Fear or freedom?: Errico Malatesta on crime and punishment
Errico Malatesta (1853-1932) founded his anarchism on the idea that political systems are characterized by their method. This idea suggests contrasting punishment and abolitionism in terms of methods. Statism is steeped in fear: universal fear in the state of nature and deterrence as the state’s mor...
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| Format: | Print Article |
| Language: | English |
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2025
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| In: |
Envisioning abolition
Year: 2025, Pages: 207-225 |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Summary: | Errico Malatesta (1853-1932) founded his anarchism on the idea that political systems are characterized by their method. This idea suggests contrasting punishment and abolitionism in terms of methods. Statism is steeped in fear: universal fear in the state of nature and deterrence as the state’s moralizing method. For Malatesta, the state is not a moralizer, but a monopolizer of immoral behaviour. In contrast, he advocates an experimentalist moral order based on equality of conditions, solidarity and freedom as a method. Defence from anti-social behaviour is everyone’s right and duty, while punishment has no place as either deterrence or retribution. The more anarchist practices are widespread, the more a moral order is approached. In this gradualist perspective, Malatesta’s definition of anarchy also outlines his abolitionist strategy. Equality of conditions means removing the main cause of crime: social inequality. Solidarity, more than justice, is the antidote to anti-social attitudes. And freedom is the antithesis of the method of fear and all penal systems. One could aim for a middle ground between coercion and freedom. However, in strategic interaction one can only choose a strategy, not an outcome. Ultimately, abolitionism is bound to choose between fear and freedom as its method. |
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| Item Description: | Literaturverzeichnis: Seite 222-225 |
| ISBN: | 9781529234770 |
