Exactly what is anarchy?

[buc33s]

OK, just so you know, I have seen V for Vendetta. Now that that's done...

I see a lot of kids with Anarchy symbols on their shoes and t-shirts and think, wtf? They don't even know what that means. But neither do I, to a certain point. I know it means that you have no government, or a limited one.

So...

1. What is anarchy?

2. How do you accomplish anarchy?

[ReclaimPublicSpace]

Anarchy is a lack of organized government. It is the oldest form of organization in human society. for the first few thousand years of our existence, most humans lived in small hunter-gatherer tribes with no means of limiting themselves or others. anarchists tend to believe in the goodness of human nature and that governments limit human potential and capacity for individuality. That's perhaps anarchy's greatest flaw, the belief that humans don't need a set of laws or rulers to coexist. It's a very utopianistic idea, not very plausible at all, but you can't blame someone for being idealistic. Unfortunately, anarchy generally gets a very bad rap in schools and colleges and is immediately written off as "pure chaos" or some other scare tactic. anarchy is really only sustainable in small communites, like kubbutzes, jewish farming committies in the middle east. it can't really work very well on a grand scale--in fact, most good government types can't. those kids you see with anarchy symbols on them are idiots, next time you see one, kick them in the chest. if they wear clothes from hot topic or wherever branded with the anarchy symbol on it, they have no idea what anarchy is and they don't deserve to be wearing that shirt. rip it off of their bodies.

[None Other]

Isn't it a form of communism minus the capatalist transition?

Pol Pot was the closest form of a Anarchist system I think, and that turned out swell...

I may be wrong though...

[Slaughterama]

I would say anarchy is beyond what people in our society will be able to accomplish (or more accurately: be willing to accomplish), most anarchists seem to think that there would be a bunch of tribes who would all work together in harmony like a bunch of hippies, but it would really be like a bunch of tribes constantly at war over land and food, like how animals organize.
The only real benefit of anarchy would be that natural selection would continue on the human race, because at this point it takes no effort to survive (unless you live in certain parts of the world). The downside of that is that technological evolution stop, because with everyone fighting to survive, there wouldn't be anyone with time to teach.

[DarkMage35]

Anarchy is a lack of government separate from the population at large. Actually, probably best to go consult wiki for this one. Its a direct democracy where people only have a say on something if it affects them.

In answer to question 2: "With great difficulty." My personal theory is that it would be best done by somehow coercing the people at the top in govts to gradually deconstruct them. Notably without actually assuming any position of power yourself.

Also, god man - use the goddamn search function.

[Hare_Geist]

Originally Posted by None Other

Isn't it a form of communism minus the capatalist transition?

Anarchism is socialism without a centralized government; socialism being an economic system in which the means of production and land are nationalized. Beyond this, Anarchists differ in their justifications for anarchism, how they think it will function, and how they believe it should be achieved. Some, for example, believe that we can achieve anarchism through peaceful reform via trade unions, while others argue that it can only be achieved through violent revolution. Still more, some anarchists believe anarchism is unachievable, but that it is the ideal against which societies should be measured.

Concerning communism (I may be wrong here, and if I am, hopefully Rust or someone else will correct me), it used to be called “Scientific Socialism” in the 19th century and really refers to the theories and dialectical methods formulated by Marx and Engels, as well as their adoption and development by future adherents, such as Lenin, Trotsky and, more recently, Adorno.

[Crash2108]

To me anarchy is a free, prosperous capitalistic society.

--Cr@sh

[Beka]

Originally Posted by Crash2108

To me anarchy is a free, prosperous capitalistic society.

--Cr@sh

How could a capitalistic society be free?

[23]

Originally Posted by None Other

Isn't it a form of communism minus the capatalist transition?

Pol Pot was the closest form of a Anarchist system I think, and that turned out swell...

I may be wrong though...

Anarchy is the end result/goal of communism (Marx).

[WritingANovel]

Originally Posted by Hare_Geist

Anarchism is socialism without a centralized government;

Where did you read this from? I thought anarchism is one where there is no government, whereas socialism requires a strong powerful government. In other words these two forms of government are mutually exclusive.