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Radicalism

Radicalism

:For opposition to all forms of government, social hierarchy or authority, see Anarchism. The term Radical (latin radix meaning root) has been used since the late 18th century as a label in political science for those favouring or trying to produce thoroughgoing or extreme political reforms which can include changes to the social order to a greater or lesser extent. Historical Radicalism was quite distinct from the modern American usage of radical to denote political extremes of right or left. Historically, early radical aims of liberty and electoral reform in Great Britain widened with the American Revolution and French Revolution so that some radicals sought republicanism, abolition of titles, redistribution of property and freedom of the press. In the later 19th century in both the United Kingdom and continental Europe the term Radical came to denote a progressive liberal ideology.

United Kingdom

The word was first used in a political sense in 18th century Great Britain. Initially confined to upper and middle classes, in the early 19th century "popular radicals" brought artisans and the "labouring classes" into widespread agitation in the face of harsh government repression. More respectable "Philosphical radicals" followed the utilitarian philosophy of Jeremy Bentham and strongly supported parliamentary reform, but were generally hostile to the arguments and tactics of the"popular radicals". By the middle of the century parliamentary Radicals joined with others in the United Kingdom parliament to form the Liberals, eventually achieving reform of the electoral system.

Origins

The Radical movement had its beginnings at a time of tension between the American colonies and Great Britain, with the first Radicals, angry at the state of the House of Commons, drawing on the Leveller tradition and similarly demanding improved parliamentary representation. Although the Glorious Revolution of 1688 had increased parliamentary power with a constitutional monarchy and the union of the parliaments brought England and Scotland together, towards the end of the 18th century the monarch still had considerable influence over the Parliament of Great Britain which itself was dominated by the English aristocracy and by patronage. Candidates for the House of Commons stood as Whigs or Tories, but once elected formed shifting coalitions of interests rather than splitting along party lines. At general elections the vote was restricted to property owners, in constituencies which were out of date and did not reflect the growing importance of manufacturing towns or shifts of population, so that in many rotten boroughs seats could be bought or were controlled by rich landowners, while major cities remained unrepresented. William Beckford fostered early interest in reform in the London area. The "Middlesex radicals" were led by the politician John Wilkes, an opponent of war with the colonies who started his weekly publication The North Briton in 1764 and within two years had been charged with seditious libel and expelled from the House of Commons. The Society for the Defence of the Bill of Rights he started in 1769 to support his re-election developed the belief that every man had the right to vote and "natural reason" enabling him to properly judge political issues. Liberty consisted in frequent elections. For the first time middle-class radicals obtained the backing of the London "mob". Middlesex and Westminster were among the few parliamentary constituencies with a large and socially diverse electorate including many artisans as well as the middle class and aristocracy, and along with the county association of Yorkshire led by the Reverend Christopher Wyvill were at the forefront of reform activity. Major John Cartwright also supported the colonists, even as the American Revolutionary War began, and in 1776 earned the title of the "Father of Reform" when he published his pamphlet Take Your Choice! advocating annual parliaments, the secret ballot and manhood suffrage. In 1780 a draft programme of reform was drawn up by Charles James Fox and Thomas Brand Hollis, and put forward by a sub-committee of the electors of Westminster. This included calls for the six points later adopted in the People's Charter (see Chartists below). The American Revolutionary War ended in humiliating defeat of a policy which King George III had fervently advocated, and in March 1782 the King was forced to appoint an administration led by his opponents which sought to curb Royal patronage. In November 1783 he took his opportunity and used his influence in the House of Lords to defeat a Bill to reform the British East India Company, dismissed the government and appointed William Pitt the Younger as his Prime Minister. Pitt had previously called for Parliament to begin to reform itself, but he did not press for long for reforms the King did not like. Proposals Pitt made in April 1785 to redistribute seats from the "rotten boroughs" to London and the counties were defeated in the House of Commons by 248 votes to 174. According to Britannica the first use of the word "Radical" in a political sense is generally ascribed by to the English whig parliamentarian Charles James Fox who, in 1797, declared for a "radical reform" of the electoral system drastically expanding the franchise to the point of universal manhood suffrage, leading to general use of the term for all supporting the movement for parliamentary reform. Curiously, while the Britannica biography of Fox mentions his dismissal from the Privy Council in 1798 for reaffirming in a public speech the doctrine of the sovereignty of the people, it makes no mention of the declaration. It makes it clear that Fox was no democrat, would never have countenanced the notion that property would be safe in a democratic society in which the propertyless voters would obviously be in a majority. It states his view as being that property was the true foundation of aristocracy, and a country best prospered whose government was in such hands. These sentiments appear to be at odds with the Radical cause, but at this time parliament operated on shifting patronage rather than party lines, and Fox was noted for inconsistencies.

Popular agitation

In the wake of the French Revolution, Thomas Paine's The Rights of Man encouraged mass support for democratic reform along with rejection of the monarchy, aristocracy, and all forms of privilege. Different strands of the movement developed, with middle class "reformers" aiming to widen the franchise to represent commercial and industrial interests and towns without parliamentary representation, while "Popular radicals" drawn from the middle class and from artisans agitated to assert wider rights including relieving distress. The theoretical basis for electoral reform was provided by "Philosophic radicals" who followed the utilitarian philosophy of Jeremy Bentham and strongly supported parliamentary reform, but were generally hostile to the arguments and tactics of the "popular radicals". Popular Radicals were quick to go further than Paine, with Newcastle schoolmaster Thomas Spence demanding land nationalisation to redistribute wealth in a penny periodical he called Pig's Meat in a reference to Edmund Burke's phrase "the swinish multitude". Radical organisations sprang up, such as the London Corresponding Society of artisans formed in January 1792 under the leadership of the shoemaker Thomas Hardy to call for the vote. One such was the Scottish Friends of the People society which in October 1793 held a British Convention in Edinburgh with delegates from some of the English corresponding societies. They issued a manifesto demanding universal male suffrage with annual elections and expressing their support for the principles of the French Revolution. The numbers involved in these movements were small, and most wanted reform rather than revolution, but for the first time working men were organising for political change. The government reacted harshly, imprisoning leading Scottish radicals, temporarily suspending habeas corpus in England and passing laws prohibiting public meetings and demonstrations. Throughout the Napoleonic Wars the government took extensive stern measures against feared domestic unrest. The corresponding societies ended, but some radicals continued in secret, with Irish sympathisers in particular forming secret societies to overturn the government and encourage mutinies. In 1812 Major John Cartwright formed the first Hampden Club, named after the English Civil War Parliamentary leader John Hampden, aiming to bring together middle class moderates and lower class radicals. After the war, the Corn laws and bad harvests fostered discontent. The publications of William Cobbett were influential, and at political meetings speakers like Henry Hunt complained that only three men in a hundred had the vote. Writers like the radicals William Hone and Thomas Jonathan Wooler spread dissent with publications such as The Black Dwarf in defiance of a series of government acts to curb circulation of political literature. Radical riots in 1816 and 1817 were followed by the Peterloo massacre of 1819 publicised by Richard Carlile who then continued to fight for press freedom from prison. The Six Acts of 1819 limited the right to demonstrate or hold public meetings. In Scotland agitation over three years culminated in an attempted general strike and abortive workers' uprising crushed by government troops in the "Radical War" of 1820. Magistrates powers were increased to crush demonstrations by manufacturers and action by radical Luddites. To counter the established Church of England doctrine that the aristocratic social order was divinely ordained, radicals supported Lamarckian Evolutionism, a theme proclaimed by street corner agitators as well as some established scientists such as Robert Edmund Grant.

