r/Anarchy101 Jan 27 '25

Please Read Before Posting or Commenting (January 2025 update)

67 Upvotes

Welcome to Anarchy 101!

It’s that time again, when we repost and, if necessary, revise this introductory document. We’re doing so, this time, in an atmosphere of considerable political uncertainty and increasing pressures on this kind of project, so the only significant revision this time around is simply a reminder to be a bit careful of one another as you discuss — and don’t hesitate to use the “report” button to alert the subreddit moderators if something is getting out of hand. We’ve had a significant increase in one-off, drive-by troll comments, virtually all remarkably predictable and forgettable in their content. Report them or ignore them.

Before you post or comment, please take a moment to read the sidebar and familiarize yourself with our resources and rules. If you’ve been around for a while, consider looking back over these guidelines. If you’ve got to this point and are overwhelmed by the idea that there are rules in an anarchy-related subreddit, look around: neither Reddit nor most of our communities seem to resemble anarchy much yet. Anyway, the rules amount to “don’t be a jerk” and “respect the ongoing project.” Did you really need to be told?

With the rarest of exceptions, all posts to the Anarchy 101 subreddit should ask one clear question related to anarchy, anarchism as a movement or ideology, anarchist history, literature or theory. If your question is likely to be of the frequently asked variety, take a minute to make use of the search bar. Some questions, like those related to "law enforcement" or the precise relationship of anarchy to hierarchy and authority, are asked and answered on an almost daily basis, so the best answers may have already been posted. For a few questions, we have produced "framing documents" to provide context:

Anarchy 101 "Framing the Question" documents

If your question seems unanswered, please state it clearly in the post title, with whatever additional clarification seems necessary in the text itself.

If you have more than one question, please consider multiple posts, preferably one at a time, as this seems to be the way to get the most useful and complete answers.

Please keep in mind that this is indeed a 101 sub, designed to be a resource for those learning the basics of a consistent anarchism. The rules about limiting debate and antagonistic posting are there for a reason, so that we can keep this a useful and welcoming space for students of anarchist ideas — and for anyone else who can cooperate in keeping the quality of responses high.

We welcome debate on topics related to anarchism in r/DebateAnarchism and recommend general posts about anarchist topics be directed to r/anarchism or any of the more specialized anarchist subreddits. We expect a certain amount of contentious back-and-forth in the process of fully answering questions, but if you find that the answer to your question — or response to your comment — leads to a debate, rather than a clarifying question, please consider taking the discussion to r/DebateAnarchism. For better or worse, avoiding debate sometimes involves “reading the room” a bit and recognizing that not every potentially anarchist idea can be usefully expressed in a general, 101-level discussion.

We don’t do subreddit drama — including posts highlighting drama from this subreddit. If you have suggestions for this subreddit, please contact the moderators.

We are not particularly well equipped to offer advice, engage in peer counseling, vouch for existing projects, etc. Different kinds of interactions create new difficulties, new security issues, new responsibilities for moderators and members, etc. — and we seem to have our hands full continuing to refine the simple form of peer-education that is our focus.

Please don’t advocate illegal acts. All subreddits are subject to Reddit’s sitewide content policy — and radical subreddits are often subject to extra scrutiny.

Avoid discussing individuals in ways that might be taken as defamatory. Your call-out is unlikely to clarify basic anarchist ideas — and it may increase the vulnerability of the subreddit.

And don’t ask us to choose between two anti-anarchist tendencies. That never seems to lead anywhere good.

In general, just remember that this is a forum for questions about anarchist topics and answers reflecting some specific knowledge of anarchist sources. Other posts or comments, however interesting, useful or well-intentioned, may be removed.

Some additional thoughts:

Things always go most smoothly when the questions are really about anarchism and the answers are provided by anarchists. Almost without exception, requests for anarchist opinions about non-anarchist tendencies and figures lead to contentious exchanges with Redditors who are, at best, unprepared to provide anarchist answers to the questions raised. Feelings get hurt and people get banned. Threads are removed and sometimes have to be locked.

We expect that lot of the questions here will involve comparisons with capitalism, Marxism or existing governmental systems. That's natural, but the subreddit is obviously a better resource for learning about anarchism if those questions — and the discussions they prompt — remain focused on anarchism. If your question seems likely to draw in capitalists, Marxists or defenders of other non-anarchist tendencies, the effect is much the same as posting a topic for debate. Those threads are sometimes popular — in the sense that they get a lot of responses and active up- and down-voting — but it is almost always a matter of more heat than light when it comes to clarifying anarchist ideas and practices.

