×
Create a new article
Write your page title here:
We currently have 9 articles on Polcompball Wiki. Type your article name above or click on one of the titles below and start writing!



Polcompball Wiki

Wiki is in the process of importing stuff

Please be patient

This page is about the ideology referred to achieving Communism as an end goal. For other uses, see Communism.


"All belongs to all. All things are for all men … All is for all!"

Anarcho-Communism (AnCom) is an anarchist socialist and usually File:Prgess.png culturally progressive ideology inhabiting the File:Libleft.png bottom left corner of the political compass. It believes in the abolition of the state and all structures of capital, leading to a stateless, classless, and post-monetary society based on File:Directdem.png Direct Democracy. File:Egocom.png Some forms of Anarcho-Communism are heavily influenced by File:Anego.png Anarcho-Egoism and radical individualism, believing Anarcho-Communism to be the best social system for the realization of individual freedom (although this is HIGHLY contended within various anarchist groups, especially on the debate of morality, ethics, individual freedoms, identity politics, File:AnNation.png localism vs File:Anat.png internationalism, freedom of speech, and organization). Many AnComs view Anarcho-Communism as a way of reconciling the gap between the individual and society. Although even this is highly contested.

History

[edit]

Creation

[edit]

Although File:Proto-Anarchism.png proto-anarchism has been seen in various societies in various forms throughout history, the main understanding of Anarcho-Communism as it is often known today first arose and developed out of radical socialist currents after the File:Jack.png French Revolution. The works of Russian political theorist and activist Peter Kropotkin and took importance later as Anarcho-Communist theory expanded on and developed pro-organizational and insurrectionary anti-organizational sections, such as those by File:Acol.png Anarcho-Collectivist Mikhail Bakunin. Anarcho-Communism has actually had places in history, the best-known examples of which are the anarchist territories during the Spanish Revolution and the Free Territory during the Russian Revolution, where anarchists such as Nestor Makhno worked to create and defend anarcho-communism through the File:Platformism.png Revolutionary Insurrectionary Army of Ukraine from 1919 before being conquered by the Bolsheviks in 1921.

Spanish Civil War

[edit]

Through the efforts and influence of the Spanish anarchists during the Spanish Revolution within the Spanish Civil War starting in 1936, Anarcho-Communism existed in most of Aragon, parts of the Levante and Andalusia as well as in the stronghold of Anarchists Catalonia before being crushed by the combined forces of the Francoist File:Fash.png Nationalists (the regime that won the war), Nationalist allies such as File:Nazi.png Adolf Hitler and File:Fash.png Benito Mussolini and even Spanish Communist Party repression (backed by the Soviet Union) as well as economic and armaments blockades from the capitalist states and the Spanish Republic itself governed by the Republicans. However, some anarchists, such as the Friends of Durriti group, opposed the CNT-FAI for collaborating with the liberal government in the war.

Expansion

[edit]

The Anarcho-Communist movement expanded much more heavily in the post-war era, with Anarchist movements popping up all over continental Europe, developing from anti-fascist resistance. The main movements were established both in Italy and France, where a sizeable following after the turmoil of the Second World War. In the post File:Fash.png Fascist Italy, the Italian Anarchist Movement was formed right after the end of the war in 1945. It was based on "a Libertarian Party with anarchist theory and practice adapted to the new economic, political and social reality of post-war Italy, with an internationalist outlook and effective presence in the workplaces." On top of this, The International of Anarchist Federations (IAF/IFA) was founded during an international anarchist conference in Carrara in 1968 by the three existing European anarchist federations of France (Fédération Anarchiste), Italy (Federazione Anarchica Italiana) and Spain (Federación Anarquista Ibérica) as well as the Bulgarian federation in French exile.

Modern Day

[edit]

In contemporary times, Libertarian Communism was a Socialist journal founded in 1974 and produced in part by members of the Socialist Party of Great Britain. The synthesist Italian Anarchist Federation and the File:Platformism.png Platformist Federation of Anarchist Communists continue existing today in Italy but File:Insarch.png Insurrectionary Anarchism continues to be relevant as the recent establishment of the Informal Anarchist Federation shows.

