"No excuse! Right-wing extremism and how youth work should react" Training 2009-09-20 - 2009-09-27 Saxassa

[markuspetz]

http://www.salto-youth.net/find-a-training/1614.html

"No excuse! Right-wing extremism and how youth work should react"
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Training details
Activity organised by NGO/Others
Summary Aim:
Comparing the situation of right-wing extremism / extreme right wing philosophy in the different countries as it is now and its disastrous influence on young people and with this on our democratic systems.
Activity date 2009-09-20 - 2009-09-27
Activity type Training course
Target group Project managers, Trainers, Youth leaders, Youth Policy Makers, Youth workers
For participants from ALL YOUTH IN ACTION PROGRAMME COUNTRIES
Group size 20
Venue place, venue country Lützensömmern, Germany
Details During the seminar we will develop strategies how youth work can react in this situation e.g. how to start off a value based discussion in order to strengthen our democratic based societies.
Costs No participation fee, 30% of travel costs
Working language English
Organizer Landesjugendwerk der AWO Thüringen
Organizer's profile/framework of activity We are the youth organisation of one of the biggest social welfare organizations in Germany, the Arbeiterwohlfahrt. We work as an umbrella organisation for our youth clubs und youth groups in the county. We encourage and empower young people to organize their free time themselves in order to support them to stand up for their rights.
Deadline 2009-09-16
Date of selection 2009-09-16
Downloads
Application to
Landesjugendwerk der AWO Thüringen
Christin Voigt
Pfeiffersgasse 12, 99084 Erfurt
Phone: 0049 361 21031139
Fax: 0049 361 21031349
E-mail: christin.voigt@awo-thueringen.de
http://www.jw-zukunft.de

[Teemu]

Markus? How i can apply? Do i need Hirvitalo to be a sending org?

[ville]

Red Army Faction
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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"Baader-Meinhof" redirects here. For other uses, see Baader-Meinhof (disambiguation).
Red Army Faction

Later design of the RAF's insignia showing a red star and MP5
Dates of operation 1968 – 1998
Motives Armed resistance and proletarian revolution
Active region(s) West Germany
Ideology Anarcho-Communism,
New left
Major actions Numerous bombings and assassinations
Notable attacks West German embassy siege, German Autumn
Status Final action and confrontations in 1993. Apparently officially disbanded on 20 April 1998.

The Red Army Faction (German: Rote Armee Fraktion), shortened to RAF and in its early stages commonly known as Baader-Meinhof Group or Gang, was one of postwar West Germany's most violent and prominent groups who advocated communist-inspired terrorism. The RAF described itself as a communist "urban guerrilla" group engaged in armed resistance against what they deemed to be a fascist state. The RAF was formally founded in 1970 by Andreas Baader, Gudrun Ensslin, Horst Mahler, and Ulrike Meinhof. Irmgard Möller and Brigitte Mohnhaupt joined early in 1971.

The Red Army Faction operated from the late 1960s to 1998, committing numerous operations, especially in the autumn of 1977, which led to a national crisis that became known as "German Autumn". It was held responsible for 34 deaths, including many secondary targets—such as chauffeurs and bodyguards—and many injuries in its almost 30 years of activity. Although more well-known, the RAF conducted fewer attacks than the Revolutionary Cells (RZ), which is held responsible for 296 bomb attacks, arson and other attacks between 1973 and 1995.[1]
Contents
[hide]

* 1 Background
* 2 Formation of the RAF
o 2.1 Anti-imperialism and public support
* 3 Custody and the Stammheim trial
* 4 German Autumn
* 5 The RAF since the 1980s
* 6 Name
o 6.1 Faction versus Fraktion
o 6.2 RAF versus Baader-Meinhof
* 7 List of assaults attributed to the RAF
* 8 Films
* 9 RAF Commandos
* 10 In fiction and art
* 11 References
* 12 Further reading
* 13 External links

[edit] Background

The Red Army Faction's Urban Guerrilla Concept is not based on an optimistic view of the prevailing circumstances in the Federal Republic and West Berlin.

—The Urban Guerrilla Concept authored by RAF co-founder Ulrike Meinhof (April 1971)

The origins of the group can be traced back to the student protest movement in West Germany. Industrialised nations in late 1960s experienced social upheavals related to the maturing of the baby boomers born after World War II, the Cold War, and the end of colonialism. Newly-found youth identity and issues such as racism, women's liberation and anti-imperialism were at the forefront of left-wing politics.

In West-Germany there was anger among leftist youth at failures in the post-war denazification in West and East Germany which was seen as ineffective.[2]. The Communist Party of Germany had been outlawed since 1956. Elected and unelected government positions down to the local level were often occupied by ex-Nazis.[3]. Konrad Adenauer, the first Federal Republic chancellor had even kept on the Nazi chancellery secretary, Hans Globke.

The conservative media were considered biased by the radicals as they were owned and controlled by conservatives such as Axel Springer, who was implacably opposed to student radicalism. The late-1960s saw the emergence of the Grand Coalition between the two main parties—the SPD and CDU with Kurt Georg Kiesinger, a former Nazi Party member as chancellor. This horrified many on the left and was viewed as monolithic, political marriage of convenience with pro-NATO, pro-capitalist collusion on the part of the social democratic SPD. With 95% of the Bundestag controlled by the coalition, the APO or 'Extra-Parliamentary Opposition' was formed with the intent of generating protest and political activity outside of government.[4] In 1972 a law was passed—the Berufsverbot, which banned radicals or those with a 'questionable' political persuasion from public sector jobs.[5]

They'll kill us all. You know what kind of pigs we're up against. This is the Auschwitz generation. You can't argue with people who made Auschwitz. They have weapons and we haven't. We must arm ourselves!
—Gudrun Ensslin speaking after the death of Benno Ohnesorg. [6]

Young people were alienated from both their parents and the institutions of state. The historical legacy of fascism drove a wedge between the generations and increased suspicion of authoritarian structures in society (some analysts see the same occurring in Italy, giving rise to "Brigate Rosse" or Red Brigades).[7]

The radicalized took the view that West Germany did not need to be an out-and-out totalitarian state and were, like many in the New Left influenced by:

* Sociological developments, pressure within the educational system in and outside Europe and the U.S. together with the background of counter-cultural movements.
* The writings of Mao Zedong adapted to Western European conditions.
* Post-war writings on class society and empire as well as contemporary Marxist critiques from many revolutionaries such as Franz Fanon, Ho Chi Minh and Che Guevara as well as early Autonomism.
* Philosophers associated with the Frankfurt school (Habermas, Marcuse and Negt in particular[8]) and associated Marxian philosophers.[9]

RAF founder Ulrike Meinhof had a long history in the old illegal communist party. Holger Meins had studied film and was a veteran of the Berlin revolt, his short feature How To Produce A Molotov Cocktail had been seen by huge audiences. Jan Carl Raspe had lived at the Kommune 2, Horst Mahler had been an established lawyer, but was also at the center of the anti-Springer revolt from the beginning. From their own personal experiences and assessments of the socio-economic situation they soon became more specifically influenced by Leninism and Maoism, calling themselves 'Marxist-Leninist' though they effectively added to or updated this ideological tradition. A contemporaneous critique of the Red Army Faction's view of the state, published in pirate edition of Le Monde Diplomatique, ascribed to it 'state-fetishism' - an ideologically obsessive misreading of bourgeois dynamics and the nature and role of the state in post-WWII societies, including of course West Germany. [10]

It is claimed that property destruction during the Watts Riots in the United States in 1965 influenced the practical and ideological approach of the RAF founders as well as some of those in Situationist circles.[11]

The writings of Antonio Gramsci[12] and Herbert Marcuse[13] were drawn upon. Gramsci wrote on power, cultural and ideological conflicts in society and institutions—real-time class struggles playing out in rapidly developing industrial nation states through interlinked areas of political behaviour, Marcuse on coercion and hegemony in that cultural indoctrination and ideological manipulation through the means of communication—"repressive tolerance"—expended the need for complete brute force in modern 'liberal democracies'. His One-Dimensional Man was addressed to the restive students of the sixties. Marcuse argued that only marginal groups of students and poor, alienated workers could effectively resist the system.[14] Both Gramsci and Marcuse came to the conclusion that the ideological underpinnings and the 'superstructure' of society was vitally important in the understanding of class control (and acquiescence). This could perhaps be seen as an extension of Marx's work as he did not cover this area in detail. Das Kapital, his mainly economic work was meant to be one of a series of books which would have included one on society and one on the state,[15] but his death prevented fulfilment of this.

Many of the radicals felt that Germany's lawmakers were continuing authoritarian policies and the public's apparent 'acquiescence' was seen as a continuation of the indoctrination the Nazis had pioneered in society (Volksgemeinschaft). The Federal Republic was exporting arms to African dictatorships, which was seen as supporting the war in Southeast Asia and engineering the remilitarization of Germany with the U.S.-led entrenchment against the Warsaw Pact nations.

Ongoing events further catalyzed the situation. Peaceful protests turned into riots on 2 June 1967, when Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the Shah of Iran, visited West Berlin. The Shah's security were armed with wooden staves and were free to beat protesters. After a day of angry protests by exiled Persians, a group widely supported by German students, the Shah visited the Berlin Opera, where a crowd of student protesters gathered. During the opera house demonstrations, a German student Benno Ohnesorg—who was attending his first protest rally—was shot in the head by a police officer. The officer, Karl-Heinz Kurras, was acquitted in a subsequent trial. It has now been discovered that this officer had been a member of the West Berlin communist party SEW and had also worked for the Stasi.[16]

Along with perceptions of state and police brutality, and widespread opposition to the Vietnam War, Ohnesorg's death galvanised many young Germans, and became a rallying point for the West German New Left. The Berlin Movement 2 June, a militant-Anarchist group later took its name to honour the date of Ohnesorg's death.

Before that the monopoly on violence had never been put into question by German oppositionists after 1945. In the spring of 1968 Gudrun Ensslin and Andreas Baader, who were joined by Thorwald Proll and Horst Söhnlein, decided to set fire to two department stores in Frankfurt as a protest against the Vietnam war. Two days later, on 2 April 1968, they were arrested.
The aftermath of a department store arson attack

While the four defendants were on trial, the journalist Ulrike Meinhof published several sympathetic articles in the most respected leftist political magazine konkret.

Meanwhile, on 11 April 1968, Rudi Dutschke, a leading spokesman for the protesting students, was shot in the head in an assassination attempt by the right-wing extremist Josef Bachmann. Although badly injured, Dutschke returned to political activism with the German Green Party before his death in a bathtub in 1979, which was a late consequence of his injuries.

Axel Springer's populist newspaper Bild-Zeitung, which had headlines such as "Stop Dutschke now!", was accused of being the chief culprit for inciting the shooting. Meinhof commented: "If one sets a car on fire, that is a criminal offence. If one sets hundreds of cars on fire, that is political action."[citation needed]

[edit] Formation of the RAF

"World War II was only 20 years earlier. Those in charge of the police, the schools, the government — they were the same people who’d been in charge under Nazism. The chancellor, Kurt Georg Kiesinger, was a Nazi. People started discussing this only in the 60's. We were the first generation since the war, and we were asking our parents questions. Because of the Nazi past, everything bad was compared to the Third Reich. If you heard about police brutality, that was said to be just like the SS. The moment you see your own country as the continuation of a fascist state, you give yourself permission to do almost anything against it. You see your action as the resistance that your parents did not put up."
— Stefan Aust, author of Der Baader Meinhof Komplex [17]

All four of the defendants were convicted of arson and endangering human life for which they were sentenced to three years in prison. In June 1969, however, they were temporarily paroled under an amnesty for political prisoners, but in November of that year, the Federal Constitutional Court (Bundesverfassungsgericht) demanded that they return to custody. Only Horst Söhnlein complied with the order; the rest went underground and made their way to France, where they stayed for a time in a house owned by prominent French journalist and revolutionary, Régis Debray, famous for his friendship with Che Guevara and the focus theory of guerrilla warfare. Eventually, they made their way to Italy, where Mahler visited them and encouraged them to return to Germany with him to form an underground guerilla group.

The Red Army Faction was formed with the intention of complementing the plethora of revolutionary and radical groups across West Germany and Europe and was to be a more class conscious and determined force compared with some of its immediate contemporaries. The members and supporters were already associated with the 'Revolutionary Cells' and Movement 2 June as well as radical currents and phenomena such as the Socialist Patients' Collective, Kommune 1 and the Situationists. The main RAF protagonists trained in the West Bank and Gaza with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) guerrillas[7] and looked to the Palestinian cause for inspiration and guidance. The organisation and outlook was partly modelled on the Uruguayan Tupamaros movement, which had developed as an urban resistance movement—effectively inverting Che Guevara's Mao-like concept of a peasant or rural-based guerrilla war and instead situating the struggle in the metropole or cities. Many members of the RAF operated through a single contact or only knew others by their codenames. Actions were carried out by active units called 'commandos', with trained members being supplied by a quartermaster in order to carry out their mission. For more long-term or core cadre members, isolated cell-like organisation was absent or took on a more flexible form.

In 1969 the Brazilian revolutionary Carlos Marighella published his Minimanual of the Urban Guerrilla.[18] He described the urban guerrilla as:

"...a person who fights the military dictatorship with weapons, using unconventional methods. ...The urban guerrilla follows a political goal, and only attacks the government, the big businesses and the foreign imperialists."

The importance of small arms training, sabotage, expropriation, and a substantial safehouse/support base among the urban population was exhorted in Marighella's guide. This publication was an antecedent to Meinhof's 'The Urban Guerrilla Concept' and has subsequently influenced many guerrilla and insurgent groups around the globe.[19] Although some of the Red Army Faction's supporters and operatives could be described as having an anarchist or libertarian communist slant, the group's leading members professed a largely Marxist-Leninist ideology. That said, they shied away from overt collaboration with communist states although RAF members did receive intermittent support and sanctuary over the border in East Germany.

After their trial for the department store arson attacks, Baader and Ensslin went into hiding, but Baader was caught again in April 1970. On 14 May 1970, Baader was freed from custody by Meinhof and others. Baader, Ensslin, Mahler, and Meinhof then went to Jordan for their brief guerrilla warfare training with the PFLP and Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).

[edit] Anti-imperialism and public support

"The Baader-Meinhof Gang drew a measure of support that violent leftists in the United States, like the Weather Underground, never enjoyed. A poll at the time showed that a quarter of West Germans under 40 felt sympathy for the gang and one-tenth said they would hide a gang member from the police. Prominent intellectuals spoke up for the gang’s righteousness (as) Germany even into the ’70s was still a guilt-ridden society. When the gang started robbing banks, newscasts compared its members to Bonnie and Clyde. (Andreas) Baader, a charismatic, spoiled psychopath, indulged in the imagery, telling people that his favorite movies were Bonnie and Clyde, which had recently come out, and The Battle of Algiers. The pop poster of Che Guevara hung on his wall, (while) he paid a designer to make an Red Army Faction logo, a drawing of a machine gun against a red star."
— Stefan Aust, author of Der Baader Meinhof Komplex [17]

When they returned to West Germany, they began what they called an "anti-imperialistic struggle", with bank robberies to raise money and bomb attacks against U.S. military facilities, German police stations, and buildings belonging to the Axel Springer press empire. A manifesto authored by Meinhof used the name "RAF" and the red star logo with a Heckler & Koch MP5 submachine gun for the first time.[20] After an intense manhunt, Baader, Ensslin, Meinhof, Holger Meins, and Jan-Carl Raspe were caught in June 1972.

[edit] Custody and the Stammheim trial
Stammheim Prison

After the arrest of the main protagonists of the first generation of the RAF, they were held in solitary confinement in the newly-constructed high security Stammheim Prison in the north of Stuttgart. When Ensslin devised an "info system" using aliases for each member, the four prisoners were able to communicate again, circulating letters with the help of their defence counsels.

To protest against their treatment by authorities, they went on several coordinated hunger strikes; eventually, they were force-fed. Holger Meins died of self-induced starvation on 9 November 1974. After public protests, their conditions were somewhat improved by the authorities.

The so-called second generation of the RAF emerged at the time, consisting of sympathizers independent of the inmates. This became clear when, on 27 February 1975, Peter Lorenz, the CDU candidate for mayor of Berlin, was kidnapped by the Movement 2 June (allied to the RAF) as part of pressure to secure the release of several other detainees. Since none of these were on trial for murder, the state agreed, and those inmates (and later Lorenz himself) were released.

On 24 April 1975, the West German embassy in Stockholm was seized by members of the RAF; two of the hostages were murdered as the German government under Chancellor Helmut Schmidt refused to give in to their demands. Two of the hostage-takers died from injuries they suffered when the explosives they planted detonated later that night.
This drawing of the Stammheim trial shows the four defendants in the background, and defence attorneys in the foreground

On 21 May 1975, the Stammheim trial of Baader, Ensslin, Meinhof, and Raspe began, named after the district in Stuttgart where it took place. Possibly the most tense and controversial German criminal trial ever, the Bundestag had earlier changed the Code of Criminal Procedure so that several of the attorneys who were accused of serving as links between the inmates and the RAF's second generation could be excluded.

On 9 May 1976, Ulrike Meinhof was found dead in her cell, hanging from a rope made from jail towels. An investigation concluded that she had hanged herself, a result hotly contested at the time, triggering a plethora of conspiracy theories. Other theories suggest that she took her life because she was being ostracized by the rest of the group.

During the trial, more attacks took place. One of these was on 7 April 1977, when Federal Prosecutor Siegfried Buback, his driver, and his bodyguard were shot and killed by two RAF members while waiting at a red traffic light.

Eventually, on 28 April 1977, the trial's 192nd day, the three remaining defendants were convicted of several murders, more attempted murders, and of forming a terrorist organization; they were sentenced to life imprisonment.

[edit] German Autumn
Main article: German Autumn

On 30 July 1977, Jürgen Ponto, the head of Dresdner Bank, was shot and killed in front of his house in Oberursel in a kidnapping that went wrong. Those involved were Brigitte Mohnhaupt, Christian Klar, and Susanne Albrecht, the last being the sister of Ponto's goddaughter.

Following the convictions, Hanns Martin Schleyer, a former officer of the SS and NSDAP member who was then President of the German Employers' Association (and thus one of the most powerful industrialists in West Germany) was abducted in a violent kidnapping. On 5 September 1977, his driver was forced to brake when a baby carriage suddenly appeared in the street in front of them. The police escort vehicle behind them was unable to stop in time, and crashed into Schleyer's car. Five masked assailants immediately shot and killed the three policemen and the driver and took Schleyer hostage.

A letter then arrived with the Federal Government, demanding the release of eleven detainees, including those from Stammheim. A crisis committee was formed in Bonn, headed by Chancellor Helmut Schmidt, which, instead of acceding, resolved to employ delaying tactics to give the police time to discover Schleyer's location. At the same time, a total communication ban was imposed on the prison inmates, who were now only allowed visits from government officials and the prison chaplain.

