Political Ideologies: Difference between revisions

 

=== Marxism ===

 

Marxism (''Orthodox'' Marxism, ''not'' neo-Marxism or Marx derivatives) itself is the ideology of Karl Marx. Marx argued a very specific position; that human beings and their ideas are fundamentally shaped by the economic conditions surrounding them, which are themselves social relations (''economic determinism''), that people are shaped into groups based on their economic status (a form of ''methodological collectivism'') and that history itself was driven by a series of changes from one form of economic organization to another (''historical materialism''). Marx's economic determinism was, by Marx's admission, derived from the Counter-Enlightenment philosopher Hegel. Hegel argued that individuals weren't so much in possession of free will, but rather conduits for the "zeitgeist" (the intellectual 'spirit of the age'). Marx basically replaced Hegel's zeitgeist with the ''prevailing economic system'' of the age. It's important to clarify that although this article focuses mainly on Marx's economics, the "prevailing economic system" is part of an all-encompassing set of social relationships and ideologies (the "mode of production").

* ''Individualist anarchism'': A movement (very similar to Mutualism) of US origin focusing more on a society of independent craftsmen owning their own tools and thus free of employer domination. Like mutualism it held to the Labor Theory of Economic Value. Individualist anarchists supported worker cooperatives if they wished, but with the provision each part of it be held separately, thus a worker could leave and support themselves if necessary. The rise of capitalism and the anarcho-communist reaction eclipsed the individualist anarchists, though some exist still. This was what most people knew of as free-market anarchism, along with the mutualists, until anarcho-capitalism came along (see below).

** The individualist anarchists were not actually unified on concepts like the Labour Theory of Value and possession, which is what notably distinguished them from mutualists, as although a mutualist could be a individualist anarchist not all individualist anarchists were mutualists. This is quite notable by looking at the English individualist anarchists, of whom many were not proponents of the LTV, possession, or opposition to interest on loans. Some American individualist anarchists even supported a Lockean view of property (which would allow rent), notably Lysander Spooner. However, despite these differences they still acknowledged each other as anarchists, with Benjamin Tucker even calling Gustav De Molinari the precursor to anarcho-capitalism and writer of "The Production of Security" an anarchist as well as Lysander Spooner (who would allow rent). It should also be noted that individualist anarchists did not in principle oppose the boss-worker relationship (though many found it undesirable) as Voltarine De Cleyre said the anarchist individualists "are firm in the idea that the system of employer and employed, buying and selling, banking, and all the other essential institutions of commercialism, centered upon private property, are in themselves good, and are rendered vicious merely by the interference of the State". What defined a individualist anarchist was a belief in the sovereignty of the individual.

** ''Agorism'': A movement related to anarcho-capitalism, but not quite the same thing. Agorists hold as a revolutionary goal the development of freely-competing, market producers of law and security through non-aggressive black market activity, which will eventually drive the state out of existence. In fact, [http://agorism.info/ this is precisely what sets agorism apart from other forms of anarchism].

* ''Ecological'' or ''Green anarchism'': Similar to anarcho-communism, but with a higher emphasis on [[Green Aesop|respecting nature]]. The more radical forms of this, like anarcho-primitivism, believe that [http://www.tiamatpublications.com/docs/Freedom_and_Civilization.pdf civilization is inherently oppressive], and wish to abolish [[Science Is Bad|industrial technology, agriculture]], and in some cases even abstract thought (writing, language) etc., returning to a [[Noble Savage|primitive]] (hence the name) existence as hunter-gatherers.

 

Music:

* The genre of [[Exactly What It Says On the Tin|anarcho]]-[[Punk Rock|punk]] (Crass being probably the most famous example besides the Dead Kennedys)

* [[Napalm Death]]