We also expect, since this is a general anarchist forum, that we will not always be able to avoid sectarian differences among proponents of different anarchist tendencies. This is another place where the 101 nature of the forum comes into play. Rejection of capitalism, statism, etc. is fundamental, but perhaps internal struggles for the soul of the anarchist movement are at least a 200-level matter. If nothing else, embracing a bit of “anarchism without adjectives” while in this particular subreddit helps keep things focused on answering people's questions. If you want to offer a differing perspective, based on more specific ideological commitments, simply identifying the tendency and the grounds for disagreement should help introduce the diversity of anarchist thought without moving us into the realm of debate.

We grind away at some questions — constantly and seemingly endlessly in the most extreme cases — and that can be frustrating. More than that, it can be disturbing, disheartening to find that anarchist ideas remain in flux on some very fundamental topics. Chances are good, however, that whatever seemingly interminable debate you find yourself involved in will not suddenly be resolved by some intellectual or rhetorical masterstroke. Say what you can say, as clearly as you can manage, and then feel free to take a sanity break — until the next, more or less inevitable go-round. We do make progress in clarifying these difficult, important issues — even relatively rapid progress on occasion, but it often seems to happen in spite of our passion for the subjects.

In addition, you may have noticed that it’s a crazy old world out there, in ways that continue to take their toll on most of us, one way or another. Participation in most forums remains high and a bit distracted, while our collective capacity to self-manage is still not a great deal better online than it is anywhere else. We're all still a little plague-stricken and the effects are generally more contagious than we expect or acknowledge. Be just a bit more thoughtful about your participation here, just as you would in other aspects of your daily life. And if others are obviously not doing their part, consider using the report button, rather than pouring fuel on the fire. Increased participation makes the potential utility and reach of a forum like this even greater—provided we all do the little things necessary to make sure it remains an educational resource that folks with questions can actually navigate.

A final note:

— The question of violence is often not far removed from our discussions, whether it is a question of present-day threats, protest tactics, revolutionary strategy, anarchistic alternatives to police and military, or various similar topics. We need to be able to talk, at times, about the role that violence might play in anti-authoritarian social relations and we certainly need, at other times, to be clear with one another about the role of violence in our daily lives, whether as activists or simply as members of violent societies. We need to be able to do so with a mix of common sense and respect for basic security culture — but also sensitivity to the fact that violence is indeed endemic to our cultures, so keeping our educational spaces free of unnecessary triggers and discussions that are only likely to compound existing traumas ought to be among the tasks we all share as participants. Posts and comments seeming to advocate violence for its own sake or to dwell on it unnecessarily are likely to be removed.


r/Anarchy101 3h ago

Science And Anarchism

12 Upvotes

Hi! It's known that the capitalist system is not viable for the autonomy of the scientific community. But how would science and scientific community work into an anarchist society? Thank you in advance!


r/Anarchy101 12h ago

What are anarchist solutions to authoritarian parenting?

30 Upvotes

Authoritarianism is instilled as early as in childhood, when parents treat their children like slaves and expect unquestioning obedience and reverence, all while tyrannising their children by physical and psychological abuse and denial of agency and bodily autonomy. There is even a backlash against the "gentle parenting" as ineffective and producing inconsiderate, arrogant, entitled and egocentric children. What is the solution to this?


r/Anarchy101 11h ago

Anarchist praxis as it relates specifically to debate

8 Upvotes

I’ve been an anarchist for a while, but I still look on here or post on here time to time because I can always grow. I am an anarcho-communist. While I don’t know much about egoism, after having an argument with my grandparents (it was terrible, they don’t believe in universal human rights, food, water, shelter, etc, they think you should have to work for these things) I wondered if the more radical Utopianist angle I typically take should sometimes be down played in order to appeal to some. It seems that, at least in my understanding of it, that egoism comes off as more pragmatic to the masses, and may be a better form of communication for those stuck in their ways. On the other had, I’m not sure I like the idea of “downplaying” my views by using an egoist analysis, because I have seen others with a watered how version of something radical, and it truly disgusts me. Not to say that egoism is somehow not radical, but that I think in its relation to the capitalist status quo, it may come off as less radical than utopian reasoning. Anyway, I was just wondering if anyone thought along these lines, I would love to hear from an egoist, really anybody. Thank you.


r/Anarchy101 2h ago

I need some clarification on this

1 Upvotes

So I’ve been doing research on Anti-politics in relation to anarchism and I’ve also been looking into misanthropy. From what I’m seeing, it seems as though all three of them tend to coexist or even coincide in the same ideological belief set.

