Individualism and Collectivism

Collectivism can mean Socialism or common ownership/opportunity,
but it can also be the artificial community which is much greater
than one's self-a mass society if you will-so beloved of the Right;
being Nation, State, Market and Church if you will.

So Rightists are Collectivists, in a similar way to Liberals, and
especially Leftists, being Individualists-in favour of an artificial
Individual-so that Stirner*'s Union of Egoists is very much with
us in the form of all those minor Trotskyite sects.

There's definitely an Egoistic nature prevalent in many Leftists
(this can be seen in relation to leftist sectarianism in comparison
with conservative support for Fascistic regimes-Mussolini, Suharto,
Pinochet) in the way, for example, that they don't like being wrong
as for them this is a personal insult.

Conservatives, on the other hand, seem to think everyone thinks
like they do, so therefore the problems in society are all, or mostly,
due to crackpot liberals or extremists having too much say.

This is exemplified in Conservative blogging, working on the
assumption that as they have the truth, which is known to everyone,
they have only to articulate this and everyone will see the truth for what it is.

Conservative support for the prison system and the police is
a particular example of “The Individual versus the Collective”
with Conservatives on the side of the “law abiding” Collective.

This is not to day that crime can be justified (why call George
Bush a War Criminal?), but putting someone prison for an affront
is akin to assaulting someone for an affront-most people would
focus on what has happened to them, not what they have done.

Put another way, the family of a murder victim would not be
expected to sympathize with the killer, they are going to mourn
their loss. In other words, focus on what has happened to them.

There may be arguments for placing someone in solitary
confinement, but this has two counters: 1. How would you expect
an individual to be able to function in society on release (or before)
after this kind of isolation? and 2. This isn’t much of a deterrent if
you are living in violent or poor surroundings or have to work
excessive hours in a low paid job.

The upshot of this is that the individualism of the Right
(in terms of their unquestioned support for capitalism/markets-
a shallow individualism if ever there was one) is
contradicted by their Collectivism, while collectivism of the Left
is contradicted by their Individualism.

*Stirner was an "Egoist', but was a lot more 'fluffy' than was made
out (so far as I can gather), and fitted in with the 'European
Individualism' of William Godwin and Leo
Tolstoy-sort of voluntary individualist gift economy.

You also have Mutualism, bit more market-oriented and the
'American Individualism' of Benjamin Tucker et al. Bit confusing really!

There's also:
Queer
Fem
Communist-Kropotkin, Bookchin
Collectivist-Bakunin
anarcho-communism -Berkman, Goldman, Malatesta
syndicalism (tho often disputed as is mainly a method)
primitivism-Zerzan
Green/eco
Indigenous/ist
post-Left –Black (Bob)
post-Anarchy –Bey (Hakim)
"anarchy"ists
Anarchs
and (completely at odds with what Anarchists stand for) Nationalism

Inclusive many of the above is “Pananarchy”, which could still be
considered outside regular anarchy, ditto Platformism and
Council-Communism.

Where do I stand? I suppose communist/collectivist/syndicalist, but
the best description is "without adjectives" or possibly "antimonist"
-nothing is absolute, and I am critical of
sticking to various strands.