"Anarchism or Communism?", better known as the Most–Grottkau debate, was a nationally advertised, public debate between America's foremost revolutionary anarchist
Johann Most
Johann Joseph "Hans" Most (February 5, 1846 – March 17, 1906) was a German-American Social Democratic and then anarchism, anarchist politician, newspaper editor, and orator. He is credited with popularizing the concept of "propaganda of the dee ...
and
Paul Grottkau
Paul Grottkau (1846–1898) was a German-American socialist political activist and newspaper publisher. Grottkau is best remembered as an editor alongside Haymarket affair victim August Spies of the '' Chicagoer Arbeiter-Zeitung,'' one of the lea ...
in Chicago on May 24, 1884. The session consisted of two statements and two rebuttals and was published by the Chicago
International Working People's Association
The International Working People's Association (IWPA), sometimes known as the "Black International," was an international anarchist political organization established in 1881 at a convention held in London, England. In America the group is best ...
as a 48-page pamphlet.
Debate
Johann Most
Johann Joseph "Hans" Most (February 5, 1846 – March 17, 1906) was a German-American Social Democratic and then anarchism, anarchist politician, newspaper editor, and orator. He is credited with popularizing the concept of "propaganda of the dee ...
of the anarchist
International Working People's Association
The International Working People's Association (IWPA), sometimes known as the "Black International," was an international anarchist political organization established in 1881 at a convention held in London, England. In America the group is best ...
and
Paul Grottkau
Paul Grottkau (1846–1898) was a German-American socialist political activist and newspaper publisher. Grottkau is best remembered as an editor alongside Haymarket affair victim August Spies of the '' Chicagoer Arbeiter-Zeitung,'' one of the lea ...
of the
Socialist Labor Party
The Socialist Labor Party (SLP)"The name of this organization shall be Socialist Labor Party". Art. I, Sec. 1 of thadopted at the Eleventh National Convention (New York, July 1904; amended at the National Conventions 1908, 1912, 1916, 1920, 1924 ...
debated the relative merits of their movements.
Grottkau spoke in favor of socialism without government, which if defined as the ruling class's executive committee, would be without purpose in a classless socialist society. He supported the continued institutions of family and marriage, which he argued were moral institutions, unlike class organizations like the state. In contrast, Most believed that the state modeled itself on the family structure and that the state's interfered in the private affair of marriage was immoral. Repressive human laws and mores, Most argued, led to an exploitative society that fostered inequality, crime, and vice. He believed this would be remedied by eliminating government as its root factor. Grottkau believed in class-based revolution led by the working class, as compared to Most, who advocated for a revolutionary vanguard. Additionally, whereas Most advocated for violent means and "transitional dictatorship", Grottkau did not.
References
Bibliography
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Further reading
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* Morris Hillquit, History of Socialism in the United States, pp. 241-242.
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Most-Grottkau debate
Anarchism in the United States
Socialism in the United States
May 1884 events
1884 in Illinois