Political reform

Economic conditions improved after 1821 and the United Kingdom government made economic and criminal law improvements, abandoning policies of repression. In 1823 Jeremy Bentham co-founded the Westminster Review with John Stuart Mill as a journal for "philosophical radicals", setting out the utilitarian philosophy that right actions were to be measured in proportion to the greatest good they achieved for the greatest number. Westminster elected two radicals to Parliament during the 1820s. The Whigs gained power and despite defeats in the House of Commons and the House of Lords the Reform Act 1832 was put through with the support of public outcry, mass meetings of "political unions" and riots in some cities. This now enfranchised the middle classes, but failed to meed radical demands. The Whigs introduced reforming measures owing much to the ideas of the philosophic radicals, abolishing slavery and in 1834 introducing Malthusian Poor Law reforms which were bitterly opposed by "popular radicals" and writers like Thomas Carlyle. Following the 1832 Reform Act the mainly aristocratic Whigs in the House of Commons were joined by a small number of parliamentary Radicals, as well as an increased number of middle class Whigs. By 1839 they were informally being called “the Liberal party.”

Chartists

From 1836 working class Radicals unified around the Chartist cause of electoral reform expressed in the People's Charter drawn up by six members of Parliament and six from the London Working Men's Association (associated with Owenite Utopian socialism), which called for six points: Universal suffrage, equal-sized electoral districts, secret ballot, an end to property qualification for Parliament, pay for Members of Parliament and Annual Parliaments. Chartists also expressed economic grievances, but their mass demonstrations and petitions to parliament were unsuccessful. Despite initial disagreements, after their failure their cause was taken up by the middle class Anti-Corn Law League founded by Richard Cobden and John Bright in 1839 to oppose duties on imported grain which raised the price of food and so helped landowners at the expense of ordinary people.

Liberal reforms

The parliamentary Radicals joined with the Whigs and anti-protectionist Tory Peelites to form the Liberal Party by 1859. Demand for parliamentary reform increased by 1864 with agitation from John Bright and the Reform League. When the Liberal government led by Lord Russell and William Ewart Gladstone introduced a modest bill for parliamentary reform, it was defeated by both Tories and reform Liberals, forcing the government to resign. The Tories under Lord Derby and Benjamin Disraeli took office, and the new government decided to “dish the Whigs” and “take a leap in the dark” to take the credit for the reform. As a minority government they had to accept radical amendments, and Disraeli's Reform Act of 1867 almost doubled the electorate, giving the vote even to working men. The Radicals, having been strenuous in their efforts on behalf of the working classes, earned a deeply loyal following; British trade unionists from 1874 until 1892, upon being elected to Parliament, never considered themselves to be anything other than Radicals. Radical trade unionists formed the basis for what would later become the Labour Party.

Continental Europe and Latin America

In continental Europe and Latin America, as, for instance, in France, Italy, Spain and Argentina, Radicalism developed as an ideology in the 19th century to indicate those liberals who supported, at least in theory, a republican form of government, universal male suffrage, and, particularly, supported anti-clerical policies. These radicals didn't label themselves as liberals to distinguish themselves from the dominant more conservative liberals. In northern and central European countries, like Germany this current is known as Freisinn (Free Mind). In the aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars it was technically illegal in France to openly advocate republicanism until 1848, so republicans usually called themselves radicals and the term "radical" came to mean a republican or supporter of universal manhood suffrage. From 1869 a faction led by Georges Clemenceau calling themselves Radicals claimed to be the true heirs of the French Revolutionary tradition and drifted away from the moderate democratic-republicanism of Léon Gambetta. At Montmartre in 1881 they put forward a programme of broad social reforms, then formed the Radical-Socialist Party around 1900. However, by the twentieth century at the latest, radicalism, which did not advocate particularly radical economic policies, had been overtaken as the principal ideology of the left by the growing popularity of socialism, and had become an essentially centrist political movement (as far as "radicalism" survived as a distinct political ideology at all).

External links


- [http://www.cs.grinnell.edu/1790s/Projects/Sara/Radicals.php The Transatlantic 1790s: Project:Loyalists - Radical Activities]
- [http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=39478#n16 British History Online - London Radicalism]
- [http://www.grazian-archive.com/politics/Republic/C_02_d.html Public & Republic - The New English Radicals]
- [http://oll.libertyfund.org/Essays/Bibliographical/Kramnick0285/Radicalism.html Kramnick, "English middle-class radicalism in the eighteenth century"]
- [http://www.historyhome.co.uk/peel/chartism/lonchar.htm London Chartism]
- [http://www.siliconglen.com/Scotland/11_16.html Scotland Guide - Thomas Muir (and the 1820 Radical War: extracts from Steel's Scotland's Story).] people
- [http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/PRradicals.htm Radical Reformers]
- [http://www.cottontimes.co.uk/cobbetto.htm Reformers - William Cobbett]

See also


- Radicals (UK)
- Radical Party (France)
- compare Progressivism Category: Politics

Anarchism

Anarchism derives from the Greek αναρχία ("without archons (rulers)"). Thus anarchism, in its most general meaning, is the belief that rulers are unnecessary and should be abolished. Anarchism refers to various political philosophies and related social movements that advocate the elimination of authoritarian institutions and relationships. There is often disagreement about the meaning of "authoritarian." The state is universally seen by anarchists as an unnecessary evil that must be abolished, but other things - such as economic relationships - provoke intense controversy. In place of centralized political structures and coercive economic institutions, anarchists advocate social relations based upon voluntary association of autonomous individuals and self-governance. There is no agreement among self-described anarchists as to whether the term "anarchism" refers only to those anti-statist movements which oppose private property, or to any movement that opposes the existence of authority regardless of the proposed economic system; however, most dictionaries use the latter meaning.[http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Definitions_of_anarchism] While anarchism is defined by what it is against, anarchists also offer differing positive visions of what they believe to be a truly free society. The word "anarchy," as anarchists use it, does not imply chaos or anomie, but rather a harmonious rulerless society. However, ideas about how an anarchist society might work vary considerably, especially with respect to economics. Also, there is disagreement about how a free society might be brought about.

Precursors of anarchism

Primitive cultures

Anarcho-primitivists assert that, before recorded history, human society was organized on anarchist principles. They point to the egalitarian structure of hunter-gatherer bands, to the lack of division of labour and accumulated wealth, non-hierarchal political organization, and the lack of decreed law as indicators of such indigenous anarchist systems. Examples of indigenous societies with Anarchist political systems include the Nuer of East Africa, the Iroquois (and by some accounts most native people) in North America. The first use of the term anarchy to mean anti-statism was by Louis-Armand, Baron de Lahontan in his Nouveaux voyages dans l'Amérique septentrionale, (1703), where he described the indigenous American society, which had no state, laws, prisons, priests, or private property, as being in anarchy [http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/cgi-local/DHI/dhi.cgi?id=dv1-12]. Russell Means, a leader in the American Indian Movement, has repeatedly stated that he is "an anarchist, and so are all [his] ancestors." Thomas Jefferson said the native American Indians "never submitted themselves to any laws, any coercive power, any shadow of government. Their only controls are their manners, and that moral sense of right and wrong, which, like the sense of tasting and feeling in every man, makes a part of his nature..." and "I am convinced that those societies (as the Indians) which live without government, enjoy in their general mass an infinitely greater degree of happiness than those who live under the European governments" (Notes on Virginia and Letter to Colonel Carrington).

Philosophical traces

Some anarchists have claimed that Taoism, which developed in Ancient China, was a source of anarchistic attitudes [http://www.toxicpop.co.uk/library/taoism.htm][http://www.lewrockwell.com/rothbard/ancient-chinese.html]. Similarly, anarchistic tendencies can be traced to the philosophers of Ancient Greece, such as Zeno, the founder of the Stoic philosophy, Aristippus, who said that the wise should not give up their liberty to the state [http://www.blackcrayon.com/page.jsp/library/britt1910.html], and Diogenes of Sinope, the Cynic, who claimed to be a citizen of the world. Later movements — such as Stregheria in the 1300s, the Free Spirit in the Middle Ages, the Anabaptists, The Diggers, and the Ranters — have also expounded ideas that have been interpreted as anarchist.