Am I reading this wrong? Or do they have a legitimate connection?


r/Anarchy101 9h ago

Are there any active anarchist groups in the UK (especially East Midlands or Liverpool) in 2026, or recent years?

3 Upvotes

I've been looking into this for days and I can't seem to find a single one -all of them look like they've gradually reduced activity after the early 2010s and all posts are archived. Am I missing something? Can anyone give some enlightenment as to what has caused this movement to fade out in the UK in recent years, and whether there actually are any current initiatives to reignite it. It would be much appreciated, thank you!


r/Anarchy101 10h ago

Does anarchy require mass politics?

2 Upvotes

Something I've been thinking about is whether we as anarchists should focus on making others anarchists ideologically, or if we should focus on building horizontal systems that get people's needs met that will allow anyone - anarchist or not - to divest themselves from the state and hierarchy more broadly.

There will of course be changes in public consciousness that are required to truly build an anarchic society, but I wonder if it's better to think of those changes as coming as a result of people organizing horizontally and engaging with systems that subvert existing hierarchies. Should we be doing this instead of trying to convince more people to be anarchists, or entering already existing institutions such as labor unions to radicalize them? Or am I thinking of this the wrong way?


r/Anarchy101 1d ago

Critiques of “Professionalism”

28 Upvotes

Does anyone have any good resources/texts critiquing “professionalism”? Mainly in context of work settings. I know the broad concept of professionalism as a means of controlling the working class and forcing a conforming to white male heterosexual standards, but was looking for more in depth resources to better articulate my deep distaste for “professionalism” to o the era in the same or similar work spaces.


r/Anarchy101 14h ago

What are anarchists point of views on animal experimentation?

1 Upvotes

I read that some people consider veganism and animal liberation as an integral part of anarchist struggle. On the other hand some people don't seem to care for animal liberation and will only question meat eating regarding it's environmental consequences or not all.

I am a scientist and work with data from animal experimentation. I consider it a form of predation. Unlike meat-eating, there is no straightforward alternative. My current state of mind is that it is justified provided it's done with the required consideration.

Is this at all relevant to anarchism ? What are people's thoughts on that ?


r/Anarchy101 22h ago

what do yall think about anarchy in terms of pure negativity/negation?

4 Upvotes

i mean this in the sense of anarchy with no prescriptions. anarchy that is only against, never for.

from my perspective, anarchy as pure negation is actually more open to possibility than prescriptions on how anarchy ought to look. the possibilities without hierarchy are infinite, and saying "this is what anarchy should look like" is always going to be more restrictive than anarchy as pure negation.


r/Anarchy101 23h ago

Anarchy archive & research

6 Upvotes

Hello! I'm brand new in the community.

As it happens I found out I'm the great grand child of whom I have been described to as a "prominent figure in latin-american Anarcho feminism and Anarcho syndicalism" and I have searched for her writings, apparently she even wrote a book though I cannot find it. I was able to get my hands into a newspaper she founded and for which she wrote very scathing articles. This woman was Maria Collazo, if someone happens to know something about her, and I just do not know how to research into her writings and anarchism in general. I never bought a book about it for a Simple reason: in the same way there are many editions and translations of the communist manifest that one shouldn't trust to be correctly translated, I assume anarchism must face the same issue, writings and books that, due to their complexity and high political relevance, when translated by the wrong person, present a twisted version of the meaning and original intent of the authors, resulting in something incongruous or false, and as a total beginner who has very particular interests and very high difficulty absorbing information from text and concentrating in general, absorbing corrupt information is a luxury I cannot afford.

I am slowly reading into the material provided in the forum, but I am also very interested in the effects of capitalism psychology from the viewpoint of anarchist authors and I would very much appreciate guidance and advice on what to read in order to be prepared to do this research and, also, the kinds of widely extended myths and "under-comprehended" concepts and what I need to dive into in order to identify them.

FWI: I am so sorry if you find this difficult to understand, English is not my native language and I also have high difficulty with language in general and communication.

