Anarchy Works

Anarchy Works is a book by Peter Gelderloos aiming to provide a picture at how an anarchist society might function, deal with certain problems and fulfill the needs of the people.

Summary

Part 1: Human Nature

Aren't people naturally selfish?

The notion of selfishness and sharing and generosity are explored. Even in societies which have endured capitalism for hundreds of years, people still frequently engage in altruistic behavior like sharing dinner or helping strangers. The notion of a gift economy is explored through the economic practices of the Semai in what is now Malaysia and Really Really Free Markets, a protest movement in much of the western world.

Aren't people naturally competitive?

The concept of competition has been largely a product of socialization in the west. But non-capitalist societies often had very strong concepts of cooperation and even hostility towards competition. The Mbuti is what is now Central Africa are explored in generous detail showing various aspects of how cooperation runs in all parts of their society, from childrearing to economic activities to gender equality as well as the destruction of Mbuti communities from war backed by capitalists. The activities of people after Hurricane Katrina are also explored, how complete strangers were suddenly helping to save the lives of others whilst the police left them to die and the media spread lies.

Haven't humans always been patriarchal?

Numerous societies have existed without patriarchy and fluid concepts of gender and within patriarchy there has been strong resistance to it, such as FIERCE! - who organize against gentrification, privatized healthcare and discrimination. Another resistance was Pocasset, a colony of England in what is now the US during the 1600s, which fought for direct democracy, gender equality, indigenous rights, religious freedom, freedom from debt and abolition of punitive justice systems. Societies outside the west have also had gender equality and fluid concepts of gender, such as the pre-colonial Igbo in what is now Nigeria, where women practice collective self-defense against gender violence and abusive men. The Haudenosaunee in what is now the US and Canada are also explored, with women organizing and leading councils for decision-making and economic distribution.

Aren't people naturally warlike?

The institutions of power - media, academics, government, religion - frequently exaggerate levels of warfare and violence throughout history, especially in areas without the state. Frequently using heavily biased or outright fabricated research to support their worldview. But even within the state, people frequently are horrified by the actual consequences of violence, setting up protest camps and movements like the Falsane Peace Camp and Greenham Commons Women's Peace Camp in the UK, the Life and Labor Commune in the USSR and the Catholic Worker Movement. Anarchistic societies like the Semai have some of the lowest murder rates in the world due to their low levels of alienation and poverty, stemming from a policy of gift economics. War is not a natural fact of human nature, but the consequence of the structure of society.

Aren't domination and authority natural?

It's becoming increasingly harder to ideologically justify the state as more and more research finds that egalitarian societies are extremely successful and people still form egalitarian networks and communities under capitalism. However, it is worth remembering that even gatherer-hunter societies have had brutal systems of hierarchy and patriarchy, even going as so far as slavery and gang rape. Whilst plenty of societies with agriculture and metal tools have been egalitarian. Hierarchical societies have always generated resistance, with the best resistances forming 'reverse dominance hierarchies' where leaders were often killed. The Amazigh in what is now Morocco managed to resist state-formation for centuries, and resist against the state is common to all cultures. In Medieval Europe, peasant rebellions against increasing taxes, privatization of common land and forests and increasing privileges of the ruling class, notably in the German Peasants Uprising in 1524 and 1525, where 300,000 slaughtered knights and lords. The anti-globalization movement across the world has resisted the establishment of capitalism, notably with the Zapatistas. Plenty of people have also fled the state, such as those in South America researched by Pierre Clastres, Haudenosaunee in North America, Cossacks in Russia and Zomia in Southeast Asia.

A broader sense of self

Peter Kropotkin famously wrote in his work on Mutual Aid that people are more likely to work together than against each-other. The assumption in the west that small-scale forager societies are 'primitive' and large post-industrial societies are 'advanced' and have nothing to learn from 'primitive people' is at best ignorant and at worst openly racist. All human societies are tremendously complicated and we can learn a lot from studying them, and in current social struggles the seeds of a new society are being built.

Part 2: Decisions

Meeting in the streets

Hierarchy is simply not capable of making the best responsible decisions for millions of people. The MST shows that millions can make decisions at a grassroots level, the Oaxaca Uprising shows us that anarchists can organize in modern cities and against militaries. Infoshops and Kibbutz show us that groups can survive even under capitalism and the Nuer show us how this kind of decision-making can survive the most brutal forms of colonialism. Most societies in history have been egalitarian, and we still have the capability to return to that lifestyle once we liberate ourselves from capitalism and the state.

Part 8: The Future

What about other problems we can't foresee?

Anarchist societies will face problems we cannot possibly foresee right now. In an anarchist society, we would have to invent entirely new solutions for wholly unpredictable problems. Should we earn the opportunity, we will do so with joy, getting our hands dirty in the complexities of life, realizing our vast potential and reaching new levels of growth and maturity. We need never again surrender the power to solve our own problems in cooperation with those around us.

Making Anarchy Work

Where oppression exists, resistance does to. You can help out by doing anything from graffiti to armed rebellion against the government. It is important to support struggles even if they are not explicitly anarchist and to not ever think you can work within the state or capitalism to build a freer world.

External Links

• Anarchy Works at theanarchistlibrary.org
• Anarchy Works at libcom.org