Anarchy and Communism – Le Drapeau Noir (1883)

Translated from the French original of the article in ‘Le Drapeau Noir’, September 16, 1883, Lyon, France

In thinking of the contradictory discussions that these two names bring up, we think that we aren’t engaged in any bad labour by tackling this question head on.

First of all, what does anarchy mean?

For some, it is the struggle, the disorganization and the destruction of an existing society, while others give it the meaning of living without a boss and without authority. For us, we accept both, but we place them in their respective order.

So currently, we anarchists, in order to arrive at the annihilation of all authority and the suppression of the bosses, we struggle against the tyrannical and governmental oppression, we apply ourselves toward the destruction of speculator organizations, capitalist exploitation, in order to arrive at the goal that we propose to reach, that is to say, to communism; we are thus anarchists, since we employ these means, and we won’t be after, since by these very same means we will arrive at the suppression of authority.

This is where the contradiction we mentioned above comes in, and here’s why.

Some revolutionary socialists, among them the most militant, claim that libertarian communism cannot exist. We, on the other hand, find it so admissible that it is impossible to refute; anarchist means which are used before and during the Revolution, tending to the regeneration of the whole society, that is to say, to the incontestable equality of each individual, will be necessary for us to centralize all economic elements, so that each one can draw from them an equal share. Therefore, as soon as there is a common cause and a common interest, communism substitutes itself for anarchy and we become, without any transition, communist-anarchists.

Often, the objection is that communism creates authority, that everyone should be free to work either individually or communally.

Certainly, we are of the view that each must be free to labour alone and at any kind of labour, but in any case, as it is recognized that anarchy can only exist with the abolition of money and the removal of the wage, by internationalizing the whole world and destroying the borders, it is therefore of general necessity that the labour done either communally or separately, returns at a given moment to a communal place, designated in advance for free exchange, import or export. It is materially impossible that an individual practicing any trade, or even several trades, can be self-sufficient by free exchange, for, let us admit that if he is a shoe-maker, even a locksmith and a carpenter all at the same time, these three trades, although quite different, will not suffice for the needs of his existence, for, if he exchanges his shoe-making for clothes, his lock-smithing with a tailor, and his carpentry with a hat-maker, he will still lack the things most necessary for his life. He would still have to find a way to exchange his products with those who can provide him with what he needs.

And so, we can only arrive at a practical result by centralizing the labour of each in communal stores, either for the consumption of the country, or for the reciprocal exchange of the different parts of the globe. We are thus forced to recognize that each individual, while remaining totally free in his actions, can only act in common, and by this very fact becomes a libertarian communist. But this in no way takes away his title as anarchist, since he acts under no pressure, without any influence, and his labour is freely done without commandment and without the need to undergo any authority.

We can therefore conclude that communism and anarchy are linked to each other, and if today we are simply anarchists, we will undoubtedly become, after the revolution, anarchist-communists.

Also

“…it is suppression of the wage that we want, and that the whole world labours for the needs of all… anarchist communism, that is to say, to each following his strengths, and to each following his needs, and say with us: Anarchy and Revolution!”

François Dumartheray, Aux Travailleurs Manuels: Partisans De L’Action Politique, 1876

“Worker, take the machine! Take the land, peasant!”

Élisée Reclus, Le Révolté, 1880

“The idea of collectivism has given rise to mistaken interpretations which must be swept away. We want collectivism with all its logical consequences, not just from the point of view of collective appropriation of the means of production, but also from the point of view of enjoyment and collective consumption of products. Anarchist communism thus is going to be the necessary and inevitable consequence of the social revolution and the expression of the new civilization that this revolution is to usher in.”

Resolution from the minutes of the Jura Federation Congress, 1880

“We want every human being to be completely free and to not have to wait for another person for the means of life. Our motto is the grand formula of the communist-anarchists: To each according to his needs.”

A poster put up around the 20th arrondissement of Paris in 1883, as republished in Le Révolté of Geneva

“As to us, we are Communists.”

S., The Alarm, Chicago, June 13, 1885

“The final outcome, many disciples of anarchism believe will be communism — the common possession of the resources of life and the productions of united labor.”

Albert Parsons, Anarchism: Its Philosophy and Scientific Basis as Defined by Some of Its Apostles, 1887

“‘Communism is old’, we are told, and this is true. As a tendency, it has always existed; but the methods of modern Communism are new. […] The possibilists are still at this ideal of the Commune-State, while the few Marxists who remained communists are attached to the Nation-State. And it was only towards the end of the century, within the Anarchist International, that Communism without God or master was affirmed.”

Peter Kropotkin, A Century of Waiting, 1893

“Complete revision of fundamental principles is demanded. Socialism, such as has been propagated up to our days, must change its plan entirely, under pain of disappearing. It must become communistic again. And since, in becoming communistic, it cannot remain authoritarian without falling into absurdity, it must become anarchistic.”

Peter Kropotkin, The Crisis of Socialism, 1895

“Everything belongs to everyone.”

The Voice of Women (La Voz De La Mujer), Communist-Anarchist Periodical, Buenos Aires, Argentina, Our Goals, 1896

“The Anarchist Communist, on the other hand, although recognising that organisation is necessary, recognises in government only its compulsory, despotic function, and holds therefore that the organisation of a truly Socialist (or Communistic) society must begin outside government, by the spontaneous efforts of the people themselves.”

Agnes Henry, Anarchist Communism in its Relation to State Socialism, Liberty, London, July, 1896

“The Partido Liberal Mexicano recognizes that labour is necessary for the subsistence of the individual and society, and therefore everyone, with the exception of the elderly, the physically impaired, and children, must dedicate themselves to producing something useful to satisfy its necessities. […] All that is produced will be sent to general community warehouses from which everyone will have the right to take everything they need, according to their needs, with no other requirement than showing proof that they work in one or another industry. […] What has been said as to working the land in common applies to working the factories, shops, etc., in common, but each one, according to his temperament, tastes, and inclinations can choose the kind of work that suits him best, provided he produces sufficiently to cover his necessities and doesn’t become a burden for the community. […] Land and Freedom!”

Manifesto of the Organizing Junta of the Mexican Liberal Party to the People of Mexico, September 23, 1911, Los Angeles

“But what communism could develop and flourish under government?”

Librado Rivera, Bolshevism: It’s True Significance, Sagitario, October 25, 1924

“Anarchists are never individualists, communists, collectivists, anarchists are open to a pluralism of possibilities in which none of these solutions can be radically denied, because if you denied the possibility of real communism, anarchist, not communism as it has been created up to now, you would end up preventing a real development of the individual, a concrete development. Equally, if one denied the possibility of the development of the individual, one would deny the possibility of realizing communism.”

Alfredo M. Bonanno, Incontro con Alfredo Salerni: Dibattito su Stirner e Kropotkin, 1994

Exchange, by Joseph Déjacque (1858)

Letter to The Bulletin De La Fédération Jurassienne, from Errico Malatesta and Carlo Cafiero (1876)

Karl Marx’s Capital, by Carlo Cafiero (1879)

Anarchy and Communism, by Carlo Cafiero (1880)

Revolutionary Minorities, by Peter Kropotkin (1881)

Manifesto of the Anarchists of Lyon (1883)

Between Peasants, by Errico Malatesta (1884)

An Anarchist on Anarchy, Elisée Reclus (1884)

“Timid” Capital, by Lizzie M. Swank (1886)

The Place of Anarchism in Socialistic Evolution, by Peter Kropotkin (1886)

The Necessity of Communism, from Freedom (1887)