Anarcho communism, also known as libertarian communism , is a branch of anarchism that adopts communist principles to build the idea of an ideal society. Anarcho communism definition
For anarco-communists, social classes and the state must be abolished and there must be no private ownership of the means of production. People have free initiative and production is organized by a federation of workers.
In communist anarchism, the fruits of labor should be divided according to the needs of the individual and not according to the work performed.
Main anarcho-communist ideas
Anarcho communism is a combination of ideals of communism and anarchism . Anarchic communists believed that communism was authoritarian and maintained the relationship of exploited class and exploiting class by giving the state a monopoly on the means of production.
However, they also disagreed with early anarchists – called collectivists. The collectives argued that the fruits of labor should be distributed according to the work done. Anarcho communism definition
For this new strand of anarchism, this would generate a difference in pay and, consequently, social inequality .
For anarcho communists, men are equal by nature, but inequalities are produced by the way society is organized, especially due to the existence of private property.
They defended a just society, based on cooperation and on the distribution of the fruits of labor aimed at the well-being of the community .
For anarcho communists, all the knowledge and progress achieved by human beings were the result of collective constructions and, therefore, the benefits of these advances must be enjoyed by all. Anarcho communism definition
Anarcho communism intended to make a social revolution and had among its objectives :
- Abolish government, laws and all political privileges.
- Ending private property and social classes.
- The production would be organized according to professional interests and with free agreement between the federations.
- Work would be limited to the productive forces and consumption limited to the needs of each individual.
- Free access to culture, school, art and science.
- Abolition of class dominance.
Origin of anarcho-communism
Anarchists were against the conception of communism proposed by Karl Marx, as they believed that it was a statist and authoritarian model , which would take ownership of the means of production into the hands of the State.
The anarchists defended the end of the State, but some of these militants were dissatisfied with the collectivist model of anarchism, which defended the division of the fruits of labor according to the effort made by the worker. Anarcho communism definition
For them, it was not possible to establish criteria to measure the productivity of each job and the difference in pay among workers would cause social inequalities.
In 1876, anarcho-communism was presented at the International Workers’ Association, by Carlo Cafiero and Errico Malatesta. This new current of anarchism had as its main difference from collectivist anarchists the idea of distributing the fruits of labor.
From the 1880s onwards, most European anarchists adopted communist anarchism and one of the most important proponents of this idea was the Russian Piotr Kropotkin .
Kroptkin argued that cooperation was more beneficial than competition and that relationships should be based on mutual aid. The thinker was against the liberal idea of individualism, which, according to him, would make society a war of all against all Anarcho communism definition
