Collectivist anarchism

Mikhail Bakunin, the best known defender of anarchcholectivism.

Collectivist anarchism, anarcho-collectivism or anarchist collectivism is a type of anarcho-socialism that proposes, through an anti-state social revolution, a society based on collectives of workers who own their own means of production and on a distribution of the work product guided by the socialist principle of "to each according to his contribution". Under this model the State would be replaced by a popular federative order of bottom-up based on the free union of producers and on a "simple administration of common affairs". On the other hand, although anarcho-collectivism admits the market, it calls on producers to organize themselves into large federations to cooperate mutually and plan production and distribution. Among its defenders are, among others, Mikhail Bakunin —who enunciated its principles—, James Guillaume, Luigi Fabbri, Anselmo Lorenzo and Ricardo Mella.

Mikhail Bakunin considered anarcho-collectivism to be "proudhonism [mutualism], extensively developed and carried to its ultimate conclusions". Unlike mutualism, however, anarcho-collectivism places less emphasis on bringing change to the market and more emphasis on the revolution. In turn, it differs mainly from anarcho-communism in that the latter defends the principle of "to each according to his needs". Anarcho-collectivism is sometimes compared as a midpoint between mutualism and anarcho-communism.

On the other hand, historiographically, after the predominance of mutualism in anarchism, anarcho-collectivism became the most influential model of this movement and was adopted, in general, by the anti-authoritarian or federalist wing of the First International. Later, however, anarcho-communism would take its place within the anarchist movement. However, there continued to be strong discussions between different libertarian currents —although mainly between anarcho-collectivists and anarcho-communists, who dominated the anarchist landscape— which finally converged and gave rise to the plural anarchism without adjectives.

Theory

According to KJ Kenafick, two important thinkers in Bakunin's thought were Karl Marx and Pierre-Joseph Proudhon. From the former he drew mainly certain economic notions and what would later be called historical materialism, while from the latter he would draw inspiration on all of his libertarian political notions.

According to Paul Eltzbacher, "Bakunin's teaching on law, state and property finds its expression especially in the Proposition motivated au comité central de la Ligue de la paix et de la liberté —also known as Federalism, Socialism and Anti-Theologism— offered by him in 1868; in the principles of the International Alliance of Socialist Democracy, drawn up by him in 1868; and in the work of him God and the State (1871) ».

On the other hand, Daniel Guérin points out that The International Family, the Revolutionary Catechism and the National Catechism are «the least known and most Bakunin's most important", while Hanns-Erich Kaminski declares them as "the spiritual foundation of the entire anarchist movement".

Economy

The anarcho-collectivists propose an economic order based on the collective ownership of the means of production, which would be administered autonomously by their own workers. The anarcho-collectivists defend that freedom requires economic conditions of equality consecrated by the socialization of property, since, according to them, "anarchy is impossible without preconditions of equality".

On the other hand, the product of labor would be distributed under the socialist principle of "to each according to his contribution", instead of the communist principle of "to each according to his needs". Under anarcho-collectivism each group would establish by according to the remuneration for work. In addition, it is emphasized from anarcho-collectivism that each individual has the right to dispose of the fruit of their own work. On the other hand, under this theory it is considered that specialized workers (such as engineers and scientists) carry out a compound work that entitles them to higher remuneration.

Although anarcho-collectivism admits the market, it encourages producers to freely organize themselves into federations where they join forces to cooperate with each other and also to plan and regulate production and distribution in a decentralized and voluntary manner. In addition, according to Bakunin, this economic federation would have international implications, "with comprehensive, accurate and detailed data provided by world statistics".

Similarly, according to Paul Eltzbacher, Bakunin thinks that there is “soon to come to the disappearance, not really of property, but of the present form of property, unlimited private property”, which Bakunin says is “ both the consequence and the basis of the State".

On the other hand, although Bakunin recognized that production cooperatives help workers get used to organizing themselves, directing production by themselves and initiate collective action, he believed that these would be insufficient within the capitalist society and therefore incited to "deal more with strikes than with cooperatives".

On the free market, Bakunin expressed the following:

Freedom of industry and trade is certainly a great thing and one of the essential foundations of the future International Alliance of all the peoples of the world. Friends of freedom at all prices, of all freedoms, we must be equally of this. But on the other hand, we must recognize that as long as the present states exist and as the work continues to be the servant of property and Capital, that freedom, by enriching a minimum portion of the bourgeoisie to the detriment of the vast majority of the people, will produce only one good: to enervate and demoralize more completely the small number of the privileged, to increase the misery, the wrongful and the just destruction of the masses.

Mikhail Bakunin

Also, although anarcho-collectivism does not reject small-scale production, large-scale production is preferred as Bakunin expresses it by contrasting what he calls "economic centralization" against "political centralization":

It will be said that economic centralization can be obtained only by political centralization, that the one implies the other, which are necessary and well-made both to the same degree. Absolutely not. Economic centralization, an essential condition of civilization, creates freedom; but political centralization kills it, destroying for the benefit of the rulers and ruling classes the very life and spontaneous action of the populations.

Mikhail Bakunin

In this sense, Daniel Guérin asserts that «constructive anarchism» —represented in “its most complete expression” in Bakunin— is based on «great modern industry, on modern technique, on the modern proletariat, on an internationalism world-wide."

Politics

Instead of the conquest of the State, as the State Socialists advocate, the anarcho-collectivists defend its abolition through the social revolution to replace it with a popular federative order from the bottom up based on the free union of producers and in a "simple administration of common affairs." This federative order would be freely organized at different levels: local, communal, regional, national, international and, finally, global. Equally, the free functioning of collectivities is always emphasized. For Bakunin "each nation, each province and each commune has the unlimited right to complete independence [secessionism], as long as its internal constitution does not threaten the independence and freedom of the adjoining territories".

