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Anarchism and the Era of Attentats This electronic thesis or dissertation has been downloaded from Explore Bristol Research, http://research-information.bristol.ac.uk Author: Chan, Andrew Title: The creative urge : anarchist perspectives on violence, nonviolence, and social change. General rights Access to the thesis is subject to the Creative Commons Attribution - NonCommercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International Public License. A copy of this may be found at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/legalcode This license sets out your rights and the restrictions that apply to your access to the thesis so it is important you read this before proceeding. Take down policy Some pages of this thesis may have been removed for copyright restrictions prior to having it been deposited in Explore Bristol Research. However, if you have discovered material within the thesis that you consider to be unlawful e.g. breaches of copyright (either yours or that of a third party) or any other law, including but not limited to those relating to patent, trademark, confidentiality, data protection, obscenity, defamation, libel, then please contact [email protected] and include the following information in your message: •Your contact details •Bibliographic details for the item, including a URL •An outline nature of the complaint Your claim will be investigated and, where appropriate, the item in question will be removed from public view as soon as possible. liTHE CREATIVE URGE": ANARCHIST PERSPECTIVES ON VIOLENCE, NONVIOLENCE, AND SOCIAL CHANGE ANDREW CHAN A thesis submitted to the University of Bristol in accordance with the requirements for the degree of Ph.D. in the Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Politics. September 1993 ABSTRACT Anarchists are commonly perceived to possess a pathological attraction to violence. Other stereotypes define anarchists as utopians with little grasp of either human nature or economic and political processes. Furthermore, anarchism is not accorded the same gravity by academics as they give to other political doctrines. The apparent failure of anarchist theorists to match their formidable goal with a consistent strategy is one more reason for academics to maintain their general indifference to anarchism. This thesis seeks to challenge the currency of anarchist stereotypes by producing evidence which suggests that anarchists are not significantly given to unrealistic expectations, nor the glorification of violence. The attitudes of anarchists concerning violence in revolutionary and pre­ revolutionary situations are examined empirically. The ideological and moral consistency of violence with anarchism is investigated by theoretical enquiry. Documentary analysis is the·usual mode for determining theoretical and propagandist perspectives. However, this study also refers to the activists who compose the greater part of the anarchist movement. A pilot qualitative interview study is, therefore, an important constituent. The reader is oriented in the study by definitional work on ideas surrounding anarchism and violence. The novel methodology of the study is explained in depth both to ensure internal validity and to guide further forays in the field. Information extracted from contemporary propagandist literature and the testimony of activist respondents is then analysed for attitudes toward violence, nonviolence, and social change. Finally, issues of theoretical and historical significance are examined. The anarchist experiment with covert violence at the end of the nineteenth century, and the moral and ideological dilemmas concerning consistency are given particular attention. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This study would not have been possible without the cooperation of numerous individual anarchists around the world. My thanks go to them, and to those in the Politics Department at Bristol University who offered me help and advice. AUTHOR'S DECLARATION The work contained in this thesis was undertaken by myself alone and I assume sole responsibility for the contents. Andrew Chan CONTENTS Page AIMS AND DEFINITIONS 1 Introduction 1 The popular conception of anarchism and violence 1 OVerview of the study 4 Anarchism 7 Human nature 10 Authority and the state 13 Individualism and communalism 19 Capitalism, collectivism, and communism 23 Violence and Nonviolence 28 Options for a definition of violence 28 Towards a definition of violence 32 Nonviolence and pacifism 36 CHAPTER 2 METHODOLOGY 40 Triangulating the Study 40 Triangulation 40 Document analysis and questionnaires 42 Interview Method 46 Issues in the choice of a qualitative interview strategy 46 Interview formats and interviewer effect SO Protecting the interests, confidentiality, and anonymity of the informants 58 The Informants 