée de prendre l’homme pour règle et sa volonté pour loi nous fait regarder comme le comble du désordre et l’expression du chaos.

   1849 [1840], Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, “Chapitre V. Second Partie. § 2.”, in Qu’est ce que la propriété?, page 242; English translation from “Chapter V. Part Second. § 2.”, in Benjamin Tucker, transl., What Is Property?, translation of original in French, 1876, page 277

   Rather than democracy, justice as well as economic efficiency require a pure and unrestricted private property society – an ‘anarchy of production’ – in which no one rules anybody, and all producers’ relations are voluntary, and thus mutually beneficial.

   2000 November 17, Hans-Hermann Hoppe, “Down With Democracy”, in LewRockwell.com

2. rareuncountableThe political theory that a community is best organized by the voluntary cooperation of individuals, rather than by a government, which is regarded as being coercive by nature.

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   Своею полемикою против них мы довели их до сознания, что свобода или анархия, т. е. вольная организация ра­бочих масс снизу вверх, есть окончательная цель общественного развития, и что всякое государство, не исключая и их народного, есть ярмо, значит с одной стороны порождает деспотизм, а с другой рабство. Они говорят, что такое государственное ярмо-диктатура есть необходимое переходное средство для достижения полнейшего народного освобождения: анархия или свобода — цель, государство или дикта­тура — средство. Итак для освобождения народных масс надо их сперва поработить.

   Mikhail Bakunin

   1919 [1873], Михаил Бакунин [Mikhail Bakunin], Государственность и aнархия (Избранные сочинения М. А. Бакунина в 5-ти томах; 1), page 296; English translation from chapter VII, in Marshall S. Shatz, transl., Statism and Anarchy, 2005

   Libertarianism is the view that each man is the absolute owner of his life, to use and dispose of as he sees fit: that all man's social actions should be voluntary: and that respect for every other man's similar and equal ownership of life and, by extension, the property and fruits of that life, is the ethical basis of a humane and open society. In this view, the only — repeat, only — function of law or government is to provide the sort of self-defense against violence that an individual, if he were powerful enough, would provide for himself. If it were not for the fact that libertarianism freely concedes the right of men voluntarily to form communities or governments on the same ethical basis, libertarianism could be called anarchy.

   1969 March, Karl Hess, “The Death of Politics”, in PlayBoy

   Well, anarchism is, in my view, basically a kind of tendency in human thought which shows up in different forms in different circumstances, and has some leading characteristics. Primarily it is a tendency that is suspicious and skeptical of domination, authority, and hierarchy. It seeks structures of hierarchy and domination in human life over the whole range, extending from, say, patriarchal families to, say, imperial systems, and it asks whether those systems are justified. It assumes that the burden of proof for anyone in a position of power and authority lies on them. Their authority is not self-justifying. They have to give a reason for it, a justification. And if they can’t justify that authority and power and control, which is the usual case, then the authority ought to be dismantled and replaced by something more free and just. And, as I understand it, anarchy is just that tendency. It takes different forms at different times.

   2013 May 28, Noam Chomsky, “The Kind of Anarchism I Believe in, and What’s Wrong with Libertarians”, in The Noam Chomsky Website, interviewed by Michael S. Wilson

   Synonyms: anarchism

3. countableA chaotic and confusing absence of any form of political authority or government.

   And each dweller, panic-stricken, Felt his heart with terror sicken Hearing the tempestuous cry Of the triumph of Anarchy.

   1819 (date written), Percy Bysshe Shelley, The Masque of Anarchy. A Poem. […], London: Edward Moxon […], published 1832, →OCLC

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   Anarchy still reigns in this new country;—not only have the miners to defend their persons and their acquisitions against the incursions from Indian tribes; not only are crimes and offences common (lynch law maintaining a permitted existence instead of laws and police); but every one appears to hold his property by right of first comer: a miner choses the spot he likes best; a strong arm and a carbine, with a steady eye, are his title deeds. To seize upon a rich "placer" from a miner too weak to resist, is called in the slang of the district, to "jump a claim." The President of the United States himself, stated in his last message, that "The mineral lands should remain free to every citizen;" and the Secretary of State has added, "that the right of occupancy should be submitted only to such laws as the miners themselves thought fit to make."

   1853, Leon Faucher, “IV.”, in Thomson Hankey, transl., Remarks on the Production of the Precious Metals, and on the Demonetization of Gold in Several Countries in Europe, 2nd revised edition, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., →OCLC, page 50

4. countableuncountableConfusion in general; disorder.

   It was total anarchy in the clothes shop on Black Friday as soon as they opened the doors.

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   Der Widerspruch zwischen gesellschaftlicher Produktion und kapitalistischer Aneignung stellt sich nun dar als Gegensatz zwischen der Organisation der Produktion in der einzelnen Fabrik und der Anarchie der Produktion in der ganzen Gesellschaft.

   1907 [1883], Friedrich Engels, chapter III, in Edward Aveling, transl., Socialism: Utopian and Scientific, translation of Die Entwicklung des Sozialismus von der Utopie zur Wissenschaft (in German), page 59

   The economic anarchy of capitalist society as it exists today is, in my opinion, the real source of the evil.

   1949 May, Albert Einstein, “Why Socialism?”, in Monthly Review, number 1