Posed similar questions about communism in the past. I’m just trying to understand, I ask because I know there is a reasonable contingent of anarchists here. If you have any literature to recommend I’d love to hear about it. My current understanding is, destruction of current system of government (violently or otherwise) followed by abolition of all law. Following this, small communities of like minded individuals form and cooperate to solve food, safety, water and shelter concerns.
Yes, that’s generally the caveat.
Anarchism works really well in groups where everyone knows everyone else personally, the community is protected from outside attacks by a non-anarchist superstructure, and everyone is free to leave if they don’t like it.
You can have an anarchist commune, village or town, but not an anarchist nation-state surrounded by other nation-states.
I’d even claim that small homogeneous communities naturally gravitate towards anarchism (without outside force), but large communities naturally gravitate towards authoritarianism.
Democracy in its ideal form combines the two: A state with well-defined, legitimized, limited authority handling the big stuff, giving the maximum amount of freedom possible to local communities for handling their own stuff the way they want to.