Foundations and Beliefs

[edit]

Anarcho-Communism is a exceptionally far left ideology. Like most forms of Anarchy, Anarcho-Communism seeks to abolish all unnecessary hierarchy, including "the state." Generally among Anarchist circles, what constitutes as an unnecessary hierarchy is any social hierarchy which cannot be logically justified. The abolition of these hierarchies is considered to be the true definition of " Anarchy".

Communist anarchists argue that the liberation of the working class and the establishment of communism must occur simultaneously, without one phase serving as a prerequisite for the other. These anarchists believe that the state and all forms of File:Sec.png hierarchy should be abolished from the outset, as any form of authority can potentially lead to the re-emergence of oppressive structures. Communist anarchists describe a society where the means of production and resources are owned collectively and managed by local communities or worker councils. Production and distribution are organized according to the principles of "from each according to their ability, to each according to their needs." Without private property or profit motives, goods and services are distributed based on genuine needs rather than market forces.

Variants

[edit]

Critique of capitalism

[edit]

Kropotkin critiqued the fallacies of feudalism and capitalism's economic systems. He believed they created poverty and artificial scarcity and promoted privilege. Alternatively, he proposed a more decentralized economic system based on mutual aid and voluntary cooperation. He argued that the tendencies for this kind of organization exist in evolution and human society.

Kropotkin partly disagreed with the Marxist critique of capitalism, including the labor theory of value, believing there was no necessary link between work performed and the values of commodities. His attack on the institution of wage labor was based more on employers' power over employees and not only on extracting surplus value from their labor. Kropotkin claimed this power was made possible by the state's protection of private ownership of productive resources. However, Kropotkin believed the possibility of surplus value was itself the problem, holding that society would still be unjust if the workers of a particular industry kept their surplus to themselves rather than redistributing it for the common good.

Critique of state socialism

[edit]

Kropotkin believed that a communist society could be established only by a social revolution, which he described as, "... the taking possession by the people of all social wealth. It is the abolition of all the forces which have so long hampered the development of Humanity". However, he criticized forms of revolutionary methods (like those proposed by Marxism and Blanquism) that retained the use of state power, arguing that any central authority was incompatible with the dramatic changes needed by a social revolution. Kropotkin believed that the mechanisms of the state were deeply rooted in maintaining the power of one class over another and thus could not be used to emancipate the working class. Instead, Kropotkin insisted that private property and the state must be abolished together.

The economic change that will result from the Social Revolution will be so immense and so profound it must change all the relations based today on property and exchange that it is impossible for one or any individual to elaborate on the different social forms that must spring up in the society of the future. [...] Any authority external to it will only be an obstacle, only a trammel on the organic labor which must be accomplished, and beside that a source of discord and hatred.

Kropotkin believed that any post-revolutionary government would lack the local knowledge to organize a diverse population. Their vindictive, self-serving, or narrow ideals would limit their vision of society. To ensure order, preserve authority, and organize production, the state must use violence and coercion to suppress further revolution and control workers. The workers would be reliant on the state bureaucracy to organize them, so they would never develop the initiative to self-organize as they needed. This would lead to the re-creation of classes, an oppressed workforce, and eventually another revolution. Thus, Kropotkin wrote that maintaining the state would paralyze any true social revolution, making the idea of a "revolutionary government" a contradiction in terms:

We know that Revolution and Government are incompatible; one must destroy the other, no matter what name is given to the government, whether dictator, royalty, or parliament. We know that what makes the strength and the truth of our party is contained in this fundamental formula — "Nothing good or durable can be done except by the free initiative of the people, and every government tends to destroy it;" so the very best among us, if their ideas had not to pass through the crucible of the popular mind, before being put into execution, and if they should become masters of that formidable machine — the government — and could thus act as they chose, would become in a week fit only for the gallows. We know whither every dictator leads, even the best-intentioned — namely to the death of all revolutionary movements.

