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Anarchists In Modern History: Terrorists or Vicitms of the State Anarchists In Modern History: Terrorists or Vicitms of the State
theonlysun81 - Tue, 2009-03-17 13:15 Tags: Education[1]Opinion [2] The idea of an anarchist society is not merely a concept brought about by industrialization and globalization. An ideology that aspires to the philosophy of a society free from the holds of a permanent government controlling society is an idea that is over two thousand years old, dating back to ancient China and the Taoist philosophy of the best government is the one that governs the least. This philosophy was also present in Biblical times with the Zealots and their advocation of the violent expulsion of Rome from their Jewish lands. In this case, the philosophy underwent an evolution from just a philosophy of no government but an advocation of violent means to achieve their ends. And again it assumed a guise under the form of Guy Fawkes attempting to destroy Parliament in 1654 in England. Anarchism has been an underlying culture or train of thought in almost every culture, empire, or civilization since the beginning of time. Although it might not have been known at the time as anarchy, the main ideas of each philosophy have remained basically the same. A virtual non-existent government or no government at all benefits a society the most, and it is acceptable to use violent measures to achieve this end because anarchy's violence is not as bad as the violence of the government. Although outright anarchy calls for an elimination of government, it could be argued that one of our founding fathers, Thomas Jefferson, was a pseudo-anarchist. Jeffersonian Democracy advocated an agrarian society where the government only protected the borders and did not involve itself in the affairs of the people. Almost all anarchists call for the

instillation of a anarcho-syndicate society where the citizens lived on a self-sufficient commune, close to that described by Jefferson. These roots were planted almost a hundred years before true anarchists made their way into American society in the post-Civil War era during the second Industrial Revolution. The idea of anarchy and other counter cultures grew up as a result of the terrible conditions in the factories that produced most consumer goods during the Industrialization Revolution and the corruption that came with the Reconstruction in the South. As the Industrialization Revolution came into full swing, employers did all they could to produce as much as possible with the least possible costs. This meant low wages for workers and low safety regulations in factories. Many conscientious objectors came to the forefront of the labor movement. During Reconstruction in the South many corrupt politicians riddled the political scene, especially under the Grant administration, which caused many citizens to lose faith in their leaders. The result was a movement to bring down the so-called system of oppression in most places by anarchists. In response to this cry for change, the government began to police society more, so they could be certain no one could successfully threaten their power. Anarchists, while fighting for an idealistic cause, are labeled as terrorists because of their unorthodox beliefs on how people should live, and as a result of oppression and censorship they are sometimes forced to violent means to fight for what they believe in, although they try to maintain peaceful means and propaganda to create a revolutionary atmosphere in society. According to Emma Goldman, anarchy stands for a belief in a society that lives beyond the restriction of man made laws and all governments rest on violence, and are there wrong and unnecessary. She also stresses that anarchy is based upon peace and equality for all humans, contrary to popular belief that subscribes to the thought that anarchy is an ideology that stands for violence and destruction. Anarchy merely roots out the evils in society that tend to limit and corrupt human life. It attempts to sustain a new, more vibrant form of life, more abundant than one controlled by social and economic classes, government, or religion (Goldman). Emma Goldman also argues that ignorance is the most violent element in society, and its power and parasitic hold on society is the very thing anarchy fights , as if capitalism spawns ignorance in the masses (Goldman). It is this ignorance in society that creates two separate economic classes. According to W.E. Trautmann, the upper class owns all the means of production and resources of the world and subjects society to laws to protect their class interests. The lower class attempts to change this balance of economic power (Trautmann). This is the anarchist struggle, to overthrow an obviously corrupt condition of living. Anarchy also has a serious disdain for ownership of productive property. According to Alan MacSimin, anarchists do not want to abolish personal property such as middle class luxuries, which should be available to all people. The idea of abolition of property means the abolition of private ownership of productive property, or the means of production. MacSimin says that the means of production should belong to an entire society because in the hands of a singular owner, workers will be exploited by being paid less then what their work is worth (MacSimin). Goldman notes that property has caused production of goods to far exceed the sustainable needs and as result of the wealthy attempting to achieve greater wealth. Wealth in a society equates to power, and power equates to the ability to ?subdue, crush, exploit, enslave, outrage, and degrade? the working class . Property robs the worker of the fruits of his labor and the interest and desire of the things he is making. Material property loses touch with the real wealth of humanity, which is things of utility and beauty. Things that create strong, adept bodies, beautiful surroundings and inspiring creations.(Goldman)