Ancient Greece

The first known usage of the word anarchy appears in the play Seven Against Thebes by Aeschylus, dated 467 BC. There, Antigone openly refuses to abide by the rulers' decree to leave her brother Polyneices' body unburied, as punishment for his participation in the attack on Thebes, saying that "even if no one else is willing to share in burying him I will bury him alone and risk the peril of burying my own brother. Nor am I ashamed to act in defiant opposition to the rulers of the city (ekhous apiston tênd anarkhian polei)". Ancient Greece also saw the first European instance of anarchism as a philosophical ideal, in the form of the stoic philosopher Zeno of Citium, who was, according to Kropotkin, "[t]he best exponent of Anarchist philosophy in ancient Greece". As summarized by Kropotkin, Zeno "repudiated the omnipotence of the state, its intervention and regimentation, and proclaimed the sovereignty of the moral law of the individual". Within Greek philosophy, Zeno's vision of a free community without government or slavery is opposed to the state-Utopia of Plato's Republic. Zeno argued that although the necessary instinct of self-preservation leads humans to egotism, nature has supplied a corrective to it by providing man with another instinct — sociability. Like many modern anarchists, he believed that if people follow their instincts, they will have no need of law, courts, or police, no temples and no public worship, and use no money (a gift economy taking the place of the exchanges). Zeno's beliefs have only reached us as fragmentary quotations. [http://www.blackcrayon.com/page.jsp/library/britt1910.html]

Taoism

Taoism is often forgotten when looking for anarchist tracings through history. However,early philosophical Taoism is very close to modern anarchism. Founded by Lao Tzu in the 6th Century BCE Taoism rejected civilization and stated that all unhappiness in the world was created by human beings not being able to do what they want. Lao Tzu felt that humans should live with nature so they can express their nature endowed talents. In the Tao Te Ching the Taoist scripture Lao Tzu's definition of nature endowed talents is akin to the Christian notion of God given talent. Lao Tzu also felt that there were many artificialties in our civilization which consisted of: culture, government institutions of all kinds including education, institutionalized morality (laws, rules, convention, manners, etiquette), institutionalized violence (arms, military), conscription, antiritualism, antimilitarism, antiintellectualism (he was not advocating ignorance, but intellectualism as far as institutionalized education was concerned). Taoism has a strong belief in the goodness of human nature. To illustrate this better there is a famous Taoist story about a man who wakes up one morning and decides to visit a friend who he has not seen a while but lives far away. The man takes half the day going to his friends house and when he gets to the door instead of knocking he stops and turns around to go back home. Many people become frustrated with this story and ask if the man took all that time to go to his friends house then he should have just visited him. But to a Taoist the man obviously did not feel like seeing his friend when he arrived and instead of forcing himself to go through with the visit anyway, and doing something he did not want to, he simply turned around and went back home.

The Anabaptists

The Anabaptists of 16th century Europe are sometimes considered to be religious forerunners of modern anarchism. Bertrand Russell, in his History of Western Philosophy, writes that the Anabaptists "repudiated all law, since they held that the good man will be guided at every moment by the Holy Spirit...[f]rom this premise they arrive at communism...." The novel Q by Luther Blissett provides a fictional depiction of this movement and its revolutionary ideology. Gerrard Winstanley of The Diggers, who published a pamphlet calling for communal ownership and social and economic organization in small agrarian communities in the 17th century, is considered another of the forerunners of modern anarchism.

History of anarchism

Justice against the state

The first essay explicitly advocating the absence of government was "[http://oll.libertyfund.org/Texts/LFBooks/Burke0061/Vindication/0339_Bk.html A Vindication of Natural Society]" (1756) by Edmund Burke. There is an ongoing historical dispute about whether this essay was serious or satirical; nevertheless, it was influential among later anarchists such as William Godwin, Benjamin Tucker, and others who praised it. William Godwin, in [http://web.bilkent.edu.tr/Online/www.english.upenn.edu/jlynch/Frank/Godwin/pjtp.html An Enquiry Concerning Political Justice]" (1793) wrote what would become core anarchist critiques of government, economics, and society; though he did not use the word anarchism, some today regard him as the "founder of philosophical anarchism" By "political justice" Godwin meant "the adoption of any principle of morality and truth into the practice of a community," and his characteristically anarchist conclusion was that government in fact inhibits rather than fosters justice. Godwin's philosophy was optimistic about the potential for human beings to develop and conduct social relations on the basis of reason and consent. He believed that there are no innate principles, and therefore no original propensity to evil. He considered that "our virtues and our vices may be traced to the incidents which make the history of our lives, and if these incidents could be divested of every improper tendency, vice would be extirpated from the world." The control of man by man in general, and the institution of government in particular, are detrimental to human development. "Government by its very nature counteracts the improvement of original mind." However, Godwin admitted that "we may be obliged to admit [Government] as a necessary evil for the present." Godwin's masterpiece was published in 1793, in the thick of the French Revolution. The themes of his work, some of which he later retracted, would become central to the future development of anarchism. But at this point no anarchist movement yet existed, and the term anarchiste was known only as an insult hurled by the bourgeois Girondins at more radical elements in the revolution. (Some of whom, the Parisian Sans-culottes, are seen by many as the immediate predecessors of working-class anarchism.)

The first self-labelled anarchist

Sans-culottes It is commonly held that it wasn't until Pierre-Joseph Proudhon published "[http://ns52.super-hosts.com/~vaz1net/bill/anarchism/library/WhatIsProperty/ What is Property?]" in 1840 that the term "anarchist" was adopted as a self-description. It is for this reason that some claim Proudhon as the founder of modern anarchist theory. In What is Property Proudhon answers with the famous accusation "Property is theft." In this work he opposed the institution of "property" (propriété) in the special sense of natural resources bestowed and enforced by state privilege, but he also opposed the notion of collective ownership of such, saying "instead of inferring from this that property should be shared by all, I demand, as a measure of general security, its entire abolition." Rather, he advocated a right of individuals to occupy and use land and to individually own product of cultivating it, calling this "possession" and "usufruct"; dominion over land that is not being used or occupied would constitute "property" and therefore "theft." Consisitent with his anti-communism, he strongly supported individual property in the product of labor. His reply to the communist motto "each according to his needs" was: "To each according to his works, first; and if, on occasion, I am impelled to aid you, I will do it with a good grace; but I will not be constrained" (The Philosophy of Misery). Proudhon's vision of anarchy, which he called mutualism (mutuellisme), thus involved an exchange economy where individuals and groups could trade goods valued by the labour time expended to produce them. The system would be supported by interest-free national banks. Proudhon generally opposed violent expropriation of property; instead he advocated programs whereby workers would create mutual organisations that could supplant capitalism and render the state superfluous. For example, he advocated the formation of interest-free community-owned banks - the prototype for modern credit unions. Proudhon's ideas began to exert some influence within French working class movements, and his followers were active in the Revolution of 1848 in France. However authoritarian socialist tendencies such as Blanquism were a stronger force in Proudhon's own time. Proudhon's work on property raised a central issue in the future development of anarchism. The question of property, and its place in an anarchist society, is sometimes seen as dividing anarchism thereafter into two major streams or tendencies which can loosely be called 'individualism' and 'collectivism'. Proudhon consistently opposed ideas of communism, and his reply to the motto "each according to his needs" was: "To each according to his works, first; and if, on occasion, I am impelled to aid you, I will do it with a good grace; but I will not be constrained" (The Philosophy of Misery). Proudhon also debated the French économistes (Frederic Bastiat, Gustave de Molinari, et. al.), who shared Proudhon's anti-statism but did not share his antipathy toward capital and interest. See Frederic Bastiat's debate with Proudhon.

Egoism

Max Stirner is considered to be the first egoist of the individualist anarchists. Stirner considered the world and everything in it, including other persons, available to one's taking or use without moral constraint --that rights do not exist in regard to objects at all. Stirner is a supporter of property but holds that a right to property is an illusion, or "ghost"; property is only a matter of control --it is not based in any moral right but solely in the right of might: "Whoever knows how to take, to defend, the thing, to him belongs property." He sees no rationality in taking the interests of others into account unless doing so furthers one's self-interest, which he believed is the only legitimate reason for acting. His embrace of egoism is in stark contrast to Godwin's altruism. He denies society as being an actual entity, calling society a "spook" and that "the individuals are its reality" (The Ego and Its Own). Stirner argued that most commonly accepted social institutions - including property rights and the very notion of society itself - were mere illusions or ghosts, saying rather that "the individuals are its reality." He advocated a form of amoralism, in which individuals would unite in 'associations of egoists' only when it was in their self interest to do so. The philosophy of Max Stirner, which he described as egoism is considered a form of individualist anarchism. Whether individualist anarchism is properly justified by self-interest (egoism) or natural law has been a subject of debate among later individualists. For example, Lysander Spooner argued that private property was based in natural law and espoused a labor theory of property, while Benjamin Tucker's ideas on property were founded on egoism, as he believed that property could only come about by self-interested parties contracting to establish it: "the right of might and the right of contract -are the only rights that ever have been or ever can be."