Rather than a centralized approach, Kropotkin stressed the need for a decentralized organization. He believed that dissolving the state would cripple counter-revolution without reverting to authoritarian methods of control, writing, "To conquer, something more than guillotines are required. It is the revolutionary idea, the truly wide revolutionary conception, which reduces its enemies to impotence by paralyzing all the instruments by which they have governed hitherto."[59] He believed this was possible only through a widespread "Boldness of thought, a distinct and wide conception of all that is desired, a constructive force arising from the people in proportion as the negation of authority dawns; and finally—the initiative of all in the work of reconstruction—this will give to the revolution the Power required to conquer."

Kropotkin applied this criticism to the Bolsheviks' rule following the October Revolution. Kropotkin summarized his thoughts in a 1919 letter to the workers of Western Europe, promoting the possibility of revolution and warning against the centralized control in Russia, which he believed had condemned them to failure. Kropotkin wrote to Lenin in 1920, describing the desperate conditions he believed would result from bureaucratic organization and urging Lenin to allow for local and decentralized institutions. Following an announcement of executions later that year, Kropotkin sent Lenin another furious letter, admonishing the terror that Kropotkin saw as needlessly destructive.

Cooperation and competition

[edit]

In 1902, Kropotkin published his book Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution, which gave an alternative view of animal and human survival. At the time, some proponents of "Social Darwinism," such as Francis Galton, proffered a theory of interpersonal competition and natural hierarchy. Instead, Kropotkin argued that "it was an evolutionary emphasis on cooperation instead of competition in the Darwinian sense that made for the success of species, including humans". In the last chapter, he wrote:


In the animal world, we have seen that the vast majority of species live in societies and that they find in association the best arms for the struggle for life: understood, of course, in its wide Darwinian sense – not as a struggle for the sheer means of existence, but as a struggle against all natural conditions unfavorable to the species. The animal species [...] in which individual struggle has been reduced to its narrowest limits [...] and the practice of mutual aid has attained the greatest development [...] are invariably the most numerous, the most prosperous, and the most open to further progress. The mutual protection obtained in this case, the possibility of attaining old age and accumulating experience, higher intellectual development, and the further growth of sociable habits secure the maintenance of the species, its extension, and its further progressive evolution. The unsociable species, on the contrary, are doomed to decay.

Kropotkin did not deny the presence of competitive urges in humans but did not consider them the driving force of human history. He believed that seeking out conflict proved to be socially beneficial only in attempts to destroy injustice and authoritarian institutions such as the state or the Russian Orthodox Church, which he saw as stifling human creativity and impeding human instinctual drive towards cooperation.

Kropotkin claimed that the benefits arising from mutual organization incentivize humans more than mutual strife. His hope was that in the long run, mutual organization would drive individuals to produce. Anarcho-primitivists and anarcho-communists believe that a gift economy can break the cycle of poverty. They rely on Kropotkin, who believed that the hunter-gatherers he had visited implemented mutual aid.

Mutual aid

[edit]

In his 1892 book The Conquest of Bread, Kropotkin proposed a system of economics based on mutual exchanges made in a system of voluntary cooperation. He believed that in a society that is socially, culturally, and industrially developed enough to produce all the goods and services it needs, there would be no obstacle, such as preferential distribution, pricing, or monetary exchange, to prevent everyone from taking what they need from the social product. He supported the eventual abolition of money or tokens of exchange for goods and services.

Kropotkin believed that Mikhail Bakunin's collectivist economic model was just a wage system by a different name[70] and that such a system would breed the same type of centralization and inequality as a capitalist wage system. He stated that it is impossible to determine the value of an individual's contributions to the products of labor. He thought that anyone in a position of trying to make such determinations would wield authority over those whose wages they determined.

