Anarchism and capitalism
Encyclopedia
Some anarchists advocate free-market
, laissez-faire
capitalism, while most anarchists not only oppose it, but believe capitalism and anarchism to be inherently incompatible.
. In this system, private property is embraced, and protection of it would be provided by the market itself by competing for-profit enterprises.
The anarcho-capitalist Murray Rothbard believed that anarchism is not fully developed unless it accepts capitalism and that capitalism was not complete unless it accepted abolition of the state: "In other words, we believe that capitalism is the fullest expression of anarchism, and anarchism is the fullest expression of capitalism. Not only are they compatible, but you can't really have one without the other. True anarchism will be capitalism, and true capitalism will be anarchism."
On the subject of wage labor, anarcho-capitalists vary. Being that the idea of contract is central to anarcho-capitalism.", in an anarcho-capitalist society, any individual would be free to contract with any other individual to provide for any good or service, provided that it is done without the use of force or fraud. This includes the right to sell one's labor to another. Though the right to do this is supported, some anarcho-capitalists prefer to see self-employment prevail over wage labor. For example, David Friedman has expressed preference for a society where "almost everyone is self-employed" and "instead of corporations there are large groups of entrepreneurs related by trade, not authority. Each sells not his time, but what his time produces."
Some writers, including capitalists, have critiqued the anarcho-capitalist version of anarchism.
In order to make more money, money must be transformed into capital
, i.e., workplaces, machinery and other capital goods. By itself, however, anarchists argue that capital (like money) produces nothing. Rather, capital only becomes productive in the labor process when workers use capital.
Under capitalism
, workers not only create sufficient value (i.e. produced commodities) to maintain existing capital and their own existence, they also produce a surplus value
. This surplus expresses itself as a surplus of goods, i.e. an excess of commodities compared to the number a workers' wages could buy back.
and economic organization. Social anarchists claim that the existence of property results in wage slavery
, while certain anti-capitalist individualist anarchists and mutualists argue for private property and wages owned and controlled directly by workers themselves in the form of labor-owned cooperative firms
and associations. For Proudhon, "strong workers' associations…would enable the workers to determine jointly by election how the enterprise was to be directed and operated on a day-to-day basis."
, (who identified his American individualist anarchism as "Anarchistic Socialism") are opposed to both capitalism
and anarchist-communism. They support wage labor as long as the employers and employees are paid equally for equal hours worked and neither party has authority over the other (this approach was put into practice in American individualist anarchist colonies such as Utopia, which was organized by Josiah Warren
). By following this principle, no individual profits from the labor of another. Benjamin Tucker described the wages received in such an employer-employee relationship as the individual laborer's "full product." He envisioned that in such a society, every worker would be self-employed and own their own private means of production
, free to walk away from employment contracts. Tucker called communist-anarchism "pseudo-anarchism," because it opposes wages and private property, fearing that collectivization would subdue individuals to group mentality and rob workers of the full product of their labor http://flag.blackened.net/daver/anarchism/tucker/tucker37.html.
The Preamble to the Constitution of the Syndicalist
Industrial Workers of the World
labor union states unequivocally:
argued "the 'rightist' libertarian is not opposed to inequality." They believe that because of a person's self-ownership, that any freedom given up in a laissez-faire marketplace would be a voluntary contract (consent) and believe there is nothing authoritarian about capitalist employer-employee relationships in such a condition, "[t]here is nothing authoritarian, dictatorial or exploitative in the relationship. Employees order employers to pay them amounts specified in the hiring contract just as much as employers order employees to abide by the terms of the contract.".
