anarcho-communism

ideology

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July 17, 2026

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Anarcho-communism is a political ideology that advocates for communal ownership of property and the abolition of the state. It posits that the state and private property are interconnected, with the state protecting private property and vice versa. Therefore, to achieve communal ownership and equal distribution, the state must be dismantled.1

Key figures in anarcho-communism include William Godwin, Mikhail Bakunin, Peter Kropotkin, and Emma Goldman. Bakunin, in particular, critiqued Marx's idea of a transitional "dictatorship of the proletariat," arguing that any state, even a temporary one, tends to expand its control and limit liberty. Kropotkin, on the other hand, used scientific and historical evidence to argue that cooperation, rather than competition, is a key factor in evolutionary success. Emma Goldman campaigned against institutions like marriage, capitalism, and the state, viewing them as oppressive.12

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socialism
Anarcho-communism
Neither Tolstoy’s religion nor his pacifism was shared by the earlier flamboyant Russian anarchist Mikhail Bakunin, who held that religion, capitalism, and the state are forms of oppression that must be smashed if people are ever to be free. As he stated in an…
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Neither Tolstoy’s religion nor his pacifism was shared by the earlier flamboyant Russian anarchist Mikhail Bakunin, who held that religion, capitalism, and the state are forms of oppression that must be smashed if people are ever to be free. As he stated in an…
Read More

communism
Non-Marxian communism
…most influential is anarchism, or anarcho-communism, which advocates not only communal ownership of property but also the abolition of the state. Historically important anarcho-communists have included William Godwin in England, Mikhail Bakunin and Peter Kropotkin in Russia (though both spent much of their lives in exile), and Emma Goldman in…
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…most influential is anarchism, or anarcho-communism, which advocates not only communal ownership of property but also the abolition of the state. Historically important anarcho-communists have included William Godwin in England, Mikhail Bakunin and Peter Kropotkin in Russia (though both spent much of their lives in exile), and Emma Goldman in…
Read More