61 CHAPTER 3 INTERVIEW STUDY 67 The Basis of the Informants' Anarchism 67 The Informants' Expectations and Goals 70 The Informants and Violence 77 Violence and revolution 77 Pre-revolutionary violence 81 The pacifist/non-pacifist divide 86 0/ CHAPTER 4 RECENT PROPAGANDIST LITERATURE 93 Anarchist periodicals 94 The nature of anarchist periodicals 94 The periodicals on social change and violence 97 The Propagandist Debate on Revolutionary and Pre- Revolutionary Violence 101 Propagandist literature and revolutionary violence 101 Propagandist literature and pre-revolutionary violence 106 Propagandist literature and nonviolent revolution 110 CHAPTER 5 THEORETICAL, HISTORICAL, AND ACADEMIC PERSPECTIVES 117 Anarchist Theorists on Violence 117 Anarchism and the Bra of Attentats 129 Causation 131 A selection of national profiles of the attentats 137 The nature and intentions of the Attentater 143 The reaction of Kropotkin and Reclus 147 The part the attentats played in a selection of anarchist movements 150 Violence, Nonviolence, and the Conception of Revolution 156 Enlightenment, nonviolence, and revolution 157 The strategic paradox and other moral/ideological dilemmas 163 Refuting the strategic paradox and moral/ideological dilemmas 171 CHAPTER 6 CONCLUDING REMARKS 184 BIBLIOGRAPHY 196 Books, pamphlets, and theses 196 Articles in periodicals 208 Activist respondents 212 Periodicals consulted in depth 212 LIST OF FIGURES 1. Two-dimensional political spectrum 21 2. Approximate positioning of selected anarchist periodicals 1980-1993 on a theoretical/activist axis 95 '/ CHAPTER 1 AIMS AND DEFINITIONS Introduction The Popular Conception of Anarchism and Violence A recurring theme in books or articles on anarchism is the need to dispel the presumed popular conception that anarchists tend to be black­ cloaked, bomb-throwing psychopaths who seek to create chaos out of order for their own nefarious reasons (e.g., Woodcock, 1983, p. 11; Perlin, 1979, p. 4; Nursey-Bray, 1992, p. xiii; Walter, 1969, p. 14; D. Miller, 1984, p. 2). Any anarchist is likely to be able to produce anecdotal evidence of the existence of this popular image, from conversations with both the politically illiterate and those with some degree of political sophistication. To use the expression with which Bakunin 1s most commonly associated, anarchists are thought to possess the "urge to destroy." The bomb-throwing image of anarchists began in the late nineteenth century, culled out of an agglomeration of truth, association, and fictitious representation. The last decades of the nineteenth century saw countless explosions in the Europe and America; political figures were assassinated in Russia, Austria, Germany, Ireland, France, America, Spain, Italy, and elsewhere. Of all the perpetrators of these deeds - popUlists, nationalists, socialists, anarchists, organised labour - it is the anarchists who have experienced enduring association. They performed some of the more spectacular acts, but equally importantly they were also the least afraid to applaud, or at least justify, them. Incendiary anarchist propaganda eulogised dynamite and retribution against the ruling class. Nor was the spirit of violent revolution confined to a lunatic fringe; fine scientific minds such as Kropotkin 1 and Reclus were seen to have approved of the bomb and the bullet. Novelists and journalists fed off the reports and images that each other provided (for an idea of American media sensationalisation see Hong, n.d.; R.N. James, 1985, pp. 5-7). James' The Princess Casamassima, Dostoevsky's The Possessed, and Conrad's The Secret Agent - actually an indictment of official shenanigans rather than of anarchist terrorism (Sherry, 1973, pp. 216-27) - contain all the necessary elements for the anarchist caricature. Lionel Trilling declares the hierarchy and conspiracy amongst the revolutionaries in The Princess Casamassima to be "a classic anarchist situation" (1951, p. 72). Into the last decades of the twentieth century the notion of the shadowy anarchist agitator has maintained its currency. Police, politicians, and media assert that external instigation by anarchists remains a significant factor in urban disturbances (Times, 8/10/85, 1/4/90; Sunday Telegraph 1/2/87). Even some academics have been loath to discard the fundamental identification of anarchism and romantic violence. John Dunn's opinion that some anarchists get "sadistic pleasure" from the idea of violent revolution is derived directly from Dostoevsky and Conrad (1972, p. 12; see also Apter, 1971). Anarchists are faced with a secondary caricature, that of the hopeless dreamer. This is reflected in two ways. The first is the idea '/ that anarchists believe that acts of violence (bombs, assassinations, or, more commonly in the last decade, rioting) can bring about the dissolution
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