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Anarchism strands - judgement grid

Every judgement on the grid, with the full evidence and named examples behind it. One card per row - open a card and read the case across all 6 columns.

Collectivist anarchism

The communal strand: common ownership to nurture cooperative human nature, through mutualism, anarcho-communism and anarcho-syndicalism. Named thinkers: Proudhon, Bakunin, Kropotkin and Goldman.

Human nature [+]

Strongly holds: humans are cooperative and altruistic; Kropotkin's mutual aid is the natural form.

Collectivist anarchism strongly holds that human nature is cooperative, altruistic and sociable. Kropotkin's mutual aid is the natural form of human cooperation; Bakunin stressed human sociability and saw the state, not human nature, as the corrupter.

Reject the state [+]

Strongly holds: reject the state, which defends inequality and class power (Bakunin, Kropotkin).

Both strands reject the state, so collectivists strongly hold this. Their ground is that the state defends economic inequality and props up class power (Bakunin, Kropotkin). Goldman called the state a cold monster and argued for revolution, not reform.

Common ownership [+]

Strongly holds: common ownership and mutual aid; abolish private property (Proudhon, Kropotkin).

Collectivist anarchism strongly holds common ownership. Private property is rejected as exploitative and replaced with mutual aid, mutualism (Proudhon: possession not property), anarcho-syndicalism and anarcho-communism (Kropotkin: distribution by need).

Cooperation > self-interest [+]

Strongly holds: order emerges from cooperation and mutual aid, not self-interest (Kropotkin).

Collectivists strongly hold that order rests on cooperation. Anarchy is order because cooperative human nature self-organises through mutual aid (Kropotkin). Bakunin: my freedom requires the freedom of others, so solidarity, not self-interest, is the basis.

Route to anarchy [±]

Mixed: Bakunin, Kropotkin and Goldman favour revolution; Proudhon prefers peaceful mutualism.

Collectivist anarchism is internally split on method. Bakunin's propaganda by the deed, Kropotkin's revolution and Goldman's revolution-not-reform all point to collective overthrow, but Proudhon argued the state should be ended by peaceful means, so the strand is mixed.

The sovereign individual [-]

Rejects: freedom is realised through the cooperative community, not the isolated sovereign ego.

Collectivists reject the sovereign-individual ideal. Liberty is positive and social: it is realised through cooperative community and mutual aid (Kropotkin), not in the isolated self-sovereign ego. Freedom and equality are treated as inseparable.

Individualist anarchism

The egoist strand: freedom for rational, autonomous, self-interested individuals, through egoism and anarcho-capitalism. Named thinker: Max Stirner; anarcho-capitalism has no named 9PL0 spec thinker.

Human nature [-]

Rejects the cooperative view: humans are rational, self-interested and competitive (Stirner).

Individualist anarchism rejects the cooperative reading of human nature. Stirner holds that each person is a sovereign ego, rational and self-interested, with no obligations beyond self-interest. Cooperation happens only when it suits the individual, not from natural altruism.

Reject the state [+]

Strongly holds: reject the state because it crushes self-sovereign individual liberty (Stirner).

Both strands reject the state, so individualists strongly hold this too. Their ground is different: the state crushes self-sovereign individual liberty and has no authority over the ego (Stirner). Anarcho-capitalism adds that the market can supply order without a state.

Common ownership [-]

Rejects common ownership: a free market with private property protected (Stirner, anarcho-capitalism).

Individualist anarchism rejects common ownership. It wants a free market without state regulation and private property protected as an expression of self-sovereignty (Stirner). Anarcho-capitalism builds everything on an unfettered market, the opposite of collectivist economics.

Cooperation > self-interest [-]

Rejects: order rests on rational self-interest and the Union of Egoists, not solidarity (Stirner).

Individualists reject cooperation as the basis of order. Order comes through rational self-interested agreement: the Union of Egoists cooperates only when it suits each member (Stirner), and anarcho-capitalism reaches order through market exchange rather than mutual aid.

Route to anarchy [-]

Rejects collective revolution: anarchy through insurrection or the self-sovereign ego (Stirner).

Individualist anarchism rejects collective revolution. Stirner reaches anarchy through insurrection and the assertion of the self-sovereign ego, not mass overthrow of the state. Anarcho-capitalism imagines the state simply withering as private institutions take over its jobs.

The sovereign individual [+]

Strongly holds: the self-interested rational ego is the centre of the moral universe (Stirner).

Individualist anarchism strongly holds the sovereign-individual ideal. The rational, self-interested ego is the centre of the moral universe (Stirner); no authority, whether state, collective or moral, has any claim over it. Liberty is negative: freedom from all authority.