.jpg)
Anarchism in the United Kingdom initially developed within thereligious dissent movement that began after theProtestant Reformation. Anarchism was first seen among the radical republican elements of theEnglish Civil War and following theStuart Restoration grew within the fringes ofradical Whiggery. The Whig politicianEdmund Burke was the first to expoundanarchist ideas, which developed as a tendency that influenced thepolitical philosophy ofWilliam Godwin, who became the first modern proponent of anarchism with the release of his 1793 bookEnquiry Concerning Political Justice.
The development ofsocialism fromradicalism started in the 1860s with the establishment of theInternational Workingmen's Association (IWA), and saw the foundation of a number of workers' societies demanding radical reform and civil liberties. By the 1870s, anarchism had been introduced to the country from Europe and America and the establishment of theLabour Emancipation League (LEL) in 1881 marked the beginning of the organized anarchist movement in the United Kingdom. The LEL was instrumental in the foundation of theSocialist League, which in 1888 came under the control of the anarchistFrank Kitz.
The Socialist League's newspaperCommonweal andPeter Kropotkin's newspaperFreedom saw anarchism through the turn of the 20th century.Anarcho-communism became a major tendency during theRevolutions of 1917–1923, when the Glasgow anarchistGuy Aldred established theAnti-Parliamentary Communist Federation and later theUnited Socialist Movement. The rise ofanarcho-syndicalism after theSpanish Civil War eventually resulted in the foundation of theSolidarity Federation in 1950, followed by resurgence of anarcho-communism during the 1980s, when theClass War andAnarchist Federation were founded.
The historianPeter Marshall traced the roots of British anarchism back to thePeasants' Revolt of 1381, during whichyeomans rose up against theBad Parliament'spoll tax, fearing it to be an attempt by thenobility to force the yeomanry intoserfdom.[1] The peasants were further agitated by the preaching of the radical priestJohn Ball, who conceived of theGarden of Eden as astate of nature whereclass stratification did not yet exist, attacked the institutions ofprivate property andsocial inequality, and called for everything to be brought undercommon ownership and the creation of aclassless society.[2] WithWat Tyler elected as theircaptain, 100,000 peasant rebels marched fromEssex toLondon, where they were joined by the local population. AlthoughRichard II had promised them that he would free thevilleins, the rebels demolished theSavoy Palace, released all the local prisoners and executedSimon Sudbury, theArchbishop of Canterbury. Now that the rebels had captured the capital, they issued their demands, which included the introduction ofwage labour, the cessation offeudal duties and the establishment of afree market. The King agreed to most of their demands in his meetings with the rebel leaders, during which Tyler called for the total abolition of serfdom and the expansion ofliberty andsocial equality, while his more radical lieutenantJack Straw allegedly declared that the noble and clerical classes would need to beexterminated.[3] However, the rebel's demands would never be met asWilliam Walworth, theLord Mayor of London, assassinated Tyler and Straw. The King then revoked his promises and the revolt was definitively crushed.[4] But John Ball's radical egalitarian philosophy lived on through the centuries, most notably being re-invoked in 1888 byWilliam Morris, in his novelA Dream of John Ball.[5]
Throughout theMiddle Ages, the institution offeudalism had constructed a rigidlyhierarchical society, where the interests of the individual were subordinated to thedivine right of kings. But following theRenaissance andReformation, the individual first began to be considered as an autonomous entity withrights of their own. It was during theEnglish Revolution that individual rights took their place alongside the old demands forliberty andsocial equality, leading to the development of recognizableanarchist tendencies.[6] By the 16th century, the word "anarchy" was primarily associated withdisorder andlawlessness, while the label of "anarchist" was pejoratively applied to anyone that upset the established order or refused to recognize the ruling power.[7]
In the lead up to theEnglish Civil War, radical republican and democratic ideas were first starting to circulate, advocating the abolition of existing institutions such as themonarchy,church andfeudalism. In December 1640, 15,000 Londoners presented Parliament with the "Root and Branch petition", advocating for the abolition of theepiscopacy, a proposition which was denounced as "absolute Anarchism" by the royalist MPEdward Dering.[8] When the Bill itself failed to pass,anti-clerical riots erupted inLondon,[9] eventually forcingCharles I to flee the capital, along with royalist MPs and bishops, which allowed parliament the means to pass anti-clerical bills into law.[10]
The tensions exacerbated by this situation eventually erupted into theFirst English Civil War, in whichParliamentarians andCovenanters were victorious over theroyalist forces. Following the conflict, a radical group known as theLevellers released aseries of manifestos regarding the creation of a new constitution, which became subject todebate among the parliamentary forces, as the Levellers advocated for a number of issues includingprogressive taxation,universal manhood suffrage andequality before the law.[11] Theradical democratic theses of the Levellers was rejected byOliver Cromwell, who accused them of advocating thecantonalist practices of theSwiss Confederacy and declared that such policies would inevitably lead to "anarchy".[12] But the Levellers denied the charge, as they still believed in a form of "good government".[13]
