Alan Ritter, Anarchism: A Theoretical Analysis (1980)

For Eileen and Jon

ANARCHISM: A THEORETICAL ANALYSIS

ALAN RITTER

CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS

1980

CONTENTS

Acknowledgments vii
Introduction i

  1. Liberty and public censure in anarchist thought 9
    The conceptual argument 10
    The crude empirical arguments 13
    The sophisticated empirical arguments 17
    The libertarianism of anarchist censure 2 3
  2. The goal of anarchism: communal individuality 25
    The normative status of individuality and
    community in anarchist thought 26
    Liberty, censure and individuality 31
    Liberty, censure and community 33
    How free is anarchy? 35
  3. Varieties of anarchy 40
    Godwin: anarchy as conversation 41
    Proudhon and Bakunin: anarchy as a productive enterprise 49
    Kropotkin: anarchy as an extended neighborhood 56
  4. The anarchists as critics of established institutions 61
    Law, government and unanimous direct democracy 62
    Authority 65
    Punishment 72
    Social inequality 76
    Technology 83
    The coherence of anarchist criticism 87
  5. Anarchist strategy: the dilemma of means and ends 89
    Godwin: 'trusting to reason alone' 90
    Proudhon: waiting for the revolution 97
    Bakunin: the perils of force and fraud 100
    Kropotkin: in search of strategic balance 105
    The futility of anarchist strategy 109
  6. The place of anarchism in the spectrum of political ideas 112
    Anarchism, liberalism and community 113
    Anarchism, socialism and the state as cause 124
    The singularity of anarchism 132
  7. Evaluating anarchism 134
    Anarchy as a complete achievement 135
    Anarchy as a critical standard and practical guide 151
    The significance of anarchism for political thought 164

Index 185