Collectivist anarchism

For the broad category of anarchism sometimes referred to as "collectivist anarchism," see social anarchism.

Collectivist anarchism is a doctrine spearheaded by Michael Bakunin that advocated the abolition of the state and private ownership of the means of production, with the means of production instead being owned collectively and controlled and managed by the producers themselves. Workers would be paid a wage based of the amount of time they contributed to production. These wages would be used to purchase commodities in a communal market. This contrasts with anarcho-communism where wages would be abolished, and where individuals would take freely from a storehouse of goods "to each according to his need." Thus, Bakunin's "Collectivist Anarchism," notwithstanding the title, is seen as a blend of individualism and collectivism. (Note: Here the term "individualism" is referring to private ownership, in the sense of workers owning their own tools of labor and productive property, and "collectivism" is referring to collective ownership of land.) Collectivist anarchism is most commonly associated with Mikhail Bakunin, the anti-authoritarian sections of the First International, and the early Spanish anarchist movement. Other prominent proponents of collectivist anarchism included the German anarchist Johann Most before he became an anarchist communist. Today many collectivist anarchists are anarcho-syndicalist in organizational structure.

The collectivist anarchists at first used the term "collectivism" to distinguish themselves from the mutualism of the followers of Proudhon and the State socialists associated with Karl Marx. In the name of liberty, Bakunin wrote, "we shall always protest against anything that may in any way resemble communism or state socialism," which Bakunin regarded as fundamentally authoritarian ("Federalism, Socialism, and Anti-Theologism," 1867).[2]

The First International

The anti-authoritarian sections of the First International proclaimed at the St. Imier Congress (1872) that "the aspirations of the proletariat can have no purpose other than the establishment of an absolutely free economic organization and federation, founded upon the labour and equality of all and absolutely independent of all political government," in which each worker will have the "right to the enjoyment of the gross product of his labours and thereby the means of developing his full intellectual, material and moral powers in a collective setting." This revolutionary transformation could "only be the outcome of the spontaneous action of the proletariat itself, its trades bodies and the autonomous communes."[3] A similar position was adopted by the Workers' Federation of the Spanish Region in 1882, as articulated by an anarchist veteran of the First International, Jose Llunas Pujols, in his essay, "Collectivism."[4]

By the early 1880s, most of the European anarchist movement had adopted an anarchist communist position, advocating the abolition of wage labour and distribution according to need. Ironically, the "collectivist" label then became more commonly associated with Marxist state socialists who advocated the retention of some sort of wage system during the transition to full communism. The anarchist communist, Peter Kropotkin, attacked this position in his essay, "The Collectivist Wages System", which was reprinted in his book The Conquest of Bread in 1892.

Theory

The difference between Collectivist Anarchism and anarcho-communism is that under anarchist collectivism, the means of production were to be socialized, but a wage system was retained based on the amount of labor performed. Anarchist communism also called for the socialization of production but also of the distribution of goods. Instead of 'to each according to his labor', in anarcho-communism the community would supply the subsistence requirements to each member free of charge according to the maxim 'to each according to his needs'.

The difference between Collectivist Anarchism and Anarcho-Communism is that collectivist anarchism stresses collective ownership of productive, subsistence and distributory property, while communist anarchism negates the concept of ownership in favor of usage or possession with productive means being a possession not owned by any individual or particular group. Communist Anarchists believe that subsistence, productive and distributive property should be common or social possessions while personal property should be private possessions. Collectivist anarchists agree with this but such as Mikhail Bakunin believe in remuneration of labor which communist-anarchists such as Peter Kropotkin believed that such remuneration would lead to the recreation of currency and that such would need a State. Thus, it could be said that collectivist anarchists believe in freedom through collective ownership of production and a communal market of sorts to distribute goods and services and compensate workers in the form of renumeration. Thus, collectivist anarchism could be seen as a combination of communism and mutualism.

Collectivist Anarchists are not opposed to the use of currency and some (such as Participatory Economists), originally many collectivist anarchists saw their philosophy as a carryover to communist anarchism, but many today see their system and the use of currency as permanent rather than a transition. Collectivist anarchist James Guillaume argued that such a society would "guarantee the mutual use of the tools of production which are the property of each of these groups and which will by a reciprocal contract become the collective property of the whole . . . federation. In this way, the federation of groups will be able to . . . regulate the rate of production to meet the fluctuating needs of society." They argue for workplace autonomy and self-management "the workers in the various factories have not the slightest intention of handing over their hard-won control of the tools of production to a superior power calling itself the 'corporation.'" .

Performance

In real life application the collectivist projects were quite successful, sources during the Spanish Revolution noted that in the Catalon region,

"In distribution the collectives' co-operatives eliminated middlemen, small merchants, wholesalers, and profiteers, thus greatly reducing consumer prices. The collectives eliminated most of the parasitic elements from rural life, and would have wiped them out altogether if they were not protected by corrupt officials and by the political parties. Non-collectivised areas benefited indirectly from the lower prices as well as from free services often rendered by the collectives (laundries, cinemas, schools, barber and beauty parlours, etc.)"

People

• Michael Albert
• Mikhail Bakunin
• Robin Hahnel
• Sam Dolgoff
• Luce Fabbri
• Luigi Fabbri
• Mick Farren
• Frank Fernández
• James Guillaume
• Ricardo Flores Magón

See also

• Direct Democracy
• Workers' self-management
• Workers' council
• Participatory Economics
• Anarchism in Spain
• Anarchism in Argentina
• CNT

External links

• Anarcho-communist Peter Kropotkin's criticism of "The Collectivist Wages System."