Internationalist Anarchism

Utolsó frissítés: 2026.06.04. — Szerző: Anti-Propaganda News Blog

The internationalist anarchism the mainstream of anarchist political philosophy and social movement that combines radical anti-state and anti-authoritarianism (anarchism) with the complete rejection of national borders and global solidarity (internationalism).

This movement rejects nationalism, patriotism, and nation-states as tools of oppression, capitalist exploitation, and artificial division. Instead, it advocates a voluntary, cross-border association (federalism) of the world's workers and oppressed.

Below, the most important theoretical foundations, historical milestones and trends of internationalist anarchism are presented in detail and thematically:

1. Theoretical foundations and principles

• The nation-state as an oppressive structure: Internationalist anarchists believe that the nation-state is not a natural development of society, but an organization of violence created by the ruling classes (the bourgeoisie and the bureaucracy). Borders serve to divide the global working class and pit people against each other (e.g. through wars), distracting attention from real class antagonisms.

• Anti-nationalism: Unlike certain branches of Marxism (which have sometimes supported national liberation movements or socialist homelands for tactical reasons), anarchist internationalism adamantly rejects any kind of nationalism. They believe that "national unity" is an illusion, because within a nation the interests of the manufacturer and the worker can never coincide.

• Free federalism: In contrast to the centralized power of states, internationalism proposes bottom-up, voluntary associations (federations). Local communities, workers' councils, and communes would govern themselves through direct democracy, and these communes would then aggregate into regional, continental, and ultimately global networks (federations) with the abolition of borders.

• Direct action and global solidarity: They see their goals as achievable not through parliamentary elections or state reforms, but through direct action (strikes, boycotts, factory occupations, self-organization). Based on the principle of solidarity, the fight against oppression in one country is the concern of all anarchists around the world.

2. Historical milestones and key figures

The roots of internationalist anarchism go back to the 19th century labor movement and are closely linked to the First International (International Working Men's Association, 1864) with its history.

• Mikhail Bakunin and collectivist anarchism: It was the Russian revolutionary Bakunin who engaged in a fierce ideological struggle with Karl Marx within the First International. Bakunin rejected Marx's concept of the "dictatorship of the proletariat" and a centralized workers' state, believing it would lead to a new tyranny. In his writings, Bakunin laid the foundations for a worldwide federation of free communes without borders.

• Pyotr Kropotkin and anarcho-communism: Kropotkin placed internationalist anarchism on a scientific (biological and sociological) basis. Mutual aid as an evolutionary factor In his work, he pointed out that the key to the survival and development of humanity is not state coercion or national competition, but voluntary cooperation and solidarity, which are universal human qualities, regardless of nationality.

• The Spanish Civil War (1936–1939): The greatest practical experiment of internationalist anarchism. In Spain, the anarcho-syndicalist CNT (National Confederation of Labor) and the FAI (Iberian Anarchist Community) factories and lands were collectivized in Catalonia and Aragon. International volunteers (anarchists, socialists) from all over the world came to defend with arms the free, stateless social experiment against fascism (Franco) and Stalinism.

3. Main trends within internationalism

Although internationalism is a common denominator, there are several trends along the lines of ideas about economic structure and organizational forms:

• Anarcho-syndicalism: It builds on the economic power of the working class. It believes that the tools of revolution are radical, hierarchical trade unions (syndicates). Their global organization is still in existence today. IWA (International Workingmen's Association), which advocates general strikes across national borders and the direct workers' appropriation of the means of production.

• Anarcho-communism: It demands the complete abolition of private property and the wage system. Their principle: „"From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs"”. They envision the distribution of goods for free, eliminating the market and money, through global communal networks.

• Platformism: After the experiences of Volyn and Makhno in Ukraine (the armed anarchist Makhnovshchina movement of 1918–1921), they attempted a more organized internationalism. The Organizational Platform Based on a document called "The Anarchist Alliance", they emphasize that anarchists must operate in strict theoretical and tactical unity, in internationally coordinated organizations, in order to be effective against authoritarian forces.

4. Modern manifestations (20th-21st century)

Beyond the classical labor movement framework, internationalist anarchism has taken on new forms in the modern era:

• Anti-globalization movements (1990s/2000s): Anarchists played a key role in the anti-IMF/World Bank protests in Seattle (1999) and Genoa (2001). Not globalization fact was rejected, but capitalist, corporate form. Instead, they demanded „globalization from below” (alter-globalization), human rights, environmental protection, and a fair, borderless distribution of wealth.

