The people in this picture are among the Occupy rioters in Seattle on May Day. They’re breaking windows and destroying private property. (Click the picture for a bigger view.) Based on the “anarchy” logo they were plastering on the property they were destroying, I’m sure they believe they’re anarchists. They’re not. They’re just vandals and criminals.
I wrote at length earlier about the fact that those who want a government to enforce their political views aren’t really anarchists, so I won’t repeat most of that here. I only want to say that if you’re the kind of vandal who dresses in black and destroys private property, that doesn’t make you some anarchist hero. It just makes you a punk and a vandal who’s destroying things that don’t belong to you.
The coercive state is the enemy. The people in the streets Tuesday agree that the current state is the enemy, but most of them want something far worse — a new coercive state that would be even more monstrous than what we already have. They’re not anarchists. They’re Bolsheviks intent on giving the Soviet Union another try.