Anarchism is a political philosophy that advocates self
governed societies with voluntary
institutions. These are often described as stateless societies, but several authors have defined
them more specifically as institutions based on non
hierarchical free associations. An anarchic
vision of society is nonviolent, self
managed and non
hierarchical, and Anarchist thinkers hold
dear to the ideal of democracy
rule by the people. They suggest political confederations of local
organizations; a "commune of communes" was how the 19th century Parisians Anarchists
articulated it. Anarchists seek to dissolve power instead of seize it. Therefore, they seek a social
revolution instead of a political one
In my opinion, Gandhi was a philosophical Anarchist because he believed that the good
of the whole society could be conceived in the classless, stateless democracy. The primary goal
was moral and ethical renewal of the society, with each individual as a self
governing being
tapping the higher faculties of cooperation, compassion, truth in speech and action. While
Gandhi advocated democracy, he differentiated between direct democracy and western
democracy.
In Gandhi's view, violence is the source of social problems, and the state is the manifestation of
this violence. Hence he concluded that "that state is perfect and non
violent where the people are
governed the least. The nearest approach to purest anarchy would be a democracy based on
nonviolence."For Gandhi, the way to achieve such a state of total nonviolence (ahimsa) was
changing of the people's minds rather than changing the state which governs people. Self
governance (swaraj) is the principle behind his theory of satyagraha. This swaraj starts from the
individual, then moves outward to the village level, and then to the national level; the basic ...
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