Following the Parliamentarian victory in theSecond English Civil War, theremoval of dissenting voices from theHouse of Commons and theexecution of Charles I, power lay entirely in the hands of theGrandees of theNew Model Army. Unwilling to implement the radical policies advanced by the Levellers, the Grandees instead turned towardsmysticism and the implementation of aPuritan religious order. But this new environment of Christian mysticism branched out into a variety ofanti-authoritarian strains, with a number ofEnglish Dissenters separating entirely from theChurch of England. These religious dissenters included theQuakers,Ranters,Anabaptists,Familists andDiggers.[14] Notably, the Ranters and Diggers have been labelled as "anarchists" by historians, due to their radical egalitarian philosophies andcommunist practices.[15] The Diggers believed in creating an egalitarian society of small agrarian communities and put this into practice by occupying a number of tracts of common land for the purposes of farming it, but these settlements were eventually suppressed by the authorities of theCommonwealth.[16]
By 1653,Parliament had been forcibly dissolved by the New Model Army and the republican Commonwealth was replaced by amilitary dictatorship known asThe Protectorate, with Oliver Cromwell acting asLord Protector. After Cromwell's death, Parliament was reconvened and held aConvention, which instituted therestoration of the monarchy. Within decades theStuart-ruled kingdoms ofEngland andScotland wereunited into theKingdom of Great Britain and theBritish Empire was formally established. The eventual spread of theAge of Enlightenment to Britain and the outbreak of theIndustrial Revolution brought about a number of changes to the country, which allowed for the early conception of a formalizedanarchist philosophy.
In 1688, theGlorious Revolution definitively established aconstitutional monarchy withparliamentary supremacy in Britain. The Revolution was most notably defended byJohn Locke, whose justifications for democratic governance laid the foundations forclassical liberalism. According to Locke, while the "state of nature" represented a state of totalliberty andsocial equality, competition between individuals had causedinstability, which made the establishment of a government to protect "life, liberty and property" a necessity. This led Locke to propose the formation of asocial contract between the British people and their government, which would have the power make laws and protect the institution ofprivate property. TheLockean proviso soon came to represent a progression from thetraditionalist conservatism of the establishedlanded gentry (later known asTories) to thepropertarianism of the emergingmiddle classes (later known asWhigs).[17] By the turn of the 18th-century, Lockean liberalism started to give way tolibertarianism, which centered the individual freedom of citizens within the new constitutional monarchy.[18]
Jonathan Swift, although a conservative and misanthrope, became an early champion ofEnlightenment ideals and an opponent ofBritish rule in Ireland. In his 1726 novelGulliver's Travels, Swift satirised the prevailingsocial mores of his day, railing againstsocial inequality and theProtestant work ethic, among other subjects.[19] In Book IV, Swift writes of theHouyhnhnms, an intelligent race ofhorses that believed society couldgovern itself sufficiently throughreason and lived in a kind ofprimitive communism.[20] Their only form of central government was a representative body, which met once every four years to coordinate resource distribution and existed only in anadvisory capacity, having no authority to compel obedience.[21] Swift's vision of astateless society later inspiredWilliam Godwin's anarchist philosophy, although it would also later be criticized as "totalitarian" byGeorge Orwell, who referred to Swift as a "Tory anarchist".[22]
In 1756,Edmund Burke espoused a defense of the "state of nature" inA Vindication of Natural Society, painting a picture of human society being governed by reason until the invention of thestate and theepiscopacy, in what the historianPeter Marshall described as "one of the most powerful arguments for anarchist society made in the eighteenth century." Burke denounced the state as the sole reason for allsocial conflict andwar, arguing that the division of humanity into differentnationalities had createdbigotry and that thesocial stratification of society hadconcentrated wealth in the hands of those that didn't work for it.[23] When looking at the dominant forms of government, Burke founddemocracy to be more preferable todespotism andaristocracy, but still considered it lacking, calling for a complete rejection of church and state, and the reclamation of "perfect liberty".[24] Burke would later turn towardsconservatism and disown hisVindication, claiming it to be a satire of the parliamentary opposition leaderHenry St John, but the text still went on to inspire the anarchist philosophy ofWilliam Godwin and thelibertarian socialism ofGeorge Holyoake.[25]
