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72
anarchism: a beginner’s guide
You are free to accept or refuse.
If you refuse, you become a part of a society of savages. Excluded
from communion with the human race, you become an object of
suspicion. Nothing protects you …
If you agree to the compact, on the contrary, you become a part of
the society of free men. All your brothers are bound to you, and
promise you fidelity, friendship, aid, service, exchange. 59
A notable objection to this position comes from Stirnerites like
Dora Marsden. In a bad-tempered dispute with Benjamin Tucker
about Proudhon, she denounced the idea of voluntary contract as
impossible and dangerous and contrasted the anarchist vision of
society to her own ideal, the union of egoists. Probably more
anarchists align themselves with Proudhon than Marsden on this
issue. And whether or not they like to identify anarchy with authority,
some version of the idea usually underpins the concepts of trust,
mutual support, voluntary co-operation – and, indeed, liberty –
commonly identified with this order.
anarchism and power
Anarchists usually understand power to encompass a range of actions,
from physical coercion to influence and persuasion and that it can be
exercised both openly and in covert ways. Some anarchists suggest
that power is a possession of individuals. Even if it happens to be
exercised through the institutions of government, power is associated
with the people who run those institutions rather than being vested in
the institutions themselves. Other anarchists argue that power is best
seen as a feature of the social system or structure. From this point of
view, power is not wielded by individuals, but is something that
permeates the institutions they inhabit. Anarchists who adopt the first
view include anarcho-communists and anarcho-syndicalists, who
condemn the state on the grounds of exploitation, and primitivists
and others who associate the state with alienation. Those who adopt
the second veer towards postmodern/poststructuralist anarchism.
Anarchists have developed their ideas of power with reference to
the state’s abolition, transcendence or destruction. Because they
regard the nature of government in different ways, they also disagree
about power and its legitimate use. Emphasizing the exploitative
function of the state, anarcho-communists and syndicalists tend to
identify the legitimate use of power with the collective or combined