Introduction to the History of Anarchism

In this video, I look at the history of anarchism through William Godwin, Max Stirner, Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, Mikhail Bakunin and Peter Kropotkin. I also look at some of the schools of anarchist thought that they influenced: Mutualism, Anarcho-Communism, Individualism and Anarcho-Syndicalism.

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Introductory Sources:

Marshall, Peter, Demanding the Impossible
Jun, Nathan, Anarchism and Political Modernity
Kinna, Ruth, Anarchism: A Beginners Guide

Music:

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License

[bigye]

Everybody should have a home, nobody should be involuntarily hungry, people should not be imprisoned and stigmatized for possessing an illegal substance. The surveillance state is the most rapidly progressing enterprise because those with the wealth and power realize people are realizing how corrupt this corporatocracy is

[pillmuncher]

Fun Fact: William Godwin was married to Mary Wollstonecraft and their daughter, Mary, was the wife of Percy Shelley. She wrote a little something called Frankenstein.

[melodyskellington]

I love being an anarchist. I wish I would've known about this movement sooner.

[spiritualanarchist]

The core of anarchy is that no human has power of other humans,

[zeroclout]

You should revisit this and explore the transition from classical to modern anarchism

[Ludifant]

I found out in history class, I was an anarchist (mutualism), when I was about 10, 40 years ago, but kept it quiet because it was spoken about only negatively. Yet I could find nothing wrong with their principles and manifests.

[nissanownsyou]

I mean, I appreciate the video but this history of anarchism might more accurately be deemed a European history of anarchism. There have been many, many renditions of indigenous forms of anarchism which historically and currently still exist.

[karigrandii]

Kropotkin is really underrated in my opinion. He was one of the most influential ecologist ever and his ideas are just recently started to be understood and seen how right he was about altruism.

[TomisaLami]

Just a heads up Darwin never said survival of the fittest is the law of evolution. It was the survival of those that can adapt to the best will survive and pass on their geans.
“It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change.”

[DavidGentry-WebDeveloper]

Thank you for sharing the truth about Anarchism rather than the myopic public opinion most people hold.

[wcropp]

Great video—I’m familiar with the topic, and this is probably one of the best intros I have seen. Keep it up—your videos deserve more views, and will eventually get them, I’m sure.

[End-Result]

Please do more episodes like this. Would love to see an entire episode on Stirner & and egoist anarchism.

[LogicGated]

I think more people need to watch this considering everyone I speak to seems to think that anarchism is basically a purge film.

[guthrowtaylorjohnson]

Anarchism as I understand it doesn’t mean ‘no rulers’. Guidance is a powerful thing that increases moral and cooperation. Anarchism is removing rule where consent is not fundamentally active in its rule. Governments have some sort of democracy but is not direct. Anarchism allows people who want to guide guide and people who want to be guided guided but grants no power over the other to either position.

Personally I believe this is going to take a lot of re-wiring of society, therefore it becomes essential to form a minarchist state where the sole purpose of the government is to prevent the accumulation of power and wealth

Maybe I got that all wrong but I’d love to debate

[ethangutterman]

This video is great, love it! I'm a first time viewer of this channel, you just earned a sub!

[taylorrathbone]

Emma Goldman: "Am I a joke to you?"

[DoubleYolk]

Such a professional presentation, man!

[crazyfrogduo]

love your stuff. im suprised that you only have 7k subs

[psicologiajoseh]

Magnificent introduction! One of the best I've seen on YouTube. I would love some extra video essays from you to further explain the movement. Thanks!

[immortalsofar]

I treat my anarchism like my atheism - not a belief but a conclusion. Given what happened in '08 and the long-term futility of what they've done to try and patch the system since then, it's not a goal to be aimed for but an inevitability to be prepared for. When the economy collapses, that's the framework we're going to have to work within so trading networks and skills exchanges need to be set up ready.