Individualist anarchism

See also: Individualist anarchism, American individualist anarchist, mutualism In 1825, the American Josiah Warren had participated in a collectivist experiment headed by Robert Owen called "New Harmony" that failed in a few years amidst much internal conflict. Warren came to the conclusion that the community's failure was due to a lack of individual sovereignty and private property. He held that in order to have a well-functioning society, :"Society must be so converted as to preserve the SOVEREIGNTY OF EVERY INDIVIDUAL inviolate. That it must avoid all combinations and connections of persons and interests, and all other arrangements which will not leave every individual at all times at liberty to dispose of his or her person, and time, and property in any manner in which his or her feelings or judgment may dictate. WITHOUT INVOLVING THE PERSONS OR INTERESTS OF OTHERS" - "Practical Details" (Warren's capitalization) Warren believed that "by dispensing with government we shake off the greatest invader of human rights" (Equitable Commerce). He put his theories to practice by organizing anarchist colonies, including Utopia and Modern Times. Modern Times] In 1872 Benjamin Tucker first met Warren and William B. Greene in Boston at the New England Labor Reform League. He became familiar with Warren's ideas on the cost the limit of price (an application of the labor theory of value) and Greene's ideas on mutual banking. Tucker incorporated these ideas, as well as the market anarchism of Proudhon and Max Stirner's egoism, Herbert Spencer's "law of equal freedom," and other theorists, into what is seen as a formalized individualist anarchist theory. This form of individualist anarchism strongly supports "private property" (a right of an individual to exercise exclusive domain over the product of his labor, as opposed to this product being relegated to a collective pool shared equally by the community) and a market economy where this property may be bought and sold. Wage labor is also supported, as long as wages adhere to the labor theory of value. As capitalism is commonly understood to be a system where profit is permissable, the philosophy differs from capitalism. Other 19th century individualists include Lysander Spooner, Stephen Pearl Andrews, and Victor Yarros. While some individualists looked to natural law to justify individualism, many, in accordance with Stirner's "Egoism" hold that self-interest is the only legitimate justification for action. For example, Lysander Spooner holds that there are natural property rights, but egoists such as Benjamin Tucker agree with Stirner that there are no natural property rights, but rather come about by contract between individuals. The American author and tax resister Henry David Thoreau (18171862) was a quasi-anarchist. He wrote the influential essay Civil Disobedience (available at wikisource) on resistance to civil government. Though marginalized in the 20th century due to the popularity of anarcho-communism and syndicalism, individualist anarchism continued on. Around the early to mid-20th century, some individualist anarchists, such as Emile Armand, Henry Meulen and Ulrich von Beckerath, in a departure from the earlier individualist cost is the limit of price belief, began to adopt a subjective theory of value where price was subject to individual judgement. For instance, in 1945 French individualist anarchist E. Armand, in Our Demands as Individualist Anarchists, made the following demand: "FULL AND UNRESTRICTED RIGHT to determine and change the value or price of any goods, either one's own products or consumer goods, of whatever kind, according to one's own discretion. Likewise untouchable is the right to negotiate in this respect, to use an arbitrator or to do without any determination of values."

The International

In Europe, a period of harsh reaction followed the widespread revolutionary activity of 1848. The next major phase of revolutionary activity began almost twenty years later with the founding of the International Workingmen's Association, sometimes called the 'First International', in London in 1864.1864] The International Workingmen's Association, at its founding, was an alliance of diverse groups, including French Mutualists, Blanquists, English Owenites, Italian followers of Mazzini and other socialists of various persuasions. Over its short life it grew into a major movement, with local federations in many countries developing strong bases of working class activism. Karl Marx was a constant, and leading, figure from the start - he was elected to every succeeding General Council of the association. Due to the wide variety of philosophies present in the First International, there was conflict from the start. The first objections to Marx's came from the Mutualists who opposed communism and statism. However, shortly after Mikhail Bakunin and his followers (called Collectivists) joined in 1868, the First International became polarised into two camps, with Marx and Bakunin as their respective figureheads. Perhaps the clearest differences between the groups emerged over their proposed strategies for achieving their visions of socialism. The anarchists grouped around Bakunin favoured (in Kropotkin's words) "direct economical struggle against capitalism, without interfering in the political parliamentary agitation." Marxist thinking, at that time, focused on parliamentary activity. For example, when the new German Empire of 1871 became the first country to introduce manhood suffrage, many German socialists became active in the Marxist Social Democratic Party of Germany. Bakunin characterised Marx's ideas as authoritarian, and predicted that if a Marxist party gained to power its leaders would end up as bad as the ruling class they had fought against (notably in his [http://www.litencyc.com/php/adpage.php?id=1969 Statism and Anarchy].) In 1872, the conflict in the First International climaxed with a final split between the two groups at the Hague Congress. This clash is often cited as the origin of the long-running conflict between anarchists and Marxists. From then on, the authoritarian and libertarian currents of socialism had distinct organisations, at various points including rival 'internationals'. Unfortunately, many of the debates between the opposing camps became heated to the point of abusiveness. Bakunin did not restrain himself from hurling anti-German and anti-semitic slurs at Marx.

Anarchist Communism

Main article: Anarchist communism Unlike Marxism, anarchism has never had one central set of texts or authorities. But in the last three decades of the nineteenth century the anarchism of many of Bakunin's followers did gradually develop into a clearer position embracing an idea of communism. (Although Bakunin himself was not a communist - his view, sometimes called collectivism, combined collective ownership of the means of production with support for private possession of the produce of labour.) An early proponent of anarchist communism was Joseph Déjacque. In 1857 Déjacque, who was initially a follower of Proudhon, wrote to Proudhon arguing that: "it is not the product of his or her labor that the worker has a right to, but to the satisfaction of his or her needs, whatever may be their nature." Déjacque propagated his views through his journal called Le Libertaire, published in the United States from 1858-1861. Déjacque is also notable as the first person to describe himself as a "libertarian", and the 1857 letter contains the first appearance of the term in print.[http://recollectionbooks.com/bleed/Encyclopedia/DejacqueJoseph.htm][http://joseph.dejacque.free.fr/ecrits/lettreapjp.htm] libertarian The Italian federation of the First International, which overwhelmingly took the Bakuninist line, was perhaps the first organisation to set out an explicit vision of communist anarchism. The Italian anarchists included Carlo Cafiero, Errico Malatesta, Andrea Costa and other ex-Mazzinian Republicans. At its Florence Conference of 1876, their federation stated its principles as follows: :"The Italian Federation considers the collective property of the products of labour as the necessary complement to the collectivist programme, the aid of all for the satisfaction of the needs of each being the only rule of production and consumption which corresponds to the principle of solidarity." In his Anarchie et Communisme, Cafiero argued that private property even in the product of labor (Mutualist 'possession') will lead to unequal accumulation of capital, and therefore to class distinctions. Perhaps the most important theorist of anarchist communism was Peter Kropotkin. In a number of works including The Conquest of Bread and Fields, Factories and Workshops, Kropotkin plotted his views of what anarchist communist society might look like and how it might be achieved. Kropotkin's anarchist communism was closely linked to his scientific theory based on evolution in which co-operation equaled or surpassed competition in importance, as illustrated in Mutual Aid: A Factor in Evolution (1897). Subsequent figures in the theory of anarchist communism include Emma Goldman and Alexander Berkman. The anarcho-syndicalist movements (see below) generally saw anarchist communism as their objective. Isaac Puente's 1932 Comunismo Libertario was adopted by the Spanish CNT as its manifesto for an anarchist communist society.