Anarchists tend to have varying positions on a variety of subjects, but all anarchists believe the reason why humanity is currently in such a dire situation is because of the state or government in general. Emma Goldman says the reason why government is unjust is because the leaders of the government instill into society only the qualities that benefit them and keep them in power so they can perpetuate the cycle that is greed and wealth . She observes that government only seems to reduce mankind to ?clockwork? (Goldman). Commonly seen as hand in hand with government is religion. This is because of the way the institution of religion is set up with hierarchy with church leaders exerting power over top of the laity of the religion. Anarchy realizes that if a religion requires a hierarchy to access their deity, it must be an oppressive system designed only to exploit its members. According to the Workers Solidarity Movement, religion is basically a placebo for social turmoil such as poverty and death. These conditions are seen as ?God's will? and will be rewarded in the afterlife for accepting their plight in the physical world. It assumes that a human should accept hardships and not strive to create a better environment, more suitable for human consumption(?Anarchism and Religion?). Also, religion completely trivializes the human being and attributes all human achievement, in fact all human action, as dependent on God or a higher power. The Red Scare is a classic example of how the state reacts when an internal force attempts to counter its ideologies. The event that stands out in front of all others in this time period is the trial of Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti. According to Paul Avrich, the customary view of these two men as merely two ordinary citizens at the wrong place at the wrong time is a misconception. These two men did not commit the crime they were accused of, the murder of two men, but they were not innocent. They were part of a militant anarchist sect (Avrich). At the time of their arrest they, were in the process of destroying their anarchist paraphernalia because of the majority of their sect had been deported or arrested (Blatt). During the extremely public trial, many respected intellectuals commented on the fact that the judge was racist, because they were foreigners. According to Martin Blatt, the defendants had alibis backed by multiple witnesses, but the evidence was ineffective because many of the witnesses could not speak English (Blatt). The defense chose the strategy of using the press to convince the public that this was a political witch hunt to attack foreigners and anti-American sentiments. According to Richard Newby, the defense even acquired the aid of the Italian government which threw the trial into an international event gathering unwavering support for the release of Sacco and Vanzetti. After an extremely public case that was condemned numerous times for its victimizing the defendants and ignoring evidence that would set the two men free, Sacco and Vanzetti were finally executed in 1927 (Newby). The media also played an intricate part in intimidating the public into condemning all antiAmerican sentiments. In some cases, they even seemed to create enemies by accusing people who should not have been suspect. In a satirical essay Robert Benchley introduces an apparently model citizen, Peters, for his time period. He bought war bonds, advocated antiGerman rhetoric, and pulsated with patriotism. With this being said, at a town meeting he said he would rather live in peace than in war. The next day, his name was printed in the paper on a list with convicted agitators. As a result, Peters is ostracized from society. With no where else to turn, Peters accepts this persona thrust upon him and is arrested with possession of dynamite (Benchley). Also during the strikes in Seattle, which were largely peaceful, the media painted a picture of chaos, death and destruction, although it was a peaceful strike (Burnett). This also happened when the Boston police went on strike. According to Aram Bakshiam, the media was comparing the labor movement to the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia and predicted our society

being plunged into poverty and despair (Bakshiam). The biggest attempt to quiet opposition was the Palmer Raids, pushed through Congress by Mitchell Palmer. In his essay, The Case Against The Reds, Palmer makes a valid point. The Bolsheviks destroyed the society and economy of Russia(Palmer). It is a good observation, which consequently led to intolerance and racist undertones which unfortunately led to many innocent people being arrested and deported (Burnett). As evidence of this racism, Palmer refers to radicals as foreign filth that was infecting the American workman with its revolutionary ideals (Palmer). According to Burnett, raids were wide-spread and non specific, even going so far as people being arrested for looking like radicals. In total, over 200,000 people were arrested or deported, even up to 4,000 people in one night. The detainees were held in extremely inhumane conditions, subject to beating. A number of people died while in containment (Burnett). According to Dawen Gaitis, the struggle for the eight hour work day intensified with the creation of the Chicago?s Eight Hour Work League, headed by Albert Pearsons. In 1884 The Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Union declared May 1, 1886 as their deadline for the creation of an eight hour work week (Gaitis).The Federation of Organized Trades and Labor was an annual congress dedicated to educating the worker on issues that affected him daily and how he could work for an improvement in his life(?The Samuel Gompers Papers?). By April of 1886, the Chicago City Council approved the eight hour work day for city employees after intense public rallying and lobbying. Employers conceded and more then 50,000 workers received the eight hour work day (David Linder). This success prompted workers around the country to go on strike on May 1st to make the eight hour work day a national standard. The strike and all activities surrounding the strike for that day remained peaceful. The strikes and demonstrations continued on May 3rd, the same date August Spies was speaking at McCormick?s Reaper Works in Chicago, Illinois. According to eye witnesses, this peaceful demonstration was attacked by police with clubs and guns. Six people were killed, all protesters (Linder). That night Spies and numerous other labor leaders met to discuss how they were going to respond to the death of their brothers. All agreed to have a peaceful rally to commemorate the dead, and if the police interfered, George Engel plotted spontaneous bombings to occur throughout the city (?Who Threw the Bomb??). The next day, a peaceful rally of almost two thousand was held at the Haymarket Square. When asked to disperse, the leaders declared that they were peaceful and that they had the freedom to assemble in public (?Who Threw The Bomb??). The police did not seem to share the same view as the leaders and began to advance on the protesters. It is important to note that the Chief of Police, John Bonfield, had an overwhelming history of being a brutal enforcer of his authority(?Who Threw The Bomb??). At this point, someone threw a bomb at the police force, killing one and injuring countless others, six of them mortally. Immediately, the police descended onto the crowd, killing an undisclosed numbert of people, and injuring two hundred. It is unknown who actually threw the bomb, although there were countless witnesses who testified it was none of the eight who were eventually arrested(?August Spies?). Samuel Fielden, Louis Lingg, George Engel, Adolf Fischer, Oscar Neebe, Michael Schwabb, and August Spies were all arrested and charged with conspiracy to commit murder. It is important to note that the type of bomb that was detonated was widely believed to have been designed by Louis Lingg, even though he was miles away during the riot (?Let Your Tragedy Be Enacted Here?). The trial began with the selection of the jury not being totally random, but being chosen by a special bailiff (?August Spies?). The nation was thrown into a frenzy, spurred on by the media. Therefore no one could be treated fair and justly under the criminal system as a result of media