Murray Rothbard defines equality as, "A and B are 'equal' if they are identical to each other with respect to a given attribute…There is one and only one way, then, in which any two people can really be 'equal' in the fullest sense: they must be identical in all their attributes." and argues, "men are not uniform,…the species, mankind, is uniquely characterised by a high degree of variety, diversity, differentiation: in short, inequality." This runs counter the concept of equality amongst most social and mutualist anarchists. Most anarchists would argue that freedom without equality simply gives more freedom to those who are supposedly "superior" and that equality without freedom is a form of oppression. Social anarchist Alexander Berkman argued,
Some anarcho-capitalists, who consider themselves part of the individualist anarchist tradition, draw upon the writings of early individualist anarchists such as Benjamin Tucker and Lysander Spooner who argued that unequal wealth would not equal an unequal society. However, said anarchists believed that equality of condition, equality of access to the means of production, and equal opportunity would counteract any potential tyranny in a market society. "Spooner and Godwin insist that inequality corrupts freedom. Their anarchism is directed as much against inequality as against tyranny" and "[w]hile sympathetic to Spooner's individualist anarchism, they [Rothbard and David Friedman] fail to notice or conveniently overlook its egalitarian implications." Tucker himself argued for a society with "the greatest amount of liberty compatible with equality of liberty."
"[A]ll the so-called laws and theories of political economy are in reality no more than statements of the following nature:"
"'Granting that there are always in a country a considerable number of people who cannot subsist a month, or even a fortnight, without accepting the conditions of work imposed upon them by the State, or offered to them by those whom the State recognizes as owners of land, factories, railways, etc., then the results will be so and so.'
"So far middle-class political economy has been only an enumeration of what happens under the just-mentioned conditions – without distinctly stating the conditions themselves. And then, having described the facts which arise in our society under these conditions, they represent to us these facts as rigid, inevitable economic laws." – Kropotkin's Revolutionary Pamphlets, p. 179
It has also been pointed out that historically, the anarchist-communist economic theories published by Kropotkin
and others have been ignored or intentionally sidelined by historians.
,http://dwardmac.pitzer.edu/Anarchist_Archives/bright/berkman/comanarchism/whatis_toc.html Berkman argues that in an anarchist society, money would become unnecessary. Within anarchy, all occupations are viewed as equally beneficial to society. Since the concept of value is different for everyone and cannot be determined, it is argued that it should not be set and one's contribution to society through their occupation entitled them to be a part of it. Within this system, there is a free distribution of goods, without the need for money. Money in its current form is a hierarchical system, the exception being when all people are paid equal salaries. The argument goes further, however, to question the purpose of money if people are paid equally. Certainly those who agree with this would also note that a monetary system would open a vulnerability for some to acquire more of it and create a class system.
The book News from Nowhere
describes an anti-capitalist Anarchist Gift economy
.
Not every anarchist, however, is against the idea of money. Individualist and Mutualist anarchists see currency as a tangible form of workers receiving the "full product of their labor". They support mutual banking (some individualists support no banking at all to keep exchange rates constant) and local currency as opposed to national currency. Others see money as simply an index for exchanging goods and that its existence wouldn't necessarily create a class system. Anarcho-capitalists prefer free banking
in which inter-bank competition assures market discipline
and price stability because it tends to require relatively hard currencies such as gold instead of fiat currency.
Free market
A free market is a competitive market where prices are determined by supply and demand. However, the term is also commonly used for markets in which economic intervention and regulation by the state is limited to tax collection, and enforcement of private ownership and contracts...
, laissez-faire
Laissez-faire
In economics, laissez-faire describes an environment in which transactions between private parties are free from state intervention, including restrictive regulations, taxes, tariffs and enforced monopolies....
capitalism, while most anarchists not only oppose it, but believe capitalism and anarchism to be inherently incompatible.
Anarchist support of capitalism or aspects thereof
Murray Rothbard, who coined the term "anarcho-capitalism", expressed support for what he called "capitalism," but this is not the limited state capitalism of Adam Smith. Rather he advocated a theoretical ideal of a market economy with absolutely no intervention by the state and advocate abolition of the state itself. Rothbard identifies "capitalism" with "the market" and any state action on the market as "intervention," including the existence of the state itself which he sees as an anti-market parasite. People who subscribe to this view-point call themselves anarcho-capitalistsAnarcho-capitalism
Anarcho-capitalism is a libertarian and individualist anarchist political philosophy that advocates the elimination of the state in favour of individual sovereignty in a free market...
