>You're right to mention the critics in Greek society, etc. In
>Kropotkin's article for the Encyclopedia Britannica on anarchism
>from the 1910's or thereabouts, he mentions exactly what you do, the
>2300 + years of civil resistance to statist power. These are
>mentioned as evidence for the view of anarchism as a historical
>tendency in the development of man.
Not so simple. Peasants in ancient Athens were, first of all, fighting against aristocratic landlords who had the power to reduce them to debt bondage. Peasants sought land reforms and abolition of debt bondage, by fighting for reformers and tyrants (who may be called "authoritarian populists" in our modern parlance):
***** 594 B.C. Solon appointed sole archon, with powers to inaugurate reforms. He cancelled all land debts (seisachtheia), freed all debt slaves (hektemoroi), instituted a milder code of laws, established a redistribution of political powers. He divided the citizens into four property classes, each of which was eligible for certain political offices. He set up the Council of 400 and increased the powers of the assembly. (See Herodotus, The Histories I, 29-34 and Aristotle, Constitution of Athens, 5-13)
561-527 B.C. Peisistratus (Peisistratos) the tyrant ruled Athens. His tyranny was an important stage as his rule was able to further diminish the power of the aristocracy. (See Herodotus, The Histories I, 59-64 and Aristotle, Constitution of Athens 13-17)
<http://hsc.csu.edu.au/ancient_history/historical_periods/greece/greek_world/atheniangovernment.htm> *****
Yoshie