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Points a) and b) both make sense to me. But I'm not sure how they connect to how old anarchism is? For one thing I think anarchism is very old, and from the little I've read of them the "early anarchists" seemed to think so too. Also it was never the case that anarchism had a single voice to refer back to, and it probably never will be. If someone writes the anarchist bible, I can't imagine it would be respected as such? So not sure how the age of anarchism touches on that. In any case, I think the things you're saying, or at least point b), does connect to the age of the anarchists themselves -- when anarchists are young they are discovering who they are.

Another, somewhat related theory would be that these renunciations that Williams is pointing out are actually just asceticism, as in the common religious practice, a spiritual cleansing of the old world, former life and ways, etc, and a demonstration to yourself and/or others that you're serious.