FAQAnar:A.2.6 - Pourquoi la solidarité est importante pour les anarchistes ?
Catégorie:Que représente l'Anarchisme?
La solidarité, ou l’entraide, est l'idée clé de l'anarchisme. C'est le lien entre l'individu et la société, le moyen par lequel les individus peuvent travailler ensemble pour répondre à leurs intérêts communs dans un environnement qui soutient et encourage la liberté et l'égalité. Pour les anarchistes, l'entraide est un élément fondamental de la nature humaine, une source à la fois de force et de bonheur, et une condition fondamentale d'une existence pleinement humaine.
Erich Fromm, un célèbre psychologue socialiste humaniste, montre que « le désir humain de connaître et d'expérimenter des unions avec d'autres est enraciné dans les conditions spécifiques de l'existence qui caractérisent l'espèce humaine et est une des plus fortes motivations du comportement humain. »[1]
Ainsi les anarchistes considèrent le désir de former des « unions » (pour reprendre le terme de Max Stirner) avec d'autres individus comme un besoin naturel. Ces unions, ou associations, doivent être basées sur l'égalité et l'individualité pour pleinement satisfaire ceux qui les rejoignent, c'est-à -dire qu'elles doivent être organisées de façon anarchiste : volontaire, décentralisée et non-hiérarchique.
La solidarité — la coopération entre individus — est nécessaire à la vie et est loin d'être un déni de liberté. La solidarité, observait Malatesta, « est le seul environnement dans lequel l'être humain peut exprimer sa personnalité et atteindre son développement optimal et prendre plaisir aux meilleurs bien-être possibles. » Cela, « issu à la fois des individus pour le bien-être commun et de tous pour le bien-être de chaque individu, » « la liberté de chacun de ne pas être limité, mais complété — en fait trouver la véritable raison d'être — par la liberté de chacun. »[2] En d'autres termes, la solidarité et la coopération signifient se traiter les un(e)s les autres en égaux/ales, refuser de traiter les autres comme une fin en soi et créer des relations en faveur de la liberté pour tous plutôt qu'une minorité dirige la masse. Emma Goldman a repris ce thème, notant que « quel magnifique résultat cette force unique de l'individualité humaine réalise quand elle est renforcée par la coopération avec d'autres individualités [...] la coopération — à l'opposé des luttes et conflits fratricides — a œuvré pour la survie et l'évolution des espèces. Seule l'entraide et la coopération volontaire [...] peuvent créer la base d'une vie individuelle et associative libre. » [3]
Solidarity means associating together as equals in order to satisfy our common interests and needs. Forms of association not based on solidarity (i.e. those based on inequality) will crush the individuality of those subjected to them. As Ret Marut points out, liberty needs solidarity, the recognition of common interests:
"The most noble, pure and true love of mankind is the love of oneself. I want to be free! I hope to be happy! I want to appreciate all the beauties of the world. But my freedom is secured only when all other people around me are free. I can only be happy when all other people around me are happy. I can only be joyful when all the people I see and meet look at the world with joy-filled eyes. And only then can I eat my fill with pure enjoyment when I have the secure knowledge that other people, too, can eat their fill as I do. And for that reason it is a question of my own contentment, only of my own self, when I rebel against every danger which threatens my freedom and my happiness. . ." [Ret Marut (a.k.a. B. Traven), The BrickBurner magazine quoted by Karl S. Guthke, B. Traven: The life behind the legends, pp. 133-4]
To practice solidarity means that we recognise, as in the slogan of Industrial Workers of the World, that "an injury to one is an injury to all." Solidarity, therefore, is the means to protect individuality and liberty and so is an expression of self-interest. As Alfie Kohn points out:
"when we think about co-operation. . . we tend to associate the concept with fuzzy-minded idealism. . . This may result from confusing co-operation with altruism. . . Structural co-operation defies the usual egoism/altruism dichotomy. It sets things up so that by helping you I am helping myself at the same time. Even if my motive initially may have been selfish, our fates now are linked. We sink or swim together. Co-operation is a shrewd and highly successful strategy - a pragmatic choice that gets things done at work and at school even more effectively than competition does. . . There is also good evidence that co-operation is more conductive to psychological health and to liking one another." [No Contest: The Case Against Competition, p. 7]
And, within a hierarchical society, solidarity is important not only because of the satisfaction it gives us, but also because it is necessary to resist those in power. Malatesta's words are relevant here:
"the oppressed masses who have never completely resigned themselves to oppress and poverty, and who . . . show themselves thirsting for justice, freedom and wellbeing, are beginning to understand that they will not be able to achieve their emancipation except by union and solidarity with all the oppressed, with the exploited everywhere in the world." [Anarchy, p. 33]
By standing together, we can increase our strength and get what we want. Eventually, by organising into groups, we can start to manage our own collective affairs together and so replace the boss once and for all. "Unions will. . . multiply the individual's means and secure his assailed property." [Max Stirner, The Ego and Its Own, p. 258] By acting in solidarity, we can also replace the current system with one more to our liking: "in union there is strength." [Alexander Berkman, What is Anarchism?, p. 74]
Solidarity is thus the means by which we can obtain and ensure our own freedom. We agree to work together so that we will not have to work for another. By agreeing to share with each other we increase our options so that we may enjoy more, not less. Mutual aid is in my self-interest -- that is, I see that it is to my advantage to reach agreements with others based on mutual respect and social equality; for if I dominate someone, this means that the conditions exist which allow domination, and so in all probability I too will be dominated in turn.
As Max Stirner saw, solidarity is the means by which we ensure that our liberty is strengthened and defended from those in power who want to rule us: "Do you yourself count for nothing then?", he asks. "Are you bound to let anyone do anything he wants to you? Defend yourself and no one will touch you. If millions of people are behind you, supporting you, then you are a formidable force and you will win without difficulty." [quoted in Luigi Galleani's The End of Anarchism?, p. 79 - different translation in The Ego and Its Own, p. 197]
Solidarity, therefore, is important to anarchists because it is the means by which liberty can be created and defended against power. Solidarity is strength and a product of our nature as social beings. However, solidarity should not be confused with "herdism," which implies passively following a leader. In order to be effective, solidarity must be created by free people, co-operating together as equals. The "big WE" is not solidarity, although the desire for "herdism" is a product of our need for solidarity and union. It is a "solidarity" corrupted by hierarchical society, in which people are conditioned to blindly obey leaders.
- ↑ Erich Fromm, To Be or To Have (Être ou avoir), p. 107
- ↑ Errico Malatesta, Anarchy (Anarchie), p. 29.
- ↑ Emma Goldman, Red Emma Speaks (Emma la rouge parle), p. 118.