With the outbreak of theAmerican Revolution, one thinker that rose to prominence was the radicalThomas Paine, who issued calls forwomen's rights, theabolition of slavery and the prevention ofcruelty to animals. In 1776, Paine's pamphletCommon Sense drew considerable attention, with its calls forindependence of theThirteen Colonies and apeople's war against theBritish Empire, in the hope that America could inspirefuture revolutions abroad.[26] Inspired by thespontaneous order that had emerged following the colonial government's dissolution, Paine clearly elaborated a distinction between society and the state, declaring that "society in every state is a blessing, but government even in its best state is but a necessary evil; in its worse state an intolerable one." Nevertheless, Paine still believed in the establishment of alimited government through a social contract, with a writtenconstitution guaranteeing the rights to "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness".[27] The end of theAmerican Revolutionary War was followed soon after by the beginning of theFrench Revolution, with Paine transplanting his revolutionary politics to Europe.[28]
The publication of Edmund Burke'sReflections on the Revolution in France ignited a fiercepamphlet war in Britain, which became known as the "Revolution Controversy".[25] In this work, Burke espoused a traditionalist conservative view of government, cautioning against radical changes to its functioning, which he believed would transfer power from the clergy and nobility to the "swinish multitude."[28] TheRadicals, many of whom had themselves been inspired by Burke's earlier writings, quickly took to the debate. One of the first responses came from the feministMary Wollstonecraft, whoseVindication of the Rights of Men and subsequentVindication of the Rights of Woman attackedclass stratification,economic inequality andgender inequality, calling for a reformed government to protectnatural rights. Thomas Paine himself followed up on Wollstonecraft's treatises with his ownRights of Man, which according to Peter Marshall displayed a "libertarian sensibility [that] took him to the borders of anarchism."[25]
Paine took the side of the "swinish multitude" and criticised Burke for subordinatingindividual rights to the "authority of the dead", adapting Lockean liberalism in the direction oflibertarianism anddirect democracy.[29] To protect people's natural rights, he again recommended the establishment of a limited government, which would itself have no authority and would be entirely subjected to the people's authority, in order to ensure "the good of all".[30] In Part II of his pamphlet, Paine approached anarchism with his declaration that societal order would prevail even if all government were abolished, claiming that civil society "performs for itself almost everything which is ascribed to government." He asserted that all order stemmed from human nature, itself fundamentally good but corrupted by established governments, and that individuals were chiefly regulated by their owncommon interest, rather than bylegal codes.[31] Drawing from British history, Paine concluded by calling for the establishment of aself-governing society, declaring that "the instant formal government is abolished, society begins to act. A general association takes place, and common interest produces common security." He therefore considered the ideal form of government to be a limited one, solely in place to secure the natural rights of individual people, looking to the nascentfederal government of the United States as an example.[32] Despite his libertarian inclinations, it was his advocacy ofconstitutionalism,republicanism andpropertarianism that would ultimately separate Paine from modern anarchism.[33]
It was during the Revolution Controversy thatWilliam Godwin published hisEnquiry Concerning Political Justice, which became the first clear expression ofphilosophical anarchism, with his declaration that all government ought to be abolished.[34] Although the book was rather expensive on release, with the prime ministerWilliam Pitt even deciding against banning the book due to its high price, many British workers threw their money together to purchase a copy by subscription, pirated copies were distributed throughout Ireland and Scotland, and Godwin ended up reducing the price.[35] When Pitt's government began to carry out thepolitical persecutions against theBritish radical movement, Godwin was among those that came to the defense of the Radicals on trial, eventually securing their release.[36] Although alienated by thedefeat of the French Revolution, Godwin's influence extended on to the next generation of Radicals. His son-in-lawPercy Bysshe Shelley became a widely-renowned poet, putting much of Godwin's anarchist philosophy into verse, while his discipleRobert Owen went on to become the founding father ofBritish socialism. Following his death,Political Justice continued to inspire theChartists andOwenites, who published new editions of the book, as well as theRicardian socialism ofThomas Hodgskin andWilliam Thompson, which in turn influenced theMarxist theory of the "withering away of the state".[37]
But by the turn of the 19th century, British radicals still had not adopted the term "anarchist" as their own. Even Godwin associated the word "anarchy" with disorder, although he still considered it preferable todespotism, due to its resemblance to "trueliberty". Nevertheless, followers of Godwin's political philosophy found themselves being labelled as "anarchists", most notably by the Tory statesmanGeorge Canning, who denounced William Godwin, Thomas Paine and the reformerJohn Thelwall as anarchists in theAnti-Jacobin Review.[38]
