Anarchism is a small minority political movement in Azerbaijan, although it has unique roots.
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Anarchism is a small minority political movement in Azerbaijan, although it has unique roots.
Anarchists first appeared in 1904 around the suburbs of Baku. [1] The peak of activism was around 1906–1907, when the number of anarchist organizations in Azerbaijan rose to 40. However, there were few members according to local authorities. [2]
The most influential organizations were established in 1905 by anarcho-communists called Anarkhiya (anarchy), hailing from the city center, and Borba (struggle) in Bibi Eybat. At the same time several groups formed including Bunt in Balakhany and The Internationale in Black City. During the formation of Anarchy, it included several social democrats working in Baku factories. [3] On 1 July 1906 a faction of Anarchy organized into a new group which adopted the name Krasnaya sotnya (Red Hundred). These "red-hundreders" explained their choice by criticism of office bureaucracy of Anarchy, as well as their commitment to effective methods of struggle. Later many small anarchist groups formed, including the Individualist Anarchists, Black Crow, Anarchist Bombers, Red Flag, Terror, Land and Freedom, Azad (free) and others. [4]
According to police reports, the national composition of anarchist organizations were exclusively Russian (except Azad). However, many organizations included a large number of Armenians who were former Hunchakian, Dashnak, who broke with their party. Anarchist Jews—former Social Democrats—chose terrorist methods of struggle and acted mostly against Zionist organizations. The group Red Hundred also included eight Georgians. The average age in these organizations was 28–30 years (the youngest was 19 years old, and the oldest 35).
"Anarkhiya" was founded by former Hunchakian S. Kalashyants who issued a pamphlet named "To Struggle and Anarchy" early in 1906. [5] He was killed on 5 September 1906 by dashnaks as revenge for the murder of I. Dolukhanov, a wealthy dashnak factory owner.
Azad was founded in 1906 and was considered the largest of the then existing small groups like Riot and Terror. They had 15 members at their peak, [6] including former gang members who became local anarchists. The group was led by 2 brothers, Aga Karim and Aga Sanguli. Azad feuded with local millionaires, which were headed by Teimur Ashurbekov (grandfather of Sara Ashurbeyli). At the end of 1907, Karim Aga and Ashurbekov both were arrested, Azad dissolved and remaining members joined other groups.
Anarchists of Baku mostly consisted of two separate ideological subdivisions:
Anarchist organizations lost many followers because of their brutal methods of fighting against the system, including murders and bombings. In March 1908, 50 members of the Red hundred were arrested and sentenced to exile in Siberia. [7] In 1909, almost all members of Black Crow, Terror, and Red Flag were arrested. The remaining small groups disbanded themselves. [8] After the mass repressions of 1908–1909, the anarchist movement in Azerbaijan has failed to recover.
In February 2013, the Baku Individual Anarchists Association (BIAA) was founded by three Azeri. Group considers itself successor to the Baku society of terrorists and anarchist individualists, which was founded by P. F. Kalinin, and considers itself the oldest functioning non-governmental organization in the history of Azerbaijan. [9]
On May 9, 2016, the eve of the birthday of Heydar Aliyev, graffiti reading "Happy holiday of slaves!" and "Fuck the system!" appeared on the pedestal of a monument to Aliyev in Baku, complete with a circle-A inscription. [10] The next day, the Azerbaijani anarchists Bayram Mammadov and Giyas Ibrahimov were detained by police for allegedly perpetrating the graffiti. During the arrest, heroin was apparently seized from their apartments and the pair were arrested for 4 months, pending trial, with the court investigating allegations of the police use of torture against the detainees. [11] The pair were sentenced to 10 years in prison on charges of drug trafficking, although they were later released in March 2019, following an amnesty granted for nearly 400 political prisoners. [12]
On September 27, 2020, Giyas Ibrahimov was again detained by the State Security Service for having made anti-war statements on social media, saying “Pseudo-patriots say they want war now to prevent the conflict from being passed on to future generations. They do not see that they do not allow the next generation to come.“ - in reference to the deaths of schoolchildren during the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war. [13]
On May 4, 2021, Bayram Mammadov was found dead in Istanbul, he had allegedly entered the sea at Moda beach two days before and was reported not to have left again. Despite an official investigation not being initiated, state news outlets reported the death as a suicide, [14] but close friends of Mammadov have disputed the reports. [15] In July 2021, it was uncovered that Bayram Mammadov, his father, and Giyas Ibrahimov's mother had all been targeted for surveillance by the Azerbaijani government, using the Pegasus spyware developed by the Israeli NSO Group. [16]
Anarchism is a political philosophy and movement that is against all forms of authority and seeks to abolish the institutions it claims maintain unnecessary coercion and hierarchy, typically including the state and capitalism. Anarchism advocates for the replacement of the state with stateless societies and voluntary free associations. As a historically left-wing movement, this reading of anarchism is placed on the farthest left of the political spectrum, usually described as the libertarian wing of the socialist movement.
