Anarchism has contemporarily been considered an unserious ideology due to the bastardized versions of its symbols present in punk rock. Lesser known, however, are the proper anarchists: the philosophical schools of thought that actually try to organize a stateless society. These are also perceived as unserious ideologies, and common jest is that none of them are actually anarchist. For example, anarchocapitalists believe in private property, which is impossible without state enforcement. But are there any real anarchists that could succeed in making a stateless state? In short, no. Anarchism isn’t a social ideology; its core belief is that every human should eat as many humans as they can until they’re eventually eaten by another human, which works horribly for groups as every human tries to eat each other. To put it in less vulgar wording, anarchists must first work for themselves before they can think about organizing. But how can an ideology that pits individuals against each other rationalize working together? The answer to that question starts with Max Stirner, an intellectual born in Bavaria in 1806 to a Lutheran family. He went to the University of Berlin, where he attended lectures by Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel. After graduation, he became a member of a sort of philosophy collective which was called Die Freien, or “the free ones,” a group that included thinkers like Karl Marx (from communism) and Friedrich Engels (also from communism), otherwise known as “the big leagues.” Stirner would discuss with these thinkers at a wine bar called Hippel’s, where Engels drew portraits of him, which are now used as an infamous symbol of nonconformity, mainly because of Stirner’s principle of egoism. Egoism, first introduced in Stirner’s book “The Ego and Its Own,” has two main takeaways: Anything that prompts you to go against your own interest is a hallucination, and you should work completely for your own benefit, disregarding otherwise. This is pretty anarchist, as it agrees that people need to work for themselves, but Stirner furthers this idea by proposing a scenario where egoists have their best interests coincide and collaborate in a way that isn’t mandatory but voluntary until everyone is happy, called “The Union of Egoists.” And that is the closest thing to a truly anarchist collective.

This piece was originally published in Zephyrus’ print edition on Feb. 19, 2026