The crisis dragged on for more than a month, while the Bundeskriminalamt carried out its biggest investigation to date. Matters escalated when, on 13 October 1977, Lufthansa Flight 181 from Palma de Mallorca to Frankfurt was hijacked. A group of four Arabs took control of the plane (named Landshut). The leader introduced himself to the passengers as "Captain Mahmud" who would be later identified as Zohair Youssef Akache. When the plane landed in Rome for refuelling, he issued the same demands as the Schleyer kidnappers, plus the release of two Palestinians held in Turkey and payment of US$15 million.

The Bonn crisis team again decided not to give in. The plane flew on via Larnaca to Dubai, and then to Aden, where flight captain Jürgen Schumann, whom the hijackers deemed not cooperative enough, was brought before an improvised "revolutionary tribunal" and executed on 16 October. His body was dumped on the runway. The aircraft again took off, flown by the co-pilot Jürgen Vietor, this time headed for Mogadishu, Somalia.

A high-risk rescue operation was led by Hans-Jürgen Wischnewski, then undersecretary in the chancellor's office, who had secretly been flown in from Bonn. At five past midnight (CET) on 18 October, the plane was stormed in a seven-minute assault by the GSG 9, an elite unit of the German federal police. All four hijackers were shot; three of them died on the spot. Not one passenger was seriously hurt and Wischnewski was able to phone Schmidt and tell the Bonn crisis team that the operation had been a success.

Half an hour later, German radio broadcast the news of the rescue, to which the Stammheim inmates listened on their radios. In the course of the night, Baader was found dead with a gunshot wound in the back of his head and Ensslin was found hanged in her cell; Raspe died in hospital the next day from a gunshot wound to the head. Irmgard Möller, who had several stab wounds in the chest, survived and was released from prison in 1994.
The funeral of Baader, Ensslin and Raspe

The official inquiry concluded that this was a collective suicide, but again conspiracy theories abounded. However, none of these theories were ever brought forward by the RAF itself. Some have questioned how Baader managed to obtain a gun in the high-security prison wing specially constructed for the first generation RAF members. Also, only a total commitment to her cause could have allowed Möller to have herself inflicted the four stab wounds found near her heart. However, independent investigations showed that the inmates' lawyers were able to smuggle in weapons and equipment in spite of the high security. Möller claims that it was actually an extrajudicial killing, orchestrated by the German government, in response to Red Army Faction demands that the prisoners be released.

On 18 October 1977, Hanns-Martin Schleyer was shot to death by his captors en route to Mulhouse, France. The next day, on 19 October, Schleyer's kidnappers announced that he had been "executed" and pinpointed his location. His body was recovered later that day in the trunk of a green Audi 100 on the rue Charles Péguy. The French newspaper Libération received a letter declaring:

"After 43 days we have ended Hanns-Martin Schleyer's pitiful and corrupt existence... His death is meaningless to our pain and our rage... The struggle has only begun. Freedom through armed, anti-imperialist struggle."[citation needed]

The events in the autumn of 1977, possibly the biggest criminal and political showdown that Germany has experienced since the end of World War II, are frequently referred to as Der Deutsche Herbst ("German Autumn").

[edit] The RAF since the 1980s

The collapse of the Soviet Union was a serious blow to left-wing groups, but well into the 1990s attacks were still being committed under the name "RAF". Among these were the killing of CEO of MTU, a German engineering company, Ernst Zimmermann; another bombing at the U.S. Air Force's Rhein-Main Air Base (near Frankfurt), which targeted the base commander and killed two bystanders; the car bomb attack that killed Siemens executive Karl-Heinz Beckurts and his driver; and the shooting of Gerold von Braunmühl, a leading official at Germany's foreign ministry. On 30 November 1989, Deutsche Bank chairman Alfred Herrhausen was killed with a highly complex bomb when his car triggered a photo sensor, in Bad Homburg. On 1 April 1991, Detlev Karsten Rohwedder, leader of the government Treuhand organization responsible for the privatization of the East German state economy, was shot dead. The assassins of Zimmermann, von Braunmühl, Herrhausen and Rohwedder were never reliably identified .

After German reunification in 1990, it was confirmed that the RAF had received financial and logistic support from the Stasi, the security and intelligence organization of East Germany, which had given several members shelter and new identities. This was already generally suspected at the time.[21]

In 1992 the German government assessed that the RAF's main field of engagement now was missions to release former RAF-members. To weaken the organization further the government declared that some RAF inmates would be released if the RAF refrained from violent attacks in the future. Subsequently the RAF announced their intention to "de-escalate" and refrain from significant activity.

The last action taken by the RAF took place in 1993 with a bombing of a newly built prison in Weiterstadt by overcoming the officers on duty and planting explosives. Although no one was seriously injured this operation caused property damage amounting to 123 million German Marks (over 50 million euros).

The last big action against the RAF took place on 27 June 1993. A Verfassungsschutz (internal secret service) agent named Klaus Steinmetz had infiltrated the RAF. As a result Birgit Hogefeld and Wolfgang Grams were to be arrested in Bad Kleinen. Grams and GSG 9 officer Michael Newrzella died during the mission. While it was initially concluded that Grams committed suicide, others claimed his death was in revenge for Newrzella's. Two eyewitness accounts supported the claims of an execution-style murder. However, an investigation headed by the Attorney General failed to substantiate such claims. Due to a number of operational mistakes involving the various police services, German Minister of the Interior Rudolf Seiters took responsibility and resigned from his post.

On 20 April 1998 an eight-page typewritten letter in German was faxed to the Reuters news agency, signed "RAF" with the machine-gun red star, declaring the group dissolved:

"Vor fast 28 Jahren, am 14. Mai 1970, entstand in einer Befreiungsaktion die RAF. Heute beenden wir dieses Projekt. Die Stadtguerilla in Form der RAF ist nun Geschichte."
("Almost 28 years ago, on 14 May 1970, the RAF arose in a campaign of liberation. Today we end this project. The urban guerrilla in the shape of the RAF is now history.")[22]

In 2007, amidst widespread media controversy, the German president Horst Köhler had considered pardoning RAF member Christian Klar, who filed a pardon application several years ago, but on 7 May, 2007 this was denied. However, on 24 November, 2008, parole was granted[23]. RAF member Brigitte Mohnhaupt was granted a release on a five year parole by a German court on 12 February, 2007 and Eva Haule was released 17 August, 2007.

Horst Mahler has crossed the lines to the far right and is a Holocaust denier.[24] He is an anti-semite and in 2005 was sentenced to 6 years in prison for incitement to racial hatred.[25] He is on record as saying that his beliefs have not changed: Der Feind ist der Gleiche (the enemy is the same).[26]

[edit] Name

[edit] Faction versus Fraktion

The name was inspired by that of the Japanese Red Army, a Japanese leftist paramilitary group. The usual translation into English is the Red Army Faction, however, the founders wanted it to reflect what they saw as not so much an orthodox political faction or splinter group but an embryonic militant unit or set of "groupuscules" that was embedded in or part of a wider communist workers' movement.[27] The abbreviation RAF was also a gibe at the Royal Air Force, a major contributor to the huge NATO presence in West Germany.[28]

[edit] RAF versus Baader-Meinhof

The group always called itself the Rote Armee Fraktion, never the Baader-Meinhof Group or Gang. The name correctly refers to all incarnations of the organization: the "first generation" RAF, which consisted of Baader and his associates, the "second generation" RAF, which operated in the mid to late 1970s after several former members of the Socialist Patients' Collective joined, and the "third generation" RAF, which existed in the 1980s and 90s.

The terms "Baader-Meinhof Gang" and "Baader-Meinhof Group" were first used by the media and the organization was generally known by these during its first generation, and applies only until Baader's death in 1977.[citation needed] The organization never used these terms for themselves, but the German media used them to avoid legitimizing the movement. Although Meinhof was not considered to be a leader of the gang at any time, her involvement in Baader's escape from jail in 1970 led to her name becoming attached to it.[29]

[edit] List of assaults attributed to the RAF
Date Place Action Remarks Photo
22 October 1971 Hamburg Police officer murdered RAF members Irmgard Möller and Gerhard Müller attempted to rescue Margrit Schiller who was being arrested by the police by engaging in a shootout[30]. Police sergeant Heinz Lemke was shot in the foot, while Sergeant Norbert Schmid, 33, was killed, becoming the first murder to be attributed to the RAF[31].
22 December 1971 Kaiserslautern Police officer murdered German Police officer Herbert Schoner, 32, was shot by members of the RAF in a bank robbery. The four terrorists escaped with 134,000 Deutsche Marks.
11 May 1972 Frankfurt am Main Bombing of US barracks US Officer Paul A. Bloomquist dead, 13 wounded
12 May 1972 Augsburg and Munich Bombing of a police station in Augsburg and the Bavarian State Criminal Investigations Agency in Munich 5 police-officers wounded. Claimed by the Tommy Weissbecker Commando.
16 May 1972 Karlsruhe Bombing of the car of the Federal Judge Buddenberg His wife was driving the car and was wounded. Claimed by the Manfred Grashof commando.
19 May 1972 Hamburg Bombing of the Axel Springer Verlag 17 wounded. Ilse Stachowiak was involved in the bombing.
24 May 1972 18:10CET Heidelberg Bombing outside of Officers Club followed by a second bomb moments later in front of Army Security Agency (ASA), U.S. Army in Europe (HQ USAREUR) at Campbell Barracks. Known involved RAF members: Irmgard Möller and Angela Luther, Andreas Baader, Ulrike Meinhof, Gudrun Ensslin, Holger Meins, Jan-Carl Raspe. 3 dead (Ronald A. Woodward, Charles L. Peck and Captain Clyde R. Bonner), 5 wounded. Claimed by the 15 July Commando (in honour of Petra Schelm). Executed by Irmgard Moeller.
24 April 1975 Stockholm West German embassy siege, murder of Andreas von Mirbach and Dr. Heinz Hillegaart 4 dead, of whom 2 were RAF members
7 May 1976 Sprendlingen near Offenbach Police officer murdered. 22 year old Fritz Sippel[32] was shot in the head when checking an RAF member's identity papers.
4 January 1977 Giessen Attack against US 42nd Field Artillery Brigade at Gießen. In a failed attack against the Gießen army base, the RAF sought to capture or destroy nuclear weapons present.[33] A diversionary bomb attack on a fuel tank failed to fully ignite the fuel, and the assault on the armory was then repulsed, with several RAF members killed in the ensuing firefight. The presence of U.S. warheads on German soil was classified and officially denied at the time, and the incident received little publicity. General William Burns, who commanded the base in 1977, detailed the attack in a 1996 interview.[34]
7 April 1977 Karlsruhe Assassination of the federal prosecutor-general Siegfried Buback The driver and another passenger were also killed. Claimed by the Ulrike Meinhof Commando. This murder case was brought up again after the 30 year commemoration in April 2007 when information from former RAF member Peter-Jürgen Boock surfaced in media reports.
30 July 1977 Oberursel (Taunus) The director of Dresdner Bank, Jürgen Ponto, is shot in his home during an attempted kidnapping.
1977 Palma de Mallorca resp. Mogadishu, Somalia Landshut (hijacking), Lufthansa aircraft that was hijacked as part of the events in the German Autumn of 1977 . Pilot and 3 hijackers killed, hijacking was ended by German GSG 9 commandos in an operation called Operation Feuerzauber
5 September 1977

18 October 1977
Cologne resp.

Mulhouse
Hanns-Martin Schleyer, chairman of the German Employers' Organisation, is kidnapped and later shot 3 police-officers and the driver are killed during the kidnapping
22 September 1977 Utrecht The Netherlands Shooting in a bar Arie Kranenburg (46), Dutch policeman, shot by RAF Knut Folkerts
24 September 1978 A forest near Dortmund[35] Murder of a police officer Three RAF members (Angelika Speitel, Werner Lotze, Michael Knoll) were engaged in target-practice when they were confronted by police. A shoot-out followed where one police-man (Hans-Wilhelm Hans, 26)[36] was shot dead, and one of the RAF terrorists (Knoll) was wounded so badly that he would later die from his injuries.[37]
1 November 1978 Kerkrade [38] Gun-battle with four custom officials Dionysius de Jong (19) was shot to death, and Johannes Goemanns (24) later died of his wounds, when they were involved in a gun-fight with RAF members (Adelheid Schulz and Rolf Heissler[39]) who were trying to cross the Dutch border illegally. [40]
25 June 1979 Mons, Belgium Alexander Haig, Supreme Allied Commander of NATO escapes an assassination attempt
7 August 1981 Kaiserslautern, Germany USAF Security Police Officer attacked in Kaiserslautern by Christan Klar and Brigitte Mohnhaupt and unknown third party. Security Police Officer on his way to work, riding a bicycle when he was attacked. Security Police Officer survived the attack. Mohnhaupt and Klar fled the scene in a green VW. Unknown third party was injured or killed. He was never found.
31 August 1981 Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany Large carbomb explodes in the parking lot of Ramstein Air Base
15 September 1981 Heidelberg Unsuccessful rocket propelled grenade attack against the car carrying the US Army's West German Commander Frederick J. Kroesen. Known involved RAF members: Brigitte Mohnhaupt, Christian Klar.
18 December 1984 Oberammergau, West Germany Unsuccessful attempt to bomb a School for NATO officers. The car bomb was discovered and defused. A total of ten incidents followed over the next month, against US, British, and French targets.[41]
1 February 1985 Gauting Shooting Ernst Zimmerman, head of the MTU is shot in the head in his home. The assassination was claimed by the Patsy O'Hara Commando.[42]
8 August 1985 Rhein-Main Air Base (near Frankfurt) A Volkswagen Mini-Bus exploded in the parking lot across from the base commander's building. Two people are killed: Airman First Class Frank Scarton and Becky Bristol, a U.S. civilian employee who also was the spouse of a U.S. Air Force enlisted man. A granite monument marks the spot where they died. Twenty people are injured. Army Spec. Edward Pimental was kidnapped and killed the night before for his military ID card which was used to gain access to the base. The French terrorist organization Action Directe is suspected to have collaborated with the RAF on this attack. Birgit Hogefeld and Eva Haule have been convicted for their involvement in this event.
9 July 1986 Straßlach (near Munich) Shooting of Siemens-manager Karl Heinz Beckurts and driver Eckhard Groppler
30 November 1989 Bad Homburg v. d. Höhe Bombing of the car carrying the chairman of Deutsche Bank Alfred Herrhausen The case remained open for a long time, as the delicate method employed baffled the German prosecutors, as it could not come from guerillas like the RAF. Also, all suspects of the RAF were not charged due to alibis. However, The case is receiving new light in late 2007 by the German authorities that Stasi, the East German secret police, played a role in the assassination of Mr. Herrhausen, as the bombing method was the exactly the same one that had been developed by the Stasis.
1 April 1991 Düsseldorf Assassination of Detlev Karsten Rohwedder, at his house in Düsseldorf As the chief of the Treuhandanstalt, a powerful trust that controlled most state-owned assets in the former East Germany, Mr. Rohwedder was in charge of privatizing the assets of the former German Democratic Republic.
27 March 1993 Weiterstadt Attacks with explosives at the construction site of a new prison Led to a shoot-out three months later at a train station, between two RAF members, and law enforcement. RAF member Wolfgang Grams and a GSG 9 officer, Michael Newrzella, were killed. Birgit Hogefeld was arrested. Damage 123 million DM (over 50 million euro)

For a full list of members see: Members of the Red Army Faction

[edit] Films

Several German film and TV productions were made about the Baader-Meinhof Group / RAF. These include Klaus Lemke's telefeature Brandstifter (Arsonists) (1969); the Volker Schloendorff adaptation of Heinrich Böll's novel Die verlorene Ehre von Katharina Blum (The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum) (1975); Deutschland im Herbst (Germany in Autumn) (1978), codirected by Alexander Kluge, Volker Schloendorff, Rainer Werner Fassbinder and Edgar Reitz; Fassbinder's Die dritte Generation (The Third Generation) (1979); Margarethe von Trotta's Die bleierne Zeit (The German Sisters) (1981); Reinhard Hauuf's Stammheim (1986); Christian Petzold's Die innere Sicherheit (The State I Am In) (2000); Christopher Roth's Baader (2002); Uli Edel adaptation of Stefan Aust's Der Baader Meinhof Komplex (2008).

Outside Germany, films include Swiss director Markus Imhoof's Die Reise (The Journey) (1986). On TV, there was Heinrich Breloer's Todesspiel (Death Game) (1997), a two-part docu-drama, and Volker Schloendorff's Die Stille nach dem Schuss (Rita's Legends) (2000).

There have also been several documentaries: Im Fadenkreuz – Deutschland & die RAF (1997, several directors); Gerd Conradt's Starbuck Holger Meins (2001); Andres Veiel's Black Box BRD (2001); [43] Klaus Stern's Andreas Baader – Der Staatsfeind (Enemy of the State) (2003); Ben Lewis's In Love With Terror, for BBC 4 (2003);[44] and Ulrike Meinhof – Wege in den Terror (Ways into Terror) (2006).

[edit] RAF Commandos

The following is a list of all known RAF Commando Units[45] - Most RAF units were named after deceased RAF members, others were named after deceased members of international militant left-wing groups such as the Black Panthers, Irish National Liberation Army and the Red Brigades.

* Andreas Baader Commando
* Ciro Rizzato Commando
* George Jackson Commando
* Gudrun Ensslin Commando
* Holger Meins Commando
* Ingrid Schubert Commando
* Jan-Carl Raspe Commando
* José Manuel Sevillano Commando
* July 15th Commando
* Katharina Hammerschmidt Commando
* Khaled Aker Commando
* Manfred Grashof Commando
* Mara Cagol Commando
* Patsy O'Hara Commando
* Petra Schelm Commando
* 2nd of June Commando
* Siegfried Hausner Commando
* Sigurd Debus Commando
* Thomas Weissbecker Commando
* Ulrich Wessel Commando
* Ulrike Meinhof Commando
* Vincenzo Spano Commando
* Wolfgang Beer Commando


[edit] In fiction and art
This section may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Please improve this section if you can. (October 2008)

* The Baader Meinhof Complex, a 2008 movie based on Stefan Aust's book which was nominated in the 81st Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film.
* Australian-British playwright Van Badham's play Black Hands/Dead Section provides a fictionalised account of the actions and lives of key members of the RAF. It won the Queensland premier's award for literature in 2005.
* Gerhard Richter, a German painter whose series of works titled 18 October 1977 repainted photographs of the Faction members and their deaths.
* The Norwegian painter Odd Nerdrum made a painting called The murder of Andreas Baader in 1977-1978, that shows Nerdrum's personal commentary to the events in the Stammheim prison.
* Heinrich Böll's book The Lost Honour of Katharina Blum, 1974, describes the political climate in West Germany during the active phase of the RAF in the seventies. Schlöndorff and Trotta (who knew leading raf cadre) filmed the book in 1975.
* Bernward Vesper, Die Reise (the trip), Frankfurt a.M.: März, 1977, published posthumously, reflects the pre-raf phase of the revolt. Vesper (d. 1971) was the son of a famous Nazi poet. Vesper had been Gudrun Ensslin's partner before Baader and was the father of her son Felix. Vesper declined to join the raf, but not because of ideological differences.
* Christian Geissler, Das Brot mit der Feile, München: Autoren Edition (Bertelsmann), 1973
* Christian Geissler, Wird Zeit, dass wir leben, Berlin: Rotbuch, 1976.
* Christian Geissler, kamalatta. ein romantisches fragment, Berlin: Wagenbach, 1988. Geissler (d. 2008), a leading communist writer, founder of the Hamburg political prisoners solidarity group. Worked there with Dutch raf member Ron Augustin. Geisler's novels glorify both the 1930s kpd and the raf.
* Walter Abish, How German Is It, 1980. A book about the German essence of German things like terrorism and Heidegger. Published in Germany by Günter Maschke, a renegate of '68. Maschke knew Gudrun Ensslin and had been married to her sister.
* Christoph Hein's novel In seiner frühen Kindheit ein Garten (In His Early Childhood, a Garden) deals with a fictionalized aftermath of the Grams shooting in 1993.
* In 1996, British singer songwriter Luke Haines released a 9-track album under the Baader Meinhof moniker. In this concept album, all songs are a romanticized retelling of the RAF actions.
* In 2004, Canadian singer songwriter Neil Leyton composed and released a song titled Ingrid Schubert.
* The feature film See You at Regis Debray, written and directed by CS Leigh tells the story of the time Andreas Baader spent hiding in the apartment of Regis Debray in Paris in 1969.
* In the eighth-season finale of Law & Order: Criminal Intent, the episode "Revolution", the villain is a fugitive RAF member who has relocated to New York and, inspired by popular anger over the 2008 bank bailout, begins a new series of terrorist attacks.