According to Kirkpatrick Sale, "[w]ith Mutual Aid especially, and later with Fields, Factories, and Workshops, Kropotkin was able to move away from the absurdist limitations of individual anarchism and no-laws anarchism that had flourished during this period and provide instead a vision of communal anarchism, following the models of independent cooperative communities he discovered while developing his theory of mutual aid. It was an anarchism that opposed centralized government and state-level laws as traditional anarchism did but understood that at a certain small scale, communities, communes, and co-ops could flourish and provide humans with a rich material life and wide areas of liberty without centralized control."

Self-sufficiency

[edit]

Kropotkin's focus on local production led to his view that a country should strive for self-sufficiency by manufacturing its goods and growing its food, thus lessening the need to rely on imports. To these ends, he advocated irrigation and greenhouses to boost local food production.

Personality and Behaviour

[edit]

AnCom is a very emotional individual. He has an extremely vengeful passion for revolution and has a high amount of empathy with oppressed groups. However, this can also make him difficult to disagree with. He is very concerned with the abolition of the state as well as private property and goes ballistic whenever any other ideology questions his resolve. Although being ideologically similar in economic terms to Socialism and File:Ormarxf.png Marxism, he doesn't hesitate to vehemently criticize them for being statist.

AnCom is typically written as a rebellious teen who likes to take recreational drugs, especially marijuana. He especially likes vandalism and destruction of private property.

AnCom, despite constantly critiquing Marxism & especially its descendants, will defend them when Capitalism does the same.

Stylistic Notes

[edit]

AnCom is often very aggressive and passionate in conversation, and has a habit of making loud screeching noises after hearing File:Lib.png Liberal, Capitalistic, File:Reactcross.png Reactionary or File:Sec.png Authoritarian comments. File:Conservative.png Conservatism calls this "being triggered" because of his stereotypical File:SJW.png "SJW" behavior, AnCom is frequently depicted as having an irrational hatred of straight white men. Later portrayals of AnCom have him shouting walls of text, especially when he is attempting to tell a joke which instead comes off as him whining and justifying his beliefs. Said walls of texts are usually random passages or incomprehensible gibberish found on the web or The Conquest Of Bread to save time on comics. His favorite weapon is the Molotov cocktail and he has a tendency to use it a lot.

He's usually seen with a bat or hood. He also wants to be a File:Ancom Furry.png cat, for some reason.

How to Draw

[edit]
File:Ancom flag.svg
Flag of Anarcho-Communism
  1. Draw a ball with a black outline.
  2. Draw a line in a lighter shade of black diagonally through the ball.
  3. Fill the space below with the same color and the space above with Red.
  4. Add the eyes.
  5. (Optional) Add cat ears and a bandana with the anarchy symbol
Color NameHEXRGB
 Red#DD0000rgb(221, 0, 0)
 Black#141414rgb(20, 20, 20)


Relationships

[edit]

Comrades

[edit]