Propaganda by the deed

CNT]] :(Main article: Anarchist terrorism) Anarchists have often been portrayed as dangerous and violent, due mainly to a number of high-profile violent acts including riots, assassinations, insurrections, and terrorism by some communist anarchists. Some revolutionaries of the late 19th century encouraged acts of political violence, such as bombings and the assassinations of heads of state to further anarchism. Such actions have sometimes been called 'propaganda by the deed'. One of the more outspoken advocates of this strategy was Johann Most, who said "the existing system will be quickest and most radically overthrown by the annihilation of its exponents. Therefore, massacres of the enemies of the people must be set in motion." Most's preferred method of terrorism, dynamite, earned him the moniker "Dynamost." Most anarchists, however, have condemned the use of terrorism and assassination. Even anarchists who see acts of violence as justified in a context of insurrection and class war would often view individual acts of terrorism as ineffective and counter-productive. However, there is no consensus on the legitimacy or utility of violence in general. Perhaps the majority of anarchists have advocated revolutionary expropriation, by violent means if necessary. Mikhail Bakunin and Errico Malatesta, for example, wrote of violence as a necessary and sometimes desirable force. [http://flag.blackened.net/revolt/anarchists/malatesta/rev_haste.html] Other anarchists, sometimes identified as pacifist anarchists, share a belief in nonviolence. Leo Tolstoy, whose philosophy is often viewed as a form of Christian anarchism, believed that nonviolent resistance was the only method to achieve any lasting social change. For Tolstoy and other pacifists all violence is illegitimate, irrespective of whether it is perpetrated by the state or by its opponents. Some of Proudhon's French followers took a similar position: some saw strike action as coercive and refused to take part in such traditional socialist tactics. (citation needed)

Anarchism at work

See also: Anarcho-syndicalism Anarcho-syndicalism In the late 19th century, anarcho-syndicalism developed as a movement pursuing industrial actions, especially the general strike, as the primary strategy to achieve anarchist revolution, and "build the new society in the shell of the old". Most anarcho-syndicalists shared a belief in anarchist communism as the best form of the future society, although not all anarchist communists agreed with syndicalism. According to the preamble to the constitution of the US-based Industrial Workers of the World (also called IWW or Wobblies) syndicalist union: ::It is the historic mission of the working class to do away with capitalism. The army of production must be organized, not only for everyday struggle with capitalists, but also to carry on production when capitalism shall have been overthrown. By organizing industrially we are forming the structure of the new society within the shell of the old.[http://pdx.iww.org/preamble.html] Anarcho-syndicalism formed a new wave of anarchism in beginning in the 1890's and 1900's. Even more than the anarchism of the International, this was anarchism brought out of the philosophy books and embodied in the ongoing struggle of millions of working class people. After the fall of the Paris Commune in 1871 French anarchists and socialists had suffered a dark period of repression similar to the aftermath of the 1848 revolution. Anarchism began to resurface in the 1880's and 1890's, and was a particular influence upon the Bourses de Travails of autonomous workers groups and trade unions. It was from this ground that the CGT trade union confederation, founded in 1895, was born. The CGT was the first major anarcho-syndicalist movement. CGT members Emile Pataud and Emile Pouget wrote the classic syndicalist text in 1909. The fictionalised How we will bring about the revolution (Comment nous ferons la revolution) tells the story of the birth of libertarian communism in a French general strike. However the CGT soon veered away from anarchism, and after the Russian Revolution of 1917 fell into the Communist camp. (The CGT is still an important French trade union, though now thoroughly reformist in sympathy.) In Chicago in June 1905, a convention of two hundred socialists, anarchists, and radical trade unionists from all over the United States founded the IWW. At its peak in 1923 the organization claimed some 100,000 members in good standing, and could marshal the support of perhaps 300,000 workers. The anarcho-syndicalist orientation of many early American labor unions played a large part in the formation of the American political spectrum. The United States is the only industrialized former British colony to not have a labor-based political party. Anarchism had been introduced into Spain by followers of Bakunin in the late 1860's, and quickly established itself as the dominant force within the Spanish socialist and working class movements. (See also - Anarchism in Spain.) Spanish anarchist trade union federations were formed in the 1870's and in 1900. But the most famous and most successful was the Confederación Nacional del Trabajo founded in 1910. The CNT was to become the major force in Spanish working class politics - it had a membership of 1.58 million in 1934. The CNT played a major role in the Spanish Civil War (see below). In Berlin in 1922 the CNT was amongst trade unions who joined together to form the International Workers Association, an anarcho-syndicalist successor to the First International. In Mexico, anarcho-syndicalists including Ricardo Flores Magón were key figures in the 1910-17 Mexican Revolution which overthrew the dictator Porfirio Diaz, exerting a strong influence on Anarchism throughout Latin America. This influence extends to the modern day Zapatista rebellion and the factory occupation movements in Argentina and elsewhere. In other parts of the world, anarcho-syndicalism lives on - although it is far from the force it once was (see below). Whilst engaging in everyday workplace struggles, anarcho-syndicalist trade unions distance themselves from the methods of the dominant 'reformist' trade unions which in their view merely seek short-term and compromising improvements. Anarcho-syndicalists in general uphold principles of workers solidarity, direct action, and self-management (see Anarcho-syndicalism).

The Russian Revolution

The Russian Revolution of 1917 was a seismic event in the development of anarchism as a movement and as a philosophy. Anarchists participated alongside the Bolsheviks in both February and October revolutions, many anarchists initially supporting the Bolshevik coup. However the Bolsheviks soon turned against the anarchists and other left-wing opposition, a conflict which culminated in the 1918 Kronstadt rebellion. Anarchists in central Russia were imprisoned or driven underground, or joined the victorious Bolsheviks. In Ukraine anarchists fought in the civil war against both Whites and Bolsheviks within the Makhnovshchina peasant army led by Nestor Makhno). Expelled American anarchists Emma Goldman and Alexander Berkman before leaving Russia were amongst those agitating in response to Bolshevik policy and the suppression of the Kronstadt uprising. Both wrote classic accounts of their experiences in Russia, aiming to expose the reality of Bolshevik control. For them, Bakunin's predictions about the consequences of Marxist rule had proved all too true. The victory of the Bolsheviks in the October Revolution and the resulting Russian Civil War did serious damage to anarchist movements internationally. Many workers and activists saw Bolshevik success as setting an example; Communist parties grew at the expense of anarchism and other socialist movements. In France and the US for example, the major syndicalist movements of the CGT and IWW began to realign themselves away from anarchism and towards the Communist International. In Paris, a group of Russian anarchist exiles around Nestor Makhno concluded that anarchists needed to develop new forms of organisation in response to the structures of Bolshevism. Their manifesto known as the Platform, or the "Organizational Platform of Libertarian Communists", was supported by some Anarchist Communists, but opposed by many others.

Religion

See also: Christian anarchism, Anarchism and religion Anarchism and religion Christian anarchism is the belief that there is only one source of authority to which Christians are ultimately answerable, the authority of God as embodied in the teachings of Jesus. Christian anarchists therefore feel that earthly authority such as government, or indeed the established church do not and should not have power over them. Christian anarchists are pacifists and oppose the use of all physical force, both proactive and reactive. Christian anarchists believe that freedom from earthly authority will only be guided by the grace of God if individuals display compassion for others and turn the other cheek when confronted by violence. Its adherents believe this quest for freedom is justified spiritually and quote the teachings of Jesus, some of whom are critical of the existing establishment and church. They believe all individuals can directly communicate with God and will eventually unify in peace under this one God. The most famous advocate of Christian anarchism was Leo Tolstoy, author of The Kingdom of God is Within You, who called for a society based on compassion, nonviolent principles and freedom. Some Christian anarchists oppose war and other statist aggression through tax resistance, while others submit to taxation. Tolstoy wrote that if the act of resisting taxes requires physical force to withhold what a government tries to take, then it is important to submit to taxation. Ammon Hennacy, who like Tolstoy also believed in nonresistance, managed to resist taxes without using force. Many Christian anarchists are vegetarian or vegan. Spiritual Anarchism, or Divine Anarchy, was originally expressed by the political revolutionary, poet and yogi Sri Aurobindo during the First World War in a series of articles published in the Arya, and later made available in two books, The Human Cycle and The Ideal of Human Unity. The exaggerations of both individualistic and communistic streams of anarchist thought are harmonized by going beyond the vital and intellectual foundations of most other schools of anarchism and rooting itself firmly in the spiritual realization and dynamic perfection of the individual and universal godhead in the race. A spiritual anarchist holds that a perfect form of social organization can only be achieved by governing our individual and collective life by a higher light than the intellectual reason, a deeper law of solidarity and oneness than emotional or mental bonds of association. Although it has deviated significantly from its course, the international township of Auroville was originally intended to be organized as a Divine Anarchy, and may well one day fulfill its purpose. Other forms of religious Anarchism include the Buddhist Anarchism of Tai-Xu which was strongly influenced by Tolstoy, but also looked to the ancient well-field system for inspiration. Buddhist Anarchism is one of several types of Chinese Anarchism which was influential in mainland China in the 1920's.