[edit] References

1. ^ http://www.im.nrw.de/sch/387.htm Innenministerium Nordrhein-Westfalen: Revolutionäre Zellen und Rote Zora
2. ^ Mary Lean, "One Family's Berlin", Initiatives of Change, 1 August 1988; The Sovietization of East German, Czech, and Polish Higher Education, 1945–1956. (Denazification varied greatly across occupied/post-occupied Europe.)
3. ^ Center for Corporate History, "Allianz in the Years 1933–1945 - Limits of denazification"; Lord Paddy Ashdown, "Winning the Peace", BBC World Service Website.
4. ^ Harold Marcuse, "The Revival of Holocaust Awareness in West Germany, Israel and the United States".
5. ^ Arthur B. Gunlicks, "Civil Liberties in the German Public Service", The Review of Politics, Vol. 53 No. 2, Spring 1991. (extract)
6. ^ Harold Marcuse. Legacies of Dachau: The Uses and Abuses of a Concentration Camp, 1933-2001, Cambridge University Press, 2001, ISBN 0521552044, 9780521552042. p. 314
7. ^ a b Townshend, Charles. Terrorism, A Very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press ISBN 0192801686.
8. ^ Walter Benjamin and the Red Army Faction - Irving Wohlfarth in Radical Philosophy 152
9. ^ Peter-Erwin Jansen, "Student Movements in Germany, 1968-1984", Negations (E-journal), No. 3, Fall 1998.
10. ^ http://libcom.org/library/red-army-fact ... e-grossman
11. ^ Scribner, Charity. "Buildings on Fire: The Situationist International and the Red Army Faction". Grey Room, Winter 2007, pp. 30–55.
12. ^ Interview with Action Direct member Joelle Aubron regarding early influences on European guerrilla groups - retrieved 2007-08-31.
13. ^ Red Army Faction, "The Urban Guerilla Concept" (many of the documents of this period are ascribed to Ulrike Meinhof) - see also attached notes - retrieved 2007-08-31.; Peter-Erwin Jansen, "Student Movements in Germany, 1968-1984", Negations (E-journal), No. 3, Fall 1998.
14. ^ Bullock et al, The Fontana Dictionary of Modern Thinkers, Fontana Press 1989. ISBN 0006369650.
15. ^ Michael A. Lebowitz, Beyond Capital—Marx's Political Economy of the Working Class, Palgrave 2003, p. 27. ISBN 0333964306.
16. ^ http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/feat ... rentPage=2
17. ^ a b A Match That Burned the Germans by Fred Kaplan, The New York Times, August 12 2009
18. ^ Carlos Marighella, Minimanual of the Urban Guerrilla, at marxists.org
19. ^ http://www.marxists.org/archive/index-history.htm Marxists internet archive. Marighella summary on influence - retrieved 2007-08-31; Christopher C. Harmon, "Work in Common: Democracies and Opposition to Terrorism", Papers & Studies, Bangladesh Institute of International & Strategic Studies, July 2002 - note 9 and corresponding text - restricted access on this website 2008-06-21.
20. ^ "Build Up the Red Army!", originally published in German in 883 magazine, 5 June 1970.
21. ^ Schmeidel, John. "My Enemy's Enemy: Twenty Years of Co-operation between West Germany's Red Army Faction and the GDR Ministry for State Security." Intelligence and National Security 8, no. 4 (Oct. 1993): 59-72.
22. ^ 'RAF Aufloesungserklaerung'; http://www.rafinfo.de/archiv/raf/raf-20-4-98.php
23. ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7745705.stm
24. ^ See the article in German Lecture Series on the Final Solution of the Jewish Question at www.regmeister.net/h_mahler.htm see also http://www.spiegel.de/international/ger ... 30,00.html
25. ^ http://www.ejpress.org/article/12601 http://www.jewishpress.com/pageroute.do/16321/
26. ^ Frankfurter Rundschau 22 April 1999, Junge Welt Feb 1999
27. ^ Terminology at Baader-Meinhof.com.
28. ^ Vague, Tom. Televisionaries: The Red Army Faction Story, AK Press, 1994. ISBN 1873176473.[page needed]
29. ^ "Baader-Meinhof Gang" at Baader-Meinhof.com.
30. ^ "The Crisis Years of the RAF / The Baader Meinhof Terrorist" at the Terrosim [sic] in Germany. The RAF / Baader Meinhof Group website.
31. ^ Jeffrey Herf, "An Age of Murder: Ideology and Terror in Germany, 1969-1991", lecture at the German Historical Institute in Washington, 27 September 2007.
32. ^ labourhistory.net/raf/other.php
33. ^ Michael Krepon, Ziad Haider & Charles Thornton, Are Tactical Nuclear Weapons Needed in South Asia?, in Michael Krepon, Rodney W. Jones, and Ziad Haider (eds.), Escalation Control and the Nuclear Option in South Asia, Stimson Publications, 2004.
34. ^ Cockburn, Andrew; Cockburn, Leslie (1997), One Point Safe, New York: Doubleday, ISBN 0-385-48560-3 ; Barry L. Rothberg, "Averting Armageddon: Preveting Nuclear Terrorism in the United States", Duke Journal of Comparative & International Law, 1997, pp. 79–134.
35. ^ http://www.time.com/time/magazine/artic ... hix-sphere
36. ^ http://www.history.umd.edu/Faculty/JHer ... ror4ms.pdf
37. ^ http://labourhistory.net/raf/chronology-de.php
38. ^ http://labourhistory.net/raf/chronology.php
39. ^ http://www.raf-geschichte-der-rote-arme ... aktion.asp
40. ^ www.history.umd.edu/Faculty/JHerf/GHIterror4ms.pdf
41. ^ "German terrorists raid U.S. consul's home", New York Times, 4 January 1985.
42. ^ http://books.google.ie/books?id=tl_70h3 ... do&f=false
43. ^ Der Baader Meinhof Komplex vs RAF Film Chronicle by Ron Holloway, accessed 19 April 2009
44. ^ BBC4 website, accessed 19 April 2009
45. ^ http://books.google.ie/books?id=tl_70h3 ... do&f=false

[edit] Further reading

* Aust, Stefan. The Baader-Meinhof Group: The Inside Story of a Phenomenon, The Bodley Head Ltd 1987 , ISBN 0370310314
* Baumann, Bommi. How It All Began: Personal Account of a West German Urban Guerilla, Arsenal Pulp Press 1981, ISBN 0889780455
* Becker, Jillian. Hitler's Children: Story of the Baader-Meinhof Terrorist Gang, DIANE Publishing Company 1998, ISBN 0788154729 or Panther edition 1978, ISBN 0586046658
* Hyams, Edward. Dictionary of Modern Revolution, A Lane, 1973 ISBN 0713904763
* RAF. The Urban Guerilla Concept, Kersplebedeb pamphlet edition 2005 ISBN 1894946162; online at germanguerilla.com
* Author unknown (assumed to be Meinhof) "Berlin 1970—Manifesto for Armed Action—Build Up the Red Army!", 883 Magazine, 5 June 1970
* Usselmann, Rainer. "18. Oktober 1977: Gerhard Richter’s Work of Mourning and Its New Audience", College Art Association, Art Journal, Spring 2002. Usselmann sees Richter's large cycle of grey paintings as a work of mourning.
* Varon, Jeremy. Bringing the War Home: The Weather Underground, the Red Army Faction, and Revolutionary Violence in the Sixties and Seventies, University of California Press 2004, ISBN 0520241193
* Vague, Tom. Televisionaries: The Red Army Faction Story, AK Press, 1994 ISBN 1873176473
* Wright, Joanne. Terrorist Propaganda: The Red Army Faction and the Provisional IRA, 1968-86, Palgrave Macmillan 1991, ISBN 0312047614
* Author unknown. A Herstory of the Revolutionary Cells and Rote Zora: Armed Resistance in West Germany, published by Autonomedia (Victoria, BC, Canada).

[edit] External links
Search Wikimedia Commons Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Category:Red Army Faction

* This is Baader-Meinhof, official site of The Gun Speaks, a future book on the Red Army Faction. (accessed 2008-06-21)
* "The media’s first celebrity terrorists" Picture essay of Red Army Faction at The First Post website. (accessed 2008-06-21)
* "History of the RAF" - detailed, sympathetic account - article commissioned in 1994 by Arm the Spirit, Toronto, Canada. (accessed 2008-06-21)
* Red Army Faction - Communiqués and Statements - an English-language collection of all communiques and statements by the RAF at GermanGuerilla.com. (accessed 2008-06-21)
* Andrew Stevens, Red Army Fiction - An Interview With Richard Huffman - Interview with creator of Baader-Meinhof.com in 3am Magazine. (accessed 2008-06-21)
* "Build Up the Red Army" English translation of 1970 manifesto from the Red Army Faction. (accessed 2008-06-21)
* Rafinfo.de, Web resource on the RAF (German). (accessed 2008-06-21)
* Patrick Donahue, "German Red Army Faction Victim's Son May Back Pardon", Bloomberg article about the latest development in the murder case Siegfried Buback. (accessed 2008-06-21)
* Denise Noe, "The Baader Meinhof Gang", at tru Crime Library website. (accessed 2008-06-21)
* Labourhistory.net/raf, [1], Bi-lingual site including a collection of original Red Army Faction statements, texts and discussions as well as a Chronology, Bibliography and supporting Documentation.
* Terrorist chic or debunking of a myth? Baader Meinhof film splits Germany

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Army_Faction"
Categories: 1970 establishments | Red Army Faction | Communism | Extraparliamentary Opposition | Far-left politics in Germany | Terrorism in Germany | Terrorist incidents in the 1970s | Defunct organizations designated as terrorist in Europe
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[ville]

Class struggle
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search

See Class Struggle for the boardgame.

Class struggle is the active expression of class conflict looked at from any kind of socialist perspective. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, leading ideologists of communism, wrote "The [written][1] history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggle".[2]

Marx's notion of class has nothing to do with social class in the sociological sense of upper, middle and lower classes (which are often defined in terms of quantitative income or wealth). Instead, in an age of capitalism, Marx describes an economic class. Membership of a class is defined by one's relationship to the means of production, i.e., one's position in the social structure that characterizes capitalism. Marx talks mainly about two classes that include the vast majority of the population, the proletariat and the bourgeoisie. Other classes such as the petty bourgeoisie share characteristics of both of these main classes (see below).
Contents
[hide]

* 1 Main class struggle
* 2 "Minor" classes
* 3 Class and race struggle
* 4 Non-Marxist perspectives
* 5 Notes and references
* 6 See also
* 7 Literature
* 8 External links
o 8.1 Women and class struggle
o 8.2 Pro-Marxist
o 8.3 Anti-Marxist

[edit] Main class struggle

* Labour (the proletariat or workers) includes anyone who earns their livelihood by selling their labor power and being paid a wage or salary for their labor time. They have little choice but to work for capital, since they typically have no independent way to survive.
* Capital (the bourgeoisie or capitalists) includes anyone who gets their income not from labor as much as from the surplus value they appropriate from the workers who create wealth. The income of the capitalists, therefore, is based on their exploitation of the workers (proletariat).

What Marx points out is that members of each of the two main classes have interests in common. These class or collective interests are in conflict with those of the other class as a whole. This in turn leads to conflict between individual members of different classes.

An example of this would be a factory producing a commodity, such as the manufacture of widgets (a standard imaginary commodity in economics books). Some of the money received from selling widgets will be spent on things like raw materials and machinery (constant capital) in order to build more widgets. Similarly, some money – variable capital – is spent on labor power. The capitalist would not be in business if not for the surplus value, i.e., the money received from selling the widgets beyond that spent on constant and variable capital. The amount of this surplus value – profits, interest, and rent – depends on how much labor workers do for the wages or salaries they are paid.

This surplus value is higher to the extent that workers spend time at work beyond what they're paid for and to the extent that they exert effort beyond the cost of their labor-time. Thus the capitalist would like as much "free time" (unpaid labor during official lunch breaks, after official closing time, etc.) and as much worker effort as possible. On the other hand, the workers would like to be paid for every minute they work under the capitalist's authority and would like to avoid unnecessary and unpaid effort. They would also prefer higher wages and benefits (such as health insurance, defined-benefit pensions, etc.) and less of a dictatorial or paternalistic attitude from employers. Working conditions must be safe and healthy, rather than dangerous.

Not all class struggle is violent or necessarily radical (as with strikes and lockouts). Class antagonism may instead be expressed as low worker morale, minor sabotage and pilferage, and individual workers' abuse of petty authority and hoarding of information. It may also be expressed on a larger scale by support for socialist or populist parties. On the employers' side, the use of union-busting legal firms and the lobbying for anti-union laws are forms of class struggle.

Not all class struggle is a threat to capitalism, or even to the authority of an individual capitalist. A narrow struggle for higher wages by a small sector of the working-class (what is often called "economism") hardly threatens the status quo. In fact, by applying "craft union" tactics of excluding other workers from skilled trades, an economistic struggle may even weaken the working class as a whole by dividing it. Class struggle becomes more important in the historical process as it becomes more general, as industries are organized rather than crafts, as workers' class consciousness rises, and as they are organized as political parties. Marx referred to this as the progress of the proletariat from being a class "in itself" (a position in the social structure) to being one "for itself" (an active and conscious force that could change the world).

Marx thought that this conflict was central to the social structure of capitalism and could not be abolished without replacing the system itself. Further, he argued that the objective conditions under capitalism would likely develop in a way that encouraged a proletariat organized collectively for its own goals to develop: the accumulation of surplus value as more means of production by the capitalists would allow them to become more and more powerful, encouraging overt class conflict. If this is not counteracted by increasing political and economic organization by workers, it would inevitably cause an extreme polarization of the classes, encouraging the revolution that would destroy capitalism itself.

The revolution would lead to a socialist society in which the proletariat controlled the state, that is, "the dictatorship of the proletariat". The original meaning of this term was a workers' democracy, not a dictatorship in the modern sense of the word. For Marx, democracy under capitalism is a bourgeois dictatorship.

Even after a revolution, the two classes would struggle, but eventually the struggle would recede and the classes dissolve. As class boundaries broke down, the state apparatus would wither away. According to Marx, the main task of any state apparatus is to uphold the power of the ruling class; but without any classes there would be no need for a state. That would lead to the classless, stateless communist society.

[edit] "Minor" classes

Marx noted that other classes existed, but said that as time (and capitalism) moved forward, these other classes would disappear, and things would become stratified until only two classes remained, which would become more and more polarized as time went on. Other classes are:

* the self-employed (petit bourgeoisie) — these are people who own their own means of production, thus work for themselves. Marx saw these people swept away by the march of capitalism, such as family farms being replaced by agribusiness, or many small stores run by their owners being replaced by a supermarket, and so forth.
* managers, supervisors, white-collar staff, and security officers – these are intermediaries between capitalists and the proletariat. Since they are paid a wage, technically they are workers, but they represent a privileged stratum of the proletariat, typically serving the capitalists' interest. These are often classified as class traitors by socialist organizations and government because even though they share the working man's plight, they actively support the status quo.
* soldiers and servicemen- Also widely considered to be class traitors, Marx theorized that the army was a part of the proletariat, similarly to the managers and supervisors, but with significantly lower wages and standard of living. Trotsky postulated in the theory of Permanent Revolution that the support of the army would be necessary for the Russian Revolution to succeed.
* the lumpenproletariat – the chronically unemployed. These people have at most a tenuous connection to production. Since Marx, many states have tried to compensate for the difficulties experienced by workers due to cyclical unemployment. Unfortunately there is also a growing structural unemployment in which people are permanently dependent on welfare programs or employed relatives. These people form the lumpenproletariat, along with thieves and con artists of various kinds who depend on crime for their income. Marx saw the problem of unemployment growing more acute as capitalism went on, so this class would exist prior to the foreseen revolution. Marx deemed the lumpenproletariat as unimportant, and not playing a major role in the labor/capital class struggle. Since they would benefit in his view from a revolution, they would be on the side of the proletariat. But he saw them as unreliable, since they were likely to be mercenary in their attitudes. This view was revised by some followers of Marx such as Mao Zedong, who saw a greater role for the lumpenproletariat in class struggle.
* domestic servants, who often had a better standard of living than the proletariat, but who were considered by society as by nature dependent upon their literal masters, and so male servants were not considered worthy of receiving the vote.
* peasants, who still represented a large part of the population well into the twentieth century. Capital for such workers — for example, a tractor or reaping machine — was in most countries for a long time unthinkable, so they were not considered some sort of rural proletarians. Trotsky's analysis of the peasant demonstrated this class to be divided in loyalty between the capitalist class and the proletariat, in that the wealthier land-owning peasants (Kulak) had an interest in maintaining a capitalist system, while the poor landless peasants had interests more aligned with those of the proletariat; thus is why the peasant class could not lead a revolution. Trotsky's theory of Permanent Revolution called for an alliance of the proletariat and peasant classes, with the proletariat leading the peasants. The peasants were to produce more in order to support the proletariat, and in return the proletariat would supply the peasants with farming machinery and equipment. The point was to mechanize farming in order to be able to sustain a higher proletarian population, while destroying the peasant class by turning them into proletariat. The people in charge of growing food were to become farm workers. This was accomplished in the Soviet Union, although brutally, by the Stalinist bureaucratic caste, which contradicted the slower peaceful manner in which collectivization was supposed to occur under the plans of Lenin and Trotsky. Maoists believe that the peasants are the true proletariat and must take a leading role in the proletarian revolution.

