From: "Andy" <as-AT-spelthorne.ac.uk>
Date: Wed, 19 May 1999 17:43:19 +0000
Subject: re: Re: Is anarchism a religion?




> Andy writes:
> >I think asking if it is a theism is a bit much. My motives are more 
> >prosaic. I have to ' teach' belief-systems to 16-19 yr olds and one 
> >theme in the secularisation debate [which is apparently a hot topic 
> >in the cloisters] is the extent to which Green politics for example 
> >develops a messianic tendency akin to religion, so that 
> >self-professed atheists attribute sanctity to other stuff. So I was 
> >on a casual information-gleaning hunt, but I'll take the hint.
> 
> Oh, hell, who died and made Carpo moderator?  If he's bored by the topic, he 
> knows where the delete key is.   
> 
> I think you find religious tendencies in any political belief system.  I 
> think the term "belief system" is right on target.  To use a crude analogy, 
> generally the human mind does not waste a lot of cpu cycles on recalculating 
> the validity of their belief systems once they have survived an initial 
> period of inquiry.  This is perfectly reasonable, but the problem lies in 
> belief systems that encourage and codify this human bent.  Any belief system 
> that labels critical inquiry into its foundation as a deviation from correct 
> action tends to close the mind of the adherents.  That would be most 
> religions and many political systems.  

Thanks - this was the sort of difference I was looking for - I hadn't 
quite groped my way round to it. This is also precisely what a number 
of scientists say now about science, and presumably what Kuhn and 
Polanyi go on about when they talk of unwarranted adherence to 
scientific paradigms after their  initial period of testing/inquiry. 

Does this then have implications for the adherents to the likes of  
for instance Kropotkin? Kropotkin was a creature of the 19th c with a 
trust in scientific explanation and method - in that he is not 
dis-similar to Comte, Durkheim, Marx etc. I read his obituary in the 
Freedom archive recently and they certainly [ in the 1920s ] had a 
dig at his reluctance to re-visit his past work. But there is a fine 
line between valid defence of a view and unreasoned defence, which 
the average onlooker has difficulty in judging. 

>Anarchism tends not to do that, but 
> since it is by its nature a very amorphous belief system, there are certainly 
> anarchists who come to hold their beliefs in a way that certainly resembles 
> religious fervor.  

That's what I wondered about. I'm also troubled by Sean's comments 
albeit that they were half humorous about turning in his IWW card. 
Is this power to hire/fire criterion harking back to days of a more 
19th c  monolithic capitalism? The way the labor market organises 
itself now means the hire/fire thing can easily be devolved and 
sometimes you get it whether you want it or not. I know Scott replied 
when I raised a similar question that the IWW held the sacrifices of 
past comrades dear.


> As you pointed out, some seem to almost worship certain 
> anarchists (Kropotkin, Bakunin, Bey, Black--it's not limited to any 
> particular flavor of anarchism, IMHO).  Still, I think anarchism is less 
> susceptible to this than almost any other political philosophy, because a 
> basic tenet of anarchism is distrust of authority and leaders.  That why I 
> like it, for Kropotkin's sake.  I mean,  holy Bakunin, we don't want to be 
> like those Proudhon-cursed Marxists, do we?

Absolutely. The yah boo sucks to leaders which attracts the youth is 
in fact the lasting attraction.

Cheers.



_as