Is anarchism purely negative?
[1]. Caplan, consulting his American Heritage Dictionary, claims: “Anarchism is a negative; it holds that one thing, namely government, is bad and should be abolished. Aside from this defining tenet, it would be difficult to list any belief that all anarchists hold.” The last sentence is ridiculous. If we look at the works of Tucker, Kropotkin, Proudhon and Bakunin (for example) we discover that we can, indeed list one more “belief that all anarchists hold.” This is opposition to exploitation, to usury (i.e. profits, interest and rent). For example, Tucker argued that “Liberty insists. . . [on] the abolition of the State and the abolition of usury; on no more government of man by man, and no more exploitation of man by man.” [cited in Native American Anarchism – A Study of Left-Wing American Individualism by Eunice Schuster, p. 140] Such a position is one that Proudhon, Bakunin and Kropotkin would agree with. In other words, anarchists hold two beliefs — opposition to government and o