[edit] Class and race struggle

According to Michel Foucault, in the 19th century the essentialist notion of the "race" was incorporated by racists, biologists, and eugenicists, who gave it the modern sense of "biological race" which was then integrated to "state racism". On the other hand, Marxists transformed the notions of the "race" and the "race struggle" into the concept of "class struggle". In a letter to Friedrich Engels in 1882 Karl Marx wrote: You know very well where we found our idea of class struggle; we found it in the work of the French historians who talked about the race struggle.[3] For Foucault, the theme of social war provides overriding principle that connects class and race struggle.[4] Moses Hess, an important theoretician of the early socialist movement, in his "Epilogue" to "Rome and Jerusalem" argued that "the race struggle is primary, the class struggle secondary... With the cessation of race antagonism, the class struggle will also come to a standstill. The equalization of all classes of society will necessarily follow the emancipation of all the races, for it will ultimately become a scientific question of social economics."[5] A recently emerging school of thought in the US holds the opposite to be true. The race struggle is less important, since racism is doomed to eventual extinction as people become better educated and more open minded. The primary struggle is that of class since labor of all races face the same problems and injustices. The main example given is the United States, which has the most politically weak working class of any developed nation, where race is a distraction that has kept labor divided and unorganized.[6]

[edit] Non-Marxist perspectives

Social commentators and socialist theorists had noted the reality of class struggle for some time before Marx, as well as the connection between class struggle, property, and law. The Physiocrats, David Ricardo, and after Marx, Henry George noted the inelastic supply of land and argued that this created certain privileges (economic rent) for landowners.

Proudhon, in What is Property? (1840) states that "certain classes do not relish investigation into the pretended titles to property, and its fabulous and perhaps scandalous history."[7]

Fascists have often opposed class struggle and instead have attempted to appeal to the working class while promising to preserve the existing social classes and have proposed an alternative concept known as class collaboration.

[edit] Notes and references

1. ^ The bracketed word reflects the footnote that Engels added later, noting that pre-class societies existed.
2. ^ Communist Manifesto, 1848
3. ^ Quoted in Society Must be Defended by Michel Foucault (trans. David Macey), London: Allen Lane, Penguin Press (1976, 2003), p. 79
4. ^ Ann Laura Stoler, Race and the Education of Desire: Foucault's "History of Sexuality" and the Colonial Order of Things , Duke University Press (1995), p.71-72
5. ^ quoted in Prophecy and Politics: Socialism, Nationalism, and the Russian Jews by Jonathan Frankel, Cambridge University Press (1981), p. 22.
6. ^ The Tavis Smiley Show/NPR, various interviews.
7. ^ Pierre Proudhon, What is Property?, chapter 2, remark 2.

[edit] See also

* Althusser's conceptions of "class struggle in the theory"
* Dialectic
* Producerism - an alternate ideology of class struggle advocating the "middle" class
* Social criticism

[edit] Literature

* Louis Adamic, Dynamite: The story of class violence in America, Revised Edition (1934)
* Leo Zeilig (Editor), Class Struggle and Resistance in Africa, (New Clarion Press, 2002), (ISBN 1-8737-9734-6)
* Li Yi, The Structure and Evolution of Chinese Social Stratification, (University Press of America, 2005), (ISBN 0-7618-3331-5)

[edit] External links

[edit] Women and class struggle

* Committee for Asian women

[edit] Pro-Marxist

* Collective Action Notes
* Karl Marx and Frederick Engels
* Bertell Ollman and Class Struggle Articles on Dialectics
* Communist Manifesto (1848)
* Karl Kautsky The Class Struggle (Erfurt Program) (1888)- contemporary book.
* The Marxists Internet Archive
* Class Struggle and Articles on Dialectics
* Karl Marx Wage Labour and Capital
* libcom.org UK based class struggle resource
* Karl Marx Capital, Volume One
* ClassStruggle.Com Critical Articles on Class Struggle
* Secular Stagnation, Keynes and Marx
* Beyond PostCapitalism.Net

[edit] Anti-Marxist

* "The Marxian Class Conflict Doctrine" Excerpt from Economic Freedom and Interventionism by Ludwig von Mises
* "Marxist and Austrian Class Analysis", by Hans-Hermann Hoppe
* Post Capitalism and Kondratieff as Alternative to Class Struggle

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Class_struggle"
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Anarchism
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Anarchism is a political philosophy encompassing theories and attitudes which consider the state, as compulsory government, to be unnecessary, harmful, and/or undesirable, and favors the absence of the state (anarchy).[1][2] Specific anarchists may have additional criteria for what constitutes anarchism, and they often disagree with each other on what these criteria are. According to The Oxford Companion to Philosophy, "there is no single defining position that all anarchists hold, and those considered anarchists at best share a certain family resemblance."[3]

There are many types and traditions of anarchism, not all of which are mutually exclusive.[4] Different versions of anarchism have been categorized as socialist anarchism and individualist anarchism or similar two-sides classifications.[5][6][7] Anarchism is usually considered to be a radical left-wing ideology,[8][9][10] and much of anarchist economics and anarchist legal philosophy reflect anti-statist interpretations of communism, collectivism, syndicalism or participatory economics; however, anarchism has always included an economic and legal individualist strain,[11] with that strain supporting an anarchist free-market economy and private property (like old anarcho-individualism and voluntaryism, or today's anarcho-capitalism, agorism and others).[12][13][14]

Others, such as panarchists and anarchists without adjectives, neither advocate nor object to any particular form of organization as long as it is not compulsory. Some anarchist schools of thought differ fundamentally, supporting anything from extreme individualism to complete collectivism.[2] The central tendency of anarchism as a social movement have been represented by communist anarchism, with anarcho-individualism being primarily a philosophical/literary phenomenon.[15] Some anarchists fundamentally oppose all forms of aggression, supporting self-defense or non-violence, while others have supported the use of some coercive measures, including violent revolution and terrorism, on the path to anarchy.[16]

The term anarchism derives from the Greek ἀναρχος, anarchos, meaning "without rulers",[17][18] from the prefix ἀν- (an-, "without") + ἄρχή (archê, "sovereignty, realm, magistracy")[19] + -ισμός (-ismos, from a stem -ιζειν, -izein). There is some ambiguity with the use of the terms "libertarianism" and "libertarian" in writings about anarchism. Since the 1890s from France,[20] the term "libertarianism" has often been used as a synonym for anarchism and was used almost exclusively in this sense until the 1950s in the United States;[21] its use as a synonym is still common outside the U.S.[22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29]

Accordingly, "libertarian socialism" is sometimes used as a synonym for socialist anarchism,[30][31] to delineate it from "individualist libertarianism" (individualist anarchism). On the other hand, some use "libertarianism" to refer to individualistic free-market philosophy only, referring to free-market anarchism as "libertarian anarchism."[32][33]
Contents
[hide]

* 1 Origins
* 2 Schools of thought
o 2.1 Individualist anarchism
+ 2.1.1 Philosophical anarchism
+ 2.1.2 William Godwin's rationalism
+ 2.1.3 Egoism
+ 2.1.4 Free-market individualism
o 2.2 Mutualism
o 2.3 Socialist anarchism
+ 2.3.1 Collectivist anarchism
+ 2.3.2 Anarchist communism
+ 2.3.3 Anarcho-syndicalism
o 2.4 Anarchism without adjectives
o 2.5 Post-classical schools of thought
+ 2.5.1 Anarcho-capitalism
+ 2.5.2 Anarcha-feminism
+ 2.5.3 Green anarchism
* 3 As a social movement
o 3.1 The First International
o 3.2 Organized labor
o 3.3 Russian Revolution
o 3.4 Fight against fascism
* 4 Internal issues and debates
* 5 See also
* 6 Footnotes
* 7 Further reading
* 8 External links
o 8.1 General resources
o 8.2 Biographical and bibliographical

[edit] Origins
Main article: History of anarchism

Some claim anarchist themes can be found in the works of Taoist sages Laozi[34] and Zhuangzi. The latter has been translated, "There has been such a thing as letting mankind alone; there has never been such a thing as governing mankind [with success]," and "A petty thief is put in jail. A great brigand becomes a ruler of a Nation."[35] Diogenes of Sinope and the Cynics, and their contemporary Zeno of Citium, the founder of Stoicism, also introduced similar topics.[34][36]

Modern anarchism, however, sprang from the secular or religious thought of the Enlightenment, particularly Jean-Jacques Rousseau's arguments for the moral centrality of freedom.[37] Although by the turn of the 19th century the term "anarchist" had an entirely positive connotation,[38] it first entered the English language in 1642 during the English Civil War as a term of abuse used by Royalists to damn those who were fomenting disorder.[38] By the time of the French Revolution some, such as the Enragés, began to use the term positively,[39] in opposition to Jacobin centralisation of power, seeing "revolutionary government" as oxymoronic.[38]

From this climate William Godwin developed what many consider the first expression of modern anarchist thought.[40] Godwin was, according to Peter Kropotkin, "the first to formulate the political and economical conceptions of anarchism, even though he did not give that name to the ideas developed in his work",[34] while Godwin attached his anarchist ideas to an early Edmund Burke.[41] Instead, Benjamin Tucker credits Josiah Warren, an American who promoted stateless and voluntary communities where all goods and services were private, with being "the first man to expound and formulate the doctrine now known as Anarchism."[42] The first to describe himself as an anarchist was Pierre-Joseph Proudhon,[38] a French philosopher and politician, which led some to call him the founder of modern anarchist theory.[43]

[edit] Schools of thought
Main article: Anarchist schools of thought

Anarchist ideas have only occasionally inspired political movements of any size, and "the tradition is mainly one of individuals thinkers, but they have produced an important body of theory."[44] Anarchist schools of thought had been generally grouped in two main historical traditions, individualist and collectivist ones, which have some different origins, values and evolution.[2][5][45]

The individualist wing of anarchism emphasises negative liberty, i.e. opposition to state or social control over the individual, while those in the collectivist wing emphasise positive liberty to achieve one's potential and argue that humans have needs that society ought to fulfill, "recognizing equality of entitlement".[46] In chronological and theorical sense there are classical -those created throughout the 19th century- and post-classical anarchist schools -those created since the mid-20th century and after.

[edit] Individualist anarchism
Main article: Individualist anarchism

Individualist anarchism comprises several traditions[47] which hold that "individual conscience and the pursuit of self-interest should not be constrained by any collective body or public authority."[48] Individualist anarchism is supportive of property being held privately, unlike the socialist/collectivist/communitarian wing which advocates common ownership.[49] Individualist anarchism has been espoused by individuals such as Max Stirner,Stephen Pearl Andrews, William Godwin,[50] Henry David Thoreau,[51] Josiah Warren, Albert Jay Nock[52] and Murray Rothbard.[53][54][55]
William Godwin, usually considered an individualist anarchist, is often regarded as producing the first philosophical expression of anarchism

[edit] Philosophical anarchism
Main article: Philosophical anarchism

Philosophical anarchism is a component especially of individualist anarchism[56][57] which contends that the State lacks moral legitimacy but does not advocate revolution to eliminate it. Though philosophical anarchism does not necessarily imply any action or desire for the elimination of the State, philosophical anarchists do not believe that they have an obligation or duty to obey the State, or conversely, that the State has a right to command. Philosophical anarchists may accept the existence of a minimal state as unfortunate, and usually temporary, "necessary evil" but argue that citizens do not have a moral obligation to obey the state when its laws conflict with individual autonomy.[58]

Philosophical anarchists of historical note include William Godwin, Max Stirner, Herbert Spencer,[59] Benjamin Tucker,[60] and Henry David Thoreau.[61] Contemporary philosophical anarchists include Robert Paul Wolff. According to scholar Allan Antliff, Benjamin Tucker coined the term "philosophical anarchism," to distinguish peaceful evolutionary anarchism from revolutionary variants.[62] As conceived by William Godwin, it requires individuals to act in accordance with their own judgments and to allow every other individual the same liberty; conceived egoistically as by Max Stirner, it implies that 'the unique one' who truly 'owns himself' recognizes no duties to others; within the limit of his might, he does what is right for him.[63]

[edit] William Godwin's rationalism

In 1793, William Godwin who has often[64] been cited as the first anarchist, wrote Political Justice, which some consider to be the first expression of anarchism.[40][65] Godwin, a philosophical anarchist, from a rationalist and utilitarian basis opposed revolutionary action and saw a minimal state as a present "necessary evil" that would become increasingly irrelevant and powerless by the gradual spread of knowledge.[40][66] Godwin advocated extreme individualism, proposing that all cooperation in labor be eliminated on the premise that this would be most conducive with the general good.[67][68] Godwin was a utilitarian who believed that all individuals are not of equal value, with some of us "of more worth and importance' than others depending on our utility in bringing about social good. Therefore he does not believe in equal rights, but the person's life that should be favored that is most conducive to the general good.[68] Godwin opposed government because he saw it as infringing on the individual's right to "private judgement" to determine which actions most maximize utility, but also makes a critique of all authority over the individual's judgement. This aspect of Godwin's philosophy, stripped of utilitarian motivations, was developed into a more extreme form later by Stirner.[69]
19th century philosopher Max Stirner, usually considered a prominent early individualist anarchist (sketch by Friedrich Engels).

[edit] Egoism
Main article: Egoist anarchism

The most extreme[70] form of individualist anarchism, called "egoism,"[70] was expounded by one of the earliest and best-known proponents of individualist anarchism, Max Stirner.[71] Stirner's The Ego and Its Own, published in 1844, is a founding text of the philosophy.[71] According to Stirner's conception, the only limitation on the rights of the individual is their power to obtain what they desire,[72] without regard for God, state, or moral rules.[73] To Stirner, rights were spooks in the mind, and he held that society does not exist but "the individuals are its reality" – he supported a concept of property held by force of might rather than moral right.[74] By "property" he is not referring only to things but to other people as well.[75] Stirner advocated self-assertion and foresaw "associations of egoists" where respect for ruthlessness drew people together.[50] Even murder is permissible "if it is right for me."[76] Stirner saw the state as illegitimate but did not see individuals as having a duty to eliminate it nor does he recommend that they try to eliminate it; rather, he advocates that they disregard the state when it conflicts with their autonomous choices and go along with it when doing so is conducive to their interests.[77] However, while he thought there was no duty to eliminate state, he does think it will eventually collapse as a result of the spread of egoism.[78]

"Egoism" has inspired many interpretations of Stirner's philosophy. It was re-discovered and promoted by German philosophical anarchist and LGBT activist John Henry Mackay. Individualist anarchism inspired by Stirner attracted a small following of European bohemian artists and intellectuals. Stirner's philosophy has been seen as a precedent of existentialism with other thinkers like Friedrich Nietzsche, or even Sören Kierkegaard. Russian anarchists like Lev Chernyi were also attracted by Stirner ideas, as well as a few lone wolves who found self-expression in crime and violence.[79] They rejected organizing, believing that only unorganized individuals were safe from coercion and domination, and that this kept them true to the ideals of anarchism.[80] This type of individualist anarchism inspired anarcho-feminist Emma Goldman.[79] Though Stirner's egoism is individualist, it has also influenced some anarcho-communists. "For Ourselves Council for Generalized Self-Management" discusses Stirner and speaks of a "communist egoism," which is said to be a "synthesis of individualism and collectivism," and says that "greed in its fullest sense is the only possible basis of communist society. [81]
Lysander Spooner, one of the biggest exponents of classic American anarchism. He supported natural law and market economy.

[edit] Free-market individualism
Further information: Individualist anarchism in the United States and Free-market anarchism

Another form of individualist anarchism was found in the United States, as advocated by the "Boston anarchists."[79] By default American individualists didn't have any problem that "one man employ another" or that "he direct him," in his labor but demanded that "all natural opportunities requisite to the production of wealth be accessible to all on equal terms and that monopolies arising from special privileges created by law be abolished."[82] They believed state monopoly capitalism (defined as a state-sponsored monopoly)[83] prevented labor from being fully rewarded. Voltairine de Cleyre, summed up the philosophy by saying that the anarchist individualists "are firm in the idea that the system of employer and employed, buying and selling, banking, and all the other essential institutions of Commercialism, centered upon private property, are in themselves good, and are rendered vicious merely by the interference of the State."[84]

Even among the nineteenth century American individualists, there was not a monolithic doctrine, as they disagreed amongst each other on various issues including intellectual property rights and possession versus property in land.[85][86][87] A major schism occurred later in the 19th century when Tucker and some others abandoned their traditional support of natural rights -as expoused by Lysander Spooner- and converted to an "egoism" modeled upon Stirner's philosophy.[86] Some "Boston anarchists", including Benjamin Tucker, identified themselves as "socialists" which in the 19th century was often used in the broad sense of a commitment to improving conditions of the working class (i.e. "the labor problem").[88] By the turn of the 20th century, the heyday of individualist anarchism had passed,[89] although the individualist anarchist tradition was later revived with modifications by Murray Rothbard and his anarcho-capitalism in the mid-twentieth century, as a current of the broader libertarian movement.[79][90]
Mutualist Pierre-Joseph Proudhon (1809–1865) was the first self-described anarchist.

[edit] Mutualism
Main article: Mutualism (economic theory)

Mutualism began in 18th century English and French labor movements before taking an anarchist form associated with Pierre-Joseph Proudhon in France and others in the United States.[91] Proudhon proposed spontaneous order, whereby organization emerges without central authority, a "positive anarchy" where order arises when everybody does “what he wishes and only what he wishes"[92] and where "business transactions alone produce the social order."[93] Like Godwin, Proudhon opposed violent revolutionary action. He saw anarchy as "a form of government or constitution in which public and private consciousness, formed through the development of science and law, is alone sufficient to maintain order and guarantee all liberties. In it, as a consequence, the institutions of the police, preventive and repressive methods, officialdom, taxation, etc., are reduced to a minimum. In it, more especially, the forms of monarchy and intensive centralization disappear, to be replaced by federal institutions and a pattern of life based on the commune."[94] By "commune", Proudhon meant local self-government or according to literal translation, "municipality", rather than a communist arrangement.[95] Proudhon's famous declaration that "Property is Theft!," along with his less famous declaration that "Property is Liberty,"[96][97] inspired different anarchist economic models throughout the 19th and 20th centuries.

Proudhon's ideas were introduced by Charles A. Dana,[98] to individualist anarchists in the United States including Benjamin Tucker and William Batchelder Greene.[99] Mutualist anarchism is concerned with reciprocity, free association, voluntary contract, federation, and credit and currency reform. According to Greene, in the mutualist system each worker would receive "just and exact pay for his work; services equivalent in cost being exchangeable for services equivalent in cost, without profit or discount."[100] Mutualism has been retrospectively characterized as ideologically situated between individualist and collectivist forms of anarchism.[101] Proudhon first characterized his goal as a "third form of society, the synthesis of communism and property."[102]

[edit] Socialist anarchism
Main article: Socialist anarchism

Socialist anarchism is one of two different broad categories of anarchism, the other category being individualist anarchism. The term socialist anarchism is often used to identify communitarian forms of anarchism that emphasize cooperation and mutual aid. Old socialist anarchism includes anarcho-collectivism, anarcho-communism, platformism and anarcho-syndicalism. More recently developments includes the anarchist factions from social ecology, inclusive democracy and participatory economics.

