Anarchism can be conceived as a kind of voluntary socialism, that is, as libertarian socialist or anarcho-syndicalist or communist anarchist, in the tradition of, say, Bakunin and Peter Kropotkin and others. They had in mind a highly organized form of society, but a society that was organized on the basis of organic units, organic communities. And generally, they meant by that the workplace and the neighborhood, and from those two basic units there could derive through federal arrangements a highly integrated kind of social organization which might be national or even international in scope. And these decisions could be made over a substantial range, but by delegates who are always part of the organic community from which they come, to which they return, and in which, in fact, they live. Noam Chomsky
Anarchism covers a very wide range … authority is not self-justifying … Everyone ought to be an anarchist in that sense … Anarcho-syndicalism is a little bit different … particularly concerned with things like workers’ control … Libertarian socialism is just the traditional word for anarchism. Noam Chomsky, Beyond State Socialism, lecture Litteraturhuset Oslo 7th September 2011
There’s no libertarian-socialist society on any large scale that was able to withstand destructive attacks, so for example Spain … the movement was really destroyed by the communists. ibid.
They’re [anarchist initiatives] always facing violent repression because they’re very frightening to power systems. ibid.
The core elements first of all would be authentic participation … decision-making functions it should really be shared … if it goes far enough becomes a major organization. ibid.
It’s a pretty live movement all over the world. ibid.
Institutions that constrain such human development are illegitimate unless of course they can somehow justify themselves. Noam Chomsky, lecture MIT November 2013, ‘What is Anarchism?’
It departs very sharply from the libertarian tradition … Anarchism is famously opposed to the state while at the same time advocating planned administration of things ‘in the interests of the community’. ibid.
A truly democratic system would be quite different. ibid.
These ideas lead to a vision of society based on workers’ control of productive institutions. ibid.
For the anarchist, freedom is not an abstract philosophical concept, but the vital concrete possibility for every human being to bring to full development all the powers, capacities, and talents with which nature has endowed him, and turn them to social account. Noam Chomsky, On Anarchism
A time when anarchists were truly fearsome – less because they were willing to put a brick through a Starbucks window than because they had figured out how to organize themselves in a functional, egalitarian, and sufficiently productive society. ibid.
The record of anarchist ideas, and even more, of the inspiring struggles of people who have sought to liberate themselves from oppression and domination, must be treasured and preserved, not as means of freezing thought and conception in some new mold but as basis for understanding of the social reality and committed work to change it. There is no reason to suppose that history is at an end, that the current structures of authority and domination are graven in stone. It would also be great error to underestimate the power of social forces that will fight to maintain power and privilege. ibid.
By 1941 I was spending a large part of my time in downtown Manhattan gravitating to another group of radical intellectuals – these were in small bookstores … either there or in the anarchist offices … mostly anarchist refugees from the 1936 revolution. They too didn’t fit the standard formula of intellectuals … They were quite happy to spend time with a young kid. (Anarchism & Intellectual) Noam Chomsky, lecture Havens Centre 8th April 2010, ‘The Role of the Radical Intellectual’
The term anarchism is used to cover quite a range of political ideas … Anarchism can be conceived as a kind of voluntary socialism. Noam Chomsky, The Relevance of Anarcho-Syndicalism, interview Peter Jay 1976, Youtube
A society that was organised on the basis of organic units, organic communities … The place where a person works … and where he lives … highly integrated. ibid.
The best example to my knowledge is the Spanish revolution in 1936 … highly successful and in many ways inspiring. ibid.
Another anarchist tradition that develops into anarcho-syndicalism which simply regarded anarchist ideas as the proper mode of organisation for a highly complex, advanced industrial society. ibid.
It’s an open question how onerous that work has to be. ibid.
Libertarian throughout modern European history meant socialist-anarchist … The anti-status branch … kind of merged more or less with a an amalgam, a big strain of anarchism … That’s a special US usage. Noam Chomsky, Socialism & Anarcho-Syndicalism: Workers’ Self-Management & Democracy from Below, Youtube 30.49
So the idea of renting yourself – meaning working for wages – was degrading; it was just an attack on your personal integrity. ibid.