The labour movement first began to take form in Britain during the early 19th century. Spearheaded by the utopian socialistRobert Owen, himself a disciple ofWilliam Godwin, theGrand National Consolidated Trades Union contributed to the early development ofsyndicalism in the country, while the noncomformist priestWilliam Benbow popularized the idea of thegeneral strike as a means forsocial revolution. However, the rise of theChartists instilled the British labour movement with a largelyreformist character, concerning itself mostly withparliamentary politics.[38]
It was the arrival ofmigrant workers andasylum seekers in London that introducedclassical anarchism to Britain, in the wake of theRevolutions of 1848. Over the decades, isolated individuals slowly began to cluster together inpolitical clubs, such as theRose Street Club inSoho. This process was accelerated whenJohann Most moved to London and began printing his newspaperFreiheit, which before long was shut down and forced to move its operations to theUnited States, after friends of Most signalled their approval of thePhoenix Park Murders.[39]
By 1881, the movement of British revolutionary socialists towards anarchism culminated with the establishment of theLabour Emancipation League (LEL). The LEL quickly gained support for itslibertarian socialist platform from the workers of London'sEast End, declaring themselves against all forms of government, before they merged into theSocial Democratic Federation (SDF).[40] But theauthoritarianism of the SDF's leaderHenry Hyndman caused a split within the organization, resulting in the formation of theSocialist League (SL) by a number of libertarian socialists aroundWilliam Morris. Though himself a staunch anti-parliamentarian, Morris would end up leaving the SL following the rise of its anarchist faction in 1887, leading to a marked radicalization of the League's publications underH. B. Samuels.[41]
Other anarchist tendencies also began to emerge around this time, including:individualist anarchism, which was developed byHenry Seymour in his publicationThe Anarchist;anarcho-communism, which was propagated byPeter Kropotkin through his newspaperFreedom; andJewish anarchism, which congregated around theYiddish language journalArbeter Fraynd.[42] Anarchist tendencies also worked their way into the popular literature of the time, with William Morris'News from Nowhere depicting a utopian society andOscar Wilde'sThe Soul of Man Under Socialism espousing the importance ofindividualism, while libertarian ideas were likewise defended by authors such asGeorge Bernard Shaw,Edward Carpenter andHenry Stephens Salt.[43]
But anarchism was unable to win over the more reform-minded labour movement, withanarcho-syndicalism only developing at the turn of the 20th century. In the 1910s,Tom Mann'sIndustrial Syndicalist Education League attempted to encourage the establishment ofindustrial unions in Britain, advocating for directclass conflict with the goal ofworkers' control. But the influence of anarcho-syndicalism waned in the wake ofWorld War I, which caused asplit within the anarchist movement.[44] Although anarcho-communists likeGuy Aldred attempted to keep the movement alive, by the mid-1920s, the British anarchist movement had almost dissolved, with only a few anarchist groups remaining in urban centers.[45] The outbreak of theSpanish Civil War brought with it a revival of the British anarchist movement, which cultivated a new generation of anarchists by the subsequent outbreak ofWorld War II.[46]
WhenVernon Richards and three other editors were arrested at the beginning of 1945 for attempting "to undermine the affections of members of His Majesty's Forces.",[47]Benjamin Britten,E. M. Forster,Augustus John,George Orwell,Herbert Read (chairman),Osbert Sitwell andGeorge Woodcock set up theFreedom Defence Committee to "uphold the essential liberty of individuals and organizations, and to defend those who are persecuted for exercising their rights to freedom of speech, writing and action."[48] TheSyndicalist Workers' Federation was a syndicalist group active in post-war Britain,[49] and one of theSolidarity Federation's earliest predecessors. It was formed in 1950 by members of the dissolvedAnarchist Federation of Britain (AFB). Unlike the AFB, which was influenced by anarcho-syndicalist ideas but ultimately not syndicalist itself, the SWF decided to pursue a more definitelysyndicalist, worker-centred strategy from the outset. The group joined theInternational Workers' Association and during theFranco era gave particular support to the Spanish resistance and the undergroundCNT anarcho-syndicalist union, previously involved in the 1936Spanish Revolution and subsequentCivil War against a right-wing military coup backed by bothNazi Germany andFascist Italy. The SWF initially had some success, but whenTom Brown, a long-term and very active member was forced out of activity, it declined until by 1979 it had only one lone branch inManchester. The SWF then dissolved itself into the group founded as the Direct Action Movement. Its archives are held by theInternational Institute of Social History, and a selection of the SWFs publications have been digitally published atlibcom.org.