Anarcho-capitalism is an anti-statist, libertarian political philosophy and economic theory that seeks to abolish centralized states in favor of stateless societies with systems of private property enforced by private agencies, based on concepts such as the non-aggression principle, free markets and self-ownership. An anarcho-capitalist philosophy extends the concept of ownership to include control of private property as part of the self, and, in some cases, control of other people as private property. In the absence of statute, anarcho-capitalists hold that society tends to contractually self-regulate and civilize through participation in the free market, which they describe as a voluntary society involving the voluntary exchange of goods and services. In a theoretical anarcho-capitalist society a system of private property would still exist, and would be enforced by private defense agencies and/or insurance companies that were selected by property owners, whose ownership rights or claims would be enforced by private defence agencies and/or insurance companies. These agencies or companies would operate competitively in a market and fulfill the roles of courts and the police, similar to a state apparatus. Some anarcho-capitalist authors have argued that slavery is compatible with anarcho-capitalist ideals.
Individualist anarchism is the branch of anarchism that emphasizes the individual and their will over external determinants such as groups, society, traditions, and ideological systems. Although usually contrasted with social anarchism, both individualist and social anarchism have influenced each other. Some anarcho-capitalists claim anarcho-capitalism is part of the individualist anarchist tradition, while others disagree and claim individualist anarchism is only part of the socialist movement and part of the libertarian socialist tradition. Economically, while European individualist anarchists are pluralists who advocate anarchism without adjectives and synthesis anarchism, ranging from anarcho-communist to mutualist economic types, most American individualist anarchists of the 19th century advocated mutualism, a libertarian socialist form of market socialism, or a free-market socialist form of classical economics. Individualist anarchists are opposed to property that violates the entitlement theory of justice, that is, gives privilege due to unjust acquisition or exchange, and thus is exploitative, seeking to "destroy the tyranny of capital,—that is, of property" by mutual credit.
Anarchist communism is a political ideology and anarchist school of thought that advocates communism. It calls for the abolition of private property but retention of personal property and collectively-owned items, goods, and services. It supports social ownership of property and the distribution of resources "From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs".
According to different scholars, the history of anarchism either goes back to ancient and prehistoric ideologies and social structures, or begins in the 19th century as a formal movement. As scholars and anarchist philosophers have held a range of views on what anarchism means, it is difficult to outline its history unambiguously. Some feel anarchism is a distinct, well-defined movement stemming from 19th-century class conflict, while others identify anarchist traits long before the earliest civilisations existed.
The nature of capitalism is criticized by left-wing anarchists, who reject hierarchy and advocate stateless societies based on non-hierarchical voluntary associations. Anarchism is generally defined as the libertarian philosophy which holds the state to be undesirable, unnecessary and harmful as well as opposing authoritarianism, illegitimate authority and hierarchical organization in the conduct of human relations. Capitalism is generally considered by scholars to be an economic system that includes private ownership of the means of production, creation of goods or services for profit or income, the accumulation of capital, competitive markets, voluntary exchange and wage labor, which have generally been opposed by most anarchists historically. Since capitalism is variously defined by sources and there is no general consensus among scholars on the definition nor on how the term should be used as a historical category, the designation is applied to a variety of historical cases, varying in time, geography, politics and culture.
Sébastien Faure was a French anarchist, convicted sex offender, freethought and secularist activist and a principal proponent of synthesis anarchism.
Anarchism in the United States began in the mid-19th century and started to grow in influence as it entered the American labor movements, growing an anarcho-communist current as well as gaining notoriety for violent propaganda of the deed and campaigning for diverse social reforms in the early 20th century. By around the start of the 20th century, the heyday of individualist anarchism had passed and anarcho-communism and other social anarchist currents emerged as the dominant anarchist tendency.