Anarchism and feminism

China See also: Anarcha-Feminism Anarcha-feminism is a kind of radical feminism that espouses the belief that patriarchy is a fundamental problem in society. While anarchist feminism has existed for more than a hundred years, its explicit formulation as anarcha-feminism dates back to the early 70s [http://www.anarcha.org/sallydarity/Anarcho-FeminismTwoStatements.htm], during the second-wave feminist movement. Anarcha-feminism, views patriarchy as the first manifestation of hierarchy in human history; thus, the first form of oppression occurred in the dominance of male over female. Anarcha-feminists then conclude that if feminists are against patriarchy, they must also be against all forms of hierarchy, and therefore must reject the authoritarian nature of the state and capitalism. Anarcho-primitivists see the creation of gender roles and patriarchy a creation of the start of civilization, and therefore consider primitivism to also be an anarchist school of thought that addresses feminist concerns. Eco-feminism is often considered a feminist variant of green anarchist feminist thought. Anarcha-feminism is most often associated with early 20th-century authors and theorists such as Emma Goldman and Voltairine de Cleyre, although even early first-wave feminist Mary Wollstonecraft held proto-anarchist views, and William Godwin is often considered a feminist anarchist precursor. In the Spanish Civil War, an anarcha-feminist group, "Free Women", organized to defend both anarchist and feminist ideas. In the modern day anarchist movement, many anarchists, male or female, consider themselves feminists, and anarcha-feminist ideas are growing. The publishing of Quiet Rumors, an anarcha-feminist reader, has helped to spread various kinds of anti-authoritarian and anarchist feminist ideas to the broader movement.

The fight against fascism

In the 1920s and 1930s the familiar dynamics of anarchism's conflict with the state were transformed by the rise of fascism in Europe. In many cases, European anarchists faced difficult choices - should they join in popular fronts with reformist democrats and Soviet-led Communists against a common fascist enemy? Luigi Fabbri, an exile from Italian fascism, was amongst those arguing that fascism was something different: :Fascism is not just another form of government which, like all others, uses violence. It is the most authoritarian and the most violent form of government imaginable. It represents the utmost glorification of the theory and practice of the principle of authority. In France, where the fascists came close to insurrection in the February 1934 riots, anarchists divided over a 'united front' policy.[http://melior.univ-montp3.fr/ra_forum/en/people/berry_david/fascism_or_revolution.html] In Spain, the CNT initially refused to join a popular front electoral alliance, and abstention by CNT supporters led to a right wing election victory. But in 1936, the CNT changed its policy and anarchist votes helped bring the popular front back to power. Months later, the right responded with an attempted coup, and the Spanish Civil War was underway. In the history of anarchism the Spanish Civil War of (1936-1939) is a defining event on at least the scale of the First International or the Russian Revolution of 1917. A widely popular anarchist movement supported by anti-fascist militias took control of the industrial stronghold of Barcelona, and rural areas mainly in northeast Spain where they collectivized the land. For a few brief months in 1936-37 libertarian communism was being put into practice. But even before the eventual fascist victory, the anarchists were losing ground in a bitter struggle with the Stalinists. The CNT leadership often appeared confused and divided, with some members entering the government. Stalinist-led troops suppressed the collectives, and persecuted both dissident marxists and anarchists. The revolution was destroyed. Anarchism has never since come so close to realising the dream of "libertarian communism in one country" as in that short summer of anarchy.

Contemporary anarchism

Anarchism today comprises a range of philosophies, strategies and traditions. Below are brief profiles of some of these tendencies (in alphabetical order).

Anarcho-capitalism

See also: Anarcho capitalism Anarcho capitalism Anarcho-capitalism envisions a stateless society where private ownership of the means of production is supported, and economic decisions are made privately through the operation of a free market. They believe that all voluntary (non-coerced) transactions between consenting adults should be legal, so have no opposition to employment or interest. Anarcho-capitalism is an anti-state form of liberalism derived from classical liberal and Austrian economics, abolitionism and some topics from 19th century American individualist anarchism. Rather than adhering to a labor theory of value as many anarchists do, anarcho-capitalists tend to hold to the subjectivist theory of value, and as a consequence, do not oppose profit, capitalist authority or wage labour. Much of the credit for the foundations of anarcho-capitalist theory has been granted to Murray Rothbard who formally synthesized classical liberalism with Austrian economics. Rothbard defines anarchism in terms of the non-aggression principle: "an anarchist society [is] one where there is no legal possibility for coercive aggression against the person or property of any individual." However, individualist anarchism with no opposition to profit preceeded Rothbard but had not yet been called anarcho-capitalism, because the generally opposed to wage labor or capitalist hierarchy. For example, Rothbard said that Gustave de Molinari, in the 19th century, was the first to theorize anarcho-capitalism. Jakob Mauvillon is another 18th century individualist who has been called an anarcho-capitalist. Auberon Herbert advocated anarcho-capitalism in the 19th century, calling it "voluntaryism." While Rothbard based his anarchism on Natural Law, David Friedman ("The Machinery of Freedom") based it on utilitarianism, and Jan Narveson on contractarianism. Other important anarcho-capitalists include Hans-Hermann Hoppe, Lew Rockwell, and Bryan Caplan. Some minarchists, such as Ayn Rand, Robert Nozick, and Robert A. Heinlein, have also contributed to the theory or popularity of anarcho-capitalism. Early influences on anarcho-capitalism include Gustave de Molinari, Herbert Spencer, Lysander Spooner, and Benjamin Tucker. Many anarchists, social and individualist, deny that anarcho-capitalism is a form of anarchism, arguing that authoritarian institutions are inevitable in any capitalist system. On the other hand, there are American individualist anarchists that do regard it as a form of anarchism. [http://world.std.com/~bbrigade/badpp3.htm] [http://www.attackthesystem.com/capitalism.html] [http://www.spaz.org/~dan/individualist-anarchist/ac-vs-ia.html] Moreoever, anarcho-capitalists Wendy McElroy and Guglielmo Piombini regard their philosophy as "individualist anarchism." Anarcho-capitalism is compared and contrasted with classical individualist anarchism in the article Individualist anarchism and anarcho-capitalism.

Anarcho-primitivism

See also: anarcho-primitivism anarcho-primitivism] Beginning in the later part of the 20th century anarchist John Zerzan wrote in Elements of Refusal, and later, Future Primitive that civilization — not just the state — would need to fall for anarchy to be achieved. A rejection of industrial technology is also prominent in the views of many green anarchists. This worldview was associated with the growth of the anti-roads movement in the UK, Earth First! and the Earth Liberation Front in the US. Primitivism is a philosophy advocating a return to a pre-industrial and usually pre-agricultural society, and a critique of industrial civilization, and the alienation that technology, progress, etc, have created between people and the natural world. Primitivism believes that industrial society inevitably produces oppressive structures through specialization of tasks or division of labor, and that technology has similar negative implications. Most forms of primitivism question civilization itself. Primitivism general

Latin

Latin is an ancient Indo-European language originally spoken in the region around Rome called Latium. It gained great importance as the formal language of the Roman Empire. All Romance languages, those being most notably Spanish, French, Portuguese, Italian, and Romanian, are descended from Latin, and many words based on Latin are found in other modern languages such as English. The Latin alphabet, derived from the Greek, remains the most widely-used alphabet in the world. It is said that 80 percent of scholarly English words are derived from Latin (in a large number of cases by way of French). Moreover, in the Western world, Latin was a lingua franca, the learned language for scientific and political affairs, for more than a thousand years, being eventually replaced by French in the 18th century and English in the late 19th. Ecclesiastical Latin remains the formal language of the Roman Catholic Church to this day, and thus the official national language of the Vatican. The Church used Latin as its primary liturgical language until the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s. Latin is also still used (drawing heavily on Greek roots) to furnish the names used in the scientific classification of living things. The modern study of Latin, along with Greek, is known as Classics.

