The insignificant trends of political thought. Contradictions and understatements

The main issue of this article are the insignificant trends of political thought and their contradictions and understatements. The article describes the following trends of political thought: anarchism, communism, nationalism, monarchism, transhumanism, primitivism, ruralism and also National anarchism, National Bolshevism and Slavophilism. These trends of political thought are characterized by internal contradictions and opposition to democracy.

Ruch Społeczeństwa Alternatywnego oraz Tranzytoryjna Formacja Totart były organizacjami, które zaistniały w latach 80. XX w. w Gdańsku. W artykule autor analizuje wspomniane organizacje, przedstawia sposób ich powstania i działania w ramach autorytarnego systemu PRL. Postawione zostało pytanie, czy gdańskie środowiska anarchistów stanowić mogły rodzaj ruchu społecznego. Skrótowo przeanalizowano także działalność innych grup funkcjonujących we wcześniejszym okresie w innych warunkach społecznych, tj. Beat Generation oraz Międzynarodówki Sytuacjonistycznej, i zarysowano, jakie podobieństwa łączyły wspomniane ruchy, a jakie różnice między nimi występowały.

The Problem of Degeneration in the Anarchist thought of Peter Kropotkin

Peter Kropotkin was one of the most theorists of anarchism, a respected scholar and a leading representative of the so-called Russian (Eastern) Darwinism. Merging political and scientific ambition by the “anarchist prince” underlaid his scientism and was an assumption for making a critical analysis of existing socio-economic reality in the light of its influence on the biological and moral condition of humankind. The Russian anarchist was convinced about the destructive influence of conditions produced by the state and capitalism which he found as the fundamental cause of human degeneration. In this context, Kropotkin’s political proposals may be seen as a try to overcome a progressing both biological and moral crisis of humankind. The aim of this article is to present the mentioned analysis and to demonstrate the influence and similarities of Kropotkin’s project to the so-called theory of degeneration that was popular in the second half of XIX century.

In contemporary political thought there are currents that have references to the term ‘anarchism’ in their names. These are: anarcho-primitivism, anarcho-transhumanism, and crypto-anarchism. The author formulated a hypothesis according to which the mentioned currents of political thought are currents of anarchism in so far as the idea of freedom is a primary value in them, and they are not currents of anarchism if freedom is treated in them as a consequence of the primordiality of other values or as a consequence of the processes of transformations taking place in the modern world and in the past. In order to verify this hypothesis, the author used the analysis of source texts, which made it possible to identify the analysed currents of political thought in the context of validity, superiority or inferiority of the idea of freedom in them, as well as the premises of its presence in these currents.

Jan Wacław Machajski (27.12.1866–19 02.1926)

Jan Wacław Machajski was characterized by a great changeability of moods and ability for going from one extreme to another – opposite to the previous one – from youthful years. Moreover, his attitude was very emotional and he was not deceived by any explanation or polemic. Originally he got involved in illegal activity in Polish national movement. However, having been arrested by Russians and sentenced to three years in prison and five years exile to the Eastern Siberia, he had radically changed his views and was fascinated by the extreme revolutionary idea embed in peculiar realities of the Russian Empire. Criticizing ideas preferred by Marxist and social democrats, he demanded anarchistic and freedom patterns. He created his own, original revolutionary doctrine, whose the central axis was proletariat, which was to cause revolution giving freedom for all the people enslaved in the country of tsars. After the return from the exile, he lived abroad in Switzerland, but his eccentric ideas found many adherents in Russia in the first two decades of the twentieth century. They had stimulated their own activity within the framework of so-called working conspiracy in times of Revolution in 1905 and other anarchistic and radical groups existing in the area of the Russian Empire.