[edit] Collectivist anarchism
Main article: Collectivist anarchism

Collectivist anarchism, also referred to as revolutionary socialism or a form of such,[103][104] is a revolutionary form of anarchism, commonly associated with Mikhail Bakunin and Johann Most.[105][106] It is a specific tendency, not to be confused with the broad category sometimes called collectivist or communitarian anarchism.[107] Unlike mutualists, collectivist anarchists oppose all private ownership of the means of production, instead advocating that ownership be collectivized. This was to be achieved through violent revolution, first starting with a small cohesive group through acts of violence, or "propaganda by the deed," which would inspire the workers as a whole to revolt and forcibly collectivize the means of production.[105] However, collectivization was not to be extended to the distribution of income, as workers would be paid according to time worked, rather than receiving goods being distributed "according to need" as in anarcho-communism. This position was criticised by later anarcho-communists as effectively "uphold[ing] the wages system".[108] Anarchist communist and collectivist ideas were not mutually exclusive; although the collectivist anarchists advocated compensation for labor, some held out the possibility of a post-revolutionary transition to a communist system of distribution according to need.[109] Collectivist anarchism arose contemporaneously with Marxism but opposed the Marxist dictatorship of the proletariat, despite the stated Marxist goal of a collectivist stateless society.[110]
Anarcho-communist Peter Kropotkin believed that in anarchy, workers would spontaneously self-organize to produce goods in common for all society.

[edit] Anarchist communism
Main article: Anarchist communism

Anarchist communists propose that the freest form of social organisation would be a society composed of self-governing communes with collective use of the means of production, organized by direct democracy, and related to other communes through federation.[111] However, some anarchist communists oppose the majoritarian nature of direct democracy, feeling that it can impede individual liberty and favor consensus democracy.[112]

In anarchist communism, as money would be abolished, individuals would not receive direct compensation for labour (through sharing of profits or payment) but would have free access to the resources and surplus of the commune.[113] According to anarchist communist Peter Kropotkin and later Murray Bookchin, the members of such a society would spontaneously perform all necessary labour because they would recognize the benefits of communal enterprise and mutual aid.[114][page needed] Kropotkin believed that private property was one of the causes of oppression and exploitation and called for its abolition,[115][116] advocating instead common ownership.[115] Kropotkin said that "houses, fields, and factories will no longer be private property, and that they will belong to the commune or the nation and money, wages, and trade would be abolished."[117] Kropotkin's work Mutual Aid criticized social Darwinism, arguing that cooperation is more natural than competition. Conquest of Bread was essentially a handbook on the organization of a society after the social revolution.

In response to those criticizing Kropotkin for supporting expropriation of homes and means of production from those who did not wish to take part in anarcho-communism, he replied that if someone did not want to join the commune they would be left alone as long as they are a "peasant who is in possession of just the amount of land he can cultivate," or "a family inhabiting a house which affords them just enough space... considered necessary for that number of people" or an artisan "working with their own tools or handloom."[118] arguing that "[t]he landlord owes his riches to the poverty of the peasants, and the wealth of the capitalist comes from the same source."[118]

The status of anarchist communism within anarchism is disputed, because most individualist anarchists consider communitarianism incompatible with political freedom.[119] However, anarcho-communism does not always have a communitarian philosophy, Some forms of anarchist communism are egoist,[120] and are very influenced by radical individualist philosophy, believing that anarcho-communism does not require a communitarian nature at all. Anarchist communist Emma Goldman blended the philosophies of both Max Stirner and Kropotkin in her own.[121]

Platformism is an anarchist communist tendency in the tradition of Nestor Makhno, who argued for the "vital need of an organization which, having attracted most of the participants in the anarchist movement, would establish a common tactical and political line for anarchism and thereby serve as a guide for the whole movement."[122]

[edit] Anarcho-syndicalism
Main articles: Syndicalism and Anarcho-syndicalism
A common Anarcho-Syndicalist flag.

In the early 20th century, anarcho-syndicalism arose as a distinct school of thought within anarchism.[123] With greater focus on the labour movement than previous forms of anarchism, syndicalism posits radical trade unions as a potential force for revolutionary social change, replacing capitalism and the state with a new society, democratically self-managed by the workers.

Anarcho-syndicalists seek to abolish the wage system and private ownership of the means of production, which they believe lead to class divisions. Important principles include workers' solidarity, direct action (such as general strikes and workplace recuperations), and workers' self-management. This is compatible with other branches of anarchism, and anarcho-syndicalists often subscribe to anarchist communist or collectivist anarchist economic systems.[124] Its advocates propose labour organization as a means to create the foundations of a trade union centered anarchist society within the current system and bring about social revolution. An early leading anarcho-syndicalist thinker was Rudolf Rocker, whose 1938 pamphlet Anarchosyndicalism outlined a view of the movement's origin, aims and importance to the future of labour.[124][125]

Although more often associated with labor struggles of the early 20th century (particularly in France and Spain), many syndicalist organizations are active today, united across national borders by membership in the International Workers Association, including the Central Organisation of the Workers of Sweden (SAC) in Sweden, the Unione Sindacale Italiana (USI) in Italy, the CNT and the CGT in Spain, the Workers' Solidarity Movement (WSM) of Ireland, and the Industrial Workers of the World in the United States.

[edit] Anarchism without adjectives
Main article: Anarchism without adjectives

"Anarchism without adjectives", in the words of historian George Richard Esenwein, "referred to an unhyphenated form of anarchism, that is, a doctrine without any qualifying labels such as communist, collectivist, mutualist, or individualist. For others,…[it] was simply understood as an attitude that tolerated the coexistence of different anarchist schools."[126] "Anarchism without adjectives" emphasizes harmony among various anarchist factions and attempts to unite them around their shared anti-authoritarian beliefs. The position was first adopted in 1889 by Fernando Tarrida del Mármol as a call for toleration, after being troubled by the "bitter debates" among the different anarchist movements.[127] Voltairine de Cleyre,[128] Errico Malatesta,[129] and Fred Woodworth are noteworthy exponents of the view.[130]

[edit] Post-classical schools of thought
Temporary Autonomous Zone theorist Hakim Bey is an influential figure in post-leftist anarchist circles.

Anarchism continues to generate many eclectic and syncretic philosophies and movements; since the revival of anarchism in the U.S. in the 1960s,[131] a number of new movements and schools have emerged. Anarcho-capitalism developed from radical anti-state libertarianism as a rejuvenated form of individualist anarchism, it draws from ideas like Austrian School, law and economics or public choice,[132] while the burgeoning feminist and environmentalist movements also produced anarchist offshoots.

Post-left anarchy is a tendency which seeks to distance itself from the traditional "Left" and to escape the confines of ideology in general. Post-leftists argue that anarchism has been weakened by its long attachment to contrary "leftist" movements, single issue causes and calls for a synthesis of anarchist thought, and a specifically anti-authoritarian revolutionary movement outside the leftist milieu. Post-anarchism is a theoretical move towards a synthesis of classical anarchist theory and poststructuralist thought developed by Saul Newman and associated with thinkers such as Todd May, Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari. It draws from a wide range of ideas including post-modernism, autonomist marxism, post-left anarchy, situationism and postcolonialism.

Another recent form of anarchism critical of formal anarchist movements is insurrectionary anarchism, which advocates informal organization and active resistance to the state; its proponents include Wolfi Landstreicher and Alfredo M. Bonanno.
Murray Rothbard (1926–1995), 20th century progenitor of anarcho-capitalism who asserted that "capitalism is the fullest expression of anarchism, and anarchism is the fullest expression of capitalism."[133]

[edit] Anarcho-capitalism
Main article: Anarcho-capitalism

Anarcho-capitalism [134] is "based on a belief in the freedom to own private property, a rejection of any form of governmental authority or intervention, and the upholding of the competitive free market as the main mechanism for social interaction."[135] Because of the historically anti-capitalist nature of much of anarchist thought, the status of anarcho-capitalism within anarchism is disputed, particularly by communist anarchists.[136] Conversely, anarcho-capitalists sometimes argue that socialist schools of anarchism are themselves logically impossible.[137]

Anarcho-capitalists distinguish between free market capitalism – peaceful voluntary exchange – from state capitalism, which Murray Rothbard defined as a collusive partnership between big business and government that uses coercion to subvert the free market.[138][139] Whether in its natural rights-based, contractarian, or utilitarian formulations, anarcho-capitalism has a theory of legitimacy that supports private property as long as it was obtained by labor, trade, or gift.[140] Proponents argue that in an anarcho-capitalist society, voluntary market processes would result in the provision of social institutions such as law enforcement, defence and infrastructure by competing for-profit firms, charities or voluntary associations rather than the state.[141] In Rothbardian anarcho-capitalism, law (the non-aggression principle) is enforced by the market but not created by it, while according to David D. Friedman's utilitarian version, the law itself is produced by the market.
A yellow and black flag is often used to represent Anarcho-capitalism.

Although the term anarcho-capitalism was coined by Rothbard, and its origin is attributed to 1960s United States, some historians, including Rothbard, trace the school of thought as far back as the mid-19th century, to market theorists such as Gustave de Molinari.[142][143] Anarcho-capitalism has drawn influence from pro-market theorists such as Molinari, Frédéric Bastiat, and Robert Nozick, as well as American individualist thinkers such as Benjamin Tucker and Lysander Spooner.[144][145] Considered a form of individualist anarchism,[146] it differs from the individualism of the Boston anarchists of the 19th century in its rejection of the labor theory of value (and its normative implications) in favor of the neoclassical or Austrian School marginalist view. Anarcho-capitalist ideas have contributed to the development of agorism,[147] autarchism, voluntaryism,[148] paleolibertarianism,[149] and crypto-anarchism.[150] Institutes related to capitalist anarchism are Center for Libertarian Studies and Ludwig von Mises Institute in US, and Libertarian Alliance in UK.

[edit] Anarcha-feminism
Main article: Anarcha-feminism
A purple and black flag is often used to represent Anarcha-feminism.

Anarcha-feminism is a synthesis of radical feminism and anarchism that views patriarchy (male domination over women) as a fundamental manifestation of compulsory government – to which anarchists are opposed. Anarcha-feminism was inspired in the late 19th century by the writings of early feminist anarchists such as Lucy Parsons, Emma Goldman and Voltairine de Cleyre, and even Dora Marsden. Anarcha-feminists, like other radical feminists, criticize and advocate the abolition of traditional conceptions of family, education and gender roles.

Many anarcha-feminists are especially critical of marriage. For instance, Emma Goldman has argued that marriage is a purely economic arrangement and that "…[woman] pays for it with her name, her privacy, her self-respect, her very life."[151] Anarcha-feminists view patriarchy as a fundamental problem in society and believe that the feminist struggle against sexism and patriarchy is an essential component of the anarchist struggle against the state and capitalism. Susan Brown expressed the sentiment that "as anarchism is a political philosophy that opposes all relationships of power, it is inherently feminist."[152] There have been several male anarcha-feminists, such as the Anarcho-communist Joseph Déjacque who opposed Proudhon's anti-feminist views."[153] Recently, Wendy McElroy has defined a position (she describes it as "ifeminism" or "individualist feminism") that combines feminism with anarcho-capitalism or libertarianism, arguing that a pro-capitalist, anti-state position implies equal rights and empowerment for women.[154] Individualist anarchist feminism has grown from the US-based individualist anarchism movement.
Murray Bookchin (1921-2006) a pioneer in the ecology movement,[155] he founded the social ecology movement within socialist anarchism and ecological thought.

[edit] Green anarchism
Main article: Green anarchism
Green and black flag of Green Anarchism.

Green anarchism (or eco-anarchism)[156] is a school of thought within anarchism which puts an emphasis on environmental issues.[157] Important contemporary currents are social ecology and anarcho-primitivism. Many advocates of green anarchism and primitivism consider Fredy Perlman as the modern progenitor of their views. Notable contemporary writers espousing green anarchism include the techno-positives Murray Bookchin, Janet Biehl, Daniel Chodorkoff, anthropologist Brian Morris, and people around Institute for Social Ecology; those critical of technology such as Derrick Jensen, George Draffan, and John Zerzan; and others including Alan Carter,[158] and Stewart Davidson [159]

Social ecologists, considered also a kind of socialist anarchists, often criticize the main currents of anarchism for their focus and debates about politics and economics, instead of a focus on eco-system (human and environmental) like they do. This theory promote libertarian municipalism and green technology. Anarcho-primitivists often criticize mainstream anarchism for supporting civilization and modern technology which they believe are inherently based on domination and exploitation. They instead advocate the process of rewilding or reconnecting with the natural environment. Veganarchism is the political philosophy of veganism (more specifically animal liberation) and green anarchism.[160] This encompasses viewing the state as unnecessary and harmful to both human and animals, whilst practising a vegan diet.[160]

[edit] As a social movement

Anarchism as a social movement has regularly endured fluctuations in popularity. Its classical period, which scholars demarcate as from 1860 to 1939, is associated with the working-class movements of the nineteenth century and the Spanish Civil War-era struggles against fascism.[161] Also, anarchists were specially active in the abolition of slavery, and have been active in the labor movement, civil rights, women's liberation, both anti-capitalism and pro-capitalism[14] (with varying definitions of capitalism), the anti-war movement, LGBT rights, both anti-globalization and pro-globalization (with varying definitions of globalization), tax resistance, and other forms of anarchist activism.

[edit] The First International
Collectivist anarchist Mikhail Bakunin opposed the Marxist aim of dictatorship of the proletariat in favour of universal rebellion, and allied himself with the federalists in the First International before his expulsion by the Marxists.[38]

In Europe, harsh reaction followed the revolutions of 1848, wherein ten countries experienced brief or long-term social upheaval as groups carried out nationalist revolutions. After most of these attempts at systematic change ended in failure, conservative elements took advantage of the divided groups of socialists, anarchists, liberals, and nationalists, to prevent further revolt.[162] In 1864 the International Workingmen's Association (sometimes called the "First International") united diverse revolutionary currents including French followers of Proudhon,[163] Blanquists, Philadelphes, English trade unionists, socialists and social democrats. Due to its links to active workers' movements, the International became a significant organization. Karl Marx became a leading figure in the International and a member of its General Council. Proudhon's followers, the mutualists, opposed Marx's state socialism, advocating political abstentionism and small property holdings.[164][165]

In 1868, following their unsuccessful participation in the League of Peace and Freedom (LPF), Mikhail Bakunin and his associates joined the First International – which had decided not to get involved with the LPF. They allied themselves with the federalist socialist sections of the International, who advocated the revolutionary overthrow of the state and the collectivization of property. At first, the collectivists worked with the Marxists to push the First International in a more revolutionary socialist direction. Subsequently, the International became polarized into two camps, with Marx and Bakunin as their respective figureheads.[166] Bakunin characterised Marx's ideas as centralist and predicted that, if a Marxist party came to power, its leaders would simply take the place of the ruling class they had fought against.[167][168] In 1872, the conflict climaxed with a final split between the two groups at the Hague Congress, where Bakunin and James Guillaume were expelled from the International and its headquarters were transferred to New York. In response, the federalist sections formed their own International at the St. Imier Congress, adopting a revolutionary anarchist program.[169]

[edit] Organized labor
Main articles: Anarcho-syndicalism, Anarchism in Spain, and Spanish Revolution

The anti-authoritarian sections of the First International were the precursors of the anarcho-syndicalists, seeking to "replace the privilege and authority of the State" with the "free and spontaneous organization of labor."[170] In 1886, the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions (FOTLU) of the United States and Canada unanimously set 1 May 1886, as the date by which the eight-hour work day would become standard.[171] In response, unions across America prepared a general strike in support of the event.[172] Upon 3 May, in Chicago, a fight broke out when replacement workers attempted to cross the picket line. Police intervention led to the deaths of four men, enraging the workers of the city. The next day, 4 May, anarchists staged a rally at Chicago's Haymarket Square.[173] A bomb was thrown by an unknown party near the conclusion of the rally, killing an officer.[174] In the ensuing panic, police opened fire on the crowd and each other.[175] Seven police officers and at least four workers were killed.[176] Eight anarchists directly and indirectly related to the organizers of the rally were arrested and charged with the murder of the deceased officer. The men became international political celebrities among the labor movement. Four of the men were executed and a fifth committed suicide prior to his own execution. The incident became known as the Haymarket affair, and was a setback for the labor movement and the struggle for the eight hour day. In 1890 a second attempt, this time international in scope, to organize for the eight hour day was made. The event also had the secondary purpose of memorializing workers killed as a result of the Haymarket affair.[177] The celebration of International Workers' Day on May Day became an annual event the following year.

In 1907, the International Anarchist Congress of Amsterdam gathered delegates from 14 different countries, among which important figures of the anarchist movement, including Errico Malatesta, Pierre Monatte, Luigi Fabbri, Benoît Broutchoux, Emma Goldman, Rudolf Rocker, Christiaan Cornelissen, etc. Various themes were treated during the Congress, in particular concerning the organisation of the anarchist movement, popular education issues, the general strike or antimilitarism. A central debate concerned the relation between anarchism and syndicalism (or trade unionism). Malatesta and Monatte in particular opposed themselves on this issue, as the latter thought that syndicalism was revolutionary and would create the conditions of a social revolution, while Malatesta did not consider syndicalism by itself sufficient.[178] Malatesta thought that trade-unions were reformist, and could even be, at times, conservative. Along with Cornelissen, he cited as example US trade-unions, where trade-unions composed of qualified workers sometimes opposed themselves to non-qualified workers in order to defend their relatively privileged position.

The Spanish Workers Federation in 1881 was the first major anarcho-syndicalist movement; anarchist trade union federations were of special importance in Spain. The most successful was the Confederación Nacional del Trabajo (National Confederation of Labour: CNT), founded in 1910. Before the 1940s, the CNT was the major force in Spanish working class politics and played a major role in the Spanish Civil War. The CNT was affiliated with the International Workers Association, a federation of anarcho-syndicalist trade unions founded in 1922, with delegates representing two million workers from 15 countries in Europe and Latin America. The largest organised anarchist movement today is in Spain, in the form of the Confederación General del Trabajo (CGT) and the CNT. CGT membership was estimated to be around 100,000 for the year 2003.[179] Other active syndicalist movements include the US Workers Solidarity Alliance and the UK Solidarity Federation. The revolutionary industrial unionist Industrial Workers of the World, claiming 2,000 paying members, and the International Workers Association, an anarcho-syndicalist successor to the First International, also remain active.

[edit] Russian Revolution
Main articles: Anarchism in Russia and Russian Revolution (1917)
Anarchists Emma Goldman and Alexander Berkman opposed Bolshevik consolidation of power following the Russian Revolution (1917).

Anarchists participated alongside the Bolsheviks in both February and October revolutions, many anarchists initially supporting the Bolshevik coup. However, the Bolsheviks soon turned against the anarchists and other left-wing opposition, a conflict that culminated in the 1921 Kronstadt rebellion. Anarchists in central Russia were either imprisoned, driven underground or joined the victorious Bolsheviks. In the Ukraine, anarchists fought in the civil war against Whites and then the Bolsheviks as part of the Revolutionary Insurrectionary Army of Ukraine led by Nestor Makhno, who attempted to establish an anarchist society in the region for a number of months.

