A-Infos (en) Ireland's anarchist paper Workers Solidarity #107 - Thinking About Anarchism - The Selfish Gene? by Kevin Doyle

Anarchists want to change the world. Instead of the present order – capitalism – with its focus on 
inequality and profits for a few, we want to build a new society based around the principles of 
participatory democracy, freedom and production for need not profit. For anarchists the type of 
society we want to build is best summed up by the slogan: ‘To each according to their needs, from 
each according to their ability’. ---- Is an anarchist society possible? Although many people agree 
that it sounds like a good project, there are also plenty who argue that an anarchist society 
simply wouldn’t work. ‘Come off of it,’ the objectors say. ‘People are selfish and only interested 
in looking out for themselves. After all it’s human nature – most people, given a choice, would put 
themselves before the rest of society. How could an anarchist society function if this is true?’

For anarchists human nature is not an obstacle. In actual fact, anarchists look at it the other way 
around. In other words anarchists think that it is precisely because of human nature that the 
prospects for building an anarchist society are so good in the first place.

For anarchists the important issue is the conditions of life under which we live at any one time. 
Right now – in capitalist societies – at work and in large areas of society, we are forced to 
compete with one another all the time. Indeed for most of us from an early age it is the idea of 
competition rather than cooperation that is fostered. For example at school we learn competition 
via the exams process. And at work we are divided into ‘contract’ or ‘full-time’ workers – and so 
on and so forth.

Everywhere in fact, around us, we are confronted with the notion that as individuals we should be 
‘doing better’ and working harder – and to do this we should compete more with our neighbours. The 
idea of competition is central to capitalism, and is very effective because under capitalism 
society is organised hierarchically. The ever present hierarchy means that there is the constant 
sense of the pecking order – in terms of pay, social position, individual standing.

This has the overwhelming effect of creating a climate of competition and it’s not any surprise to 
anarchists that as a result we do see a lot of negative impulses in society and around us. But what 
must be borne in mind, first and foremost, is that this negativity (or selfishness) has more to do 
with how society is organised than with who we are as people.

But there is even more evidence that fundamentally human nature is a very positive force. Despite 
the competition fostered in this society people find loads of ways to make things different. For 
example throughout the ages workers have created unions and have struggled together – very often 
against great odds – to shorten the working day and improve pay rates.

Although we all know things could be hugely better, we still owe a debt to those who made the 
effort and collectively fought for better conditions for all workers. How do such advances by 
workers – based around the idea of solidarity - tie in with the notion of ‘people being selfish’? 
The truth is they don’t. People aren’t universally selfish of self-centred. A huge part of our 
lives is about helping others and cooperating – it is on this platform that a future anarchist 
society can be built.

Human nature is actually one of the strongest weapons we have – as anarchists see it. Why is that? 
Well, people want to be free! The desire to be free, to run your own life and not be ordered about 
by a boss (or a husband or a teacher or a cop) is an irrepressible and central part of who we are. 
It’s why people from time immemorial rebel as individuals against an injustice but it is also why 
communities and groups of workers come together to fight for their rights and for a new order.

Essentially – and you will find it hard to find anyone who will dispute this – we all want to live 
in conditions where we have justice and equality. Sometimes the idea of ‘justice and equality’ can 
seem like a small demand, but at other times the desire for it is the stuff of revolutions. We only 
have to look back through our own history to see countless examples of where people have taken 
small stands against seemingly small injustices only to end up shaking great powers into dust. They 
did this not in spite of human nature but because of it. To be human, after all, is to want to be free.
Workers Solidarity Movement - Anarchist communist organisation in Ireland     http://www.wsm.ie
http://www.wsm.ie/news_viewer/4951

The Workers Solidarity Movement is an anarchist communist group based in Ireland. It is involved in 
workplace and social struggles.
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