Anarchist symbolism

Last updated

Anarchists have employed certain symbols for their cause, including most prominently the circle-A and the black flag. [1] [2] Anarchist cultural symbols have been prevalent in popular culture since around the turn of the 21st century, concurrent with the anti-globalization movement. [3] The punk subculture has also had a close association with anarchist symbolism. [4]

Contents

Flags

Red flag II.svg
The red flag, one of the first anarchist symbols
BlackFlagSymbol.svg
The black flag, a traditional anarchist symbol
Anarchist flag.svg
A diagonally bisected red and black flag, also often associated with anarcho-communism, anarcho-syndicalism and libertarian socialism

Red flag

The red banner, which has always stood for liberty, frightens the executioners because it is so red with our blood. [...] Those red and black banners wave over us mourning our dead and wave over our hopes for the dawn that is breaking.

Louise Michel [5]

The red flag was one of first anarchist symbols and it was widely used in late 19th century by anarchists worldwide. [6] Peter Kropotkin wrote that he preferred the use of the red flag. [7]

Use of the red flag by anarchists largely disappeared after the October Revolution, when red flags started to be associated only with Bolshevism and communist parties and authoritarian, bureaucratic and reformist social democracy, or authoritarian socialism. [6]

Black flag

The black flag has been associated with anarchism since the 1880s, when several anarchist organizations and journals adopted the name Black Flag. [1]

Howard J. Ehrlich writes in Reinventing Anarchy, Again:

The black flag is the negation of all flags. It is a negation of nationhood ... Black is a mood of anger and outrage at all the hideous crimes against humanity perpetrated in the name of allegiance to one state or another ... But black is also beautiful. It is a colour of determination, of resolve, of strength, a colour by which all others are clarified and defined ... So black is negation, is anger, is outrage, is mourning, is beauty, is hope, is the fostering and sheltering of new forms of human life and relationship on and with this earth. [2] [8]

The origins of the black flag are uncertain. [1] Modern anarchism has a shared ancestry with—amongst other ideologies—socialism, a movement strongly associated with the red flag. As anarchism became more and more distinct from socialism in the 1880s, it adopted the black flag in an attempt to differentiate itself. [2] It was flown in the 1831 Canut revolt, [9] in which the black represented the mourning of liberty lost. [10]

The French anarchist paper, Le Drapeau Noir (The Black Flag), which existed until 1882, is one of the first published references to use black as an anarchist color. Black International was the name of a London anarchist group founded in July 1881.

One of the first known anarchist uses of the black flag was by Louise Michel, participant in the Paris Commune in 1871. [1] [11] Michel flew the black flag during a demonstration of the unemployed which took place in Paris on March 9, 1883. With Michel at the front carrying a black flag and shouting "Bread, work, or lead!," the crowd of 500 protesters soon marched off towards the boulevard Saint-Germain and pillaged three baker's shops before the police arrested them. [11] Michel was arrested and sentenced to six years solitary confinement. Public pressure soon forced the granting of an amnesty. [12] She wrote, "the black flag is the flag of strikes and the flag of those who are hungry". [13]

The black flag soon made its way to the United States. The black flag was displayed in Chicago at an anarchist demonstration in November 1884. [14] According to the English language newspaper of the Chicago anarchists, it was "the fearful symbol of hunger, misery and death". [15] Thousands of anarchists attended Kropotkin's 1921 funeral behind the black flag. [1]

Bisected flag

Red-and-black bisected flags at an anti-austerity march in London, 2011 Anarchist 2011 protest.jpg
Red-and-black bisected flags at an anti-austerity march in London, 2011

The colors black and red have been used by anarchists since at least the late 1800s when they were used on cockades by Italian anarchists in the 1874 Bologna insurrection and in 1877 when anarchists entered the Italian town Letino carrying red and black flags to promote the First International. [2] Diagonally divided red and black flags were used by anarcho-syndicalists in Spain [16] such as the labor union CNT during the Spanish Civil War. [2] George Woodcock writes that the bisected black-and-red flag symbolized a uniting of "the spirit of later anarchism with the mass appeal of the [First] International". [16]