Frenemies

[edit]
  • File:Agsoc.png Agrarian Socialism - It's good seeing the peasantry have direct power, but why can't you work better in a factory? Don't you realize Industrialism is the key to communism?
  • File:Demsocstar.png Democratic Socialism - You're pretty tolerable for a statist I guess... though tell some of your self-described American supporters to cut it out with that "nORwAy is A sOciaLISt utOPIa!!!" bullshit and move further away from succdem, reformism, and liberal statism.
  • Mao-Spontex - You seem fairly alright however you seem to like Mao far too much though. Are you sure you're not just File:Antotcom.png his long lost twin?
  • File:Mutalist.png Mutualism - "It is not the product of his or her labor that the worker has a right to, but to the satisfaction of his or her needs, whatever may be their nature."
  • File:Antifa.png Anti-Fascism - I like you and all at least in principle, but some of your followers are too tankie, libby, or dogmatic, and many of my fellow anarchists are mixed on you as an actually effective force to spread anarchist ideas and praxis.
  • File:Anego.png Anarcho-Egoism - Max Stirner was cool. Still, stop being such a dipshit!
  • File:Ochlo.png Ochlocracy - Historically you are a wildcard. You have both been my greatest ally and my greatest enemy. Just why do so many self-proclaimed anarchists like File:Antifa.png him and activists on Twitter like you so much?
  • File:Anpostleft.png Post-Leftism - Why do you hate me so much? Aside from the obvious economic discourse, it's not my fault many of my Twitter followers are obsessed with idpol.
  • File:Geokitty.png Georgism - Capitalist, but also a landlord-hating cat. Meow!
  • File:Ultraprogressivism.png Revolutionary Progressivism - I learned a lot from you, but please don't give tankies a free pass as well! Goldman, Malatesta, Magón, Marcos, and Durruti are based though..
  • File:Prog-u.png Progressivism - I just wish most of your followers would realize it's ok to own a gun. Also, you can really be too much of an overemotional lib sometimes.
  • File:Anpacf.png Anarcho-Pacifism - Pacifism won´t work. The Revolution of the proletariat is necessary to fight statism, let alone class strugle.
  • File:World Federalism2.png World Federalism - Your whole global utopia of cooperation while alleging to do it through global consensus of all peoples of the world without the utilization of colonialism nor oppression is pretty based, however because of you being pretty elitist and western-centric I REALLY doubt that you're being genuine here, especially since the UN is far from an ideal model for unity, and I didn't even get to mention how many of your followers are just blatant neoliberals. Also, you should cool it on the one-world government/state thing; nations can still exist and work together through mutual aid.
  • File:LeftRothbardianismPix.png Left-Rothbardianism - Better than ancap, I guess... but markets and private property are cringe.
  • File:Mansphere.png Manosphere - FUCK OF ASSHO- wait, why do you like me?
  • File:Anrel.png Religious Anarchism - No gods, no masters.
  • File:StateathFedora.png State Atheism - No gods, no masters.
  • File:Anat.png Anationalism - A anarchist who speaks Esperanto, and who wants a neutral second language to further cooperation and solidarity between nations, and that I am OK with. But your language is still pretty euro-centric, and please stop advocating for a one-world government, it's kinda anti-anarchist.
  • File:Antotcom.png Anarcho-Totalitarian Communism - How are you a tankie and an anarchist at the same time?!?!
  • File:Libpos.png Libertarian Possibilism - Your a fellow anarchist but c'mon electoralism doesn't work.
  • File:Mao.png Maoism - Totalitarian butcher! Although what little affection I have for you comes from the fact that Mao was Kropotkin's apprentice all his life. But I don't really see any, uh, anarchist practices in him...
  • Marxism–Leninism - State capitalist! Also, fuck off! I ain't going to be your pawn for your authoritarian goals, I don't give a fuck if you say you will "dissolve". You are one of the reasons people across the world hate communists like us. However, Peng Pai, File:BhagatSingh.png Bhagat Singh, among others were based.
  • File:Orthlen.png Leninism - Fuck your Vanguard, and I don't care if we fought the White Army together. Apparently you were influenced by Bakunin tho, so I guess you can be in the frenemies section.

To the hospital!

[edit]

Further Information

[edit]

Literature

[edit]

File:Kropotkin.png Peter Kropotkin

[edit]

Others

[edit]

Wikipedia

[edit]

YouTube

[edit]

Channels

[edit]

Videos

[edit]

Online Communities

[edit]
[edit]

Portraits

[edit]

Comics and Artwork

[edit]
[edit]

pl:Anarchokomunizm zh:无政府共产主义 tr:Anarko-Komünizm

  1. A communist society is defined as a stateless, classless, moneyless society.
  2. Most’s pet issue became the arming of workers in preparation for social revolution. The idea of a people’s militia as opposed to a standing army had been espoused by Most since his socialist days, but now it reflected his preoccupation with American rather than European affairs. “Probably the best thing,” he wrote in 1885, “would be that all organized workers of the civilized world could be moved to acquire good rifles [...] and a good amount of munitions, to train militarily and so formally mobilize themselves for the coming social war.” Most never tired of pointing out that the U.S. had a second amendment, and that he was merely speaking in the tradition of Washington and Paine. Not everyone agreed with that analogy.
  3. Should Shoplifting?