Anarcho-Nihilism: Difference between revisions

'''Nihilism''' as a political movement first appeared in Czarist Russia in the middle of the 19th century and is known under the name of [[File:RussianNil.png]] [[w:Russian_nihilist_movement|Russian Nihilism]]. The leading Russian anarchist of the time [[wFile:Peter_Kropotkin|Peter Kropotkin.png]] Peter Kropotkin defined nihilismNihilism as «the symbol of struggle against all forms of tyranny, hypocrisy, and artificiality and for individual freedom». Russian Nihilism was meant to bring down all traditional social structures without necessarily proposing an alternative. Many Russian Nihilists were sympathetic to socialism, however, their primary aim was a destructive revolt, first cultural then armed, which resulted in the assassination of the Russian czar [[w:Alexander_II_of_Russia|Alexander II]]. As the nihilist Bazarov, the character of the [[w:Fathers_and_Sons_(novel)|Fathers and Sons]] novel (1862), maintained, Nihilists are here to destroy, and building will be a job of the different people.

It worth noting that, although many Russian Nihilists were egoists, they were rather far from the egoism as understood by Stirner. Apart from being generally left-leaning, they embraced ontological materialism, hard determinism and scientism (i. e. the cult of science). You could call them ordinary egoists as contrasted with philosophical.

Modern Anarcho-Nihilism is influenced by [[File:Anego.png]] [[Anarcho-Egoism|Stirner's Egoism]] and [[File:RussianNil.png]] [[w:Russian_nihilist_movement|Russian Nihilism]]. From Egoism it takes philosophical negation of social institutions and religion, from Russian Nihilism the inclination for active social disruption. Stirner opposed the notion of revolution which is seen as centralized and re-enslaving. Instead Stirner proposes an insurrection, that is, a spontaneous and decentralized revolt. In his book Stirner specifically notes that he means not a literal insurrection, but rather spitirual; however, his call for insurrection can be understood quite literally, and exemplified by Anarcho-Nihilists.