published by:

Institute for
Social Ecology

popular education for a free society

Feature Article  |   Vol. 2, No. 1

Toward a Historical Perspective of Libertarian and Anarchist Education in the United States

By Kai Malloy

o explain the endurance and commitment to anarchism by many American radicals throughout the twentieth century, most contemporary historians, scholars, and even radicals have repeatedly emphasized the social, political, economic, or cultural factors. When combined, these factors have sustained the credibility of anarchism as a social theory, philosophy, and practice in the United States. Anarchism had nearly become an anachronism in the more advanced industrial nations of Western Europe, particularly following the defeat of the anarchists in the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939). What has by far received the least attention is the way in which many anarchists' revolutionary projects have suggested models that respond to the real and perceived needs and desires of oppressed and dominated peoples throughout America. Among the most critical and least studied of these activities and programs, is the education of both radicals and the masses. This type of education (of both children and adults) has historically been as politically effective as it has been theoretically and practically imperative.

Over the last half century, anarchist education has been neglected or largely ignored by American educators. This apparent lack of awareness or complete disregard by many historians, scholars, and radicals has often arisen out of prejudice or misunderstanding. Historically there have been certain periods of great interest in anarchist and libertarian pedagogy in the United States because of its application to widespread calls for social and educational reform and transformation. This interest was particularly strong in the 60s and 70s. If one were to survey educators today, however, it would probably be found that most know very little about anarchism and anarchist pedagogy historically or philosophically. It is also probable that many educators today hold views of anarchism which have been distorted by conventional notions and the popular imagination. They have very little inclination to devote time to the study of anarchism or anarchist pedagogy. In fact, many educators would probably deny knowledge of the existence of anarchist or anarchist educational movements in America altogether.

Between the 1820's and the end of the 1900's hundreds of men and women on both the North American and European continents, as well as parts of Asia, developed an amazing set of pedagogical theories and ideas that can be called "libertarian" in their form and content. In the past one hundred and eighty years, these various theories and ideas have inspired thousands of remarkable educational experiments, activities, programs, and schools in the United States. They operated under the auspices of other radical and utopian social movements and experiments, and later under the heading and sponsorship of various anarchist movements themselves. Many of these libertarian pedagogical theories continue to find a place in the undercurrents of contemporary American educational thought although they often go unrecognized, overlooked, and can appear, at first, to be non-existent. In addition, many libertarian experiments, activities, programs and schools still exist in the United States today. The Institute for Social Ecology in Vermont, the Sudbury Valley School in Farmingham, Massachusetts, and various informal study groups which have spontaneously emerged at anarchist bookstores and libraries over the past few decades are examples of anarchist pedagogical practices. Unfortunately, however, a great many more have long passed into history.

The history of anarchist and libertarian education is very rich indeed. In fact, for nearly two hundred years, radicals from New York to Los Angeles and from Seattle to Fairhope have carried on ventures in learning that are unique in American history. These ventures were inspired by European and American educators, radicals, revolutionaries, and social theorists. More than a thousand such ventures have been undertaken in different parts of the country in which children and adults alike could study in an atmosphere of freedom, spontaneity, and self-reliance, in contrast to the authoritarianism, discipline, and obedience of the traditional classroom.

These "libertarian" forms of education have differed not only from other radical educational experiments and ideas, but from each other as well. They have also differed from time to time, place to place, theorist to theorist, and tradition to tradition. Their founders and theoreticians, moreover, cover the entirety of the libertarian spectrum, with prophets ranging from Max Stirner, Leo Tolstoy, and Charles Fourier to Pierre Joseph Proudhon, Michael Bakunin, and Peter Kropotkin; from Henry David Thoreau and Walt Whitman to Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Robert Owen; from Johann Pestalozzi to Freidrich Froebel. These theorists and practicioners have sought to abolish all forms of hierarchy and domination - political, social, and economic, as well as educational - and to replace them with a new society based on the voluntary cooperation of free individuals.

Among the contributors to such endeavors have been many famous figures from the radical and artistic world, including Robert Owen, Henry David Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Bronson Alcott, Josiah Warren, Benjamin Tucker, Rudolf Rocker, Voltairine de Cleyre, Emma Goldman, Alexander Berkman, Margaret Sanger, Carlo Tresca, Walt Whitman, Eugene O'Neill, Upton Sinclair, Robert Minor, Robert Henri, George Bellows, Man Ray, Rockwell Kent. Their object during times of war and peace, social unrest and stability, government repression and pardon, and economic depression and progress, has been to create not only new types of schools, but also new cultural forms, new lives, and ultimately, a new social order.

Social Ecology n 1: a coherent radical critique of current social, political, and anti-ecological trends. 2: a reconstructive, ecological, communitarian, and ethical approach to society.

Published by the Institute for Social Ecology