Anarcho-marxists?

Question

last time i checked communism is compulsion and thus does not fit with anarchism

Comments

I feel like this statement is probably coming from an "anarcho-capitalist" because literally the only time I have heard this argument is out of the mouths of laissez faire capitalists and right-wing American libertarians.

Answer 1

probably in the vast majority of cases you're right, and it's a garbage term for people who are trying to fudge the distinction between anarchist and communist (to have their cake and eat it too).
but fwiw, i don't think anarcho-marxists are necessarily communists. marx is known for a variety of things - including philosophical concepts as well as economic and political ones. i think it's possible that the term would refer to someone who takes some of marx's ideas and applies them to anarchist goals.

that said, i think marx has had way more of an influence on anarchists than he should (we rely on him too much for a model of change, for example).

Comments

Just to dogpile on what dot said here, I would say that, conversley, communism =/= marxism. There can be many communisms beyond big-C Communism, and some of those communisms aren't necessarily a compulsion, though a marxist communism is, so far as I understand it.

Answer 2

only someone who doesn´t know anything about the history of anarchism can ask such a question. A tendency called "anarcho-communism" happens to be the most important one within all anarchism as far as being the one with the most influence within society (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anarcho-communism).Classic theorists of anarchism such as Peter Kropotkin, Errico Malatesta and Emma Goldman were all anarcho-coomunists. But while being anarcho-communists, they were not marxists and in fact Emma Goldman was an early strong critic of the Soviet Union (see her article "There Is No Communism in Russia" http://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/emma-goldman-there-is-no-communism-in-russia). In fact one of the main differences between anarcho-communism and marxism is that anarcho-communism rejects the labour theory of value(of liberal origin anyway) altogether while the marxists adhere to it.

The comment to you answer by RiceBoy also sounds like a good possibility. You might be one of them right wing pro-capitalists who call themselves "anarchists".  Anyway, go inform yourself a little better . Perhaps go read the wikipedia article mentioned before as well as the "anarchism" article also within wikipedia. If you are new to anarchism it will be good that you become aware that anarchism is an expropriatory position and anti-capitalist for clear definitional reasons. Otherwise if you are into a light or propertarianist definition of "liberty" and "freedom" then anarchism might not be what you are looking for.