, the founder of collectivist anarchism Collectivist anarchism was first formulated within the
International Workingmen's Association (IWA), under the influence of
Mikhail Bakunin. Bakunin had been inspired by the traditional
agrarian collectivism practiced by the Russian peasantry and wished to see its principles of
mutual aid applied to industrial society, which he hoped to mobilise in favour of
liberty and
social equality. According to
Friedrich Engels, Bakunin's collectivism represented a synthesis of
Karl Marx's
communism and
Pierre-Joseph Proudhon's
mutualism. Bakunin rejected the communist principle of "
from each according to their ability, to each according to their needs", considering instead that resources would have to be distributed according to one's own labour. While Bakunin accepted Proudhon's organisational theory of
federalism, he also rejected the mutualist centring of the independent
artisan, instead considering the
collective to be the base social unit for organising society. Bakunin's collectivism had widespread appeal in
Spain, where industrial workers and rural peasants found inspiration in its precepts of
decentralisation and
direct action. From the outset of anarchism's introduction to Spain in 1868, Spanish anarchists largely subscribed to collectivism, inspired by Bakunin's anarchist doctrine, while also drawing from the
anti-authoritarianism and
federalism espoused by
Francesc Pi i Margall. Pi's influence on the collectivists was most pronounced in the work of
Juan Serrano Oteiza, an early convert to collectivist anarchism who envisaged a federal society that upheld the
autonomy of the individual, trade union and municipality. But Serrano's collectivism differed from Pi's federalism by rejecting reformist political parties and instead upholding the
working class as the agents of revolutionary change. By the 1870s, the
Spanish Regional Federation of the
International Workingmen's Association (FRE-AIT) had widely disseminated the doctrine of collectivist anarchism, with its principles being widely adopted by workers' societies, many of which were not even anarchist themselves. Following the collapse of the FRE-AIT, in 1881, the Barcelona branch reconstituted the organisation as the
Federation of Workers of the Spanish Region (FTRE), which was established according to the principles of collectivist anarchism.
Break with anarcho-communism While anarchist theory in Spain remained stagnant, with collectivist positions staying largely unchanged, the international anarchist movement developed towards
anarcho-communism and many anarchists began to adopt the theory of
propaganda of the deed, in a process spearheaded by the
Italian anarchists. Within the
Jura Federation, collectivists led by
Adhémar Schwitzguébel resisted the adoption of communism, but the transition from collectivism to communism went by largely without controversy. However, in Spain, where collectivist anarchists had been uniquely successful within the trade unionist movement, collectivism maintained its foothold for much longer than in other countries. It was only when their trade union activities began to be suppressed that the Spanish anarchists gravitated towards communism. , a prominent collectivist anarchist who was also influential in the development of
anarcho-communism The anarcho-communists criticized the collectivist model of workers' entitlement to the fruit of their labour, which they believed would disenfranchise non-producers and risk creating a new ruling class that determined wages. Instead, they advocate for the abolition of wage labour and its replacement with a system of solidarity, where all property was held in common. This development of collectivism into communism had been preceded by the writings of
James Guillaume, who outlined a post-capitalist system where resources would be distributed "
from each according to their ability, to each according to their needs", while the collectivist system would be used during the transition out of capitalism. In organizational terms, the communists opposed the trade unions advocated by the collectivists, viewing them as fundamentally reformist and bureaucratic, and thus as incompatible with anti-authoritarian models of organization. Instead, the communists preferred small
affinity groups that could carry out violent attacks against the economic order, upholding the theory of
propaganda of the deed. In 1884, the
Seville Congress of the FTRE resulted in many anarchists leaving the organisation, as they no longer believed it to be the best vehicle for organising the working class towards a social revolution. This preceded a complete break between Spanish collectivists and communists, which took place the following year. Serrano attempted to defend the collectivism of the FTRE from the rise of communism, considering the two tendencies to be irreconcilably opposed to each other. But Serrano's arguments were unsuccessful in rallying support, as the more moderate collectivism began to give way to the more radical communism. Public debates on the merits of the two systems also lay the groundwork for the development of an intellectual tradition in Spanish anarchism.
Decline of collectivism The rise of communism, which challenged the collectivist principles of the FTRE, eventually resulted in the organisation's dissolution. In 1888, the Catalan regional federation of the FTRE was reorganised into the
Pact of Union and Solidarity (PUS), which nominally retained a collectivist orientation, but accepted members from all tendencies. The collectivist
Ricardo Mella opposed the formation of the Pact, as he considered it to be a fundamentally communist organisation and worried it would undermine the FTRE. The collapse of the FTRE marked the supplanting of collectivism as the dominant anarchist ideology in Spain, as the communists consolidated control over the movement. Mella hoped to reconstitute the FTRE, refusing to even recognise its dissolution and proposing its reorganisation along more decentralised lines. But his efforts were ultimately futile, as most Spanish collectivists supported the dissolution of the FTRE. , an anarcho-communist who attempted to reconcile the schism between collectivism and communism by means of a pluralist organisation In the years that followed, efforts were made in the libertarian press to reconcile the split. In the pages of '''', the collectivist made appeals against
dogmatism. Anarchists that opposed the schism eventually went on to establish the tendency of "
anarchism without adjectives", in order to overcome the ideological disputes between the two factions. The collectivist-communist debate also inspired
Errico Malatesta to develop towards a
pluralist conception of anarchism. Although he personally favoured anarcho-communism, he distinguished between his desired ends and the means by which the
social revolution would take place, believing that the organisation of society should be left to spontaneous development. He thus proposed a union between communists and collectivists, based on a common tactical line, arguing against dogmatism as an
authoritarian instinct. But in spite of his pluralist inclinations, Malatesta continued to argue against collectivism, considering it to be incompatible with anarchism. By the end of the 19th century, collectivism had been reduced to a minority tendency in Spain, subsumed by anarcho-communism. This also gave way to the development of
anarcho-syndicalism, which united
community and labour organizing, overcoming both the
localism of the collectivists and the conspiratorial nature of the communists.
Later developments Collectivist anarchism remained prominent in the rural areas of
Andalusia, where local
skilled workers were attracted to the promises of collective labour, with individual ownership over the fruits of that labour. During the
Spanish Revolution of 1936, many of the ideas proposed by collectivist anarchism were put into practice, as the advance of the
confederal militias gave way to the widespread
collectivization of agriculture (around 35-40%) throughout the
Spanish Republic. Modern descendants of collectivist anarchism include
participatory economics, as advocated by
Michael Albert and
Robin Hahnel, which takes up the collectivist model of remuneration. == People ==