What does “anarchism” mean?
To quote Peter Kropotkin, Anarchism is “the no-government system of socialism.” [Anarchism, p. 46] In other words, “the abolition of exploitation and oppression of man by man, that is the abolition of private property [i.e. capitalism] and government.” [Errico Malatesta, Towards Anarchism,”, p. 75] Anarchism, therefore, is a political theory that aims to create a society which is without political, economic or social hierarchies. Anarchists maintain that anarchy, the absence of rulers, is a viable form of social system and so work for the maximisation of individual liberty and social equality. They see the goals of liberty and equality as mutually self-supporting. Or, in Bakunin’s famous dictum: “We are convinced that freedom without Socialism is privilege and injustice, and that Socialism without freedom is slavery and brutality.” [The Political Philosophy of Bakunin, p. 269] The history of human society proves this point. Liberty without equality is only liberty for the powerful, and
