Anarchy, Power, and Poststructuralism

"Finally came Stirner, the prophet of contemporary anarchism."

— Frederick Engels, Ludwig Feurebach and the End of Classical German Philosophy (1886)

In 1994 Todd May initiated a new turn in contemporary theory–poststructuralist anarchism, commonly abbreviated to "post-anarchism." May's seminal study, The Political Philosophy of Poststructuralist Anarchism called attention to ways in which the political philosophy of anarchism echoes the concerns of poststructuralist thought, notably in its critique of oppression. Taking aim at Marxism, he (rightly) argued that anarchism has a more sophisticated grasp of how oppression disperses across the social field. According to May, Marxists did not address the hierarchical relations sustaining this state of affairs. Instead, they called for the seizure of the reigns of power by a benighted proletariat that would subordinate society to its will by restructuring economic relations in the image of socialism (49).¹ Historically, anarchists opposed this, because they were suspicious of any social formation, however well intentioned, exercising power over others. Anarchism interrogated relations of domination with the goal of destroying all representational forms of power, precisely because such politics are always already at one remove from the represented (May, 50).

However, as a corollary to his praise for this thorough-going attack on domination in all its forms, May argued that anarchism (theoretically) was not up to the task of realizing its political potential. Referencing "classical" figures from the nineteenth-century European wing of the movement, May suggested that anarchists had yet to come to terms with power as a positive ground for action. The anarchist project, he argued, is based on a fallacious "humanist" notion that "the human essence is a good essence, which relations of power suppress and deny." This impoverished notion of power as ever oppressive, never productive, was the Achilles heel of anarchist political philosophy (ibid., 62). Hence May's call for a new and improved "poststructuralist anarchism." The poststructuralist anarchist would not shy away from power: she would shed the husk of humanism the better to exercise power "tactically" within an ethical practice guided by Habermas's universalist theory of communicative action (ibid., 146).

My purpose is not to further May's positioning of anarchism as poststructuralist. Rather, I am interested in the claim that "classical" anarchism–and by extension, contemporary anarchism—founds its politics on a flawed conception of power and its relationship to society. Based on this premise, May has urged anarchist-oriented theorists to press on without looking back–and some, notably Lewis Call and Saul Newman, have done just that.² But surely, if one claims to be fundamentally revising a political tradition, then one has an obligation to familiarize oneself with that tradition's theoretical foundations. This is my modest aim: to provide a brief corrective meditation on "classical" anarchism and power.

Let us begin with Emma Goldman's (1869-1940) closing summary of anarchist principles, circa 1900, from her essay, "Anarchism: What it Really Stands For":

Anarchism, then, really stands for the liberation of the human mind from the domination of religion; the liberation of the human body from the domination of property; liberation from the shackles and restraint of government. Anarchism stands for a social order based on the free grouping of individuals for the purpose of producing real social wealth, an order that will guarantee to every human being free access to the earth and full enjoyment of the necessities of life, according to individual desires, tastes, and inclinations.

(62)

Goldman's statement certainly confirms May's point concerning how anarchism widens the political field (May, 50). Goldman critiques religion for oppressing us psychologically, capitalist economics for endangering our corporal well-being, and government for shutting down our freedoms. She also asserts that the purpose of anarchism is to liberate humanity from these tyrannies. That said, one searches in vain for any suggestion that Goldman's liberated individuals are, as May would have it, a priori good. Rather, she posits a situated politics in which individuality differentiates endlessly, according to each subject's "desires, tastes and inclinations."

Goldman counted anarchist-communist Peter Kropotkin (1842-1921) among her most important influences, so it is appropriate we turn to...