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| Anarchist International | |
|---|---|
| Name | Anarchist International |
| Formation | 19th century |
| Founders | Mikhail Bakunin, Pierre-Joseph Proudhon |
| Predecessor | International Workingmen's Association |
| Dissolution | varied/ongoing networks |
| Type | Transnational network |
| Purpose | Political advocacy, revolutionary organization |
| Headquarters | decentralized federations |
| Region served | Worldwide |
Anarchist International is a transnational network of federations, federative organizations, and informal networks advocating libertarian socialist, anti-authoritarian, and anti-capitalist positions. Emerging in the late 19th century out of disputes within the International Workingmen's Association and debates among figures such as Mikhail Bakunin and Karl Marx, it evolved through interactions with movements in Paris, London, Madrid, Milan, and Saint Petersburg. The network has influenced revolutions, uprisings, and social movements including the Spanish Civil War, the Paris Commune, the Russian Revolution, and later libertarian currents in the 1968 protests.
Origins trace to mid-19th-century debates among Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, Mikhail Bakunin, Emma Goldman, and Errico Malatesta about federation, mutualism, and collectivism. After the schism in the International Workingmen's Association between Marxist and Bakuninist tendencies at the Basel Congress of 1869 and Hague Congress of 1872, anarchist federations consolidated in networks across Italy, Spain, France, and the United States. The late 19th century saw the growth of publications such as Le Libertaire, Freedom (newspaper), and La Révolte, and participation in events like the Haymarket affair and the Paris Commune. In the early 20th century, interactions with syndicalist bodies such as the Confédération Générale du Travail and the National Confederation of Labor shaped strategy. The movement reconfigured during and after the Russian Revolution when organizations like Nestor Makhno's Revolutionary Insurrectionary Army of Ukraine faced conflict with the Bolsheviks. The Spanish experience, especially through the Confederación Nacional del Trabajo and the Federación Anarquista Ibérica, marked a high point during the Spanish Civil War. Post-World War II activity connected with thinkers like Noam Chomsky and groups including the Industrial Workers of the World and newer autonomist currents in Italy and Germany.
The network practices decentralized federalism: local affinity groups federate into regional, national, and transnational assemblies, influenced by models from Proudhon and Bakunin. Organizational forms include syndicalist unions such as the Confédération Générale du Travail and revolutionary militias exemplified by Black Guards (Russia), as well as anarchist federations like the International Workers Association and the Anarchist Federation (Britain). Decision-making often uses consensus, mandates, and recallable delegates, echoing practices from the Spanish Revolution and the Makhnovshchina. Communication channels have ranged from print periodicals like Mother Earth (magazine) and La Questione Sociale to modern networks tied to Indymedia and Anonymous (group). Splits over platformism, synthesis anarchism, and insurrectionary tactics produced organizations such as the Friends of Durruti Group and Workers' Solidarity Movement.
Core principles include anti-authoritarianism, anti-capitalism, direct action, voluntary association, and mutual aid, drawing on writings by Proudhon, Bakunin, Peter Kropotkin, and Errico Malatesta. Debates have centered on trade unionism versus insurrectionary strategy, with theoretical contributions from Max Stirner's egoism, Alexander Berkman's praxis, and Emma Goldman's speeches. The movement engages with ecological themes from Murray Bookchin and anti-colonial solidarity linked to figures like Rudolf Rocker and Frantz Fanon. Economic models include collectivist proposals observed in the Spanish collectives and libertarian municipalism inspired by Bookchin. Tensions with Leninism and Trotskyism shaped anti-authoritarian critique during revolutionary periods.
Important gatherings include regional and international congresses modeled on the Anarchist Congress of London (1881), the International Anarchist Congress (1907) in Amsterdam, and wartime assemblies during the Spanish Revolution. Other notable meetings involved the Anti-Parliamentary Communist Federation interactions, the Anarchist Young Guard sessions, and samizdat-era conferences connecting groups from Eastern Europe, Latin America, and North Africa. Contemporary convergences occur at events linked to the World Social Forum and the Global Justice Movement.
Prominent historical figures include Mikhail Bakunin, Peter Kropotkin, Emma Goldman, Errico Malatesta, Nestor Makhno, Buenaventura Durruti, Joan Garcia Oliver, Federica Montseny, Alexander Berkman, and Rudolf Rocker. Key organizations encompass the Confederación Nacional del Trabajo, the Federación Anarquista Ibérica, the Industrial Workers of the World, the International Workers Association, Black Flag (magazine), and contemporary collectives like CrimethInc. and the Anarchist Federation (Britain). Cross-ideological alliances have involved contacts with Syndicalist Youth groups and libertarian socialist tendencies within the Socialist International milieu.
Activities span workplace organizing through syndicalism, community federations, mutual aid networks, propaganda of the deed episodes in the late 19th century, strike coordination, occupation of factories and land, and armed defense during revolutionary crises such as the Spanish Revolution and the Makhnovist movement. Tactics include direct action, general strikes inspired by the CGT (France), affinity group operations, horizontal assembly practices from the Zapatista Army of National Liberation dialogues, and digital activism via Indymedia and decentralized online platforms. Repertoires evolved in response to state repression from the Soviet secret police (Cheka) era to modern surveillance by national security services.
The Anarchist International influenced 20th-century labor movements, anti-colonial struggles, and cultural currents in literature and arts linked to Surrealism and Dada. Its practices informed debates in New Social Movements, shaped municipal experiments in Catalonia, and contributed to contemporary horizontalist models in the Occupy movement and Rojava conflict adaptations. Intellectual legacies persist in works by Noam Chomsky, Murray Bookchin, and historians studying labor history and revolutionary movements. Contemporary activist networks, cooperative projects, and federative organizations continue to draw on its principles across Europe, Latin America, Africa, and Asia.
Category:Anarchism Category:Political organisations