Main features

Latin is a synthetic inflectional language: affixes (which usually encode more than one grammatical category) are attached to fixed stems to express gender, number, and case in adjectives, nouns, and pronouns, which is called declension; and person, number, tense, voice, mood, and aspect in verbs, which is called conjugation. There are five declensions (declinationes) of nouns and four conjugations of verbs. There are six noun cases: #nominative (used as the subject of the verb or the predicate nominative), #genitive (used to indicate relation or possession, often represented by the English of or the addition of s to a noun), #dative (used of the indirect object of the verb, often represented by the English to or for), #accusative (used of the direct object of the verb, or object of the preposition in some cases), #ablative (separation, source, cause, or instrument, often represented by the English by, with, from), #vocative (used of the person or thing being addressed). In addition, some nouns have a locative case used to express location (otherwise expressed by the ablative with a preposition such as in), but this survival from Proto-Indo-European is found only in the names of lakes, cities, towns, small islands, and a few other words related to locations, such as "house", "ground", and "countryside". Latin itself, being a very old language, is far closer to Proto-Indo-European than are most modern Western European languages; it has, in fact, about the same relationship with PIE as modern Italian or French has to Latin. There are six general tenses in Latin (technically they are tense/aspect/mood complexes). The indicative mood can be used with all of them. The subjunctive mood, however, has only present, imperfect, perfect, and pluperfect tenses. These tenses in the subjunctive mood do not completely correlate in meaning to the tenses in the indicative. The following examples are of the first conjugation verb "laudare" ("to praise") in the indicative mood and the active voice:

Primary sequence tenses

# present (
laudo, "I praise") # imperfect (laudabam, "I was praising") # future (laudabo, "I shall praise," "I will praise")

Secondary sequence tenses

# perfect (
laudavi, "I praised", "I have praised") # pluperfect (laudaveram, "I had praised") # future perfect (laudavero, "I shall have praised," "I will have praised") The future perfect tense can also imply a normal future idea (like in "When I will have run...") and so may also sometimes be included in the primary sequence.

Latin and Romance

After the collapse of the Roman Empire, Latin evolved into the various Romance languages. These were for many centuries only spoken languages, Latin still being used for writing. For example, Latin was the official language of Portugal until 1296 when it was replaced by Portuguese. The Romance languages evolved from Vulgar Latin, the spoken language of common usage, which in turn evolved from an older speech which also produced the formal classical standard. Latin and Romance differ (for example) in that Romance had distinctive stress, whereas Latin had distinctive length of vowels. In Italian and Sardo logudorese, there is distinctive length of consonants and stress, in Spanish only distinctive stress, and in French even stress is no longer distinctive. Another major distinction between Romance and Latin is that all Romance languages, excluding Romanian, have lost their case endings in most words except for some pronouns. Romanian retains a direct case (nominative/accusative), an indirect case (dative/genitive), and vocative. In Italy, Latin is still compulsory in secondary schools as
Liceo Classico and Liceo Scientifico which are usually attended by people who aim to the highest level of education. In Liceo Classico Ancient Greek is a compulsory subject.

Latin and English

See Latin influence in English for a more complete exposition. English grammar is independent of Latin grammar, though prescriptive grammarians in English have been heavily influenced by Latin. Attempts to make English grammar follow Latin rules — such as the prohibition against the split infinitive — have not worked successfully in regular usage. However, as many as half the words in English were derived from Latin, including many words of Greek origin first adopted by the Romans, not to mention the thousands of French, hundreds of Spanish, Portuguese and Italian words of Latin origin that have also enriched English. During the 16th and on through the 18th century English writers created huge numbers of new words from Latin and Greek roots. These words were dubbed "inkhorn" or "inkpot" words (as if they had spilled from a pot of ink). Many of these words were used once by the author and then forgotten, but some remain. Imbibe, extrapolate, dormant and inebriation are all inkhorn terms carved from Latin words. In fact, the word etymology is derived from the Greek word etymologia, meaning "true sense of the word." Latin was once taught in many of the schools in Britain with academic leanings - perhaps 25% of the total [http://www.channel4.com/history/microsites/T/teachem2/thennow/]. However, the requirement for it was gradually abandoned in the professions such as the law and medicine, and then, from around the late 1960s, for admission to university. After the introduction of the Modern Language GCSE in the 1980s, it was gradually replaced by other languages, although it is now being taught by more schools along with other classical languages.

Latin education

The linguistic element of Latin courses offered in high schools or secondary schools, and in universities, is primarily geared toward an ability to translate Latin texts into modern languages, rather than using it in oral communication. As such, the skill of reading is heavily emphasized, whereas speaking and listening skills are barely touched upon. However, there is a growing movement, sometimes known as the Living Latin movement, whose supporters believe that Latin can, or should, be taught in the same way that modern "living" languages are taught, that is, as a means of both spoken and written communication. One of the most interesting aspects of such an approach is that it assists speculative insight into how many of the ancient authors spoke and incorporated sounds of the language stylistically; without understanding how the language is meant to be heard it is very difficult to identify patterns in Latin poetry. Institutions offering Living Latin instruction include the Vatican and the University of Kentucky. In Britain the Classical Association encourages this approach, and there has been something of a vogue for books describing the adventures of a mouse called Minimus. In the United States there is a thriving competitive organization for high school Latin students, the National Junior Classical League (the second-largest youth organization in the world after the Boy Scouts), backed up by the Senior Classical League for college students. Many would-be international auxiliary languages have been heavily influenced by Latin, and the moderately successful Interlingua considers itself to be the modernized and simplified version of the language (
le latino moderne international e simplificate). Latin translations of modern literature such as Paddington Bear, Winnie the Pooh, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Le Petit Prince, Max und Moritz, and The Cat in the Hat have also helped boost interest in the language.

See also

About the Latin language


- Latin grammar
- Latin spelling and pronunciation
- Latin declension
- Latin conjugation
- Latin alphabet
- List of Latin words with English derivatives
- Latin verbs with English derivatives
- Latin nouns with English derivatives
- ablative absolute
- Word order in Latin

About the Latin literary heritage


- Latin literature
- Romance languages
- Loeb Classical Library
- List of Latin phrases
- List of Latin proverbs
- Brocard
- List of Latin and Greek words commonly used in systematic names
- List of Latin place names in Europe
- Carmen Possum

Other related topics


- Roman Empire
- Internationalism

References


- Bennett, Charles E.
Latin Grammar (Allyn and Bacon, Chicago, 1908)
- N. Vincent: "Latin", in
The Romance Languages, M. Harris and N. Vincent, eds., (Oxford Univ. Press. 1990), ISBN 0195208293
- Waquet, Françoise,
Latin, or the Empire of a Sign: From the Sixteenth to the Twentieth Centuries (Verso, 2003) ISBN 1859844022; translated from the French by John Howe.
- Wheelock, Frederic.
Latin: An Introduction (Collins, 6th ed., 2005) ISBN 0060784237