Expelled American anarchists Emma Goldman and Alexander Berkman were amongst those agitating in response to Bolshevik policy and the suppression of the Kronstadt uprising, before they left Russia. Both wrote accounts of their experiences in Russia, criticizing the amount of control the Bolsheviks exercised. For them, Bakunin's predictions about the consequences of Marxist rule that the rulers of the new "socialist” Marxist state would become a new elite[167] had proved all too true.

The victory of the Bolsheviks in the October Revolution and the resulting Russian Civil War did serious damage to anarchist movements internationally. Many workers and activists saw Bolshevik success as setting an example; Communist parties grew at the expense of anarchism and other socialist movements. In France and the US, for example, certain members of the major syndicalist movements of the CGT and IWW left the organizations and joined the Communist International.

In Paris, the Dielo Truda group of Russian anarchist exiles, which included Nestor Makhno, concluded that anarchists needed to develop new forms of organisation in response to the structures of Bolshevism. Their 1926 manifesto, called the Organizational Platform of the General Union of Anarchists (Draft),[122] was supported. Platformist groups active today include the Workers Solidarity Movement in Ireland and the North Eastern Federation of Anarchist Communists of North America.
Anti-fascist Maquis, who resisted Nazi and Francoist rule in Europe.

[edit] Fight against fascism
Main article: Anti-fascism
See also: Anarchism in Italy, Anarchism in France, and Anarchism in Spain

In the 1920s and 1930s, the rise of fascism in Europe transformed anarchism's conflict with the state. Italy saw the first struggles between anarchists and fascists. Italian anarchists played a key role in the anti-fascist organisation Arditi del Popolo, which was strongest in areas with anarchist traditions and marked up numerous successful victories, including repelling Blackshirts in the anarchist stronghold of Parma in August 1922.[180] In France, where the far right leagues came close to insurrection in the February 1934 riots, anarchists divided over a united front policy.[181]

In Spain, the CNT initially refused to join a popular front electoral alliance, and abstention by CNT supporters led to a right wing election victory. But in 1936, the CNT changed its policy and anarchist votes helped bring the popular front back to power. Months later, the former ruling class responded with an attempted coup causing the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939). In response to the army rebellion, an anarchist-inspired movement of peasants and workers, supported by armed militias, took control of Barcelona and of large areas of rural Spain where they collectivized the land. But even before the fascist victory in 1939, the anarchists were losing ground in a bitter struggle with the Stalinists, who controlled the distribution of military aid to the Republican cause from the Soviet Union. According to George Orwell and other foreign observers, Stalinist-led troops suppressed the collectives and persecuted both dissident Marxists and anarchists.

[edit] Internal issues and debates
Main article: Issues in anarchism

Anarchism is a philosophy which embodies many diverse attitudes, tendencies and schools of thought; as such, disagreement over questions of values, ideology and tactics is common. The compatibility of capitalism,[3] nationalism and religion with anarchism is widely disputed. Similarly, anarchism enjoys a complex relationship with ideologies such as Marxism, communism and capitalism. Anarchists may be motivated by humanism, divine authority, enlightened self-interest or any number of alternative ethical doctrines.

Phenomena such as civilization, technology (e.g. within anarcho-primitivism and insurrectionary anarchism), and the democratic process may be sharply criticized within some anarchist tendencies and simultaneously lauded in others. Anarchist attitudes towards race, gender and the environment have changed significantly since the modern origin of the philosophy in the 18th century.

On a tactical level, while propaganda of the deed was a tactic used by anarchists in the 19th century (e.g. the Nihilist movement), contemporary anarchists espouse alternative direct action methods such as nonviolence, counter-economics and anti-state cryptography to bring about an anarchist society. About the scope of an anarchist society, some anarchists advocate a global one, while others do so by local ones.[182] The diversity in anarchism has led to widely different use of identical terms among different anarchist traditions, which has led to many definitional concerns in anarchist theory.

[edit] See also
Anarchism portal
Main article: Outline of anarchism

* Anarchist symbolism
* List of fictional anarchists

[edit] Footnotes

1. ^ *Errico Malatesta, "Towards Anarchism", MAN!. Los Angeles: International Group of San Francisco. OCLC 3930443.
* Agrell, Siri (2007-05-14). "Working for The Man". The Globe and Mail. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ ... Work/home/. Retrieved 2008-04-14.
* "Anarchism." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2006. Encyclopædia Britannica Premium Service. 29 August 2006
* "Anarchism." The Shorter Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 2005. p. 14 "Anarchism is the view that a society without the state, or government, is both possible and desirable."
2. ^ a b c Slevin, Carl. "Anarchism." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Politics. Ed. Iain McLean and Alistair McMillan. Oxford University Press, 2003.
3. ^ a b "Anarchism." The Oxford Companion to Philosophy, Oxford University Press, 2007, p. 31.
4. ^ Sylvan, Richard (1995). "Anarchism". in Goodwin, Robert E. and Pettit. A Companion to Contemporary Political Philosophy. Philip. Blackwell Publishing. p. 231.
5. ^ a b Ostergaard, Geoffrey. "Anarchism". The Blackwell Dictionary of Modern Social Thought. Blackwell Publishing. p. 14.
6. ^ Kropotkin, Peter (2002). Anarchism: A Collection of Revolutionary Writings. Courier Dover Publications. p. 5.
7. ^ R.B. Fowler (1972). "The Anarchist Tradition of Political Thought". Western Political Quarterly 25 (4): 738–752. doi:10.2307/446800.
8. ^ Brooks, Frank H. (1994). The Individualist Anarchists: An Anthology of Liberty (1881–1908). Transaction Publishers. p. xi. "Usually considered to be an extreme left-wing ideology, anarchism has always included a significant strain of radical individualism, from the hyperrationalism of Godwin, to the egoism of Stirner, to the libertarians and anarcho-capitalists of today"
9. ^ Joseph Kahn (2000). "Anarchism, the Creed That Won’t Stay Dead; The Spread of World Capitalism Resurrects a Long-Dormant Movement". The New York Times (5 August).
10. ^ Colin Moynihan (2007). "Book Fair Unites Anarchists. In Spirit, Anyway". New York Times (16 April).
11. ^ Stringham, Edward (2007). Stringham, Edward. ed. Anarchy and the Law. The Political Economy of Choice.. Transaction Publishers. p. 720.
12. ^ Brooks, Frank H. 1994. The Individualist Anarchists: An Anthology of Liberty (1881–1908). Transaction Publishers. p. xi.
13. ^ Narveson, Jan (2002). Respecting Persons in Theory and Practice. Chapter 11: Anarchist's Case. "To see this, of course, we must expound the moral outlook underlying anarchism. To do this we must first make an important distinction between two general options in anarchist theory [...] The two are what we may call, respectively, the socialist versus the free-market, or capitalist, versions."
14. ^ a b Tormey, Simon, Anti-Capitalism, A Beginner's Guide, Oneworld Publications, 2004, pp. 118-119.
15. ^ Skirda, Alexandre. Facing the Enemy: A History of Anarchist Organization from Proudhon to May 1968. AK Press, 2002, p. 191.
16. ^ Fowler, R.B. "The Anarchist Tradition of Political Thought." The Western Political Quarterly, Vol. 25, No. 4. (December, 1972), pp. 743–744.
17. ^ Anarchy. Merriam-Webster online.
18. ^ Liddell, Henry George, & Scott, Robert, "A Greek-English Lexicon"[1].
19. ^ Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert. A Greek-English Lexicon. http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/pt ... 3D%2315894.
20. ^ Nettlau, Max (1996). A Short History of Anarchism. Freedom Press. p. 162. ISBN 0900384891.
21. ^ Russell, Dean. Who is a Libertarian?, Foundation for Economic Education, "Ideas on Liberty," May, 1955.
22. ^ Ward, Colin. Anarchism: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press 2004 p. 62
23. ^ Goodway, David. Anarchists Seed Beneath the Snow. Liverpool Press. 2006, p. 4
24. ^ MacDonald, Dwight & Wreszin, Michael. Interviews with Dwight Macdonald. University Press of Mississippi, 2003. p. 82
25. ^ Bufe, Charles. The Heretic's Handbook of Quotations. See Sharp Press, 1992. p. iv
26. ^ Gay, Kathlyn. Encyclopedia of Political Anarchy. ABC-CLIO / University of Michigan, 2006, p. 126
27. ^ Woodcock, George. Anarchism: A History of Libertarian Ideas and Movements. Broadview Press, 2004. (Uses the terms interchangeably, such as on page 10)
28. ^ Skirda, Alexandre. Facing the Enemy: A History of Anarchist Organization from Proudhon to May 1968. AK Press 2002. p. 183.
29. ^ Fernandez, Frank. Cuban Anarchism. The History of a Movement. See Sharp Press, 2001, page 9.
30. ^ Perlin, Terry M. (1979). Contemporary Anarchism. Transaction Publishers. p. 40.
31. ^ Noam Chomsky, Carlos Peregrín Otero. Language and Politics. AK Press, 2004, p. 739.
32. ^ Morris, Christopher. 1992. An Essay on the Modern State. Cambridge University Press. p. 61. (Using "libertarian anarchism" synonymously with "individualist anarchism" when referring to individualist anarchism that supports a market society).
33. ^ Burton, Daniel C.. Libertarian anarchism. Libertarian Alliance.
34. ^ a b c Peter Kropotkin, "Anarchism", Encyclopædia Britannica 1910.
35. ^ Murray Rothbard. "Concepts of the role of intellectuals in social change toward laissez faire" (PDF). http://www.mises.org/journals/jls/9_2/9_2_3.pdf. Retrieved 2008-12-28.
36. ^ Cynics entry in the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy by Julie Piering
37. ^ "Anarchism", Encarta Online Encyclopedia 2006 (UK version).
38. ^ a b c d e "Anarchism", BBC Radio 4 program, In Our Time, Thursday 7 December 2006. Hosted by Melvyn Bragg of the BBC, with John Keane, Professor of Politics at University of Westminster, Ruth Kinna, Senior Lecturer in Politics at Loughborough University, and Peter Marshall, philosopher and historian.
39. ^ Sheehan, Sean. Anarchism, London: Reaktion Books Ltd., 2004. p. 85.
40. ^ a b c "William Godwin" article by Mark Philip in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2006-05-20
41. ^ Godwin himself attributed the first anarchist writing to Edmund Burke's A Vindication of Natural Society. "Most of the above arguments may be found much more at large in Burke's Vindication of Natural Society; a treatise in which the evils of the existing political institutions are displayed with incomparable force of reasoning and lustre of eloquence…" – footnote, Ch. 2 Political Justice by William Godwin.
42. ^ Liberty XIV (December, 1900):1).
43. ^ Daniel Guerin, Anarchism: From Theory to Practice (New York: Monthly Review Press, 1970).
44. ^ Adams, Ian.Political Ideology Today p. 115. Manchester University Press, 2001.
45. ^ Anarchism, The New Encyclopedia of Social Reform (1908).
46. ^ Harrison, Kevin and Boyd, Tony. Understanding Political Ideas and Movements. Manchester University Press 2003, p. 251.
47. ^ Ward, Colin. Anarchism: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press, 2004, p. 2.
48. ^ Heywood, Andrew, Key Concepts in Politics, Palgrave, ISBN 0-312-23381-7, 2000, p. 46.
49. ^ Freeden, Michael. Ideologies and Political Theory: A Conceptual Approach. Oxford University Press. ISBN 019829414X. p. 314.
50. ^ a b Woodcock, George. 2004. Anarchism: A History Of Libertarian Ideas And Movements. Broadview Press. p. 20.
51. ^ Johnson, Ellwood. The Goodly Word: The Puritan Influence in America Literature, Clements Publishing, 2005, p. 138.
Encyclopaedia of the Social Sciences, edited by Edwin Robert Anderson Seligman, Alvin Saunders Johnson, 1937, p. 12.
52. ^ Vincent, Andrew. Modern Political Ideologies. Wiley-Blackwell (p. 116).
53. ^ Brooks, Frank H. 1994. The Individualist Anarchists: An Anthology of Liberty (1881–1908). Transaction Publishers. p. xi.
54. ^ Gerard Radnitzky, Hardy Bouillon. Libertarians and Liberalism. Avebury, 1996. p. 49.
55. ^ Edward Craig. Rutledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Taylor & Francis, 1998. p. 248.
56. ^ Outhwaite, William & Tourain, Alain (Eds.). (2003). Anarchism. The Blackwell Dictionary of Modern Social Thought (2nd Edition, p. 12). Blackwell Publishing.
57. ^ Wayne Gabardi, review of Anarchism by David Miller, published in American Political Science Review Vol. 80, No. 1. (Mar., 1986), pp. 300-302.
58. ^ Klosko, George. Political Obligations. Oxford University Press 2005. p. 4.
59. ^ Michael Freeden identifies four broad types of individualist anarchism. He says the first is the type associated with William Godwin that advocates self-government with a "progressive rationalism that included benevolence to others." The second type is the amoral self-serving rationality of Egoism, as most associated with Max Stirner. The third type is "found in Herbert Spencer's early predictions, and in that of some of his disciples such as Donisthorpe, foreseeing the redundancy of the state in the source of social evolution." The fourth type retains a moderated form of egoism and accounts for social cooperation through the advocacy of market. Freeden, Micheal. Ideologies and Political Theory: A Conceptual Approach. Oxford University Press. ISBN 019829414X. pp. 313-314.
60. ^ Tucker, Benjamin R., Instead of a Book, by a Man too Busy to Write One: A Fragmentary Exposition of Philosophical Anarchism (1897, New York).
61. ^ Broderick, John C. Thoreau's Proposals for Legislation. American Quarterly, Vol. 7, No. 3 (Autumn, 1955). p. 285.
62. ^ Antliff, Allan. 2001. Anarchist Modernism: Art, Politics, and the First American Avant-Garde. University of Chicago Press. p. 4.
63. ^ Outhwaite, William & Tourain, Alain (Eds.). (2003). "Anarchism," in The Blackwell Dictionary of Modern Social Thought. (2nd Edition, p. 12). Blackwell Publishing.
64. ^ Everhart, Robert B. The Public School Monopoly: A Critical Analysis of Education and the State in American Society. Pacific Institute for Public Policy Research, 1982. p. 115.
65. ^ Adams, Ian. Political Ideology Today. Manchester University Press, 2001. p. 116.
66. ^ Godwin, William (1796) [1793]. Enquiry Concerning Political Justice and its Influence on Modern Morals and Manners. G.G. and J. Robinson. OCLC 2340417.
67. ^ Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Retrieved 7 December 2006, from Encyclopædia Britannica Online.
68. ^ a b Paul McLaughlin. Anarchism and Authority: A Philosophical Introduction to Classical Anarchism. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., 2007. p. 119.
69. ^ Paul McLaughlin. Anarchism and Authority: A Philosophical Introduction to Classical Anarchism. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., 2007. p. 123.
70. ^ a b Goodway, David. Anarchist Seeds Beneath the Snow. Liverpool University Press, 2006, p. 99.
71. ^ a b "Max Stirner" article by David Leopold in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2006-08-04
72. ^ The Encyclopedia Americana: A Library of Universal Knowledge. Encyclopedia Corporation. p. 176.
73. ^ Miller, David. "Anarchism." 1987. The Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Political Thought. Blackwell Publishing. p. 11.
74. ^ "What my might reaches is my property; and let me claim as property everything I feel myself strong enough to attain, and let me extend my actual property as fas as I entitle, that is, empower myself to take…" In Ossar, Michael. 1980. Anarchism in the Dramas of Ernst Toller. SUNY Press. p. 27.
75. ^ Moggach, Douglas. The New Hegelians. Cambridge University Press, 2006 p. 194.
76. ^ Moggach, Douglas. The New Hegelians. Cambridge University Press, 2006 p. 191.
77. ^ Moggach, Douglas. The New Hegelians. Cambridge University Press, 2006 p. 190.
78. ^ "Max Stirner". Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
79. ^ a b c d Levy, Carl. "Anarchism." Microsoft Encarta Online Encyclopedia 2007.
80. ^ Avrich, Paul. "The Anarchists in the Russian Revolution." Russian Review, Vol. 26, No. 4. (October, 1967). p. 343.
81. ^ "For Ourselves, [2] The Right to Be Greedy: Theses On The Practical Necessity Of Demanding Everything, 1974.
82. ^ Madison, Charles A. "Anarchism in the United States." Journal of the History of Ideas, Vol 6, No 1, January 1945, p. 53.
83. ^ Schwartzman, Jack. "Ingalls, Hanson, and Tucker: Nineteenth-Century American Anarchists." American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Vol. 62, No. 5 (November, 2003). p. 325.
84. ^ de Cleyre, Voltairine. Anarchism. Originally published in Free Society, 13 October 1901. Published in Exquisite Rebel: The Essays of Voltairine de Cleyre, edited by Sharon Presley, SUNY Press 2005, p. 224.
85. ^ Spooner, Lysander. The Law of Intellectual Property.
86. ^ a b Watner, Carl (1977). Benjamin Tucker and His Periodical, LibertyPDF (868 KB). Journal of Libertarian Studies, Vol. 1, No. 4, p. 308.
87. ^ Watner, Carl. "Spooner Vs. Liberty"PDF (1.20 MB) in The Libertarian Forum. March 1975. Volume VII, No 3. ISSN 0047–4517. pp. 5–6.
88. ^ Brooks, Frank H. 1994. The Individualist Anarchists: An Anthology of Liberty (1881–1908). Transaction Publishers. p. 75.
89. ^ Avrich, Paul. 2006. Anarchist Voices: An Oral

[ville]

AK-47
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AK-47[1]

A Type 2 AK-47, the first machined receiver variation
Type Assault rifle
Place of origin Soviet Union
Service history
In service 1949–present
Used by See Users
Production history
Designer Mikhail Kalashnikov
Designed 1944–1946
Manufacturer Izhmash
Variants See Variants
Specifications
Weight 4.3 kg (9.5 lb) with empty magazine
Length 870 mm (34.3 in) fixed wooden stock
875 mm (34.4 in) folding stock extended
645 mm (25.4 in) stock folded
Barrel length 415 mm (16.3 in)
Cartridge 7.62x39mm M43
Action Gas-operated, rotating bolt
Rate of fire 600 rounds/min
Muzzle velocity 715 m/s (2,346 ft/s)
Effective range 100–800m sight adjustments
Feed system 30-round detachable box magazine, also compatible with 40-round box or 75-round drum magazines from the RPK
Sights Adjustable iron sights, 378 mm (14.9 in) sight radius

The AK-47 (or Kalashnikov) is a selective fire, gas operated 7.62mm assault rifle developed in the Soviet Union by Mikhail Kalashnikov in the 1940s. Six decades later, the AK-47 and its variants and derivatives remain in service throughout the world. It has been manufactured in many countries and has seen service with regular armed forces as well as irregular, revolutionary and terrorist organizations worldwide.

The designation AK-47 stands for Автомат Калашникова 47 (Avtomat Kalashnikova 47) - Kalashnikov automatic rifle, model of 1947.

Design work on the AK began in 1944. In 1946 a version of the rifle, the AK-46, was presented for official military trials, and a year later the fixed stock version was introduced into service with select units of the Red Army. The AK-47 was officially accepted by the Soviet Armed Forces in 1949. An early development of the design was the AKS-47 (S—Skladnoy or "folding"), which differed in being equipped with an underfolding metal shoulder stock.