. In this system, private property is embraced, and protection of it would be provided by the market itself by competing for-profit enterprises.
The anarcho-capitalist Murray Rothbard believed that anarchism is not fully developed unless it accepts capitalism and that capitalism was not complete unless it accepted abolition of the state: "In other words, we believe that capitalism is the fullest expression of anarchism, and anarchism is the fullest expression of capitalism. Not only are they compatible, but you can't really have one without the other. True anarchism will be capitalism, and true capitalism will be anarchism."
On the subject of wage labor, anarcho-capitalists vary. Being that the idea of contract is central to anarcho-capitalism.", in an anarcho-capitalist society, any individual would be free to contract with any other individual to provide for any good or service, provided that it is done without the use of force or fraud. This includes the right to sell one's labor to another. Though the right to do this is supported, some anarcho-capitalists prefer to see self-employment prevail over wage labor. For example, David Friedman has expressed preference for a society where "almost everyone is self-employed" and "instead of corporations there are large groups of entrepreneurs related by trade, not authority. Each sells not his time, but what his time produces."
Some writers, including capitalists, have critiqued the anarcho-capitalist version of anarchism.
Anarchist criticism of capitalism or aspects thereof
Some social anarchists argue that anarcho-capitalism is not a form of anarchism due to their understanding of capitalism as inherently authoritarian. They argue that certain capitalist transactions are not voluntary, and that maintaining the class structure of a capitalist society requires coercion, which is incompatible with an anarchist society.Objections to the idea of profit
Critics point to profit as the driving motive of capitalists. They also point to the origins of profit itself.In order to make more money, money must be transformed into capital
Capital (economics)
In economics, capital, capital goods, or real capital refers to already-produced durable goods used in production of goods or services. The capital goods are not significantly consumed, though they may depreciate in the production process...
, i.e., workplaces, machinery and other capital goods. By itself, however, anarchists argue that capital (like money) produces nothing. Rather, capital only becomes productive in the labor process when workers use capital.
- "And since neither property nor capital produces anything when not fertilized by labor--that means the power and the right to live by exploiting the works of someone else, the right to exploit the work of those who possess neither property nor capital and who thus are forced to sell their productive power to the lucky owners of both." Bakunin
Under capitalism
Capitalism
Capitalism is an economic system that became dominant in the Western world following the demise of feudalism. There is no consensus on the precise definition nor on how the term should be used as a historical category...
, workers not only create sufficient value (i.e. produced commodities) to maintain existing capital and their own existence, they also produce a surplus value
Surplus value
Surplus value is a concept used famously by Karl Marx in his critique of political economy. Although Marx did not himself invent the term, he developed the concept...
. This surplus expresses itself as a surplus of goods, i.e. an excess of commodities compared to the number a workers' wages could buy back.
- "The working man cannot. . . repurchase that which he has produced for his master. It is thus with all trades whatsoever. . . since, producing for a master who in one form or another makes a profit, they are obliged to pay more for their own labour than they get for it." ProudhonPierre-Joseph ProudhonPierre-Joseph Proudhon was a French politician, mutualist philosopher and socialist. He was a member of the French Parliament, and he was the first person to call himself an "anarchist". He is considered among the most influential theorists and organisers of anarchism...
, What is Property?What Is Property?What Is Property?: or, An Inquiry into the Principle of Right and of Government is an influential work of nonfiction on the concept of property and its relation to anarchist philosophy by the French anarchist and mutualist Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, first published in 1840.In the book, Proudhon most...