Symbols

Circle-A

Anarchy-symbol.svg
Circle-A symbol
Circle-A red.svg
Stylized punk Circle-A

The symbol composed of the capital letter A surrounded by a circle is universally recognized as a symbol of anarchism [1] and has been established in global youth culture since the 1970s. [17] An interpretation held by anarchists such as Cindy Milstein is that the A represents the Greek anarkhia ('without ruler/authority'), and the circle can be read as the letter O , standing for order or organization, a reference to Pierre-Joseph Proudhon's definition of anarchism from his 1840 book What Is Property? : "as man seeks justice in equality, so society seeks order in anarchy" [18] (French : la société cherche l'ordre dans l'anarchie). [19] [20]

In the 1970s, anarcho-punk and punk rock bands such as Crass began using the circle-A symbol in red, [21] thereby introducing it to non-anarchists. Crass founder Penny Rimbaud would later say that the band probably first saw the symbol while traveling through France. [22]

Black cat

An IWW stickerette or silent agitator I.W.W. One Big Union "Sab Cat".tif
An IWW stickerette or silent agitator

The origin of the black cat symbol is unclear, but according to one story it came from an Industrial Workers of the World strike that was going badly. Several members had been beaten up and were put in a hospital. At that time a skinny, black cat walked into the striker's camp. The cat was fed by the striking workers and as the cat regained its health the strike took a turn for the better. Eventually the striking workers got some of their demands and they adopted the cat as their mascot. [23]

The Swiss anarchist Théophile Steinlen made use of the black cat ( Le Chat Noir ) in a number of his paintings. In an 1890 oil-painting, he depicted a black cat raising a red banner emblazoned with the word "Gaudeamus" (English: Rejoice). And in the large landscape painting Apotheosis of the Cats of Montmartre, he showed a clowder of cats on the rooftops of a working-class Parisian neighbourhood, beneath the moon. Francophone anarchists like Steilein and Zo d'Axa were inspired by the independent and undomesticated nature of the cat. [24]

The name Black Cat has been used for numerous anarchist-affiliated collectives and cooperatives, including a music venue in Austin (which was closed following a July 6, 2002 fire) and a now-defunct "collective kitchen" in the University District of Seattle.

Slogans

"Do as you wish! Do what you want!" is a slogan of Errico Malatesta's Anarchist Program. It is explained in his pamphlet Anarchy. [25]

The freedom we want, for ourselves and for others, is not an absolute metaphysical, abstract freedom which in practice is inevitably translated into the oppression of the wealthy; but it is real freedom, possible freedom, which is the conscious community of interests, voluntary solidarity. We proclaim the maxim DO AS YOU WISH, and with it we almost summarize our program, for we maintain—and it doesn’t take much to understand why—that in a harmonious society, in a society without government and without property, each one will WANT WHAT HE MUST DO.

Graffiti with the slogan "NO GODS, NO MASTERS" and the anarchist "A" symbol on a concrete wall in the central bus station of Munich, Germany, in 2022 Graffiti "No Gods, No Masters" and anarchy symbol at central bus station ZOB in Munich, Germany.jpg
Graffiti with the slogan "NO GODS, NO MASTERS" and the anarchist "A" symbol on a concrete wall in the central bus station of Munich, Germany, in 2022

No gods, no masters

"No gods, no masters" is a phrase associated with anarchist philosophy and the leftist labor movement. Likely dating back to a 15th-century German proverb, it appeared in an 1870 pamphlet by a disciple of Auguste Blanqui and became the title of Blanqui's 1880 newspaper Ni Dieu ni maître  [ fr ] before it spread throughout the anarchist movement, [26] appearing in Kropotkin's 1885 Words of Rebel and an 1896 Bordeaux anarchist manifesto. Sébastien Faure resuscitated the slogan during World War I, after which Paris's Libertarian Youth adopted the name. [27] It has appeared on tombstones of revolutionaries, [28] as the slogan of birth control activist Margaret Sanger's newspaper The Woman Rebel , [29] and as the title of a 1964 song  [ fr ] against capital punishment by Léo Ferré. [30] In the 21st century, it has featured as a slogan for secularization of Croatia. [31]

See also

Related Research Articles

Anarchism is a political philosophy and movement that is skeptical of all justifications for authority and seeks to abolish the institutions it claims maintain unnecessary coercion and hierarchy, typically including nation-states, 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.

