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Evolution And Revolution:Anarchist Imaginaries Between Biology And Politics In The Early Twentieth Century

Year: 2024
Type: article
Abstract: The development of the anarchist movement, spearheaded in the U.S. by the followers of the theorist of anarchism, Petr Kropotkin, presents a paradox.How did Kropotkin's theory, which negated Charles Darwin's emphasis on struggle and competition, emphasizing instead cooperation and mutual aid in both social and biological realms, spur a trend of anarchist terrorist acts in the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century?This paper tries to answer this question by considering, in turn, the entanglement of the theories of anarchism with Darwinian evolutionary thought in the late nineteenth century, the acts of terrorism allegedly committed by the anarchists in the U.S. in the early twentieth century, and the ways that the United States government put forth a series of provisions to suppress the anarchist movement while demonizing it via racialized and eugenics-driven portrayal of the anarchists.In its attempt to ght terrorism by linking it to anarchist ideology, the U.S. Congress had put forth stringent immigration legislation in place and constructed an infrastructure of national security seeped in surveillance, xenophobia, and eugenics.This response, I argue, only contributed to the radicalization of the anarchist movement, justifying the goal of revolting against the coercion of the state in the name of establishing statelessness.The actions of both sides raise the question of any type of political advocacy: can the ends justify the means? Evolutionary Theory and Anarchist PhilosophyCharles Darwin's theory of evolution was published in 1859, prompting various interpretations and appropriations.Darwin's ndings and his theory were utilized, added upon, and changed by many thinkers and philosophers beyond the natural sciences, who appealed to evolution in their thinking about the place of God, the role of women in society, the nature of wars, poverty, and nationhood. 2 2 Elena Aronova, "The Darwinian Revolution" (HIST 107C, University of California, Santa Barbara, Winter 2024).Lecture "Religious Encounters with Evolution," 29 January 2024.1 Cecilia Aden is a fourth year History of Public Policy and Law and Economics double major at UC Santa Barbara, with an interest in how incarceration and punishment-based legal systems have evolved and changed.Upon graduation, she hopes to attend law school and work to abolish the prison system.
Author: Aden, Cecilia
Language: English
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7009669882
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