, p. 189
Surplus values
Libertarian socialists contend that capitalist profits (as well as rent and interest payments) are in essence unpaid labour, and hence capitalism is based on exploitation.- "Products, say economists, are only bought by products. This maxim is property's condemnation. The proprietor producing neither by his own labour nor by his implement, and receiving products in exchange for nothing, is either a parasite or a thief. What is Property?, p. 170
Private property
There is some debate about the question of private propertyPrivate property
Private property is the right of persons and firms to obtain, own, control, employ, dispose of, and bequeath land, capital, and other forms of property. Private property is distinguishable from public property, which refers to assets owned by a state, community or government rather than by...
and economic organization. Social anarchists claim that the existence of property results in wage slavery
Wage slavery
Wage slavery refers to a situation where a person's livelihood depends on wages, especially when the dependence is total and immediate. It is a negatively connoted term used to draw an analogy between slavery and wage labor, and to highlight similarities between owning and employing a person...
, while certain anti-capitalist individualist anarchists and mutualists argue for private property and wages owned and controlled directly by workers themselves in the form of labor-owned cooperative firms
Worker cooperative
A worker cooperative is a cooperative owned and democratically managed by its worker-owners. This control may be exercised in a number of ways. A cooperative enterprise may mean a firm where every worker-owner participates in decision making in a democratic fashion, or it may refer to one in which...
and associations. For Proudhon, "strong workers' associations…would enable the workers to determine jointly by election how the enterprise was to be directed and operated on a day-to-day basis."
Wage labor
Traditional individualist anarchists, such as Benjamin TuckerBenjamin Tucker
Benjamin Ricketson Tucker was a proponent of American individualist anarchism in the 19th century, and editor and publisher of the individualist anarchist periodical Liberty.-Summary:Tucker says that he became an anarchist at the age of 18...
, (who identified his American individualist anarchism as "Anarchistic Socialism") are opposed to both capitalism
Capitalism
Capitalism is an economic system that became dominant in the Western world following the demise of feudalism. There is no consensus on the precise definition nor on how the term should be used as a historical category...
and anarchist-communism. They support wage labor as long as the employers and employees are paid equally for equal hours worked and neither party has authority over the other (this approach was put into practice in American individualist anarchist colonies such as Utopia, which was organized by Josiah Warren
Josiah Warren
Josiah Warren was an individualist anarchist, inventor, musician, and author in the United States. He is widely regarded as the first American anarchist, and the four-page weekly paper he edited during 1833, The Peaceful Revolutionist, was the first anarchist periodical published, an enterprise...
). By following this principle, no individual profits from the labor of another. Benjamin Tucker described the wages received in such an employer-employee relationship as the individual laborer's "full product." He envisioned that in such a society, every worker would be self-employed and own their own private means of production
Means of production
Means of production refers to physical, non-human inputs used in production—the factories, machines, and tools used to produce wealth — along with both infrastructural capital and natural capital. This includes the classical factors of production minus financial capital and minus human capital...
, free to walk away from employment contracts. Tucker called communist-anarchism "pseudo-anarchism," because it opposes wages and private property, fearing that collectivization would subdue individuals to group mentality and rob workers of the full product of their labor http://flag.blackened.net/daver/anarchism/tucker/tucker37.html.
The Preamble to the Constitution of the Syndicalist
Anarcho-syndicalism
Anarcho-syndicalism is a branch of anarchism which focuses on the labour movement. The word syndicalism comes from the French word syndicat which means trade union , from the Latin word syndicus which in turn comes from the Greek word σύνδικος which means caretaker of an issue...
Industrial Workers of the World
Industrial Workers of the World
The Industrial Workers of the World is an international union. At its peak in 1923, the organization claimed some 100,000 members in good standing, and could marshal the support of perhaps 300,000 workers. Its membership declined dramatically after a 1924 split brought on by internal conflict...
labor union states unequivocally:
Instead of the conservative motto, "A fair day's wage for a fair day's work," we must inscribe on our banner the revolutionary watchword, "Abolition of the wage system."http://www.iww.org/culture/official/preamble.shtml
Equality
Many anarcho-capitalists believe that inequality is not a major concern so long as everyone has "equality of opportunity". Anarcho-capitalist Murray RothbardMurray Rothbard
Murray Newton Rothbard was an American author and economist of the Austrian School who helped define capitalist libertarianism and popularized a form of free-market anarchism he termed "anarcho-capitalism." Rothbard wrote over twenty books and is considered a centrally important figure in the...