The AK-47 was one of the first true assault rifles and, due to its durability, low production cost and ease of use, the weapon and its numerous variants remain the most widely used assault rifles in the world — so much so that more AK-type rifles have been produced than all other assault rifles combined.[2][3] It was also used by the majority of the member states of the former Warsaw Pact. The AK-47 was also used as a basis for the development of many other types of individual and crew-served firearms.
Contents
[hide]

* 1 History
o 1.1 Design background
o 1.2 Design concept
o 1.3 Receiver development history
* 2 Features
o 2.1 Operating cycle
o 2.2 Disassembly
o 2.3 Ballistics
* 3 Variants
o 3.1 Production outside of the Soviet Union/Russia
o 3.2 Derivatives
o 3.3 Licensing
* 4 Illicit trade
* 5 Cultural influence
* 6 Kalashnikov Museum
* 7 Users
* 8 See also
* 9 Notes
* 10 References
* 11 External links

History

Design background

During World War II, the Germans developed the assault rifle concept, based upon research that showed that most firefights happen at close range, within 300 meters. The power and range of contemporary rifle cartridges was excessive for most small arms firefights. As a result, armies sought a cartridge and rifle combining submachine gun features (large-capacity magazine, selective-fire) with an intermediate-power cartridge effective to 300 meters. To reduce manufacturing costs, the 7.92x57mm Mauser cartridge case was shortened, the result of which was the lighter 7.92x33mm Kurz.

The resultant rifle, the Sturmgewehr 44 (StG44) was not the first with these features; its predecessors were the Italian Cei-Rigotti and the Russian Fedorov Avtomat design rifles. The Germans, however, were the first to produce and field sufficient numbers of this assault rifle to properly evaluate its combat utility. Towards the end of the war, they fielded the weapon against the Soviets; the experience deeply influenced Soviet military doctrine in the post-war years[citation needed].

Mikhail Kalashnikov began his career as a weapon designer while in a hospital after being wounded during the Battle of Bryansk.[4] After tinkering with a sub-machine gun design, he entered a competition for a new weapon that would chamber the 7.62x41mm cartridge developed by Elisarov and Semin in 1943 (the 7.62x41mm cartridge predated the current 7.62x39mm M1943). A particular requirement of the competition was the reliability of the firearm in the muddy, wet, and frozen conditions of the Soviet frontline. Kalashnikov designed a carbine, strongly influenced by the American M1 Garand, that lost out to the Simonov design that would later become the SKS semi-automatic carbine. At the same time, the Soviet Army was interested in developing a true assault rifle employing a shortened M1943 round. The first such weapon was presented by Sudayev in 1944; however in trials it was found to be too heavy.[5] A new design competition was held two years later where Kalashnikov and his design team submitted an entry. It was a gas-operated rifle which had a breech-block mechanism similar to his 1944 carbine, and a curved 30-round magazine.

Kalashnikov's rifles (codenamed AK-1 and -2) proved to be reliable and the gun was accepted to second round of competition along with designs by A.A Demetev and F. Bulkin. In late 1946, as the guns were being tested, one of Kalashnikov's assistants, Aleksandr Zaytsev, suggested a major redesign of AK-1, particularly to improve reliability. At first, Kalashnikov was reluctant, given that their rifle had already fared better than its competitors; however eventually Zaytsev managed to persuade Kalashnikov. The new rifle was produced for a second round of firing tests and field trials. There, Kalashnikov assault rifle model 1947 proved to be simple and reliable, under a wide range of conditions with convenient handling characteristics. In 1949 it was therefore adopted by the Soviet Army as '7.62mm Kalashnikov assault rifle (AK)'.[6]

Design concept

The AK-47 is best described as a hybrid of previous rifle technology innovations: the trigger, double locking lugs and unlocking raceway of the M1 Garand/M1 carbine,[7] the safety mechanism of the John Browning designed Remington Model 8 rifle,[8] and the gas system and layout of the StG44. Kalashnikov's team had access to all of these weapons and had no need to "reinvent the wheel",[9][10] though he denied that his design was based on the German Sturmgewehr 44 assault rifle.[11] Kalashnikov himself observed: "A lot of [Soviet Army soldiers] ask me how one can become a constructor, and how new weaponry is designed. These are very difficult questions. Each designer seems to have his own paths, his own successes and failures. But one thing is clear: before attempting to create something new, it is vital to have a good appreciation of everything that already exists in this field. I myself have had many experiences confirming this to be so."[12]

Receiver development history
AKMS on a Type 4B receiver (top), with a Type 2A

There were many difficulties during the initial phase of production. The first production models had stamped sheet metal receivers. Difficulties were encountered in welding the guide and ejector rails, causing high rejection rates.[13] Instead of halting production, a heavy machined receiver was substituted for the sheet metal receiver.[14] This was a more costly process, but the use of machined receivers accelerated production as tooling and labor for the earlier Mosin-Nagant rifle's machined receiver were easily adapted. Partly because of these problems, the Soviets were not able to distribute large numbers of the new rifle to soldiers until 1956. During this time, production of the interim SKS rifle continued.[14]

Once manufacturing difficulties had been overcome, a redesigned version designated the AKM (M for "modernized" or "upgraded" — in Russian: (Автомат Калашникова Модернизированный [Avtomat Kalashnikova Modernizirovanniy]) was introduced in 1959.[15] This new model used a stamped sheet metal receiver and featured a slanted muzzle brake on the end of the barrel to compensate for muzzle rise under recoil. In addition, a hammer retarder was added to prevent the weapon from firing out of battery (without the bolt being fully closed), during rapid or automatic fire.[16] This is also sometimes referred to as a "cyclic rate reducer", or simply "rate reducer", as it also has the effect of reducing the number of rounds fired per minute during automatic fire. It was also roughly one-third lighter than the previous model.[15] Both licensed and unlicensed production of the Kalashnikov weapons abroad were almost exclusively of the AKM variant, partially due to the much easier production of the stamped receiver. This model is the most commonly encountered, having been produced in much greater quantities. All rifles based on the Kalashnikov design are frequently referred to as AK-47s in the West, although this is only correct when applied to rifles based on the original 3 receiver types.[17] In most former Eastern Bloc countries, the weapon is known simply as the "Kalashnikov". The photo above at right illustrates the differences between the Type 2 milled receiver and the Type 4 stamped, including the use of rivets rather than welds on the stamped receiver, as well as the placement of a small dimple above the magazine well for stabilization of the magazine.

In 1978, the Soviet Union began replacing their AK-47 and AKM rifles with a newer design, the AK-74. This new rifle and cartridge had only started being exported to eastern European nations when the Soviet Union collapsed, drastically slowing production of this and other weapons of the former Soviet bloc.
Receiver type Description
Type 1A/B Original stamped receiver for AK-47. -1B modified for underfolding stock. A large hole is present on each side to accommodate the hardware for the underfolding stock.

(this naming convention continues with all types)
Type 2A/B Milled from steel forging.
Type 3A/B "Final" version of the milled receiver, from steel bar stock. The most ubiquitous example of the milled-receiver AK-47.
Type 4A/B Stamped AKM receiver. Overall, the most-used design in the construction of the AK-series rifles.

Features
An Afghan National Police instructor using a Type 56-I, a Chinese copy of the AKS-47
The RK 54 – the Finnish designation for the AK-47 - is used by some of the reserve forces.

The main advantages of the Kalashnikov rifle is its simple design, fairly compact size and adaptation to mass production. It is inexpensive to manufacture, and easy to clean and maintain; its ruggedness and reliability are legendary.[18][19] The AK-47 was initially designed for ease of operation and repair by glove-wearing Soviet soldiers in Arctic conditions. The large gas piston, generous clearances between moving parts, and tapered cartridge case design allow the gun to endure large amounts of foreign matter and fouling without failing to cycle. This reliability comes at the cost of accuracy, as the looser tolerances do not allow for precision and consistency. Reflecting Soviet infantry doctrine of its time, the rifle is meant to be part of massed infantry fire, not long range engagements. The average service life of an AK-47 is 20 to 40 years depending on the conditions to which it has been exposed.[3]

The notched rear tangent iron sight is adjustable, and is calibrated in hundreds of meters. The front sight is a post adjustable for elevation in the field. Windage adjustment is done by the armory before issue. The battle setting places the round within a few centimeters above or below the point of aim out to about 250 meters (275 yd). This "point-blank range" setting allows the shooter to fire the gun at any close target without adjusting the sights. Longer settings are intended for area suppression. These settings mirror the Mosin-Nagant and SKS rifles which the AK-47 replaced. This eased transition and simplified training.

The prototype of the AK-47, the AK-46, had a separate fire selector and safety.[20] These were later combined in the production version to simplify the design. The fire selector acts as a dust cover for the charging handle raceway when placed on safe. This prevents intrusion of dust and other debris into the internal parts. The dust cover on the M16 rifle, in contrast, is not tied to the safety.

The bore and chamber, as well as the gas piston and the interior of the gas cylinder, are generally chromium-plated. This plating dramatically increases the life of these parts by resisting corrosion and wear. This is particularly important, as most military-production ammunition (and virtually all ammunition produced by the Soviet Union and other Communist nations) during the 20th century contained potassium chlorate in the primers. On firing, this was converted to corrosive and hygroscopic potassium chloride which mandated frequent and thorough cleaning in order to prevent damage. Chrome plating of critical parts is now common on many modern military weapons.

Operating cycle

To fire, the operator inserts a loaded magazine, moves the selector lever to the lowest position, pulls back and releases the charging handle, aims, and then pulls the trigger. In this setting, the firearm fires only once (semi-automatic), requiring the trigger to be released and depressed again for the next shot. With the selector in the middle position (full-automatic), the rifle continues to fire, automatically cycling fresh rounds into the chamber, until the magazine is exhausted or pressure is released from the trigger. As each bullet travels through the barrel, a portion of the gases expanding behind it is diverted into the gas tube above the barrel, where it impacts the gas piston. The piston, in turn, is driven backward, pushing the bolt carrier, which causes the bolt to move backwards, ejecting the spent round, and chambering a new round when the recoil spring pushes it back.[21]

Disassembly

Dismantling the rifle involves the operator depressing the magazine catch and removing the magazine. The charging handle is pulled to the rear and the operator inspects the chamber to verify the weapon is unloaded. The operator presses forward on the retainer button at the rear of the receiver cover while simultaneously lifting up on the rear of the cover to remove it. The operator then pushes the spring assembly forward and lifts it from its raceway, withdrawing it out of the bolt carrier and to the rear. The operator must then pull the carrier assembly all the way to the rear, lift it, and then pull it away. The operator removes the bolt by pushing it to the rear of the bolt carrier; rotating the bolt so the camming lug clears the raceway on the underside of the bolt carrier and then pulls it forward and free. When cleaning, the operator will pay special attention to the barrel, bolt face, and gas piston, then oil lightly and reassemble.[21]

Ballistics
Main article: 7.62x39mm

The standard AK-47 or AKM fires the 7.62x39mm cartridge with a muzzle velocity of 710 metres per second (2,300 ft/s). Muzzle energy is 2,010 joules (1,480 ft·lbf). Cartridge case length is 38.6 millimetres (1.52 in), weight is 18.21 grams (281.0 gr). Projectile weight is normally 8 grams (120 gr). The AK-47 and AKM, with the 7.62×39mm cartridge, have a maximum effective range of around 400 metres (1,300 ft).

Variants

Kalashnikov variants include:
1955 AK-47 Type 3

* AK-47 1948–51, 7.62x39mm — The very earliest models, with the Type 1 stamped sheet metal receiver, are now very rare.
* AK-47 1952, 7.62x39mm — Has a milled receiver and wooden buttstock and handguard. Barrel and chamber are chrome plated to resist corrosion. Rifle weight is 4.2 kg (9.3 lb).
* AKS-47 — Featured a downward-folding metal stock similar to that of the German MP40, for use in the restricted space in the BMP infantry combat vehicle, as well as by paratroops.
* RPK, 7.62x39mm — Squad automatic rifle version with longer barrel and bipod.
* AKM, 7.62x39mm — A simplified, lighter version of the AK-47; Type 4 receiver is made from stamped and riveted sheet metal (see schematic above). A slanted muzzle device was added to counter climb in automatic fire. Rifle weight is 3.1 kg (6.8 lb) due to the lighter receiver.
* AKMS, 7.62x39mm — Folding-stock version of the AKM intended for airborne troops. Stock may be either side- or under-folding
* AK-74 series, 5.45x39mm
* AK-101 series
* AK-103/AK-104 series
* AK-107/AK-108 series

Production outside of the Soviet Union/Russia

Military variants only.
Country Variant(s)
Albania Unknown. Others
Automatiku Shqiptar tipi 1982 (ASH-82) Albanian Automatik Rifle type 1982 (Straight forward copy of Type 56, which in turn is a clone of the Soviet AKM rifle)[22]
Tip C (Type C) Sniper Rifle
Bulgaria AKK (Type 3 AK-47), AKKS (Type 3 with side-folding buttstock)
AKKMS (AKMS) AKKN-47 (fittings for NPSU night sights)
AK-47M1 (Type 3 with black polymer furniture)
AK-47MA1/AR-M1 (same as -M1, but in 5.56 mm NATO)
AKS-47M1 (AKMS in 5.56x45mm NATO), AKS-47MA1 (same as AKS-47M1, but semi-automatic only)
AKS-47S (AK-47M1, short version, with East German folding stock, laser aiming device)
AKS-47UF (short version of -M1, Russian folding stock), AR-SF (same as -47UF, but 5.56 mm NATO)
AKS-93SM6 (similar to -47M1, cannot use grenade launcher)
RKKS, AKT-47 (.22 rimfire training rifle)
China Type 56
German Democratic Republic MPi-K (AK-47), MPi-KS (AKS), MPi-KM (AKM), MPi-KMS-72 (AKMS), KK-MPi Mod.69 (.22-Lr select-fire trainer);
Egypt AK-47, Misr assault rifle (AKM), Maadi
Hungary AK-63D/E (AMM/AMMSz), AKM-63, AMD-65, AMD-65M, AMP, NGM 5.56
Iraq Tabuk Sniper Rifle, Tabuk Assault Rifle (AKM/AKMS), Tabuk Short Assault Rifle
India AK-47
Iran KLS (AK-47), KLF (AKS), KLT (AKMS)
Finland RK 62, RK 95 TP
Nigeria OBJ-006[23]
North Korea Type 58A (Type 3 AK-47), Type 58B (stamped steel folding stock), Type 68A (AKM-47) Type 68B (AKMS)
Pakistan Reverse engineered by hand and machine in Pakistan's semi-autonomous tribal areas
Poland pmK/kbk AK (name has changed from pmK - "pistolet maszynowy Kałasznikowa", Kalashnikov SMG to the kbk AK - "karabinek AK", Kalashnikov Carbine in mid 1960s) (AK-47), kbkg wz. 1960, kbk AKM (AKM), kbk AKMS (AKMS), kbk wz. 1988 Tantal based on the 7.62 mm kbk AKMS wz. 81, kbs wz. 1996 Beryl
Romania PM md. 63 (AKM), PM md. 65 (AKMS), PM md. 90 (AKMS), collectively exported under the umbrella name AIM or AIMS
PA md. 86 (AK-74), exported as the AIMS-74
PM md. 90 short barrel (AK-104), PA md. 86 short barrel (AK-105) exported as the AIMR
Serbia Zastava M76,M77, M92, M21
Sudan MAZ,[24] based on the Type 56
Vietnam Chinese Type 56
Venezuela License granted, factory under construction[25]
Former Yugoslavia M64 (AK-47 with longer barrel), M64A (grenade launcher), M64B (M64 w/ folding stock), M66, M70, M70A, M70B1, M70AB2,

Certainly more have been produced elsewhere; but the above list represents known producers and is limited to only military variants. An updated AKM design is still produced in Russia.

Derivatives
Type 56 and AKS-47

The basic design of the AK-47 has been used as the basis for other successful rifle designs such as the Finnish Valmet 62/76 and RK 95 TP, the Israeli Galil, the Indian INSAS and the Yugoslav Zastava M76 and M77/82 rifles. Several bullpup designs have surfaced such as the Chinese Norinco Type 86S, although none have been produced in quantity. Bullpup conversions are also available commercially.
Further information: list of weapons influenced by the Kalashnikov design

Licensing

Russia has repeatedly claimed that the majority of manufacturers produce AK-47s without a proper license from IZH.[26][27] The Izhevsk Machine Tool Factory acquired a patent in 1999,[clarification needed] making manufacture of the Kalashnikov rifle system by anyone other than themselves illegal.[17][dubious – discuss] However, nearly one million AK-47 assault rifles are manufactured without a license each year.[4]

Illicit trade
Cambodian AKM with black furniture

Throughout the world, the AK and its variants are among the most commonly smuggled small arms sold to governments, rebels, criminals, and civilians alike, with little international oversight.[citation needed] In some countries, prices for AKs are very low; in Pakistan,Somalia, Rwanda, Mozambique, Congo and Ethiopia, prices are between $30–$125 per weapon, and prices have fallen in the last few decades due to mass counterfeiting. Moisés Naím observed that in a small town in Kenya in 1986, an AK-47 cost fifteen cows but that in 2005, the price was down to four cows indicating that supply was "immense".[28] The weapon has appeared in a number of conflicts including clashes in the Balkans, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Somalia.[29]

After the Soviet retreat from Afghanistan, the Soviet Army left quantities of weapons including AKs which were subsequently used in the civil war between Taliban and Northern Alliance and were also exported to Pakistan. The gun is now also made in Pakistan's semi-autonomous areas (see more at Khyber Pass Copy). It is widely used by tribes in Africa like the Hamar, amongst others.[citation needed]

The World Bank estimates that out of the 500 million total firearms available worldwide, 100 million are of the Kalashnikov family, and 75 million of which are AK-47s.[30] Mikhail Kalashnikov addressed the United Nations in 2006 at a conference aimed at solving the problem of illicit weapons, saying that he appreciated the AK-47's role in state-sponsored defense but that counterfeit weapons carrying his name in the hands of "terrorists and thugs" caused him regret.[31]

Cultural influence

During the Cold War, the Soviet Union, the People's Republic of China and the United States supplied arms and technical knowledge to numerous client-state countries and rebel forces. While the United States used the relatively expensive M-14 battle rifle and M16 assault rifle during this time, it generally supplied older surplus weapons to its allies. The low production and materials costs of the AK-47 meant that the Soviet Union could produce and supply client states with this rifle instead of sending surplus munitions. As a result, the Cold War saw the mass export, sometimes free of charge, of AK-47s by the Soviet Union and Communist China to pro-communist countries and groups such as the Nicaraguan Sandinistas and Viet Cong. The AK design was spread to over 55 national armies and dozens of paramilitary groups.