I appreciate your time and help, and wish you all the best.

Kind regards!


r/Anarchy101 1d ago

What are some Anarchist solutions to cultish/religious abuse?

5 Upvotes

I understand that under the framework of anarchism, much of the ills of society are attributed to various centralized and hierarchical system, which anarchism would seek to abolish.

How would anarchists responds to the challenge of cultish abuse? Specifically, cultish abuse tends to happen in small, close knit communities where the power dynamics are difficult to spot, and yet very much present.

Statists have a wide range of tools, with police welfare checks, mandatory reporters, centralized power structures that will be more powerful than any given cultic figure, and more. And while I think there's a lot to criticize on how statists use their power of coercion, I don't know how a anarchist community would do better, with decentralization and lesser overall tools at their disposal.

Is there a response here, or would anarchists accept that this is a tradeoff for living in an overall better society?


r/Anarchy101 1d ago

can widespread sustained balkanization lead to a condition of no state?

7 Upvotes

for example, if the 200 or so nation states became 200,000 independent cultures, would that be a potential means to arrive at a condition of "no nation states"?

should anarchists pragmatically support balkanization?


r/Anarchy101 1d ago

Can any type of society exist?

2 Upvotes

This is a bit of an abstract question, and I don't know how else to word it, but I'm interested in seeing what y'all's take would be on this.

Can humans create any type of society, as in are there limitless ways in which humans can organize themselves? Or is there some kind of "physics" of social organization that make some forms of organization impossible or unviable?

A follow up question: do you suppose there's a "natural" form of human society?


r/Anarchy101 2d ago

Reconciling Nestor Makhno’s Command Structure with Anarchism

21 Upvotes

Im reading a biography about Nestor Makhno and his commitment to anarchism is admirable, but it appears that neither he nor his comrades had any problem with a top > down structure within their revolutionary army.

First of all, I know that the circumstances were unique; they were in the midst of revolution, so complete adherence to an avoidance of vertical power structure may have been a luxury they could not afford. Still, I’m wondering if anyone has come across any analysis of this paradox either from Makhno himself or someone who understands the nuanced situation well.


r/Anarchy101 2d ago

is there any reason to believe that worker controlled industry would be any less ecologically harmful than capitalist controlled industry?

14 Upvotes

if worker collectives are still operating by the profit motive, they would end up doing the same things as the capitalists, right? (i.e. minimize cost, maximize gain)


r/Anarchy101 1d ago

Can you have a business in an anarchist society?

0 Upvotes

In your ideal society, all material things would be freely available, and hell the very concept of money would be totally obliterated, but could a small business exist?

For example:

In Star Trek Deep Space 9, while not an anarchist society, has the same factors of the extinction of the concept of currency and everything material always available at all times, but the Sisko family(whom the series mainly follows) has a family-owned Cajun restaurant, fully staffed and everything made by hand, saying that replicator-made meals can't compare to a meal made with a human touch.

Could a business like that exist in anarchy, or would it remind you so much of capitalism that you'd demand the place be burnt to the ground and the people who own it executed for the unforgivable crime of commerce?


r/Anarchy101 2d ago

Can anarchy preserve what the state has given us?

11 Upvotes

I agree with anarchist theory on many points. I do agree that concentrated power has a structural interest in self-preservation and expansion, and that the interests of state and capital are structurally antagonistic to those of the people.

What I'm struggling with isn't the critique of hierarchy, but the institutional alternative.

I think there are three questions that any political theory has to grapple with:

  1. What ends are desirable?
  2. What institutions can achieve these ends?
  3. How do we prevent these institutions from becoming ends in themselves?

My uncertainty concerns the second question. The socio-economic frameworks of statist theories may be antagonistic to emancipation, but they are able to organize the socially beneficial ends that require large-scale coordination (such as vaccination drives, transport networks, healthcare systems, defense etc.).

I don't understand how an anarchist society actually functions: how economic activity is to be organized, how large-scale infrastructure can be constructed and maintained, how universal education can be achieved, how society can be protected from centralized armadas with well-established command structures. I just know 'voluntarism,' but I don't understand how that can function at larger scales.