argued "the 'rightist' libertarian is not opposed to inequality." They believe that because of a person's self-ownership, that any freedom given up in a laissez-faire marketplace would be a voluntary contract (consent) and believe there is nothing authoritarian about capitalist employer-employee relationships in such a condition, "[t]here is nothing authoritarian, dictatorial or exploitative in the relationship. Employees order employers to pay them amounts specified in the hiring contract just as much as employers order employees to abide by the terms of the contract.".
Murray Rothbard defines equality as, "A and B are 'equal' if they are identical to each other with respect to a given attribute…There is one and only one way, then, in which any two people can really be 'equal' in the fullest sense: they must be identical in all their attributes." and argues, "men are not uniform,…the species, mankind, is uniquely characterised by a high degree of variety, diversity, differentiation: in short, inequality." This runs counter the concept of equality amongst most social and mutualist anarchists. Most anarchists would argue that freedom without equality simply gives more freedom to those who are supposedly "superior" and that equality without freedom is a form of oppression. Social anarchist Alexander Berkman argued,
Some anarcho-capitalists, who consider themselves part of the individualist anarchist tradition, draw upon the writings of early individualist anarchists such as Benjamin Tucker and Lysander Spooner who argued that unequal wealth would not equal an unequal society. However, said anarchists believed that equality of condition, equality of access to the means of production, and equal opportunity would counteract any potential tyranny in a market society. "Spooner and Godwin insist that inequality corrupts freedom. Their anarchism is directed as much against inequality as against tyranny" and "[w]hile sympathetic to Spooner's individualist anarchism, they [Rothbard and David Friedman] fail to notice or conveniently overlook its egalitarian implications." Tucker himself argued for a society with "the greatest amount of liberty compatible with equality of liberty."
Contemporary critiques
Some of the anarchist critiques from writers of the 18th and 19th century have been retained, but with new techniques of historical analysis available, anarchists have adopted certain ideas for their critique.Alleged bias of Marginalist economists
Certain anarchists object to the portrayal of economics as a "value-free science"."[A]ll the so-called laws and theories of political economy are in reality no more than statements of the following nature:"
"'Granting that there are always in a country a considerable number of people who cannot subsist a month, or even a fortnight, without accepting the conditions of work imposed upon them by the State, or offered to them by those whom the State recognizes as owners of land, factories, railways, etc., then the results will be so and so.'
"So far middle-class political economy has been only an enumeration of what happens under the just-mentioned conditions – without distinctly stating the conditions themselves. And then, having described the facts which arise in our society under these conditions, they represent to us these facts as rigid, inevitable economic laws." – Kropotkin's Revolutionary Pamphlets, p. 179
It has also been pointed out that historically, the anarchist-communist economic theories published by Kropotkin
Kropotkin
Peter Kropotkin was a Russian prince and anarchist.Kropotkin may also refer to:*Pyotr Nikolayevich Kropotkin , Soviet/Russian geologist, tectonician, and geophysicist*Mount Kropotkin, a peak in Antarctica...
and others have been ignored or intentionally sidelined by historians.
Monetary systems
Within the realm of anarchist labor issues is the issue of the monetary system. While all anarchists are against the current monetary system, there is disagreement as to whether or not there should be a monetary system. Alexander Berkman was an anarchist against the monetary system. In his book What is Anarchism?Now and After
Now and After: The ABC of Communist Anarchism is an introduction to the principles of anarchism and anarchist communism written by Alexander Berkman...