Colin Ward was an editor of theBritishanarchist newspaperFreedom from 1947 to 1960, and founder/editor of the monthlyanarchist journalAnarchy from 1961 until it ceased publication in 1970. There were 118 issues. It is not to be confused with the subsequent, shorter-lived magazine of the same name, sometimes referred to as Anarchy (Second Series), which was edited/published by a quite separate group.[50][51]
Over the years the Freedom editorial group includedJack Robinson, Pete Turner,Colin Ward,Nicolas Walter,Alan Albon,John Rety, Nino Staffa, Dave Mansell, Gillian Fleming, Mary Canipa,Philip Sansom,Arthur Moyse and numerous others.Clifford Harper maintained a loose association for 30 years.
The leadinganarcho-pacifist writer and gerontologistAlex Comfort characterised himself as an "aggressive anti-militarist". He held that pacifism rested "solely upon the historical theory of anarchism".[52][53] An active member of thePeace Pledge Union (PPU) and the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, he had been aconscientious objector inWorld War II. In 1951 Comfort was a signatory of the Authors’ World Peace Appeal. He later resigned from its committee, asserting that Soviet sympathisers now dominated the AWPA.[54] He later in the decade actively supported the Direct Action Committee against Nuclear War. A prominent member of theCommittee of 100, he wasimprisoned for a month, together withBertrand Russell and others. They had refused to be bound over, not to take part in a Trafalgar Square mass protest in September 1961. Comfort isPeace and Disobedience (1946), one of many pamphlets he wrote forPeace News and PPU, andAuthority and Delinquency in the Modern State (1950).[52] He exchanged public correspondence withGeorge Orwell defending pacifism in the open letter/poem, "Letter to an American Visitor", under thepseudonym "Obadiah Hornbrooke".[55] Comfort's 1972 bookThe Joy of Sex earned him worldwide fame and $3 million. He regretted that he as a consequence became known as "Dr. Sex" and that his numerous other works received so little attention.[56]
On the last day of July 1964 an 18-year-oldStuart Christie departed London forParis, where he picked upplastic explosives from the anarchist organisationDefensa Interior,[57] and thenMadrid on a mission to kill General Francisco Franco. This was to be one of at least 30 attempts on the dictator's life. After his release he continued his activism in the anarchist movement in theUnited Kingdom, re-formed theAnarchist Black Cross andBlack Flag withAlbert Meltzer, was acquitted of involvement with theAngry Brigade, and started the publishing house Cienfuegos Press (later Refract Publications), which for a number of years he operated from the remote island ofSanday,Orkney, where he also edited and published a local Orcadian newspaper,The Free-Winged Eagle. Christie wrote with Meltzer,The Floodgates of Anarchy and laterWe, the Anarchists! A study of theIberian Anarchist Federation (FAI) 1927-1937 (2000).[58]
Around the turn of the century,Movement Against the Monarchy demonstrated against Britain's monarchy in 1998[59] and 2000.[60][61] The anarchists planned a campaign for mid 2002.[62] Demonstrators arrested during the 2002Golden Jubilee of Elizabeth II were later compensated for unlawful arrest.[63]
Anarchists were involved in late-20th-century war opposition, with campaigns like No War but the Class War during the early 1990sFirst Gulf War.[64]
{{cite book}}:ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)