Anarcho-communism

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[[File:Libsoc flag.png|thumb|Red and black diagonal flag commonly used by anarcho-communists and other libertarian socialist currents]]
'''Anarcho-communism''' is a current within [[anarchism]] and the broader trend of [[libertarian socialism]] that advocates for the abolition of the [[state]], [[private property]], and money, proposing a stateless, classless society organized through voluntary associations and communal ownership of the means of production. Anarcho-communists typically argue for the immediate replacement of state power with decentralized communes and federations. While anarcho-communism shares with Marxism the aim of a stateless and classless society (a [[Communism|communist society]]), Marxists criticize anarcho-communism as a form of [[Utopian socialism|utopian]] and unscientific politics, because it rejects the transitional phase of the [[dictatorship of the proletariat]] and underestimates the organized resistance of the [[bourgeoisie]]. From the standpoint of [[historical materialism]], the abolition of class society is not achieved by declarations against authority, but through the organized political action of the proletariat in the course of [[class struggle]].<ref>Marx, K.; Engels, F. (1848): ''[[The Communist Manifesto|Manifesto of the Communist Party]]''.<span> 0</span></ref>
== Origin ==
Anarcho-communism developed out of 19th-century anarchist and socialist currents in Europe, especially from the 1860s onward. It arose in polemics against both reformist social-democracy and other anarchist trends (such as [[mutualism]]), and is associated with figures such as [[Peter Kropotkin]] and [[Errico Malatesta]]. In practice, anarcho-communism spread where the working-class movement was weakly organized or fragmented, often drawing support from petty-bourgeois and declassed strata, radicalized intellectuals, and sections of the proletariat lacking durable party organization.

Marxists hold that these social roots help explain anarcho-communism's emphasis on moral and voluntarist appeals over a scientific analysis of the development of capitalism and the requirements of proletarian revolution.
== Theory ==
Anarcho-communism generally holds that:
* The state is inherently oppressive and must be abolished immediately after revolution.
* Property and production should be held in common, and distribution should be organized "according to need".
* Social coordination should occur through voluntary associations, local communes, and federations, rather than a centralized authority.
* Political parties, parliamentary struggle, and transitional state power are rejected, often in favor of direct action and spontaneous mass uprising.
=== The question of the state ===
The key divergence between anarcho-communism and Marxism lies in the state question. Marxism recognizes the state as an instrument of class rule. Under capitalism, it is a dictatorship of the bourgeoisie in one form or another. The proletariat, in overthrowing the bourgeoisie, seizes state power in its stead and establishes a [[dictatorship of the proletariat]], using state power to suppress counter-revolution and reorganize the economy—only then can the state begin to [[withering away of the state|wither away]] as classes sublate into their own negation and thus cease to exist.

Anarcho-communism, in contrast, tends to treat the state as a transhistorical evil to be abolished "overnight", without grasping that the state is rooted in class antagonisms and cannot disappear until those antagonisms are eliminated. This leads anarcho-communism to substitute voluntarism for strategy, and to collapse the end goal (statelessness) into an immediate tactic.
== Social base ==
Historically, anarcho-communism has often found support among:
* strata of the [[petite bourgeoisie]] threatened by capitalist centralization,
* declassed elements and radical intellectuals,
* sections of the proletariat not consolidated into disciplined mass organizations.
Marxists argue that these social roots contribute to anarcho-communism's tendency toward subjectivism and hostility to centralized proletarian organization, weakening the working class in its struggle against capital.
== Criticism ==
Marxist criticism of anarcho-communism centers on:
* '''Rejection of proletarian political power''': by opposing the [[dictatorship of the proletariat]], anarcho-communism abandons the working class's means to suppress bourgeois resistance and defend revolutionary gains.
* '''Underestimation of counter-revolution''': the bourgeoisie does not vanish after an insurrection; it reorganizes through sabotage, civil war, foreign intervention, and ideological struggle.
* '''Hostility to organization''': anarcho-communism frequently rejects the necessity of a disciplined proletarian party, leaving the movement vulnerable to spontaneity, fragmentation, and capture by bourgeois politics.
* '''Confusion of goals and methods''': the communist objective of statelessness is treated as an immediate administrative decree rather than the outcome of a revolutionary process.
As Mao Tse-tung emphasized, class struggle does not end by proclamation; even after the overthrow of armed enemies, enemies "without guns" remain, and the struggle continues on political and ideological fronts.<ref>Mao Tse-tung (1937–1957): ''[[Quotations From Chairman Mao Tse-Tung|Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-tung]]'', sections on classes and class struggle and on socialism and communism.<span> 1</span></ref>
== See also ==
* [[Anarchism]]
* [[Libertarian socialism]]
* [[Utopian socialism]]
* [[Dictatorship of the proletariat]]
* [[Withering away of the state]]
* [[Class struggle]]
== References ==
<references />
[[Category:Left-wing ideologies]]
[[Category:Utopian socialism]]

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Anarcho-communism