Editing Anarchism (section)

=== The state ===
<!-- Important! Strive to explain how anarchists perceive authority and oppression and why they reject them. Jun (2019), p. 41. -->[[File:Fight_the_state,_not_wars.jpg|thumb|Anarchist protesters in [[Boston]] opposing state-waged war]]
Objection to the [[State (polity)|state]] and its institutions is a ''[[sine qua non]]'' of anarchism.{{Sfnm|1a1=Carter|1y=1971|1p=14|2a1=Jun|2y=2019|2pp=29–30}} Anarchists consider the state as a tool of domination and believe it to be illegitimate regardless of its political tendencies. Instead of people being able to control the aspects of their life, major decisions are taken by a small elite. Authority ultimately rests solely on power, regardless of whether that power is [[Open government|open]] or [[Transparency (behavior)|transparent]], as it still has the ability to coerce people. Another anarchist argument against states is that the people constituting a government, even the most altruistic among officials, will unavoidably seek to gain more power, leading to corruption. Anarchists consider the idea that the state is the collective will of the people to be an unachievable fiction due to the fact that the [[ruling class]] is distinct from the rest of society.{{Sfn|Jun|2019|pp=32–38}}

Specific anarchist attitudes towards the state vary. [[Robert Paul Wolff]] believed that the tension between authority and autonomy would mean the state could never be legitimate. Bakunin saw the state as meaning "coercion, domination by means of coercion, camouflaged if possible but unceremonious and overt if need be." [[A. John Simmons]] and [[Leslie Green (philosopher)|Leslie Green]], who leaned toward philosophical anarchism, believed that the state could be legitimate if it is governed by consensus, although they saw this as highly unlikely.{{Sfnm|1a1=Wendt|1y=2020|1p=2|2a1=Ashwood|2y=2018|2p=727}} Beliefs on how to abolish the state also differ.{{Sfn|Ashwood|2018|p=735}}