External links


- [http://www.jambell.com/latin.html Latin Phrases for after dinner conversation (Thanks to Elaine Poole)]
- [http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=lat Ethnologue report for Latin]
- [http://forumromanum.org/literature/index.html Corpus Scriptorum Latinorum] is a comprehensive webography of Latin texts and their translations.
- [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/ The Perseus Project] has many useful pages for the study of classical languages and literatures, including [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/resolveform?lang=Latin an interactive Latin dictionary].
- [http://lysy2.archives.nd.edu/cgi-bin/words.exe words by William whitaker] is a dictionary program online capable of looking up various word forms.
- [http://retiarius.org/ Retiarius.Org] includes a Latin text search engine.
- [http://www.nd.edu/~archives/latgramm.htm Latin-English dictionary and Latin grammar from U of Notre Dame]
- [http://latin-language.co.uk/ Latin language] History of Latin language, Latin texts with English translation and a collection of dictionaries.
- [http://augustinus.eresmas.net/scl/ Societas Circulorum Latinorum] gathers together Latin Circles all over the world.
- [http://www.learnlatin.tk LearnLatin.tk] - Free online course in Latin
- [http://www.latintests.net/ LatinTests.net] - Lets Latin learners test their grammar and vocabulary with self-checking quizzes.
- [http://thelatinlibrary.com/ The Latin Library] contains many Latin etexts
- [http://www.textkit.com/ Textkit] has Latin textbooks and etexts.
- [http://www.websters-online-dictionary.org/definition/Latin-english/ Latin–English Dictionary]: from Webster's Rosetta Edition.
- [http://www.language-reference.com/ Language reference] Cross-foreign-language lexicon powered by its own search engine. All cross combinations between Latin and French, German, Italian, Spanish.
- [http://comp.uark.edu/~mreynold/rhetor.html Rhetor by Gabriel Harvey] was originally published in 1577 and never again reprinted.
- [http://freewebs.com/omniamundamundis omniamundamundis] Latin hypertexts from fourteen ancient Roman authors.
- [http://www.saltspring.com/capewest/pron.htm Pronunciation of Biological Latin, Including Taxonomic Names of Plants and Animals]
- [http://www.yleradio1.fi/nuntii Nuntii Latini (News in Latin)], written and spoken (RealAudio) news in latin. Weekly review of world news in Classical Latin, the only international broadcast of its kind in the world, produced by YLE, the Finnish Broadcasting Company.
- [http://www.tranexp.com:2000/InterTran?url=http%3A%2F%2F&type=text&text=Replace%20Me&from=eng&to=ltt InterTran Latin], Translate from Latin to ENGLISH or vice versa.
- [http://www.latinvulgate.com Latin Vulgate] The Latin and English of the Old & New Testaments in parallel, along with the Complete Sayings of Jesus in parallel Latin and English. Category:Classical languages Category:Ancient languages Category:Fusional languages Category:Languages of Italy Category:Languages of Vatican City als:Latein zh-min-nan:Latin-gí ko:라틴어 ja:ラテン語 simple:Latin language th:ภาษาละติน


Political science

Political science is a social science discipline that deals with the theory and practice of politics and the description and analysis of political systems and political behavior. It is academic, theoretical and research oriented. Fields and subfields of political science include political theory and philosophy, civics and comparative politics, national systems, cross-national political analysis, political development, international relations, foreign policy, international law and politics, public administration, administrative behavior, public law, judicial behavior, and politics and public policy. Approaches to the discipline include classical political philosophy, structuralism, and behavioralism, realism, pluralism, and institutionalism. Political science, as one of the social sciences, uses methods and techniques that relate to the kinds of inquiries sought: primary sources such as historical documents and official records, secondary sources such as scholarly journal articles, survey research, statistical analysis, and model building. Herbert Baxter Adams is credited with coining the phrase "political science" while teaching history at Johns Hopkins University.

History of political science

Main Article: History of political science

Antecedents of political science

While the study of politics is first found in the Western tradition in Ancient Greece, political science is a late arrival in terms of social sciences. However, the discipline has a clear set of antecedents such as moral philosophy, political philosophy, political economy, history, and other fields concerned with normative determinations of what ought to be and with deducing the characteristics and functions of the ideal state. In each historic period and in almost every geographic area, we can find someone studying politics and increasing political understanding. The antecedents of politics trace their roots back even earlier than Plato and Aristotle, particularly in the works of Homer, Hesiod, Thucydides, Xenophon, and Euripides. Later, Plato analyzed political systems, abstracted their analysis from more literary- and history- oriented studies and applied an approach we would understand as closer to philosophy. Similarly, Aristotle built upon Plato's analysis to include historical empirical evidence in his analysis. During the rule of Rome, famous historians such as Polybius, Livy and Plutarch documented the rise of the Roman Republic, and the organization and histories of other nations, while statesmen like Julius Caesar, Cicero and others provided us with examples of the politics of the republic and Rome's empire and wars. The study of politics during this age was oriented toward understanding history, understanding methods of governing, and describing the operation of governments. With the fall of the Roman Empire, there arose a more diffuse arena for political studies. The rise of monotheism and, particularly for the Western tradition, Christianity, brought to light a new space for politics and political action. During the Middle Ages, the study of politics was widespread in the churches and courts. Works such as Augustine of Hippo's The City of God synthesized current philosophies and political traditions with those of Christianity, redefining the borders between what was religious and what was political. Most of the political questions surrounding the relationship between church and state were clarified and contested in this period. In the Middle East and later other Islamic areas, works such as the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam and Epic of Kings by Ferdowsi provided evidence of political analysis, while the Islamic aristotelians such as Avicenna and later Maimonides and Averroes, continued Aristotle's tradition of analysis and empiricism, writing commentaries on Aristotle's works. During the Italian Renaissance, Niccolò Machiavelli established the emphasis of modern political science on direct empirical observation of political institutions and actors. Later, the expansion of the scientific paradigm during the Enlightenment further pushed the study of politics beyond normative determinations.

Political science

The advent of political science as a university discipline is evidenced by the naming of university departments and chairs with the title of political science arising in the 1860s. Integrating political studies of the past into a unified discipline is an ongoing project, and the history of political science has provided a rich field for the growth of both normative and positive political science, with each part of the discipline sharing some historical predecessors. In the 1950s and the 1960s, a behavioral revolution stressing the systematic and rigorously scientific study of individual and group behavior swept the discipline. At the same time that political science moved toward greater depth of analysis and more sophistication, it also moved toward a closer working relationship with other disciplines, especially sociology, economics, history, anthropology, psychology, and statistics. Increasingly, students of political behavior have used the scientific method to create an intellectual discipline based on the postulating of hypotheses followed by empirical verification and the inference of political trends, and of generalizations that explain individual and group political actions. Over the past generation, the discipline placed an increasing emphasis on relevance, or the use of new approaches and methodologies to solve political and social problems.

Contemporary political science

Political scientists study the allocation and transfer of power in decision-making, the roles and systems of governance including governments and international organizations, political behavior and public policies. They measure the success of governance and specific policies by examining many factors, including stability, justice, material wealth, and peace. Some political scientists seek to advance positive theses by analyzing politics. Others advance normative theses, by making specific policy recommendations. The study of politics is complicated by the frequent involvement of political scientists in the political process, since their teachings often provide the frameworks within which other commentators, such as journalists, special interest groups, politicians, and the electorate analyze issues and select options. Political scientists may serve as advisors to specific politicians, or even run for office as politicians themselves. Political scientists can be found working in governments, in political parties or as civil servants. They may be involved with non-governmental organizations (NGOs) or political movements. In a variety of capacities, people educated and trained in Political science can add value and expertise to corporations. Private enterprises such as think tanks, research institutes, polling and public relations firms often employ political scientists. In the United States, political scientists known as "Americanists" look at a variety of data including elections, public opinion and public policy such as Social Security reform, foreign policy, U.S. congressional power, and the Supreme Court to name only a few issues. As a discipline, political science is primarily advanced by articles in scholarly journals and academic books. The major journals, which are published by academic presses and are associated with associations of political science, are the American Political Science Review, the American Journal of Political Science, the Journal of Politics and British Journal of Political Science, referred to in the discipline as "APSR," "AJPS," "JoP," and "BJPS" respectively. Countless other journals focus on more specific areas of the discipline, for example Legislative Studies Quarterly and Political Research Quarterly.

Current fields of study

Civics an