,http://dwardmac.pitzer.edu/Anarchist_Archives/bright/berkman/comanarchism/whatis_toc.html Berkman argues that in an anarchist society, money would become unnecessary. Within anarchy, all occupations are viewed as equally beneficial to society. Since the concept of value is different for everyone and cannot be determined, it is argued that it should not be set and one's contribution to society through their occupation entitled them to be a part of it. Within this system, there is a free distribution of goods, without the need for money. Money in its current form is a hierarchical system, the exception being when all people are paid equal salaries. The argument goes further, however, to question the purpose of money if people are paid equally. Certainly those who agree with this would also note that a monetary system would open a vulnerability for some to acquire more of it and create a class system.
The book News from Nowhere
News from Nowhere
News from Nowhere is a classic work combining utopian socialism and soft science fiction written by the artist, designer and socialist pioneer William Morris...
describes an anti-capitalist Anarchist Gift economy
Gift economy
In the social sciences, a gift economy is a society where valuable goods and services are regularly given without any explicit agreement for immediate or future rewards . Ideally, simultaneous or recurring giving serves to circulate and redistribute valuables within the community...
.
Not every anarchist, however, is against the idea of money. Individualist and Mutualist anarchists see currency as a tangible form of workers receiving the "full product of their labor". They support mutual banking (some individualists support no banking at all to keep exchange rates constant) and local currency as opposed to national currency. Others see money as simply an index for exchanging goods and that its existence wouldn't necessarily create a class system. Anarcho-capitalists prefer free banking
Free banking
Free banking refers to a monetary arrangement in which banks are subject to no special regulations beyond those applicable to most enterprises, and in which they also are free to issue their own paper currency...
in which inter-bank competition assures market discipline
Market discipline
Buyers and sellers in a market are said to be constrained by market discipline in setting prices because they have strong incentives to generate revenues and avoid bankruptcy...
and price stability because it tends to require relatively hard currencies such as gold instead of fiat currency.
See also
- Anarcho-capitalismAnarcho-capitalismAnarcho-capitalism is a libertarian and individualist anarchist political philosophy that advocates the elimination of the state in favour of individual sovereignty in a free market...
- Anarchism and anarcho-capitalismAnarchism and anarcho-capitalismThis article discusses similarities and differences between anarcho-capitalism and other types of anarchism. Some social anarchists argue that anarcho-capitalism is not a form of anarchism due to their understanding of capitalism as inherently authoritarian...
- An Anarchist FAQAn Anarchist FAQ"An Anarchist FAQ" is an FAQ written by an international work group of social anarchists connected through the internet. It documents anarchist theory and ideas while arguing that social anarchism is a better form of anarchism than individualist anarchism, which it critiques. It also explores other...
- Fair tradeFair tradeFair trade is an organized social movement and market-based approach that aims to help producers in developing countries make better trading conditions and promote sustainability. The movement advocates the payment of a higher price to producers as well as higher social and environmental standards...
- Free tradeFree tradeUnder a free trade policy, prices emerge from supply and demand, and are the sole determinant of resource allocation. 'Free' trade differs from other forms of trade policy where the allocation of goods and services among trading countries are determined by price strategies that may differ from...
- Labor Theory of ValueLabor theory of valueThe labor theories of value are heterodox economic theories of value which argue that the value of a commodity is related to the labor needed to produce or obtain that commodity. The concept is most often associated with Marxian economics...
- MarginalismMarginalismMarginalism refers to the use of marginal concepts in economic theory. Marginalism is associated with arguments concerning changes in the quantity used of a good or service, as opposed to some notion of the over-all significance of that class of good or service, or of some total quantity...
- RentRentingRenting is an agreement where a payment is made for the temporary use of a good, service or property owned by another. A gross lease is when the tenant pays a flat rental amount and the landlord pays for all property charges regularly incurred by the ownership from landowners...
- UsuryUsuryUsury Originally, when the charging of interest was still banned by Christian churches, usury simply meant the charging of interest at any rate . In countries where the charging of interest became acceptable, the term came to be used for interest above the rate allowed by law...
- Wage slave
External links
- Anarchism, Capitalism, and Anarcho-Capitalism An anarcho-capitalist take on the subject.
- An Anarchist FAQ containing arguments against capitalism.