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. Mutualism, an economic theory sometimes considered a synthesis of communism and property, has been considered individualist anarchism and other times part of social anarchism. Many anarcho-communists regard themselves as radical individualists, seeing anarcho-communism as the best social system for the realization of individual freedom. 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 philosophy 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".

Anarchism and violence have been linked together by events in anarchist history such as violent revolution, terrorism, assassination attempts and propaganda of the deed. Propaganda of the deed, or attentát, was espoused by leading anarchists in the late 19th century and was associated with a number of incidents of political violence. Anarchist thought, however, is quite diverse on the question of violence. Where some anarchists have opposed coercive means on the basis of coherence, others have supported acts of violent revolution as a path toward anarchy. Anarcho-pacifism is a school of thought within anarchism which rejects all violence.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">AK Press</span> American independent publisher

AK Press is a worker-managed, independent publisher and book distributor that specializes in publishing books about anarchism and the radical left. Operated out of Chico, California, the company is collectively owned.

The history of anarchism is ambiguous, primarily due to the ambiguity of anarchism itself. Scholars find it hard to define or agree on what anarchism means, which makes outlining its history difficult. There is a range of views on anarchism and its history. Some feel anarchism is a distinct, well-defined 19th and 20th century movement while others identify anarchist traits long before first civilisations existed.

Anarchist economics is the set of theories and practices of economic activity within the political philosophy of anarchism. Many anarchists are anti-authoritarian anti-capitalists, with anarchism usually referred to as a form of libertarian socialism, i.e. a stateless system of socialism. Anarchists support personal property and oppose capital concentration, interest, monopoly, private ownership of productive property such as the means of production, profit, rent, usury and wage slavery which are viewed as inherent to capitalism.

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anarchism and the arts</span> Association of anarchism with the arts

Anarchism has long had an association with the arts, particularly with visual art, music and literature. This can be dated back to the start of anarchism as a named political concept, and the writings of Pierre-Joseph Proudhon on the French realist painter Gustave Courbet. In an essay on Courbet of 1857 Proudhon had set out a principle for art, which he saw in the work of Courbet, that it should show the real lives of the working classes and the injustices working people face at the hands of the bourgeoisie.

Joseph Déjacque was a French political journalist and poet. A house painter by trade, during the 1840s, he became involved in the French labour movement and taught himself how to write poetry. He was an active participant in the French Revolution of 1848, fighting on the barricades during the June Days uprising, for which he was arrested and imprisoned. He quickly became a target for political repression by Louis Napoleon Bonaparte's government, which imprisoned him for his poetry and forced him to flee into exile. His experiences radicalised him towards anarchism and he regularly criticised republican politicians for their anti-worker sentiment.

Mutualism is an anarchist school of thought and economic theory that advocates for workers' control of the means of production, a market economy made up of individual artisans and workers' cooperatives, and occupation and use property rights. As proponents of the labour theory of value and labour theory of property, mutualists oppose all forms of economic rent, profit and non-nominal interest, which they see as relying on the exploitation of labour. Mutualists seek to construct an economy without capital accumulation or concentration of land ownership. They also encourage the establishment of workers' self-management, which they propose could be supported through the issuance of mutual credit by mutual banks, with the aim of creating a federal society.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anarchism in France</span>

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 is generally defined as the political philosophy which holds the state to be undesirable, unnecessary and harmful as well as opposing authority and hierarchical organization in the conduct of human relations. Proponents of anarchism, known as anarchists, advocate stateless societies based on non-hierarchical voluntary associations. While anarchism holds the state to be undesirable, unnecessary and harmful, opposition to the state is not its central or sole definition. Anarchism can entail opposing authority or hierarchy in the conduct of all human relations.

