Home > Terrorism: Essential Primary Sources > Introduction to Anarchist Terrorism

Anarchism is a social and political movement that advocates the elimination of an organized government and social hierarchy. Most anarchists assert that, in the absence of centralized political structures—such as governments, corporations, legal codes, and private ownership of land and resources—people would form voluntary, cooperative, and community-based associations. Since its inception, the anarchist movement has debated the utility and morality of violence as a means of establishing anarchy.

The editors have chosen to distinguish historical incidences of anarchist terrorism from other forms of modern political terrorism. In the United States, anarchism, socialism, bolshevism, and communism were often conflated. Although most anarchists, communists, and socialists did not advocate terrorism, in the media of the day, the terms implied the threat of violence. Some actions attributed to anarchists were perpetrated by members...