Chomskys Notes On Anarchism

The article that is discussed here can be found on:
http://www.chomsky.info/articles/1970----.htm

It is an introduction to the book from Daniel Guérin, Anarchism: From Theory to Practice, 1970.

In his Notes on Anarchism (NoA) Noam Chomsky, the fanatic system builder, acknowledges the impossibility of formulating a general theory of anarchism. It encompasses simply too many diverging styles of thinking and acting, he states. Therefore Chomsky follows Rudolph Rocker in viewing anarchism not as a theory or movement, but rather as “a definitive trend in the historic development of mankind” (NoA, 1)*. I think this is a good start for a discussion on the meaning of the word anarchism – not in order to find the ‘inner meaning’ :) but to develop a workable meaning of the term in the process of discussing it.

- Anarchism:TheoryMovementOrTrendInTheDevelopmentOfMankind? (Bookchin?)

Secondly, according to Rocker and Chomsky, this trend has the ability to strive – it strives for the “free unhindered unfolding of all the individual and social forces” (NoA, 2). Later on Chomsky presents this striving as the “single leading idea within the anarchist tradition” (NoA, 4) and quotes Bakunin on freedom and human nature. Although inextricably linked with each other and the previous question, I single out the questions of human nature and freedom and their relation to liberalism and enlightenment.

- HumanNatureAndFreedom
- HumanNatureSetFree

The numbers of the pages refer to the version of the text you get when you print the text from the above-mentioned web site.

It is an impressive text, however I myself still stand sceptically towards it's main topic: SocialistAnarchism:

It is clear to me that social structures can lose their usefullness, however I seriously doubt wheiter that time has come, or will come within our lifetime, in the case of the market economy