bias (?Who Threw The Bomb??). All eight, save one ,were sentenced to death. Oscar Neebe was sentenced to fifteen years in prison. On November 11, 1887, four of the Haymarket Eight were executed at the gallows. Lingg was scheduled to be executed but he committed suicide the night before ironically by blowing himself up. (Linder). The others were pardoned by the mayor, a move that condemned his political career but is recognized by posterity as the legally correct decision. A second example of violent means employed by anarchists was the bombing of the Los Angeles Times. On October 1st 1910, a bomb exploded outside the L.A. Times which weakened the second floor of the building, causing it to collapse and ignite a natural gas line. Twenty one people were killed and many more were injured(?The Los Angeles Times Bombing?). A second bomb was detonated at Harrison Gary Otis, the owner of the L.A. Times, and a third bomb was found at the home of the secretary of the Merchants and Manufacturers Association (?Bombing of the L.A Times?). The L.A. Times was targeted because Otis was part of the Merchants and Manufacturers Association, an extremely conservative and extremely anti-union association. James and John McNamara were accused of the bombings. This surprised the union world which assumed the brothers were being framed, as a result of their holding high positions in the labor movement. They both received full support from Samuel Gompers, the leader of the American Federation of Labor. He hired Clarence Darrows to defend them, after Darrows had successfully defended other union activists(?The Los Angeles Times Bombing?). Despite some questionable legal practices in apprehending the suspects and extracting evidence, the prosecution acquired a solid amount of evidence against the brothers. In light of this, Darrows convinced the brothers to plead guilty in exchange for prison sentences(?Bombing of the L.A. Times?). Anarchists also used peaceful means, such as the general strike that took place in Seattle in February of 1919 to achieve their goals. Although the strike occurred more because of labor unions, anarchists also participated. According to Sharon Boswell, post World War I the government enacted pay cuts for shipyard workers as a result of lower production (Boswell). The 35,000 enraged shipyard workers went on strike and appealed to the Seattle Central Labor Council for support. At the prospect of a city wide strike tensions grew as newspapers predicted that no one would be able to get daily necessities they would need to survive and there would be rioting in the streets in an attempt to suppress anti-labor motives (Boswell).The Seattle Central Labor Council recommended a city wide strike and within two weeks the AFL and the Industrial Workers of the World voted to go on strike. Sixty thousand workers went on strike, and another forty thousand went on a sympathy strike(?The Seattle General Strike?). The predictions by the newspapers did not ring true as many impromptu cafeterias sprung up to feed the public and strikers. Instead of rioting in the streets, crime decreased dramatically (?The Seattle General Strike?). The strike lasted for five days and ended after pressure on the unions from other unions and international officers. After it was over, various raids occurred, and leaders from the headquarters of the IWW and the Socialist party were arrested and given unnecessarily long prison sentences for charges such as conspiracy to commit murder (?The Seattle General Strike?). Anarchy is an idealistic philosophy which promotes the individual but is often mistaken as terrorists as striking back against instigators with violent means. In the anarchist philosophy peace is strongly stressed in contrast to these violent means. It seems whenever anarchists use violence, or propaganda of the deed, it is an outcry against a violent action directed towards them and their philosophy. It is like a war against an established order and a person, in which only the

state is allowed to use violence. It seems the state has a monopoly over the legitimate use of violence; however a person may not use violence, even when it has been used by other governing bodies. The general public, it seems, is not ready for an anarchist society, because they are so used to the paradigm of a regulated society. But as history goes on, it appears as if society is crying out louder and louder, with each generation, for total freedom. Soon the words Albert Pearsons spoke moments before he died will ring true: ?The time will come when our silence will be more powerful than the voices you are throttling today.? . This content is anti-copyright. Comments are the responsibility of their author.
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