I have seen some argue that we shouldn't primarily concern ourselves with institutional minutiae, because we know anarchism to be the only framework that is truly emancipatory. But can this concern with the normative justification of power not undermine our ultimate end of improving the lives of people? I agree with the arguments about power, but I think I don't as yet have an answer to the "how" of anarchy... I want to believe in anarchism, but I am concerned about certain elements. Can anarchy balance the apparent trade-off between 'freedom' and 'coordination'? Can it facilitate 'coordination' without creating permanent concentrations of power?

Tldr; How does an anarchy actually coordinate? Can it sustain the socially beneficial acts of the state, which require large-scale coordination?

EDIT: I am realizing now that the questions I am posing to anarchism in this post may actually be too broad... Answering the "coordination problem" satisfactorily requires someone to outline an ecosystem of institutions. But I would still like resources on coordination or institutional outlines of historical anarchist projects... I really know next to nothing.


r/Anarchy101 2d ago

Public Service and Anarchism

7 Upvotes

Can I be a public servant, employed by the government, and still be an anarchist?

Details, if needed... I have two jobs that are both public servant work: aide in a public school, and a boat inspector for water conservation management. In both jobs, I focus more on education rather than enforcement of government curriculum/policy (not all of my colleagues take this approach).

Both of my jobs are union and I'm involved. I love looking through the posts here and seeing I am not alone in the work of worker solidarity.

Let me know your thoughts. Am I a fake?


r/Anarchy101 2d ago

Y’all are creating a greater love and hope for humanity in me!

82 Upvotes

Y’all are genuinely such kind, loving, forgiving, and caring people it makes me want to frikken cry! I love reading the comment section of this subreddit


r/Anarchy101 3d ago

how many of yall do not frame politics using the left-right paradigm?

11 Upvotes

r/Anarchy101 2d ago

Brain implants and the law

0 Upvotes

Im interested in your opinion of brain implants both in an ideal anarchist project or in our current political climate. Sometimes we prefer to use anarchist tools but they aren’t available in our current political climate.

Fore instance if someone broke into my home i would call police, there just isn’t options.

But lets say someone was a repeat offender would you be ok with brain implants would it be different in our current political climate.


r/Anarchy101 3d ago

Was talking with somebody who said that anarchism can be ableist

53 Upvotes

I consider myself an anarchist, but I'm still getting a feel for the different categories and nuances, and which I may align with the most. Somebody I met recently said that they knew somebody who didn't know a lot about anarchism other than accusations of it being ableist (specifically "green anarchism"? but they didn't say why) This surprised me because I have epilepsy, I'm a huge disability advocate, and haven't come across anything that seemed like a red flag for that sort of thing.

I'm just posting this to find out what might be ableist, what assumptions people commonly make that could lead to the conclusion that anarchism is ableist, and why. Also wondering, if there are criticisms that carry any weight, what is being done (or what theories are being presented) to resolve those issues.


r/Anarchy101 2d ago

Opinions on Soulism/Anarcho-Antirealism(ironic or unironic)?

0 Upvotes

I am fascinated as to what the broader anarchist movement thinks of the most extreme form of this ideology, if you are unfamiliar with the idea of Soulism/Anarcho-Antirealism are taking the philosophy of anarchism and bringing it to the logical farthest extreme positing that the material world/reality as a whole as well as the laws of physics must be abolished as they are unjust heirarchies that are inherently oppressive, violent, and dangerous/harmful(BASED IMO, even if delusional/depressive although it creates a space of meta-irony wherein Soulists don’t need to be ironic/unironic due to the deeper meaning and symbolism behind such a position that harkens to the gnostic dualists whom had the same opinion that this world is some kind of soul prison we must break out of or destroy from the inside utilizing what little freedom we have to create more).
There are many more aspects to this that go into specifics; such as the support of schizospectrum and psychotic disorder disabled entities/people to have the control over their reality they deserve and desire, the support of genetics based rights such as abortion and transitioning genders or even genetically modifying oneself to solve nutritional deficiency/economic handicaps such as lactose intolerance/all allergies as a whole, and also magick based praxis that transcends and permeates the physical and material.
You could take this a variety of ways whether anti-Natalist, efilist, humanist, technological/futurist, and esoteric/spiritual.
Let me know!


r/Anarchy101 3d ago

Is believing that hating Anarchism and Dictatorship at the same time is a contradiction normal?

1 Upvotes

Is this belief normal? I know several people who claim to hate both, this doesn't make sense. Dictatorship is the exact opposite of anarchism, you can't hate both.