Anarchism in France can trace its roots to thinker Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, who grew up during the Restoration and was the first self-described anarchist. French anarchists fought in the Spanish Civil War as volunteers in the International Brigades. According to journalist Brian Doherty, "The number of people who subscribed to the anarchist movement's many publications was in the tens of thousands in France alone."
Anarchism in Russia developed out of the populist and nihilist movements' dissatisfaction with the government reforms of the time.
Italian anarchism as a movement began primarily from the influence of Mikhail Bakunin, Giuseppe Fanelli, Carlo Cafiero, and Errico Malatesta. Rooted in collectivist anarchism and social or socialist anarchism, it expanded to include illegalist individualist anarchism, mutualism, anarcho-syndicalism, and especially anarcho-communism. In fact, anarcho-communism first fully formed into its modern strain within the Italian section of the First International. Italian anarchism and Italian anarchists participated in the biennio rosso and survived Italian Fascism, with Italian anarchists significantly contributing to the Italian Resistance Movement. Platformism and insurrectionary anarchism were particularly common in Italian anarchism and continue to influence the movement today. The synthesist Italian Anarchist Federation appeared after the war, and autonomismo and operaismo especially influenced Italian anarchism in the second half of the 20th century.
Anarchism in Canada spans a range of anarchist philosophy including anarchist communism, green anarchy, anarcho-syndicalism, individualist anarchism, as well as other lesser known forms. Canadian anarchism has been affected by thought from Great Britain, and continental Europe, although recent influences include a look at North American indigenism, especially on the West Coast. Anarchists remain a focal point in media coverage of globalization protests in Canada, mainly due to their confrontations with police and destruction of property.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to anarchism:
The following is a list of terms specific to anarchists. Anarchism is a political and social movement which advocates voluntary association in opposition to authoritarianism and hierarchy.
Contemporary anarchism within the history of anarchism is the period of the anarchist movement continuing from the end of World War II and into the present. Since the last third of the 20th century, anarchists have been involved in anti-globalisation, peace, squatter and student protest movements. Anarchists have participated in armed revolutions such as in those that created the Makhnovshchina and Revolutionary Catalonia, and anarchist political organizations such as the International Workers' Association and the Industrial Workers of the World have existed since the 20th century. Within contemporary anarchism, the anti-capitalism of classical anarchism has remained prominent.
Individualist anarchism in Europe proceeded from the roots laid by William Godwin and soon expanded and diversified through Europe, incorporating influences from individualist anarchism in the United States. Individualist anarchism is a tradition of thought within the anarchist movement that emphasize the individual and his or her will over external determinants such as groups, society, traditions, and ideological systems. While most American individualist anarchists advocate mutualism, a libertarian socialist form of market socialism, or a free-market socialist form of classical economics, European individualist anarchists are pluralists who advocate anarchism without adjectives and synthesis anarchism, ranging from anarcho-communist to mutualist economic types.
Social anarchism, also known as left-wing anarchism or socialist anarchism, is the branch of anarchism that sees liberty and social equality as interrelated.
A classless society is a society in which no one is born into a social class like in a class society. Distinctions of wealth, income, education, culture, or social network might arise and would only be determined by individual experience and achievement in such a society. Thus, the concept posits not the absence of a social hierarchy but the uninheritability of class status. Helen Codere defines social class as a segment of the community, the members of which show a common social position in a hierarchical ranking. Codere suggest that a true class-organized society is one in which the hierarchy of prestige and social status is divisible into groups. Each group with its own social, economic, attitudinal and cultural characteristics, and each having differential degrees of power in community decision.
Anarchism and libertarianism, as broad political ideologies with manifold historical and contemporary meanings, have contested definitions. Their adherents have a pluralistic and overlapping tradition that makes precise definition of the political ideology difficult or impossible, compounded by a lack of common features, differing priorities of subgroups, lack of academic acceptance, and contentious historical usage.
Anarchism in Iran has its roots in a number of dissident religious philosophies, as well as in the development of anti-authoritarian poetry throughout the rule of various imperial dynasties over the country. In the modern era, anarchism came to Iran during the late 19th century and rose to prominence in the wake of the Constitutional Revolution, with anarchists becoming leading members of the Jungle Movement that established the Persian Socialist Soviet Republic in Gilan.