Anarchism covers a very wide range … Anarcho-Syndicalism is a particular brand of anarchism which was particularly concerned with things like workers’ control … Libertarian-socialism is just the traditional word for anarchism … ibid.
A fundamental element of human nature is the need for creative work. ibid.
Anarchy is their natural instinct and in a decent society should be supported and valued. Noam Chomsky, lecture 1993, ‘Apathy & Anarchy’, Youtube 1.36.44
Highly protectionist and always has been: every successful society – industrial society – without exception has radically violated the principles that we try to impose on the third world to try to prevent them from developing. ibid.
Here the term libertarian means the opposite of what it always meant in history: libertarian throughout modern European history meant socialist/anarchist. Noam Chomsky, Conversations with History March 2002, ‘‘Activism, Anarchism & Power’’
The idea that you have to rent yourself to somebody and follow their orders and that they own and you work there and you build it but you don’t own it – that’s a highly unnatural notion … an attack on human dignity. ibid.
Power is always legitimate unless it prove itself to be legitimate. ibid.
When Barcelona fell there was a huge flood of refugees from Spain – most went to Mexico, about 40,000, some went to New York City and established anarchist offices in Union Square … Noam Chomsky, cited Democracy Now 12 April 2019
Let me look back upon thee, O thou wall
That girdles in those wolves, dive in the earth,
And fence not Athens! Matrons, turn incontinent!
Obedience fail in children! Slaves and fools,
Pluck the grave wrinkled senate from the bench
And minister in their steads! To general filths
Convert o’ th’ instant, green virginity!
Do’t in your parents’ eyes. Bankrupts, hold fast!
Rather than render back, out with your knives,
And cut your trusters’ throats. Bound servants, steal!
Large-handed robbers your grave masters are,
And pill by law. Maid, to thy master’s bed!
Thy mistress is o’ th’ brothel. Son of sixteen,
Pluck the lined crutch from thy old limping sire;
With it beat out his brains! Piety and fear,
Religion to the gods, peace, justice, truth,
Domestic awe, night rest, and neighbourhood,
Instruction, manners, mysteries, and trades,
Degrees, observances, customs, and laws,
Decline to your confounding contraries,
And let confusion live! William Shakespeare, Timon of Athens IV i @1
Anarchism is founded on the observation that since few men are wise enough to rule themselves, even fewer are wise enough to rule others. Edward Abbey, in A Voice Crying in the Wilderness: Notes from a Secret Journal 1990
Anarchism is not a romantic fable but the hardheaded realization, based on five thousand years of experience, that we cannot entrust the management of our lives to kings, priests, politicians, generals, and county commissioners. ibid.
As the word anarchy etymologically signifies the negation of governmental authority, the absence of government, it follows that one indissoluble bond unites the anarchists. This is antagonism to all situations regulated by imposition, constraint, violence, governmental oppression, whether these are a product of all, a group, or of one person. In short, whoever denies that the intervention of government is for human relationships is an anarchist. Emile Armand, Anarchist Individualism as Life and Activity, 1907
We started off trying to set up a small anarchist community, but people wouldn’t obey the rules. Alan Bennett, Getting On act I, 1972
Anarchy is the sure consequence of tyranny; or no power that is not limited by laws can ever be protected by them. John Milton
As I lay asleep in Italy
There came a voice from over the Sea,
And with great power it forth led me
To walk in the visions of Poesy.
I met Murder on the way –
He had a mask like Castlereagh –
Very smooth he looked, yet grim:
Seven blood-hounds followed him ...
Last came Anarchy: he rode
On a white horse, splashed with blood;
He was pale even to the lips,
Like Death in the Apocalypse. Percy Bysshe Shelley, The Mask of Anarchy, re Manchester Massacre
I believe that all government is evil, and that trying to improve it is largely a waste of time. H L Mencken