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Individualism

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The Palgrave Handbook of Anarchism

Abstract

Individualism is the poor relation of the anarchist movement. Its modern association with anarcho/capitalism has marginalised it within a movement that is predominantly collectivist and an advocate of stateless socialism. By examining the early history of individualist ideas, rather than its later offshoots, this chapter gives a more sympathetic reading of individualist anarchism as a radical and, to an extent, anti-capitalist doctrine. The chapter identifies three main themes running through individualist anarchism. The first is the philosophical idea of the autonomous individual, drawing on the writings of Max Stirner. Secondly, individualists developed a distinctive political economy, based on free exchange and extensive property rights that rejected all forms of monopoly. Finally, they promoted the idea a free society in which self-ownership would be the basis for individual liberty and social equality. Though individualism floundered in the wake of growing collectivist polities, it provides an original and insightful critique of the mainstream that deserves our continued attention.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    W. McElroy, XXX: A Woman’s Right to Pornography (New York: St Martin’s Press, 1995).

  2. 2.

    Ibid., Chapter 1. McElroy has made her text freely available (preferably with a voluntary PayPal donation) from her personal website: http://www.wendymcelroy.com/xxx/ (accessed 9 October 2017). This is the text I have used. There are no page numbers.

  3. 3.

    For a fuller discussion of McElroy’s radicalism, see her edited collection: W. McElroy (Ed), Freedom, Feminism, and the State (Oakland, CA: The Independent Institute, 1991).

  4. 4.

    J. H. Mackay, The Freedomseeker: The Psychology of a Development (Freiburg & New York: Mackay Gesellschaft, 1983), 151.

  5. 5.

    M. Stirner, The Ego and Its Own, Translated by Steven Byington, with an introduction by Sidney Parker (London: Rebel Press, 1993).

  6. 6.

    Ibid., 164.

  7. 7.

    Ibid., 177.

  8. 8.

    For a superb discussion of populism, see J.-W. Müller, What is Populism? (Pennsylvania: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2016).

  9. 9.

    In his victory speech after the UK referendum vote to leave the European Union on the morning of June 24, 2016, Nigel Farage, leader of the United Kingdom Independence Party, said that the vote ‘will be a victory for real people, a victory for ordinary people, a victory for decent people’.

  10. 10.

    Stirner, Ego and Its Own, 196.

  11. 11.

    Ibid., 196.

  12. 12.

    Ibid., 179.

  13. 13.

    For a useful collection of translations of Proudhon’s writing see, I. MacKay (Ed), Property is Theft!: A Pierre-Joseph Proudhon Anthology (Edinburgh, Oakland, Baltimore: AK Press, 2011).

  14. 14.

    For Stirner’s critique of Proudhon see: Stirner, Ego and Its Own, 249–251.

  15. 15.

    Tucker published a selection of articles and commentary from the journal that as a comprehensive introduction to the ideas and debates of the time. B. Tucker, Instead of a Book, by a Man Too Busy to Write One: A Fragmentary Exposition of Philosophical Anarchism (New York: Tucker, 1897).

  16. 16.

    See W. Donisthorpe, Individualism: A System of Politics (London: Macmillan, 1889).

  17. 17.

    The other Spencerian individualists were Auberon Herbert and J. H. Levy. I discuss their ideas at greater length in my book, Making Another World Possible: Anarchism, Anti-Capitalism, and Ecology in Late 19th and Early twentieth Century Britain (London and New York: 2013), Chapter 3.

  18. 18.

    Adam Smith, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (Oxford University Press, 1998), I.ii, 22.

  19. 19.

    Ibid., IV. iii, 306.

  20. 20.

    J. Warren, Manifesto (Peerless Press, Kindle edition, n.d.), locations 51–59.

  21. 21.

    See Noel Thompson, The People’s Science: The Popular Political Economy of Exploitation and Crisis 1816–34 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985).

  22. 22.

    An idea that was defended by Charles Dana and Benjamin Tucker: C. A. Dana, Proudhon and his Bank of the People. Being a defence of the great French anarchist … A series of newspaper articles, edited by Benjamin R. Tucker (New York: Benj. R. Tucker, 1896).

  23. 23.

    W. B. Greene, Mutual Banking (West Brookfield, MA: O. S. Cooke & Co., 1850).

  24. 24.

    Ibid., 51.

  25. 25.

    Mackay, The Freedomseeker, op. cit. 111.

  26. 26.

    J. Locke, The Second Treatise of Government and A letter Concerning Toleration (New York: Dover Publications, 2002), 12–13.

  27. 27.

    Warren, Manifesto, locations 14–19.

  28. 28.

    H. Spencer, Social Statics: or, The Conditions Essential to Happiness Specified, and the First of them Developed (London: John Chapman, 1851). Online edition. http://oll.libertyfund.org/titles/273 (accessed 31 October 2017), 105.

  29. 29.

    C. Hitchens, Letters to a young Contrarian (New York: Basic Books, 2001), 36.

  30. 30.

    Henry Seymour, The Anarchy of Love: or the Science of the Sexes (London: H. Seymour, 1888), 11. The influence of Seymour was widespread throughout the radical milieu in the nineteenth century, though he is now neglected.

  31. 31.

    In S. Presley and C. Sartwell (Eds), Exquisite Rebel: The Essays of Voltairine de Cleyre – Anarchist, Feminist, Genius (New York: State University of New York Press, 2005), 197–206.

  32. 32.

    Ibid., 199.

  33. 33.

    In Ibid., 207–219.

  34. 34.

    Ibid., 218.

  35. 35.

    McElroy, XXX, Chapter 7.

  36. 36.

    Ibid., Chapter 7.

  37. 37.

    L. Spooner, No Treason: The Constitution of No Authority, Complete Series, Qualiteri Publishing, Kindle Edition.

  38. 38.

    Ibid., Kindle locations, 794–798.

  39. 39.

    Ibid., Kindle locations, 1069–1073.

  40. 40.

    See in particular, M. N. Rothbard, For a New Liberty: The Libertarian Manifesto (Auburn, AL: Ludwig von Mises Institute, 2006).

  41. 41.

    Some of the debates can be followed at this stimulating website http://bleedingheartlibertarians.com.

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  1. University of Hull, Hull, UK

    Peter Ryley

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  1. Peter Ryley
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Correspondence to Peter Ryley .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Politics and International Relations Goldsmiths, University of London, London, UK

    Carl Levy

  2. Department of Politics, History and International Relations, Loughborough University, Loughborough, UK

    Matthew S. Adams

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Ryley, P. (2019). Individualism. In: Levy, C., Adams, M.S. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Anarchism. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-75620-2_12

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