Atlas / Comparisons / Anarcho-Communism vs Thatcherism
Anarcho-Communism and Thatcherism
Measured distance across six axes
Opposite ends of the recorded space. They agree within three points on CH. They diverge by eight points or more on EC, CU, AU, SC, ID.
Axis by axis
| Axis | Kropotkin | Thatcherism | Gap | Reading | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EC · Economic organisation | −09 | +09 | 18 | Diverges | Carries the disagreement. Any claim that these two are alike has to explain this. |
| CU · Social and cultural order | −07 | +06 | 13 | Diverges | Carries the disagreement. Any claim that these two are alike has to explain this. |
| AU · Organisation of power | −10 | +02 | 12 | Diverges | Carries the disagreement. Any claim that these two are alike has to explain this. |
| SC · Scale of decision | −10 | +05 | 15 | Diverges | Carries the disagreement. Any claim that these two are alike has to explain this. |
| ID · Rule of membership | −08 | +03 | 11 | Diverges | Carries the disagreement. Any claim that these two are alike has to explain this. |
| CH · Method and tempo | +06 | +03 | 3 | Agrees | Effectively the same position. Not what an argument between them is about. |
Each axis runs from −10 to +10; the distance is the straight-line separation across all six at once, out of a maximum of 49.0. How the scoring works →
The evidence behind the widest gaps
A distance figure is worth nothing unless the scores behind it can be checked. These are the artefacts supporting the axes that separate these two most.
Kropotkin · EC −09
Abolition of private property in the means of production and of money and wages together.
- Programme textKropotkin's Conquest of Bread argues for distribution according to need with no wage system at all.
Thatcherism · EC +09
Deep privatisation and financial deregulation places this near the market pole.
- Documented act or statuteTelecoms, gas, water, electricity, steel and airports were sold between 1984 and 1990.
- Documented act or statuteCouncil housing was sold to tenants at statutory discounts from 1980.
Kropotkin · CU −07
Strongly egalitarian on every inherited hierarchy, including within the family and the workplace.
- ScholarshipNineteenth-century anarchist movements campaigned for free union, secular education and women's autonomy well ahead of socialist parties.
Thatcherism · CU +06
Coded +6: an explicit programme of moral restoration alongside the economic one.
- Documented act or statuteSection 28, enacted in 1988, prohibited local authorities from promoting homosexuality.
What this comparison does not establish
Proximity means similarity of stated position. It carries no claim about competence, circumstance, scale of operation, or what either organisation actually did to the people under it. Two organisations can sit close together and produce entirely different histories, because those things are not on any axis and could not be.
Anarcho-Communism
1872– · Russia, Europe
Abolish the state and private property simultaneously; distribution according to need through voluntary federation.
Thatcherism
1979–1990 · Britain
Roll back the state, break union power, sell public assets, restore the authority of law, order and family.
Distance is not the whole answer. Two organisations can sit the same distance apart for entirely different reasons, and the reason is the content of any claim about them. Open the comparison in the atlas to weight the axes yourself.
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