The impossibilities of anarchism

George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) possessed magnificent wit and command of language which made him unsurpassed as a dramatist and literary critic; it also made him a formidable spokesman for socialism, to which for the best part of a century he devoted much of his great talent. After a relatively brief flirtation with anarchism, Shaw became one of the major figures in the Fabian Society, an organization of British intellectuals advocating moderate evolutionary socialism. In the first part (omitted here) of this essay, he criticizes individualist anarchism, as advocated by the American, Benjamin Tucker. His discussion of “Communism” refers to a form of anarchism then called communist, with Peter Kropotkin’s ideas the main example. By “Social-Democracy” Shaw means democratic so-cialism, such as that urged by the Fabian Society.

(Source: Taylor & Francis)