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The Old Anarchism and the New-Some Comments

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 March 2014

David E. Apter
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Extract

ANARCHISM AS A DOCTRINE HAS A PECULIAR FASCINATION FOR scholars. It both repels and attracts. It attracts because it embodies rage – the particular rage people have when they see man as an obstacle to his own humaneness. It is the ultimate statement of how outrageous the human condition can be. But it is precisely because man does not live by rage alone, but must master it by discovering proximate means to solving the ordinary problems of daily life, that anarchism repels. It seem a romantic luxury at best – a cry of pain for the future, just as nostalgia is for the past and, like nostalgia, this cannot fail to be attractive.

Perhaps because of this anarchism is not a mere reflection of anger but also a contributing source. It is thus more than a lightning rod for the anger that exists. Anarchism is associated with unreason and bombs, violence and irresponsibility.

Type
Original Articles
Information
Government and Opposition , Volume 5 , Issue 4 , 01 October 1970 , pp. 397 - 409
Copyright
Copyright © Government and Opposition Ltd 1970

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References

1 See Kropotkin, P., Memoirs of a Revolutionist New York, Doubleday, Anchor Books, 1962, p. 299.Google Scholar

2 See Malatesta, Errico, Life and Ideas, Richards, V., ed., London, Freedom Press, 1965, p. 25.Google Scholar