<i>Now and After</i> 1929 introduction to the principles of anarchism by Alexander Berkman

Now and After: The ABC of Communist Anarchism is an introduction to the principles of anarchism and anarchist communism written by Alexander Berkman. First published in 1929 by Vanguard Press, Now and After has been reprinted many times, often in partial or abbreviated versions, under the titles What Is Communist Anarchism?, What Is Anarchism? or The ABC of Anarchism.

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to anarchism:

The Manifesto of the Sixteen, or Proclamation of the Sixteen, was a document drafted in 1916 by eminent anarchists Peter Kropotkin and Jean Grave which advocated an Allied victory over Germany and the Central Powers during the First World War. At the outbreak of the war, Kropotkin and other anarchist supporters of the Allied cause advocated their position in the pages of the Freedom newspaper, provoking sharply critical responses. As the war continued, anarchists across Europe campaigned in anti-war movements and wrote denunciations of the war in pamphlets and statements, including one February 1916 statement signed by prominent anarchists such as Emma Goldman and Rudolf Rocker.

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pierre-Joseph Proudhon</span> French politician, philosopher, anarchist and socialist (1809–1865)

Pierre-Joseph Proudhon was a French socialist, politician, philosopher, and economist who founded mutualist philosophy and is considered by many to be the "father of anarchism". He was the first person to declare himself an anarchist, using that term, and is widely regarded as one of anarchism's most influential theorists. Proudhon became a member of the French Parliament after the Revolution of 1848, whereafter he referred to himself as a federalist. Proudhon described the liberty he pursued as "the synthesis of community and property". Some consider his mutualism to be part of individualist anarchism while others regard it to be part of social anarchism.