The proliferation of this weapon is reflected by more than just numbers. The AK is included in the flag of Mozambique and its coat of arms, an acknowledgement that the country's leaders gained power in large part through the effective use of their AK-47s.[32] It is also found in the coat of arms of Zimbabwe and East Timor, the revolution era coat of arms of Burkina Faso, the flag of Hezbollah, and the logo of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps. Western cultures, especially the United States, have seen the AK-47 most often in the hands of nations and groups the United States condemns; first the Soviet Army, then its Communist allies during the Korean and Vietnam Wars. During the 1980s, the Soviet Union became the principal arms dealer to countries embargoed by the United States, including many Middle Eastern nations such as Syria, Libya and Iran, who were willing to ally with the Soviet Union against U.S. supported states like Israel. After the fall of the Soviet Union, AK-47s were sold both openly and on the black market to any group with cash, including drug cartels and dictatorial states, and most recently they have been seen in the hands of extremist factions such as the Taliban and Al-Qaida in Afghanistan and Iraq and even FARC guerrillas in Colombia. The AK-47 has thus garnered a reputation in Western nations as a symbol of anti-Americanism, and has gained a stereotypical role as the weapon of the enemy. In the United States, movie makers often arm criminals, gang members and terrorist characters with AKs.

In Mexico, the weapon is known as "Cuerno de Chivo" and is commonly associated with drug cartels and the local mafia. It is sometimes mentioned in folk music lyrics.

In 2006, Colombian musician and peace activist César López devised the escopetarra, an AK converted into a guitar. One sold for US$17,000 in a fundraiser held to benefit the victims of anti-personnel mines, while another was exhibited at the United Nations' Conference on Disarmament.[33]

Kalashnikov Museum

The Kalashnikov Museum (also called the AK-47 Museum) opened on November 4, 2004 in Izhevsk, a city in the Ural Mountains of Russia. The museum chronicles the biography of General Kalashnikov, from his childhood to proletarian hero. The Museum Complex of Small Arms of M. T. Kalashnikov, a series of halls and multimedia exhibitions devoted to the AK-47 assault rifle and its offspring. The museum complex has been drawing on average 10,000 visitors a month. The museum serves as Russia's monument to an infantry weapon and to the workers who have made it for 61 years.

It presents the guns and their history with civic pride and a revived sense of national confidence. Think of Izhesvk as the Detroit of Slavic small arms. The exhibitions, ranging from static displays of weapons to plasma-screen video presentations showing the guns' use in recent decades, reflect a laborer's affection for what has long flowed from nearby foundries and assembly lines. Much of the material is also viewed through the life of Gen. Mikhail T. Kalashnikov, the man credited with designing the weapon in secret trials in 1947, and who still lives a few blocks away.[34]

"We emphasize the peaceful side of this story," said Nadezhda Vechtomova, the museum director. "We are trying to separate the weapon as a weapon of murder from the people who are producing it and to tell its history in our country."

Users
This section does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (July 2009)

* Afghanistan
* Albania
* Algeria
* Armenia
* Azerbaijan
* Bangladesh
* Bhutan
* Bosnia and Herzegovina
* Bulgaria
* Cambodia
* Cameroon
* Cape Verde
* Chad
* PRC: In service with militia and some reserves.
* Colombia
* Cuba
* Cyprus
* East Germany
* Egypt: Tourism & Antiquities Police.
* Eritrea
* Ethiopia
* Finland
* Honduras
* Hungary
* Indonesia
* India
* Iraq
* Iran
* Kazakhstan
* Kenya
* Laos
* Lebanon
* Libya
* Macedonia
* Madagascar
* Mexico
* Mongolia
* Montenegro
* Mozambique
* Namibia
* Nicaragua
* Nigeria
* North Korea
* Palestine
* Pakistan
* Panama
* Philippines: Used by the Santiago City Police.[35] Some AK-47 rifles were captured from Muslim and Communist rebels by the Philippine government.
* Poland
* Romania
* Russia
* Serbia
* Sierra Leone
* Slovenia
* South Vietnam: Captured from the Viet Cong and North Vietnam troops.
* Soviet Union
* Somalia
* Sri Lanka
* Sudan
* Syria
* Turkey
* Thailand: Used in small numbers mainly by the Thahan Phran, Mostly captured and stolen from the Communist Forces in Vietnam war and other from Cambodia and Laos.
* Ukraine
* United Arab Emirates
* United States: Captured and used during conflicts such as the Vietnam War, War on Terror and Iraq War.
* Uzbekistan
* Vietnam
* Yemen

See also

* List of Russian Weaponry
* List of weapons influenced by the Kalashnikov design
* AK-47 legal status
* Comparison of the AK-47 and M16

Notes

1. ^ Table data are for AK-47 with Type 2/3 receiver
2. ^ Poyer, Joe. The AK-47 and AK-74 Kalashnikov Rifles and Their Variations. North Cape Publications. 2004.
3. ^ a b "Weaponomics: The Economics of Small Arms". http://www.csae.ox.ac.uk/workingpapers/ ... 13text.pdf.
4. ^ a b "AK-47 Inventor Doesn't Lose Sleep Over Havoc Wrought With His Invention". Foxnews.com. 2007-07-06. http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,288456,00.html. Retrieved 2009-06-26.
5. ^ Bolotin, D.N, "Soviet Small-Arms and Ammunition", pp 68.
6. ^ Bolotin, pp 69-71.
7. ^ J.F.S. (July 1983). "IMI Galil". Soldier of Fortune (AK-47.net). http://www.ak-47.net/ak47/galil.html. Retrieved 2008-10-19.
8. ^ "Firearm Model History - Remington Model 8". Remington.com. http://www.remington.com/library/histor ... odel_8.asp. Retrieved 2008-10-19.
9. ^ "AK-47 Inventor Says Conscience Is Clear, Mikhail Kalashnikov Blames Politicians For Millions Of Deaths Involving His Assault Rifle". CBS News. July 6, 2007. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/07/ ... ld_3025193. Retrieved 2008-10-19.
10. ^ Ezell, Edward Clinton (1986). The AK-47 Story: Evolution of the Kalashnikov Weapons. Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books. ISBN 0-8117-0916-7.
11. ^ VAL SHILIN. "Mikhail Kalashnikov". Power Custom. http://www.powercustom.com/AKPages/Mikh ... hnikov.htm. Retrieved 2008-10-19.
12. ^ Bolotin, pp 64.
13. ^ Poyer, 8
14. ^ a b Poyer, 9
15. ^ a b Ezell, 36
16. ^ Poyer, 11
17. ^ a b Poyer, 2
18. ^ "An AK for Every Market by James Dunnigan April 23, 2003". Web.archive.org. Archived from the original on 2007-03-25. http://web.archive.org/web/200703251716 ... 030423.asp. Retrieved 2009-06-26.
19. ^ Rivas, Oswaldo. "Soldiers from special force unit “COE” take part in a military training exercise at the military base, near Managua". Reuters. http://blogs.reuters.com/oddly-enough/2 ... -be-heard/. Retrieved 2008-12-09.
20. ^ Popeneker, Maxim & Williams, Anthony. Assault Rifle The Crowood Press Ltd. (2005) ISBN 1-86126-700-2.
21. ^ a b Department of the Army. Operators Manual for AK-47 Assault Rifle. 203d Military Intelligence Battalion
22. ^ "Medialb.com". Medialb.com. http://www.medialb.com/forumi/detaje.as ... &tema=4626. Retrieved 2009-06-26.
23. ^ Nigeria to mass-produce Nigerian version of AK-47 rifles. Retrieved on October 5, 2008.
24. ^ "MAZ". Military Industry Corporation. http://mic.sd/images/products/wepons/en/MAZbn.html. Retrieved 2009-02-08.
25. ^ MARTIN SIEFF (August 15, 2007). "Defense Focus: Venezuela's Kalashnikovs". UPI.com. http://www.upi.com/International_Securi ... kovs/1273/. Retrieved 2008-10-19.
26. ^ "Восточная Европа захватила рынок продаж автоматов Калашникова". Lenta.ru. http://www.lenta.ru/news/2006/06/13/rifles/. Retrieved 2006-07-19.
27. ^ "'Ижмаш' подсчитал контрафактные автоматы Калашникова". Lenta.ru. http://lenta.ru/news/2006/04/15/fake. Retrieved 2006-07-19.
28. ^ "Carnegie Council. ''ILLICIT: How Smugglers, Traffickers, and Copycats Are Hijacking the Global Economy''. Moisés Naím, Joanne J. Myers. November 9, 2005". Cceia.org. 2005-11-09. http://www.cceia.org/resources/transcripts/5279.html. Retrieved 2009-06-26.
29. ^ "The AK-47: The World's Favourite Killing Machine." ControlArms Briefing Note. Internet, available from http://www.controlarms.org/en/documents ... nload/file, accessed 11/02/2008.
30. ^ Worldbank. Post-Conflict Transitions Working Paper No. 10. Weaponomics: The Global Market for Assault Rifles. Phillip Killicoat, Economics, Oxford University. April 2007
31. ^ United Nations. United Nations Conference to Review Progress Made in the Implementation of the Programme of Action to Prevent, Combat and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects. New York, 26 June-7 July 2006
32. ^ Michael R. Gordon, "Burst of Pride for a Staccato Executioner: AK-47" The New York Times, March 13, 1997.
33. ^ Latorre, Héctor (2006-01-24). "Escopetarras: disparando música". BBC World. http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/spanish/misc/n ... 644028.stm. Retrieved 2007-01-31.
34. ^ Chivers, C.J. http://travel.nytimes.com/2007/02/18/tr ... heads.html The New York Times 2007-2-18
35. ^ [1] August 26, 2009

References

* Cutshaw, Charlie; Shilin, Valery. Legends and Reality of the AK: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the History, Design, and Impact of the Kalashnikov Family of Weapons. Boulder, CO: Paladin Press, 2000 (paperback, ISBN 1-58160-069-0).
* Ezell, Edward Clinton (1986). The AK-47 Story: Evolution of the Kalashnikov Weapons. Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books. ISBN 0-8117-0916-7. (Before his death, Ezell was the curator of military history at the Smithsonian Museum.)
* Ezell, Edward Clinton; R. Blake Stevens (2001). Kalashnikov: The Arms and the Man. Cobourg, ON: Collector Grade Publications. ISBN 0-88935-267-4.
* Guinness World Records 2005. ISBN 1-892051-22-2.
* Hodges, Michael. AK47: the Story of the People's Gun. London: Sceptre, 2007 (hardcover, ISBN 0340921048).
* Kahaner, Larry. AK-47: The Weapon that Changed the Face of War. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, 2006 (hardcover, ISBN 0-471-72641-9).
* Kalashnikov, Mikhail. The Gun that Changed the World. Cambridge: Polity Press, 2006 (hardcover, ISBN 0-7456-3691-8; paperback, ISBN 0-7456-3692-6).
* Poyer, Joe (2004). The AK-47 and AK-74 Kalashnikov Rifles and Their Variations (Paperback). Tustin, CA: North Cape Publications. ISBN 1-882391-33-0.
* Small Arms of the World. ISBN 0-88029-601-1.
* Walter, John. Kalashnikov (Greenhill Military Manuals). London: Greenhill Books, 1999 (Hardcover, ISBN 1-85367-364-1).

External links
Search Wiktionary Look up ak-47 in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
Search Wikiquote Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: AK-47
Search Wikimedia Commons Wikimedia Commons has media related to: AK-47

* Manufacturer's official site
* AK Site – Kalashnikov Home Page
* Nazarian's Gun's Recognition Guide (MANUAL) AK 47 Manual (.pdf)
* US Army Operator's Manual for the AK-47 Assault Rifle
* AK-47 Full Auto, U.S. Army in Iraq (video) from Internet Archive
* History of AK-47 (Video)

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AK-47 and derivatives
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List of Russian weaponry

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AK-47"
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[ville]

Molotov cocktail
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A Finnish soldier with a Molotov Cocktail in the Winter War.

The Molotov cocktail, also known as the petrol bomb, gasoline bomb, or Molotov bomb, or simply Molotov, is a generic name used for a variety of improvised incendiary weapons. They are frequently used by rioters due to their relatively easy mode of production.

The bombs were derisively named after the then Foreign Minister of the Soviet Union, Vyacheslav Molotov, by the Finns during the Winter War.
Contents
[hide]

* 1 Mechanism
* 2 Development and use in war
* 3 Legality
* 4 See also
* 5 References
* 6 External links

[edit] Mechanism

In its simplest form, a Molotov cocktail is a glass bottle containing petrol fuel usually with a source of ignition such as a burning cloth wick held in place by the bottle's stopper.

In action the fuse is lit and the bottle hurled at a target such as a vehicle or fortification. When the bottle smashes on impact, the ensuing cloud of petrol droplets and vapor are ignited, causing an immediate fireball followed by a raging fire as the remainder of the fuel is consumed.

Other flammable liquids such as wood alcohol and turpentine have been used in place of petrol. Thickening agents such as tar, strips of tire tubing, sugar, animal blood, XPS foam, egg whites, motor oil, rubber cement, and dish soap have been added to help the burning liquid adhere to the target and create clouds of thick choking smoke.

[edit] Development and use in war
The original design of Molotov cocktail produced by the Finnish alcohol monopoly ALKO during the Winter War of 1939–1940. The bottle has storm matches instead of a rag for a fuse.

During World War II, the Soviet Union attacked Finland in November 1939, after the shelling of Mainila. The Finnish Army, facing Red Army tanks in what came to be known as the Winter War, borrowed an improvised incendiary device design from the 1936–1939 Spanish Civil War. In that conflict, General Francisco Franco ordered Spanish Nationalists to use the weapon against Soviet T-26 tanks supporting the Spanish Republicans in a failed 1936 assault near Toledo, 30 km from Madrid.[1]

During the Winter War, the Soviet air force made extensive use of incendiaries and cluster bombs against Finnish troops and fortifications. When Soviet People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs Vyacheslav Molotov claimed in radio broadcasts that the Soviet Union were not dropping bombs but rather delivering food to the starving Finns, the Finns started to call the air bombs Molotov bread baskets.[2] Soon they responded by attacking advancing tanks with "Molotov cocktails" which were "a drink to go with the food". At first, the term was used to describe only the burning mixture itself, but in practical use the term was soon applied to the combination of both the bottle and its contents. This Finnish use of the hand- or sling-thrown explosive against Soviet tanks was repeated in the subsequent Continuation War. Molotov cocktails were eventually mass-produced by the Alko corporation at its Rajamäki distillery, bundled with matches to light them. Production totalled 450,000 during the Winter War. The original design of Molotov cocktail was a mixture of ethanol, tar and gasoline in a 750 ml bottle. The bottle had two long pyrotechnic storm matches attached to either side. Before use one or both of the matches was lit; when the bottle broke on impact, the mixture ignited. The storm matches were found to be safer to use than a burning rag on the mouth of the bottle.
A display of improvised munitions, including a Molotov cocktail, from the Warsaw Uprising, 1944

They also saw use during the Battle of Khalkhin Gol, a border conflict ostensibly between Mongolia and Manchukuo that saw heavy fighting between Japanese and Soviet forces. Short of anti-tank equipment, Japanese infantry attacked Soviet tanks with gasoline-filled bottles. Japanese infantrymen claimed that several hundred Soviet tanks had been destroyed through the use of Molotov cocktails, though Soviet loss records do not support this assessment.[3]

The Polish home army developed a version[4] which ignited on impact thus avoiding the need to light the fuse before throwing. Ignition was caused by a reaction between concentrated sulfuric acid mixed with the fuel and a mixture of potassium chlorate and sugar which was crystallized from solution onto a rag attached to the bottle.

The United States Marine Corps developed a version during World War II that used a tube of nitric acid and a lump of metallic sodium to ignite a mixture of petrol and diesel fuel.[5]

While Molotov cocktails may be a psychologically effective method of disabling tanks and armoured vehicles by forcing the crew out or damaging external components, most modern tanks cannot be physically destroyed or rendered completely inoperable by Molotov cocktails; only "disabled."[citation needed] It should be noted that early Soviet tanks had poorly designed engine louvres which allowed the admission of fuel - this design fault was quickly rectified, and subsequent armoured vehicles had engine louvres which drained fuel (as well as rain water and dust) away from the engine.[citation needed] Most tanks and IFVs of the 21st century have specially designed nuclear, biological and chemical protective systems that make them internally air-tight and sealed; they are well-protected from vapors, gases, and liquids.[citation needed] Modern tanks possess very thick composite armour consisting of layers of steel, ceramics, plastics and Kevlar, which makes them extremely difficult to destroy by Molotov cocktails alone, as these materials have melting points well above the burning temperature of gasoline.[citation needed] Damaging external components such as optical systems, antennas, externally-mounted weapons systems or ventilation ports and openings is however possible and can make a tank virtually "blind" or allow burning gasoline to seep into the vehicle, forcing the crew to at least open the hatches or perhaps abandon the vehicle.[citation needed] If thrown into a tank, it would, like most other grenades, kill the crew inside.[citation needed] Modern tanks of the U.S. and its NATO allies have onboard fire suppression systems. Should a fire start in an area occupied by the tank crew it will be automatically extinguished with Halon.[citation needed]

[edit] Legality

As incendiary devices, Molotov cocktails are illegal to manufacture or possess in many regions. Their use against people is typically covered under a variety of charges, including battery, actual or grievous bodily harm, manslaughter, attempted murder, and murder, depending upon their effect and upon local laws. Their use against property is usually covered under arson charges. In the United States, Molotov cocktails are considered "destructive devices" and regulated by the ATF.

[edit] See also

* Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF)
* No. 76 Special Incendiary Grenade
* Guerilla warfare
* Improvised explosive device (IED)
* Molotov bread basket
* Urban warfare
* Warsaw Uprising

[edit] References

1. ^ José Luis Infiesta. "La Unidad Italiana de Carros-Artillería, los T-26 Soviéticos y la Batalla de Seseña". http://www.ejercito.mde.es/ihycm/revist ... fiesta.htm. Retrieved 12 December 2005.
2. ^ *Langdon-Davies, John (June 1940). "The Lessons of Finland". Picture Post.
3. ^ Coox, Alvin, 1990, Nomonhan: Japan Against Russia, 1939
4. ^ Rafal E. Stolarski. "The Production of Arms and Explosive Materials by the Polish Home Army in the Years 1939-1945". http://www.polishresistance-ak.org/25%20Article.htm. Retrieved 30 June 2007.
5. ^ O'Kane, Richard (1987). Wahoo: The Patrols of America's Most Famous WWII Submarine. Presidio Press. p. 184. ISBN 0891415726.

[edit] External links
Search Wikimedia Commons Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Molotov cocktail

* A detailed technology of the Molotov cocktail
* History of the Molotov cocktail
* Soviet Molotov coctail photos

[hide]
v • d • e
Finnish infantry weapons of World War II
Side-arms
Lahti L-35
Rifles & submachine guns
M/27 Pystykorva · M/39 Ukko-Pekka · Suomi KP/-31
Machine-guns & other larger weapons
Maxim M/32-33 · Lahti-Saloranta M/26 LMG · Lahti L-39 AT-rifle
Other
Molotov cocktail · Panssarimiina m/39 · Panssarimiina m/44
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molotov_cocktail"
Categories: Bombs | Grenades | Improvised explosive devices | Incendiary weapons | World War II Soviet infantry weapons | Finland–Soviet Union relations
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