It is the belief that people are able to work together in a peaceful and rational manner, as equals. Instead of a society of individuals competing against one another, some enjoying huge advantages, each looking after only his or her own interests, an anarchist community would be a cooperative effort. This mutual aid or team work does not require great altruism or self-sacrifice, but simply common decency and helpfulness. Just think how wasteful a competitive society is - a pool of unemployed people keeps wages low and working conditions poor, businesses fail, suppliers bid each other's prices down, customers must wade through a confusing barrage of deceptive and exaggerated claims, equipment intended to make work more efficient results in higher unemployment instead of in higher living standards or a shorter work week. Frustration, anger, despair, broken dreams, poverty, crime, degradation of the environment, and on an international scale, war.
Anarchism is the absence of the power to dominate and control.
Human beings, when accustomed to taking responsibility for their own behavior, can cooperate on a basis of mutual trust and free association. The government in large part serves to maintain the class power of the rich, but it also has its own agenda - to expand its power over its subjects. The greater the power of government, the less freedom we have to exercise our ability to think, act, and cooperate. Creative, responsible human beings strain to improve their world by exercising their abilities, but concentrated wealth and power hinder their efforts.