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.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Baillargeon, Normand (2013) [2008]. Order Without Power: An Introduction to Anarchism: History and Current Challenges. Translated by Mary Foster. New York: Seven Stories Press. ISBN   978-1-60980-472-5. Archived from the original on September 22, 2021. Retrieved October 30, 2020.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Mckay, Iain, ed. (2008). "Appendix – The Symbols of Anarchy". An Anarchist FAQ . Edinburgh: AK Press. ISBN   978-1-902593-90-6. OCLC   182529204. Archived from the original on October 5, 2020.
  3. Williams, Leonard (September 2007). "Anarchism Revived". New Political Science . 29 (3): 297–312. doi:10.1080/07393140701510160. S2CID   220354272.
  4. Gordon, Uri (February 2007). "Anarchism reloaded". Journal of Political Ideologies . 12 (1): 29–48. doi:10.1080/13569310601095598. S2CID   216089196.
  5. Lowry, Bullitt; Gunter, Elizabeth, eds. (1981). The Red Virgin: Memoirs Of Louise Michel. University of Alabama Press. pp. 193–194. ISBN   0-81730063-5. Archived from the original on September 22, 2021. Retrieved November 8, 2020.
  6. 1 2 "Barwy anarchistyczne: Skąd czarne i czarno-czerwone flagi?" [Anarchist colours: Where are black and black-red flags from]. cia.media.pl (in Polish). Centrum Informacji Anarchistycznej. June 19, 2012. Archived from the original on February 24, 2021. Retrieved September 4, 2016.
  7. Kropotkin, Peter (1998). Act for Yourselves. Articles from Freedom 1886-1907. Freedom Press. p. 128. ISBN   0900384387.
  8. Ehrlich, Howard J., ed. (1996). "Why the Black Flag?". Reinventing Anarchy, Again. Edinburgh: AK Press. pp. 31–32. ISBN   978-1-873176-88-7. Archived from the original on September 22, 2021. Retrieved October 30, 2020.
  9. Friedman, Gerald (October 4, 2007). Reigniting the Labor Movement: Restoring Means to Ends in a Democratic Labor Movement. Routledge. ISBN   9781135985837.
  10. Taithe, Bertrand (September 2, 2003). Citizenship and Wars: France in Turmoil 1870-1871. Routledge. ISBN   9781134554027.
  11. 1 2 Wehling, Jason (July 14, 1995). "Anarchism and the History of the Black Flag". Spunk Library . Archived from the original on February 25, 2021. Retrieved October 7, 2020.
  12. Woodcock, George (2018) [1962]. Anarchism: A History of Libertarian Ideas and Movements. Chicago: Borodino Books. pp. 251–252. ISBN   978-1-78912-230-5. Archived from the original on November 14, 2020. Retrieved November 8, 2020.
  13. Lowry & Gunter (1981), p. 168.
  14. Avrich, Paul (1986). The Haymarket Tragedy. Princeton University Press. p. 145. ISBN   0-6910-0600-8.
  15. Avrich (1986), p. 144.
  16. 1 2 Woodcock (2018).
  17. Woodcock, George; Dirlik, Arif; Rosemont, Franklin; Miller, Martin A. "Anarchism | Contemporary anarchism". Encyclopedia Britannica. Archived from the original on October 27, 2020. Retrieved November 6, 2020.
  18. Milstein, Cindy (2010). Anarchism and Its Aspirations. AK Press. pp. 12–13. ISBN   978-1-8493-5001-3. Archived from the original on September 22, 2021. Retrieved November 8, 2020.
  19. Proudhon, Piere-Joseph (1994). Kelley, Donald R.; Smith, Bonnie G. (eds.). Proudhon: What is Property?. Cambridge University Press. p. 209. ISBN   978-0-521-40556-0. Archived from the original on November 22, 2020. Retrieved November 8, 2020.
  20. Proudhon, Pierre-Joseph (1840). Qu'est-ce que la propriété ? ou Recherche sur le principe du Droit et du Gouvernement [What is ownership? or Research on the principle of Law and Government] (in French) (1st ed.). Paris: Brocard. p. 235. Archived from the original on September 22, 2021. Retrieved September 22, 2021.
  21. Sartwell, Crispin (2010). Political Aesthetics. Cornell University Press. p. 107. ISBN   978-0-8014-5800-2. Archived from the original on November 5, 2020. Retrieved October 30, 2020.
  22. Appleford, Steve (June 10, 2005). "The Only Way to Be – Anarchy!". LA CityBeat . Los Angeles, California: Southland Publishing. Archived from the original on December 24, 2005. Retrieved August 30, 2007.
  23. "What's this with a black cat & a wooden shoe? What do they have to do with anarchy?". Left Bank Books Collective. Seattle: Left Bank Books. Archived from the original on August 15, 1997. Retrieved September 22, 2021.
  24. Antliff, Allan (June 2023). "Anarchy and Cats". Anarchist Developments in Cultural Studies. 2023 (1): 126–127. ISSN   1923-5615.
  25. Malatesta 1891
  26. Guérin, Daniel, ed. (2005). No Gods, No Masters: An Anthology of Anarchism . Translated by Sharkey, Paul. Oakland: AK Press. p.  1. ISBN   978-1-904859-25-3.
  27. Guérin 2005, p. 2.
  28. Lalouette, Jacqueline (1991). "Dimensions anticléricales de la culture républicaine (1870-1914)". Histoire, économie & société (in French). 10 (1): 138. doi:10.3406/hes.1991.1598.
  29. Ratner-Rosenhagen, Jennifer (2012). American Nietzsche: A History of an Icon and His Ideas . Chicago: University of Chicago Press. p.  115. ISBN   978-0-226-70581-1.
  30. Abecassis, Michaël, ed. (2018). An Anthology of French and Francophone Singers from A to Z: 'Singin' in French'. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. p.  252. ISBN   978-1-5275-1205-4.
  31. Bullivant, Spencer Culham; Tomlins, Steven, eds. (November 2016). "Chapter 5: Croatia". The Atheist Bus Campaign. Brill. p. 114. ISBN   9789004328532.