• No Borders movement: An active practical branch of internationalism that fights for the right to free movement of asylum seekers and migrants. Their motto: „"Nobody is illegal"”. They reject border fences, deportations, and refugee camps because they see the Earth as the common property of humanity.

• Rojava and Democratic Confederalism: Although the Kurdish autonomous project in northern Syria (Rojava) is not purely anarchist, its spiritual father, Abdullah Öcalan, based the system on the theories of the American anarchist-eco-socialist Murray Bookchin (libertarian municipalism). Rojava is based on direct democracy, women's equality, ecology, and a peaceful federation of different ethnicities (Kurds, Arabs, Assyrians) transcending state borders, which is why it has won the solidarity and practical (even armed) support of internationalist anarchists worldwide.

Overall, internationalist anarchism aims for the universal liberation of humanity, where individual freedom and global social equality are not mutually exclusive but presuppose each other – rejecting any artificial constructs such as the state, the nation, or capital.

Critics of internationalist anarchism – from liberal capitalist economists to conservative political scientists to Marxist-Leninist state socialists – are fundamentally three main systems of argument They consider this system to be a naive illusion and in practice unworkable.

The criticisms range from mere economic rationality to the psychology of human nature to geopolitical realities:

1. Human Nature and the Illusion of the Power Vacuum (Psychological and Social Criticism)

• Self-interest and the free-rider problem: The basic principle of anarcho-communism is that everyone voluntarily contributes to the commons and takes from it according to their needs. Critics say this ignores human psychology. Without state coercion, property rights, and monetary incentives, the „free-riding” phenomenon emerges: many people would tend to do minimal work while maximizing the use of common resources, leading to a rapid economic collapse of the system.

• The natural reproduction of hierarchy: According to sociology, informal hierarchies develop almost naturally during the self-organization of larger human groups (this is what political science calls the the iron rule of oligarchy). Even if formal state institutions were abolished, more charismatic, dominant, or manipulative individuals would quickly establish informal centers of power. The absence of the state would thus result not in freedom but in a chaotic, uncontrollable warlord or mafia-like system.

• The legal and judicial vacuum: Without state police and courts, the responsibility for dealing with crime, violence, and personal conflicts would fall to local communities. In practice, this would often lead to the spread of „village life,” lynching, blood feuds, and subjective self-judgment without institutional checks, which would provide much less security than a transparent rule of law.

2. The complexity of the modern economy (Economic dysfunction)

• Coordination of global supply chains: The modern world is incredibly complex and specialized. The production of a single smartphone or modern medical equipment requires the meticulous cooperation of mines, factories, software developers, and logistics companies from dozens of countries. Critics argue that it is impossible to coordinate these global processes on a purely voluntary basis, without central planning (the state) or a market price mechanism (capitalism). Anarchism would inevitably lead to a drastic decline in technological and economic standards, to a kind of primitivism.

• Allocation of resources without prices: In a free market economy, prices indicate the scarcity or abundance of goods (if something is in short supply, its price goes up, so entrepreneurs produce more of it). Without money and prices, communes have no objective measure of how much of what to produce or how to distribute scarce resources like rare earths or specialty drugs. This would lead to a chronic shortage economy or chaotic overproduction.

3. External defense and geopolitical reality (Military vulnerability)

• Incompetence against regular armies: Internationalist anarchism rejects hierarchical, professional armies and instead envisions voluntary popular militias. History (such as the Spanish Civil War or the Makhno movement in Ukraine) shows that militias without hierarchy, undisciplined or democratically voted for are incapable of resisting modern, centralized, professional and ruthless state armies (be they fascist, communist or imperialist).

• The geopolitical trap of pure internationalism: The trend assumes that the revolution must be global. However, if anarchists in one country successfully abolish the state and borders, while militaristic state power remains in neighboring countries, the anarchist territory immediately becomes easy prey and a colony for external, aggressive states.

Summary: Why is it considered an illusion?

Critics say that internationalist anarchism is illusion, because it is based on an ideal, rational and infinitely self-sacrificing image of man that does not exist in reality. That is why inoperable, because the technological and infrastructural level of modern civilization cannot be maintained without the regulatory, infrastructural and protective functions of the state. The dismantling of the state would in practice not bring total freedom, but the rule of the most brute force and chaos.