Posed similar questions about communism in the past. I’m just trying to understand, I ask because I know there is a reasonable contingent of anarchists here. If you have any literature to recommend I’d love to hear about it. My current understanding is, destruction of current system of government (violently or otherwise) followed by abolition of all law. Following this, small communities of like minded individuals form and cooperate to solve food, safety, water and shelter concerns.
The examples you’re naming are all carefully controlled, very narrow-aspect groups that are generally protected from their surroundings.
I can sketch you a big problem with turning, say, a university anarchist. Yes, in theory, you can get a greater range of ideas, but in practice the stressors will tear it apart due to human nature. There is always a limited amount of funding, so how do people work out who gets what? Unlike with food or shelter, it’s ALWAYS useful to have more funding. Why should I get more than you? Well, obviously because my history department is much more important to literally everything than your maths department.
So now what happens? Do we only cooperate with those who wish to cooperate? Sure, lets split up. Of course, from the remaining funding, my area of medieval history is much more relevant than that guys’ area of ancient history, and if we can’t cooperate we shouldn’t…
You can, of course, run a department, or a specific niche in an anarchist way. A specific research group, or a knowledge-sharing system would benefit, but that’s because those specific groups don’t really experience any pressures.