On the other hand, for Bakunin, individual freedom is linked to the freedom of others: «The more free men surround me, and the deeper and broader their freedom, the deeper, broader and more powerful it is. my freedom. On the other hand, each enslavement of men is at the same time a limitation of my freedom, or, what is the same, a denial of my human existence for its bestial existence».

At the same time, Bakunin affirms that the State depraves those who govern: «It is characteristic of privilege, and of every privileged position, that they poison the minds and hearts of men. He who is politically or economically privileged has his mind and heart depraved."

Bakunin also points out the relationship between centralization and war: "Powerful states can only support themselves through crime, small states are virtuous only through weakness." And he completes: «We hate the monarchy with all our hearts, but at the same time we are convinced that a great republic too, with an army, bureaucracy and political centralization, will do a business of conquest and oppression within it, and will be incapable of doing so, to guarantee happiness and freedom to his subjects, even if he calls them citizens".

Revolution

The revolution is one of the most outstanding aspects of the anarcho-collectivist doctrine. Under the social revolution, it seeks to replace the "institutions of inequality" with economic and social equality, in addition, it denies that this can be carried out by private individuals or secret societies, but it must be done by the population itself and it depends more on the circumstances. In addition, Bakunin points out that this should not be a kind of revenge against certain people, but should be focused against relationships and things. On the other hand, Bakunin assures that for the revolution to be successful it must be internationalized quickly. In the latter he assures the following: «We are deeply convinced that, if the freedom of all nations is indivisible, national revolutions must be international in their scope. Just as the European and world reaction is unified, there should no longer be isolated revolutions, but universal revolutions."

On the other hand, anarcho-collectivists maintain that in order to make the revolution they must generate awareness in the population, which would be manipulated by the ideological apparatus of the ruling class.

History

According to George Woodcock, anarcho-collectivism was developed by Mikhail Bakunin from 1864 when he formed the first international libertarian organizations such as the International Brotherhood and the International Alliance of Socialist Democracy. Later, the III Congress of Brussels (Belgium) The 1868 anniversary of the First International marks the transition from the then predominant mutualism to anarcho-collectivism within the anti-authoritarian wing of this organization. The anarcho-collectivist Jura Federation would become the most important libertarian fraction of the International. Then, at the Hague Congress of 1872, his followers and other anti-authoritarians were expelled from the First International due to Bakunin's disagreements with Karl Marx when it came to facing the problems of the proletariat. A week later the Jura Federation called for a congress in Saint-Imier (Switzerland) where they formed their own International and sealed a pact of solidarity between the different groups based on two principles: autonomy and federalism.

They were also excluded from the Fourth International due to the need for the state structure in Leon Trotsky's ideas of the dictatorship of the proletariat. Bakunin's ideas against the state and the need for direct action forged these discrepancies with the consequent creation of militant anarchism as an organized international labor movement. Anarcho-syndicalism will then be the way to carry out several of these ideas in a pragmatic model.

On May 4, 1886, the Haymarket massacre occurred, the victims were the now-known Chicago Martyrs, who were of the anarcho-collectivist tendency. This event later gave rise to International Workers' Day.

The highest representative of anarcho-collectivism in Spain was Ricardo Mella. In 1888 he founded La Solidaridad in Seville, where he spread this thought. Later his thought would evolve sympathizing with Dyer Lum's collectivist-mutualist thought and, later, he accepted anarchism without adjectives.

In 1892, after the events of La Mano Negra, an unsuccessful Bakuninist peasant insurrection took place in Jerez de la Frontera.

In Spain, anarcho-collectivism was the dominant libertarian philosophy until the 1930s. Although the Spanish libertarian movement had mostly declared itself in favor of libertarian communism, the Francoist uprising of 1936 led to the birth of the revolutionary movement of July 19 where he exercised in practice, above all, economic collectivism.

More recently, Keith Preston, who considers himself an anarchosocialist in the Bakuninist tradition, combines Bakunin's analyzes and proposals (such as revolution, expropriation, self-management, federation, and his critique of state socialism).) with theories of market anarchism (especially its anti-capitalist side). Preston argues that the market freed from the privileges granted by the State would be useful for the emancipation of workers: cheap credit and easy entrepreneurship. On the other hand, he argues that anarcho-collectivism could coexist with certain forms of private property over the means of production that would take, without privileges, an internal structure more tending towards co-management-self-management.

Discussions with libertarian communists

The discussion between collectivist anarchists and libertarian communists took place mainly in the late 19th century. The two big differences with libertarian communism are:

1. The libertarian communists defend the slogan "of each according to their ability, to each according to their need", which clashes with the collectivists who propose the retribution according to merit.
2. The libertarian communists propose that the federation of these associations manage the economy in a democratic way, that they collect what is produced and then redistribute it according to the needs of the individuals. In addition, this confederation would set certain guidelines on the form of production and work. The collectivist anarchists, instead, proposes to give greater autonomy to the associations.^{[chuckles]required]}

Faced with these discussions, most anarchists, seeing that it was leading them to a blind alley, chose to call themselves "anarchists without adjectives": they opted for synthesis and tended to converge in the struggle.

However, according to Daniel Guérin, «in a program he wrote around 1884 for a vague anarchist International, Malatesta recognized that communism was only immediately achievable in very restricted sectors and that, “for the rest”, it would be necessary to accept “ temporarily" collectivism".

Collectivist Libertarians

Some anarcho-collectivists: