Anarchy No85.compressed

18 Pages·2015·7.15 MB·English

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ANARCH'SM
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ANARCHY 85 (Vol 8 No 3) MARCH le68 65
Gontents of J{0. 85 lllnrch 1968
Clonversations about anarchism ll.ic'lur,l ll,ttt,trt
Gonversations
Meliorism: a contribution to a libertarian symposium
Gettrge Mtilttrtr about anarchism
Meliorism a reply Ross Poolt
RIGIIAPD BOSTOI{
Utopian means they don't want to do it! Paul Goodman 81
Josiah Warren: the incompleat anarchist Harold Barclay 90
Richard Boston went round with a tape-recorder
Cover by llulus Scgtr interviewing anarchists, and reduced eight or nine hours of
tape to a forty-minute radio programme, produced by Tony
Gould for BBC Radio 3, and broadcast on January 10th
0ther issues of t'Anarchytt: Vol, -5. 1965: 47. l,'reetlolrr irr work: 4E and 30th. The voices heard, apafi from that of Richard
Plcase notc: Isstres l, 2.4.5,6,7. 12. 13. ALnolrrdrc lorisl'tl hocr rlllolioeks.; 541r).. IAllrrrrclosn, uprotipon, :f5o0lk.; Boston, were those of Bill Christopher, Paul Goodman,
10, 37. 3tl. 66 arc out of print. 52. l.irrrits ol trrtt'ilisrrr; .51. n fter school: George Melly, Jack Robinson, Donald and Irene Rooum,
Vol. l. l96l: l. Sex-and-Violcnce; 2. -:5r4it. llil r5rh(crr 'W, l.o:rnrrrtcl:rrru; c5r,7 M. rlr.htwstr:r5n:8 -.5 5.S Mtatuetleusasl Peter Turner, Nicolas Walter and Colin Ward. The
Workers' control i 3. Whal tloes ur);rr, sot iclics following is the text of the programme.
chism mean torlay?; 4. Deinslilrrliorri. V,)1. (,. l()/,(,: 1,). WItitc p-roblem: 60.
spalatiyognr;o 5u.n Sclp; a8in. ;A 6n. llCrrinoepnorlao;g 7y.; A()t-lv Ir):rrristrorrler; rl)rris'r;rrgtiso;r r;6 1(r. 3( 'Vrro':lrrlrirvrcl:r rvy: tnsdcrlrvliitsrrmcle; ;6 26.4 .O Mrgias-- Announcer: Who are the anarchistlf Wn"t do they believe? What sort
I0. Industrial tlecenlnrlisulion. spcrrt yorrllr: (r5. I)er<.volrrlionisation; 66. of society do they want, and what actions do they take to realise it?
Yol. 2, 1962: ll. P:rrrl (ioorlrn;rrr. A. S. (l)rl9r.v olic; o(rl7o.g lylS; A7:06.1 iL. il(rllcarstsa raiancnl apnsayrcchhiaistmry:. CIY: f consider myself to be an anarchist-communist, in the Kropotkin
pWdTNDVm1B9ahioucr.inor lelnyilTpr.slc e lirht;;tmo3ay ela1 e1u.oac6o t2'dt at1.r.i fe2r eo9E iWra;sn76n ttch;23 ;; h h Yi0:tc2o.Io4. os2 8 l,2N au. a. o3 DrCotrMsh.fiero s ;r; Saa n-o 2vln2tbrqh-pix5oa8cuor. ltr.e ael a ciChrcFtnnhrtenycerudirnscbert auesms;eB r;i:rrcv a:e2n c2hk 111e iu.4os5s.7t n_i.clf.cSs i hInCse)l?ao.:.;rc;noro r ovr2aml1nrsi63rrt-;--l-.. 7d7S7hV8v492crr1ooat.h..n .lonALt.S do r.nRaha7ll-.rltrro:it.irkr n' tosl'o7lt Eskrt A(ii);sOar (r-r.nnrf7 sirlt 1e :ty:a tr9;. ri.7n c8n ttaarl4llI l.S; r'i .rcb7AS8chcE07;r;irrs. i.l ia, i7tiWllosyAt3qot:t.<n ol r7jUSa8ygl5krl2 y.rcc te-Ir.tchmaos cciR'htEsfp ncr'rS_tas oo 1 ccievhnq]hhlirootvseoor.ge6aceuoydid{lol:::;; taBb"awNrInenaaRCWaiadnsrri:gt cc: i:a o hhf mIn nioI sd . -yttwpao h ganpnoiancah'utvirk ifcellic odsh tast rhi-sidolisaltn ep-etmdss h oiitcyyvfocr siiidIa bae munlelhifasdi samtal u,idss nny yt od tsnaowercdn r liilsafclat ithabrabrclrn eeihsssdrl mo ltiianamg- gsnrhyt.iyh atsna enecdn lozifmcs rnvarocrcelcnthihrsiroyaotu-. ld nsiqsy iIutson itcccef lotkvicsculetnayrlndul diIs,ge tgnib,w flcee oia .etcunhsala,dcl rl cweswhdhaios iycarm dhnI
chism; 29. Spies for peace: 30. Com- Subscribe to 6Anarchy": is a long title, but this is a way of delining a compass point.
munity workshop; 31. Self-organising Single copies 2s. (30c.). Annuat subscrip. PT: First of all I'm an anarchist because'l don't believe in governments,
Ts43V3Hyr274ooas.. tl nm eS.IIs nmc 4epdisweor.i; n ar oLItc3;;9n e a2446 'nft.5f43 ce Cv:t Tio; oPr4h3itnamee50.r ;.e.Ge nH3;rUt e8so3e n.u3 akisN.osn i;nnoAd 4gts lt6et;;ien. x a34gA c6hnC1h.aa. oer PmmcrLsoh;afll io isnc34rmed94tl;..l t4wraFIM.ie7oobRiaotsnnlhEedn-d e)enE(o( 1rny$5nDs2e 0, 7On oOsin0Ss.Mfro s0Wd (pue $e)re6PN,.r7s s,Re)t .J h 5EnE2osec0nS 6hiHan)sgSo.nyt. l,u a a (Cawlr1$ndchn73 dhienabli..lqs u5 eMtuTfa 0 iewnalme) se.xds, lae :wuB d PkilneRiyle.svcOl Ec llai o(sr.NsRwiippur'oeo hmttaiwnaio cnsidtnnihd-ol, itaD"wnoInhRgR dig c ::iena h ItdWl s suadoeesle oe Itsre mnyctvgh.srei ibtnwnoe kih t maahth v ybiaeste. te a slcf y osantnrsdat rinacaga dSelii cstiatmrinbo eenisrr r iitatneht i,eot e anar mnckaosnnr,co shbwciuisonttu asna sepe vpCgeloiractishtahte.toiloelisncs taotnh aeorrycg hasiensetissm-,
and historians. 3736, RB: There are so many sorts of anarchist that one sometimes wondsrs
whether such a thing as a plain and simple anarchist even exists, but the
t'int..l bv frnrc$ Prlntcrr. London. E.l differences are mainly differences of emphasis. Anarchists are agreed on
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the basic qrinciple: anarchy-tlle abscncs o[ rurc, wlrielr is rr.r rlrc sanrc considers to be way out, do you act up to it" or do you lean over back-
thing as chaos, although _ihe words anarclry lrrrrl clur.s irr(. l)()l)ulariy wards to show how nornral and practical your ideas are? What I woultl
Aconnafrucsheyd i.s A tsh eth ael taenrnaarctihvies t hsee eos fitte,r sc.h aInoi tihs cw lhltihrl wt.tr.'lvirti.r r1ir1 ,.,li ', r.trh*e. lRikeB :a nWarhcahti ssmo rtt oo fh asvueb jeisc tsin taerlele dcitsucauls sreesdp ienc teaNbielitnyc.sy?
Encyclopa:ediu Britannica, I(ropotkin delined analcrrisrrr irs. "'llrt" nrrrrre CIT: f"here do seenr to be recurring themes, principally because they
given to.a principle or tl-leorybt rre and concluct urnclcr.wlrielr s.r.iq1y are what people will write about. ltrlhey are topics like education, like
is conceived without. governrnent, harrnony in such a sot.i.ty lrcing this question of a technology in which people wourld have a certain
obta.ined not by submisiion !o law or by obedience Lo any arrth,,iiry, l,rir degree of personal freedom and personal choice in work, instead of
by tree agreements concluded between the various groups. Lorr.it,r.iill none at all, as the vast majority of people have today. ,qNencuv dis-
aconnds uprronfpetsiosnio.n" ari , tfhrienekl ym coosnt satnituartechdi sftos rt otdhaey soafk we hoaf-te pier6r dlatrbcetilo wno aurtrrtrfll cfaucssee sp etooppliec si nlik oeu hr osuosciniegt,y ,A tNhAeR sCoIIcyi etrtyie sw eto'r et atrkivei ntgh ein p,r oabnlde mtos wseheic ihf
agree with this. Where do they differ then? Well, one importanx there are anarchist solutions.
dillerence is between those who, like the anarchist-communis'ts ancn RB: ANARCTTv is a monthly. FREEDoM, on the othcr hand, as a weekly
a-narcho-syndicalists, emphasise collective organisation and those iike paper, is more concerned with comrncnting on day-to-day political event$
the stirnerites whose chibf concern is with the individual. But in fact and reporting on anarchist activitics. It is itsell run on anarchist lines.
an anarchist-communist like colin Ward and an inclivicluralist anarchist Jack Robinson of thc Freedom Croup:
like Donald Rooum still have a great deal in common. "/R: The rvlrole of rrRunt>onr is prociuced with voluntary labotrr. I my-
cw: For rne anarchisnr is a social philosophy-o buatlsoeodk o n the absence, of self have a slight grant of f3 a week. and (hus we cxploiit labour. Lilian
a-uthority. Anarchism can be an individu'al or a social one. Wolfe, who is working with us" is rtow 9l years of age, which tr thinl(
I'm concerned with anarchism as a social point of view- the idea tlaat is a record in the exploitation of old people's laboLtr, but nevertheless
we could have a society and that it's desiiable that we should have a she stiltr comes in cheerfully three days a week. There is a carpenter.
society, in which the principle of authority is supcrsccled by that of a print-worker, a furniture remover, who do the editorial work, and
voluntary co-operation. you could say that anarchism is the ultima.te there is a type-designer who actually does the layout for us. Every
decentralisation. I trelieve in ar deccntralisccl society. what I want to mernber of the editorial committee has the power of veto but we do try
do is to changc a. rnass socicty into a mass tlf societies. to argue things oLrt until a unanimous decision is arrived at.
iDndRiv:i dTuhae l.a n'rahrech iinsdt itvhiicnlrkrsa l thtlaotc ssno'ct ic<tiyw ics athneyirhei rf.rogr ttohe s boecnieetfvit aotf tatrllle. RcaBll :D Firreocpta Agacntidoan , otfh atht ei sd etoe ds anyo,w daodianygs smomosettlhyi nmge yaonsu rwsehlaf ta atrnoaurtc hyiosttlsl'
Society is the crcittion ol' inclividtrals. it is trrcie {oI their beneht. And own proLrlems rather than waiting for someone else to come along and
from that tllc rcsl- ol'it I'.llows. Iivcntually, as the ultimaie'aim of do it for you. Somel.irnes this may take the form of illegal action.
saoncairecthyi somf , swovhcilcchig rrrr riirnyd iovrir lnui)ralsy. not bc achicvecl. the idea is io hor. a Cthellr:e hfta dsone'ts bseeeemn ntora msse saqmuaaztitningg t hinat oinff ltchee lbalsotc fkesw, wyehaersn, yfocrlr .iln gsteatn cthce.
fB, But.how do,.yr.ru srt abour- ,clricving an anarchist society? weln, situation of local authorities having huge housing waiting Iists whiXc
there are two traditional anarchist nclhrils, propagancla of tlie deed*- you can see clozens of ncw speculativc ofllce bloclis with 'I'O LE"l'
at one time this meanl assassinating rtryarr"y anir stirt6snren, but no- wadavs plastered all over thenr. Thc vcry intercsting instancs in thc last fcw
igsa nadl_mao osft tinhvea wriaobrdly .i sn poanr-tvlyjo tlhcen.ts-rpnodk-epn' rw1:oarg'da., tIla, L.of ntdho"n w, ufo,dr. exrain-r"p6le:, yweaasr sa, roefc ecpotuiorsne ,c ewnatrse tfhoer hI(oinnigc lcFslsi lll' alrlorrsilitccsl ian llKacinrt. wl(hincrge [a'llill ls oI'{rotsst eotrf
speakers' corner, andthe meeting every s.ndary night at iheLami: and restrictions were placed upon thc hotuclcss. thc ntost slriking of whiclr,
Flag-in Covent.Garden, where there aic usually ab"out fifty p"opi". u*t of course, was the separation of lrttsbancls ft'onr wivcs. People were
s.ostly tle_wgrd means the printed word, and. apart from tfie'syifiicalist treated in a punitive way as though theit honrclessrtess were somehow
rwoournkde rtsh'e F peudbelriacatiotino'nss m oof nththel yFlraepeedro mD irperecst sA. ition, this mostiy centres tDhiere rcets uAlct toiof nth meiert horoydvns mtoo reaml btralrrpraitsusd tch.e Aau hthzornridtifeusl ,o af npde otphleey aedmopbtaerd-
cw: ANARCTTy was started in 1961. rt's an offshoot of the anarchis.t rassed thern so nruch that they achieved nruch nrore for improving the
weekly lRErpgM which is the oldest newspaper of the Left in this conditions of reception centres for the horrreless than had ever been done
country I think. rt was founded by Kropotkin in tsso. rn aNencxy by legislative action for years. Direct Action is an anarchist method
wanhaartc -h1i.s tmry toto c donot eism ptoo rafinryd -liyfeay asn d9 it ore fliantdin igh oas ew apy-o-soiutivt ei daepoploliigayti olinkse bTehceayu saer eit gisiv ean m metohroed cwonhfiicdhe necxep ainn dthse. irP eoowpnle atrbreil itpyu sthoe sdh oanp eb tyh estitrc coewssn.
which people are looking -for. There are pr-oblemr yo, ,.'.1 If you destiny by being successful in some small way. The person who takes
heaxavect.l.ya dreov oylouuti odnoar?y tidrfe yootoug'vye ingo at an opno-irneti ooluf tvioienwa r-yw hsiitcuha teioveniy, bworhnayt Dthiirnegcst hAacptipoenn isto a hdimiff.erent kind of person from the person who just lets
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RB: Colin Ward gives another example of Drect Action in the mass 69
squatting campaign that took placc after the war when the homeless
seized derelict army camps. couple of us.
Cll: The Minister of Hcalth at thc time, the Labour Minister of RB: For the anarchist, in Randolph Bourne's phrase, "War is the health
Health who was in charge ,f housi,g, Ancurin Bevan, said that these of the State." This sounds like a paradox, but, as Jack Robinson says,
people were-somehow junrping thcir-placc in the housing queue, they "to speak of a healthy state is like talking about a healthy cancer".
were part of a communist pkrt, antl all sorts of rubbish-of^that-kind. The anarchist doesn't want a healthy state, he wants a healthy society.
But local authorities w€re vcry s(x)rr cnrpowcrc<l to take over army For this reason alone, many anarchists are also pacifistg even if they
cqmpsJor-themselves. Peoplc who worrI r'irurrd noticed that the peopll don't always rule out violence altogether. Here is the American writer
ylq se-rl"d the places for thcmsclvqs hird tlonc a gr.cat deal to make thim Paul Goodman.
habitable-the usual temporary. rrral<cshifr irrrprirvisations to make lifc, PG: My background is psycho.analytic, and psycho-analytically, we
fami-ly life, -poqible in such placcs. 'l'hosc wlio wcrc installctl thcrc by feel that face-to-face violence, like a fist fight, is natural, and it does
Iocal councils did nothing. Thcy waitcxl l'or tlrirrgs tr> lrirppcn lo thcrn. damage to try to repress it; that it's better to have the fight out. There-
This is an example, it sccnts [() nrc,.l'tlrt: srx:ilrl Jrsyc:lr.ri.gy.l'Dir"cct fore on that level I have no opposition to violence. Naturally I don't
Action. The direct-actionist is sorrrcontr wlro slr:i1rcs his iwrr clcstiny like to see people punching each other, but anger is a rather beautiful
while other peopJe alc tho viclinrs o[ r:ilt:rrrrrsllrrrr:cs. ol'thc whinrs of thing, and anger will lead to a blow, and there you are. When people
authority: things happrcn lo thcrrr. are under a terrible oppression, as say Negroes in the United States or
RB: Drect Action has lrlso bct:rr lhc: :rrr:rr.r:lrists' prcfcrrccl method in the Parisians, let's say, during Hitler's occupation of Paris, it seems
their opposition to war arrrl lhc strrtt:'s prt:plrrlrlions for war, and their inevitable that at a certain point they are going to blow up and fight
mthoes pt ecaocnes pnictottvocrrnst ccnot nhtraibsu llrirornlrts:r ll olo ll rlc)i i;'xc:clrrl. rA: ncrtoiovonn.r cOntn eh aavnea brceheins tw whheno abbaocukt. tAhnadt, tahnadt steheemres ftoor em fe ldikoen a't fdoirscaep opfr onvaetu. rTe.h aYto kui ncdan odfo wnaortfhairneg,
has been active in lhc pcacc rrrovorn(:nl is Nicolas Walter. guerrilla warfare, partisan warfare, brutalises people, of course it does,
NW: As soon as thc (irrnrrriltcc ol' l(X) was formed I knew that f aereed but it's human and I would make no moral judgement.
with what it wzrs lrying to tlo. So I joined. And I've been actiie in As soon as warfare, violence, becomes organised, however, and you
that solt of thing nr()rc ()r lcss cvcr since. and I did all the normal are told by somebody else, "Kill him", where it's not your own hatred
things, T wcnt on sit-rlowrrs, I got arrqstcd, got fined and so on. But, and anger which are pouring out, but some abstract policy or party
more than that, thcrc arc tlrings wlrich T have done in the general anti- Iine or a complicated strategic campaign, then to exert violence turns
war movcnlcnt, which I suppose one could say are the sort of things you into a thing, because violence involves too much of you to be able
which I've dons as an anarchist. One thing was being involved in tf,e to do it at somebody else's direction. Therefore I am entirely opposed
Spies for Peace. which, I think, is a perfect example of anarchist activity to any kind of warfare, standing armies as opposed to guerrilla armies
although not all thc pcople involved in it were anarchists, in that herb and so forth. Therefore all war is entirely unacceptable because it
was a situation in which the Government had done something. for the mechanises human beings and inevitably leads to more harm than good.
I
sake of the people officially, which the people didn't know ab"out. Therefore am a pacifist.
RB: What was this? /R: I'm a pacifist. I call myself a pacifist anarchist and I think that
NW: Setting uq a regional organisation to rule the country in the event i_s basic really. I disapprove of governments because they wage war.
of nuclear war demolishing the State apparatus, so that if for example, I don't want to die, I don't want my children to die, and i don-'t want
South-West England was cut off from fhe rest of England, there wo,ld to have to watch other people dying for government, and killing people
be a ready-made government to take it over and rule it. And this was they don't know and have never met and have got nothing to do with.
all set up, it was set up secretly behind the scenes. No one knew about it. RB: That was frene Rooum. A frequent criticism of anarchists is
And._just !y chance, this information fell into rhe hands of people in that their ideas are utopian. How do they answer this?
the Committee of 100, of whom f was one. And we puUlisnba it, CIY: It's perfectly possible to say that anarchism is utopian, but of
secretly, we didn't want to get caught. Then another, in a- sense much course so is socialism or any other political "ism". All the "isms" are
smaller, thing, though it had mors cflect on me, was going along to a what the sociologists call "ideal types" and you can make fun of the
church where the Prime Minister was going to read ti'e le"sson, before ideal type of an anarchist society, but you can also do it to that of a
the Labour Party Cglference, and interrupting to say that I thought socialist society, which is very different from anything Harold Wilson
this.was hypocrisy. This isn't a very serious thing, lf was just propa- has in mind. ft seems to me that all societies are mixed societies, and
ganda by deed. [t was to try and say, at the timE and plate *h"re a while, if it cheers us up, we can dream about an anarchist society, the
Iot of people rvould takc notice. what T thought about th6 sort of thing sort of society that we or our descendants are going to get is a society
the Labour Covernment does. And this got us landed in prison, a where these two principles of authority and voluntarism are struggling.
But because no road leads to utopia it doesn't mean that no road leads
anywhere.
7A 7l
NW: I want to work towards anarclry, t don't want to establish it to impress them with the idea that without one they are failures, it will
overnight. - so t would take thc- alnrbst a slogan---view that rneans give them sexual potency, and a thousand other ideasl entirely linkcd
ate ends, that what [rappens now is an cnd. To sa] that you are working to an economic situation in which people have to make motor cars ancl
towards an end strikcs nro a,s nrcuringlcss. whirt you are working to- people have to sell motor cars and thereforc more motor cars have to
wards. is what y()u arc actually doirrg.- Il' you overihrow a governrnent be used. But why do they have to make them? Because if they didn't
overnight you coulcl say that lhis is cstatrlishing unarchy. iwould sa'y make them the whole economic machine would break down. But tliis
that you are nruch rnorc likoly [ti cstablish an ixtrcrno ilictatorship. rnachine is artificial in itself. There's no need for everybody to be
GM: There are in tlrc workl thorrsancls of pcoplc who havcn't cnough enrployed all the time. The more unpleasant jobs are always produccd
to eat, there arc wars g<ling on" thcrc aro far toir nrany pcrtple over the as an excuse against anarchism. Who would sweep roads, who woutrd
earth's surface, there arc discascs as yct rrnchccl<cd. i'lieri is an enor- mine coal? But a lot of these things would be solved so that nobody
mous zrmount of rnoney bcing spont. in flinging expcnsive toys up into need do them at all. There could be automatic street washers and the
outer .space, when there aro people rotting fronr disease and lack of use of atomic energy instead of coal, but we daren't use atomic energy
food down here. And it seenrs t6 me thaithe argumenfl against anar- instead of coal because this would shut thc ntines and this would create
chism that it is an impractical" lovable ideal which couli never be an economic crisis. Econonrics is ern artificial deformation, or seems to
realisecl, is unproven in the face of the inefficiency of the forrns of rne to be it, and if onc scrappecl it all ancl startcd from human needs,
government that have existed ancl exist on the earth's surface. and if one scrappcd thc wholc of thc thousancls of law books in every
PG.: The important crisis at present has to do with authority and rnili- country and started fronr good sensc and good will, one might be
tarism. That's the real danger, and if we could get rid of the militarism moving towards a freer society.
adonnd'-ti fr uwne tchoeuirl do wgent -lirvide so, ft h_tehnis sporciniectiyp lceo uolfd atruetchoorrnitoyd ebcye wnth" iacnhc pl'tehoapt'lse Pit'sG a:n Yeorruo r steoe t hiti niks nt'ht aintd. uIst'tsr iathlies awtaioyn w we hdioc hth me ainkdeus sftorira cliseanttrioalnis.a Ntioonw,
all you want of society. It is not up to governments or states to make in Yugoslavia at present, they're trying to extend workers' managenlent
anybody happy. They can't do it. What they can do is rnaintain a to considerable control over the actual designing and engineering pro-
mininrum level of decencv and freedonr. cess, and they have found, of course it's obvious, that in order to do
NW: Yes. in greneral I want a giovcrnntenf that govetns less, but I want that, they'Il have to bring the university right into the factory. Now the
the lessening process [o be continuous, so that government always worker can get technical training-great. So now Yugoslavia is the
governs less and lcss, ancl the pcople always ]ook after themselves more one country in the world, it seems to me, that at present is taking. is
aatn da llm-iso-rsei munptliyl ian ctlhccar icnngd-h othucslcr-,: itsr pir .ligt obvoexrn" nar ewnaf yt hfoart dpoeeosp len otot gioolvleercnt strlyaivnsg- aton dte nI dh taovwea rredcse anntlya rcbheoe-ns ytanldkiicnagl istom .a N loowt oiff tyhoeu mta-lkI ltiok eY uthgeoi-r
their health benefits. ettitude. They're extremely sceptical about the whole thing. It's
BC: Probtrbly now, nrorc than any othcr time. ordinary people have extremely inefficient and there are all kinds of error, etc,-and they're
got more than a slightly cynical upproach lo parliament and politicians. fantastically proud of it, and I love that attitude. You see they dr:n't
People are beginning to say that thcy'rc alf alikc and we'ie just not try to sell you a bill of goods, bLrt they know they're right-* and that I
g_o_ilg to bother to vote- 4 oli, But going on from there and"saying. like. Now they wouldn't call it anarchisnr, but T don't cirrc ubout [[rc
l'Whal ale--lve going to do?". rhis is rhc crr_rnch, rhis is the problem.- We word,
have had illustrations in recent try-eleclions of people abitaining. But CW: I think it started mcrcly as a politic:itl gimmick to difterentiate
tr.think we can get over the idea now that the parlidmentaiy iysiEnr is a Yugoslav socialism from Stalinist conrnrunisnr, but that it has been
big laugtr, is-.a big gr_ggle. Once you start gbtting people tiinking in taken seriously. I'm quite sLlre that sonrc ol lhe Yugoslav communists
terms .ot really querying the parliamentary system and -exposing iifor are determined to develop a systcm of worl<crs' control. As things
yClWet : i!W'_r-e wll,o arntha-rach i-sgtas siwn oerlkesc-ttihonesn uTs utahlilyn kin wdeu'lrg-ee mina kainntgi- eplercotg-iloenss .pro- Fstaarntyd,, ojufs ct oausr steh,e iste iesx pweorrimkeernst's c hoenrtcro al rwei twhoinrk tehross' ec olinmtritosl sweitt hbiny tthhee
paganda, that, is to say. they say "Don't vote for anybody!', And limits set by a capitalist market econonry.
they're very often criticised for this. This is pointecl out [o be-somehow RB; But how do anarchists see such principles of organisation working
negative or irresponsible and so on. Obviously" being opposed to the on a larger scale, nationally or even internationally?
principle of authority, anarchists don't see the point ii dbiiding which CW: I think the most complex industrial organisation could be broken
group of authoritarians are going to rule us. down on the federative principle. that is to say, a federation of ernto-
RB: Authoritarians. centralisation" coercion, capitalism, these are the nomous groups. This is not so far-fetched, because you see it in
sort of-things anarchists are against. Ceorge lt4elly: operation today in diflerent international organisations. You can post
GM: with a thing like the niotor car. which is one of the great kilers a letter from here to Valparaiso or Chungking and know it will get
of our time. you have a whole society geared to sell people irotor cars, there because of the federal arrangements of a dozen different national
7t
72
increasingly libertarian attitudes apparent in the social field, in attitudes
qost omces.*Now there_is no world post office capital. There are no to the mentally ill, for example, in education, in the whole permissive
ddairteocrtyi v.ebso. dTyh.e rret isis a an lrl ndteornnea tbioyn aflr ePeo satrarla unngieomn,e nhth ibcehtw ise "nno- i. ta"p muraant"- citli,m tahtoeu ogfh mthoedeyr nh asvoec imetay.d eO af ccoournster ibthuetyio nd oann'td ta oken athll eth we hcoreled itt hfeoyr
ntoa tioosnaakl ap oasntd,o fyfiocue st.r aovre ly oonu tchaen rbauiiyw aay t ilcin[eets ion f Lao nddoozne nfr odmiffe hreenret wCeWlco:m Yee iat.rs ago, shortly after the war, Alex Comfort gave a series of
countries, communist, capitalist, state-owned and privately owned, and lectures to the London Anarchist Group and they were published by
you get there with no bother. But there is no internafional railwav Freedorn Press under the title Barbarism and Sexual Freedo'm. Com-
authority.
RB: The anarchist's opposition to the state obviously involves opposi- fmoartn'sy iydeeaarss olant esre xa sh aav eF erenagcuhine db othoek .s taangde wofh acot uarpspee oarfe bde irnegv opluutbiolinshaeryd
toionne toan tahrec hsistat tew'sh ocoseer ccilveea liinngssti tuwtiiothns t hseuc ph oalisc eth eh ipib thhcee ahneda dpiiiniieosn sis. ptoas psde o6pyle 1o9r6 6so. rTnehheo rwe vooulutrt€ ioinn i no nsee xwuaaly aottri tuadneosth hear si nh a1p9p4e8n, eisd .a lTmaokset
DDoRn:a. ldr Rsouoqpuoms.e -that nry arrest by Detective-sergeant challenor had cahnialdrc thoidsat yi dloeoakss a libkoeu tth ee dpurocgaretisosniv-cy osuc"hvoeo l ocnhillyd rgeno to tf otw seenety h yoewar se vaegory.
pwanenoeratrhfereic ncahgtrlirys et to sintt henda_doot tcwoIe ointw.th a-b bmsuo ytyas -bI b wlteshil nritnogo k wa sinept roahetan cadaon rsm ceohimrnirsgeot t.rhb iAmancsgik dy teofor robdikmyon wtoahwi iisgh, a ptmmhoreyiei ceobe efom irtne agfnoi n auiinnsr wIaRnads:n I'tO svfte iclrloy udiromsnep tof rtthhaainnvtke anit'tt ' sthm eiam rtirpmieoedr,,t awanent d.d itIdr 'vnlie'kt ehtha tidon k rtn hiyti nowkwa stnh vacehtr yisl doimcreiepntoy' r tiTash niints,
dBfqapooeulnneafri efeen oan ittnrnp icensiaeont g_ rtli hcaucthhenhgnic iesmstcei. tll -e a rppoawvnorilre-cdll ci. vccat,cocenr ao clnasnract trwc naccuitoty ari lorcstonchnerlr c c trlIhar h. Icn r'.prr rt'ro.rn l'r c.ilrrihhi:anrcr cl.glcicky sinigsc llrr ttc hnartnnaloprreriiyucl,lra l'gasts ihhnl lt ohcatsi nliutu'osy-gs f r s iparastutihng c.iet piairlo r iipncnns toesirbtoylntrfi n ic snteep ihbkvm oeli aedlia ist etbe dtnaehtmeac hi eknreadme gnfvasr ei entoweo sdukish trehidmiv ceeooehyp.rf fbpmDpmaeaaoacRirrnnatttiei gtee:tg e ssaemrW ,n t tftdaoweion r mhrragti ahe otmmtodwreeu aov oagrpernr eheripda toe t agphwtonehleepi,dat lh tiyepnm oo ua auuofgnant rrd ecehdaite at stsmlvtoki hveiewani anntrgahettg r r t diethantosoeel wg ahapeSanaa ttyhavrarnsefertiec era sh asraiair, fsni yh amaditognh rmgheenb,a yeae y v ycnmoiaano, nuugauads y cde dwaho oono irlnfnod mam'rw'tmtea a nhnhityl ha ay waevnv nriewoetedht a. ttoastwwhu roeoeat
dNIf*hwa3mo'opgdiualhdaWlerfgd i.ncn-claohn i'e'hk:isstgstt e. y ghtTnj s oro Taeaaahtba oenvyhme-htd iede newnssto ghebr snpaera eeoeeiot d sd tnf- B-pl op.rei rrc.d reooraemfieeolttsxtfi h c o'e wytsfitfeo_t-nho i non ongawerftu nc o n d atp eprvchracsIr eyooai e yis rlshaut i ytoc iriah ls ttrnder'lvedsr na esairbfc etfto .hfne- la itousrceedo cfrwir.ctrtcueereh enkl g ltrrssi I hokossu jbluoceoa wepigt6e rcioo.yncth iyu .eag* r- fBl wutin dAgyibnduta .hniys rtthtciad rin datgehta 'sehsptieignht .e ate gaBantrriiW nitotdrn' siisgtft xas ir ,o ittaoyt hrho.wf nim e ntdssh ha o aisapanlotpalyhrtt cfi iim ainsn etttth[otsgie h oeten i6ent,tr he ba s pihsiptnonuoh* ao clgtta iIsiihsci'e *tvcnae a te"e'yII'-ttt StCRaauawEywhdntornhaouitWevdsldsteulte aen pn:l.anri:dgt r gt hc Ion w rfMneeioobd'st e u aorytt a mhocnbea aniwdaklss r ya,i le ago n lsrs rocitfedotndeh hohe raise igemdtosn s hm otfap hu tt trefeishbehopc reersaihmip pnnlntrivrisaaepie nsgemraniasseces.,,t?inh sivaiatIidte nshhl nsn n aeattaeiplhwm gt ser wdricsetrpnerhas hoelnkoinyeipmns tnt -yswt wewaos .tnlue ht. ai torltP edsnWls kwe ,loch yp rhhriofos atalaahoiuousnlniwtl nttdtd gy a aaief e,voe l bbril ign dywtncophr r e uL- eaewrsyat'oau on etsiplw ct lathtmdli areerhnousln tayayo,craa ni 'ttsttntiru y ahn cidi rscrndehep iot ai sie evnscaoonoirsmand'e p[iaold uss llsereoeotancoer dclfhca?idwi s eiibt ste thhhtltiiyItencseoeys.
pwtcthhheaeiaosnmnp k.igl n eeuo pdfB_fr moriasimxny tty oh ochenonu enwwr vtoihiinncrostg mitoB ont rhrti xh ianmtetog rena pto l lnew,w eowhh-p oochlea icsw,n hh to dooiuus olpl ddt.uh bhatI eattc hviaaneenn m byo'le ritddenheantir nno lgok touec ork t,efrio fyda o nlauey*n'pbt d ao.o ndDurdyrt e , c lwvaoaehncnnkoy'tt ihGaanes dcpMuiaevsucie:dst sfeuuT aolhd lfifres ouf mrgrtemhs ei bn adeogroec mf aa sru,bo esoImev u etotItt 'rhlmhtii.ninp gkIpt wt.i ew iuTschs ehiiec esdthy h t 'htroaoelatc tloaeb gvtreh eep e.rse-yeeo xxpac,lr eitcwe dchoile svbaenpry -fp e trxhwocevai teeisc d olee faibg. y hoT tfech eedernrytu a'groiensr
omsatohyre ewr tiahthnaa nKr_chrhoeisp itoss t)-k,g ioIn i nw(gt hotiuosl dbis es taahyse sthsooaorntt paorsfis htoheni nsc-goa mraeen sau roncuihvtie-sartssni-tydiewos:a "toyh.fe yI6 rwqimuoouetel-i nsmeoovisreenil ytoe efa nss ebpxeo,c ssasouib soleen eoa lnwddee rnt etp lrelionougpn lede vaheparypvoainnrg:ee naatsbly om iunat n ityth .op seOeo pndl eat hyases dopitsohasepsrpi brholeav,ne dads,
antuhusneirdns sgeetr afiiefntose r .ttoar yfnp idncx.rgtsi m ointcointio eah tly ek eelopdeu uppgcienhaogtt pi otploene ,o cirnpo l nteshs oiiindnmek e rp wrowiesthhroeeent rht hweweroa ayuth.cldetu nae'tln owbreom rmdosuu,s c ah"ni pdb "etnthtrea"rt bbasiiorsnedhc yoien p ,cts hoa naendd dLe mIma idttn hysai nnmCk oah trsahgttuaaterstb rmtalhe teiiyos n wta,rh ioamalnlea,d rsev semeolxlpo hohuanass, si sts h booine ntgch o datmrotu egsh esar xeiv nsies p t aheonecud ttha siabponlpe doy. n dEt,hr vuniengonsg-
{8, on the political scene anarchists don't seem to have made much is hysterical and not altogether sympathetic. But I think that the hippy
visible impact, but they feel that their ideas have made headway in the
74
75
fwtehheela initn gtt he-efroyv.ri ewthwae n rited, ecoeaf n otflrfye leobdveoetwm ine, seitnse aoMdn io ctfhk e hJ acateog,ng otcrfra roinyp.ed nv neveriysris 6,s uyosmf^ pmpaeetohmpielbeti ced,r soa innodgf _bAoenf atphreceho ipaslptesp awterhenondt lhytoa vubese ea fsu cllal for-gcrn esr poalcmoiayoel udsn ept ievooif&p tf rret6y eopdre op-maeco tipinvlei tt ihccnscr.i-pr lolwl'yhocordky . i rtcrs insnotrlrp rrllrvt:r
the establishment-bishops, the Editor ofThe 'rimes and so on-seemed because, I suppose. they have opted for that sort of lifc, bcing tho kinil
to me to indicate that although Jaggcr is rather naive in cer.tain of his of people tllat thcy are.
iNdeWas,: hIe daolsno' ti sm oena na ittr aacsk aw hcricittirc itstrrcriy, wbcurlc Iu dnaob flee etol t hanastw aer .lot of the Rinc4lu,d eT hsooumgch w theell-yk naorew nv enraym mesu,c hS iar Hmeirnboerritt y[ egarodu pa nthde A alenxa rcChoisntrsli rclllo.
fmoord tehrant byoehaer,m aiarne ato.n asrocmhiset se, xolcrn wt haa ctcrlvrrcr'n rpcarcltiiacl uplahre nlaombeeln tohne,'yra thhaevre pforor meixnaennrtp lbe.u bt utht earse Jaareck n Ro opbrionmsoinne snaty as,n athrcehreis tas.re anarchists who arc
ttothohua etdn or aoafn p aap l rooccuolhittmii scomta f elm crooconimvaeelm, nlteihrfcreacn.tioat ,trl l .tralheirfyocc r ar.1gr rch'Iy. piwnrohg..c tpiry.llt clrir rrrwrr'ricrh ks ocrc :cionr r.rtoeltLan cacinniytll hyioen urr ctft alroecyfvt i'npaaisgne ttiepo'tnao ddr itrnt rh.<'lgelpT ucblRhenisfqo:tl srtt hNuiisnno ag,t ht wetah eta,e thix facp vopeeueri loednpne lhcveeae dpr tpohhe aasndet t t oanthn oaeybnm olyesd aelyedlv aeeedrsvse erub.rpe f cotaolul obswee sole natehd eethrmsin,, g iwh eahybic ohhua tvi saen ttahhrcc-
atRon aBsrac:y h Ahissot wmth onevr aeamnnyae rnoctll..' rtishtosr rrrl olhnc'tlc h urvrcc, a()nr yc vlc()nn lw) ioth[ alrnrcyn crbccrtrasihnipty itw'sh chtahre:cntr aaRcntBdio :wn .Whthaeet' vyte ht eahyke eat hrtdoin akw, t lriwtrtkhl eat otaw sbaoorrudt ts o wsfhu scooh c thaiee tsy ao tnchaieeryctyh w.i saOtsnn tae ra etnh idinn g wt hhwiaset chsoaouvrn-ett rn,tr'jtf'
p9boeerM ocnpa,olue ts ewsI ohItno hlwe inloi<kknlc ue- l t(diois c c osalrarnglyl c a l[rnMr.ya csrrrclrlryrhllo 'i s wnllh.r. (rrh)rrrkrt'cr ll I ig cll,.cr rrrntirralr oirannarlgrryc rwahthniitscahtr r oscth yhremrismrtptr saimstt hob iosestv e qeor urfsi inttthea e ttia hnw gfiaet y wi.tI' IChth eetlalnh:r,id _n juikWss tth ehaolalsw t I'fs t hbaeeemncyo e,n ruonogrrweh a, a ttwon lee armaens atah krhaceonh wgiasin tn sygowo mnoheeeu nto a tfhfn et hwairea nmlsiat .tr alcbe ehs croiasalgdtm.si ee To r ahfi inerpar roatchpnheaais gractashrn.niscrvilsa.
feel lhat 1o bc an iul:,rrllrirt c.rrrPk-te-ly it's necessiry to rid oneself of and I was one of the people that nibbled.
practically. cv,crything thirl onc lrokls cxccpt one's own body and a few lR: f always say that f became an anarclrist when f was in Wormworxi
csolo othne, sI . wAorurdld inrs't scoonrrrcsoidnccr wnrhyos chlfa as na ahnoaursceh,i sat bcaurt, spoamyes oinnes uwrahnoc ew,o aunl<dtr aSncarurchhs,i swmh iachn-d i sd_ uprrionbga tbhlye twrtraer bTe cwaausse i mI phriasodn beede an so an cthones cvieenrg-tei.r ros[
hope that socicly would nrovc towards anarchisrn, and who is occa- objegtol and f was miditating on what acitjrally the State did c;ntribrrc
sionally provokcd by tlrc nronstrosities in this societ' y to an act of and r discovered that really the only contribution of the state as clislinct
amnea recqhuisatls r efrvccelldt oomr a. tI lcmaesta nlo t haen tawnoa rwchoirsdt ss atartee minetnetr.c haAnngaercahbilsem. Bfourt 1pr.isoo-n ss owchieotys ew gause stht eI wcoasn tarinbdu ttihoen 'aorfm tyh eI ahramd-yd eacnlinrle tchl et op ogloic ein t.on.cl rhc:
freedom in the etbsolute sense, not freedom shouted by one politician BC: First of all I was in the Labour Party. f came out of lhirt ovc':r
against another. freedom of each individual to exist en-tirely witrrin Irls German rearmanrent and the hydrogen bonrb. T wcnt to thc il,p rrrrr
bdReeseBirne: sp.Tahrteic aunlaarrlcyh issttrso nhga vien hthaed Ia-na teinr rcaotiuc natnride sl.iv eTlhye rheis atorrey satinlrc lm haanvve Itsi oof enml,t u acth-hca oitnm r p thdleeidt eTn L'rtP csj ceoecfnt irc. rnltou l< 'sflicft ., t ihbncu tthp ieanrr clti ilrrenci rtlch-naebtirro.r ryrT rh:s elyrs aptrta:.llriyrly.. I'nl 'rl.rd cthr rirlrryr c rr..r ciijnnccocn-l
Spanish anarchists-in exile after the Civil War, particularly in France, the parliamentary systcnr is conrplctcly rlrrl<latcil lirrrl trsr:lcss irnri therr:-
and therr are small anarchist groups in nrost coirntries thioughout the fore I reject the whole parlitnrcntilry syilcrrr.
world. But in this country about how many anarchists are tlere, and NW: Well in a sensc I was tn trrrirrclrisl bcl'.rt: I wus bor., in that I
wChWat :s Io rtt hoinf kp etohpalet sthoeciya lt haetyti?tudes have changed. People no longer lheasds aasn a a nLaarbcohuisrt Pgarartnyd-_fastuhpcpr.o brtrcrrl iIu tw crrxslr .icrrrt Llr: rclcll 'bt-rw.rilrrsyh lt, aubpo rnrrr oprea rotyr
eaqlmuaotset amnoadrcishhis.m r_ twhiitnhktr othmabt -tthherroew iisn ga. cAenrtaarinch aisnma. rcpheyrh ianp-tsr ries abeirc otomdi-anvg] asus pwpoerltle ar sa nbde initg g ara dsoucailalyli sot.ccurrc<l lo rrrc lhut irr'l'act I was an anarchijt
yes. Dl, on some kirrrl rif Covernnrent potato-picking
lR: One of our disreputable comrades said that the membership of scheme, i"nt q1q9t1ty4 I- It h-yinok_^rit rvas_, and I borrght a copy <tf Wai Comientary,
nRthleeBa a:nn ta Ttrhhceha itss tii ztm ew oovafes mt hbeeent twr ciesae dbnec rttswhheeiep fn igo oufn reren aorEnnden otawlnro d gm itvhielelsi o fsnigo muarneed i nttwhdiiosc aamtcioitlliniao lnloy.f Ia sr eita dw iat sa tnhde nI , tohonucg ohft , t"hWc cfollr,c trhuinsn icsr srl.rrc1 'gr,cnnri,.i rIo ravgl.r eae tw Mitahr bit.l,e, Arch.
their numbers.
.IR: Roughly our circulation is round about the 2,000 or 3,000 mark.
cw: Anarchists tend not t.o bc industrial workers and I think that tlic
reason for this is that they won't stick the discipline of factory life.
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na"Montdhy-i ltccgao.n nonteofn t ttih-oseraL _cfeiisal yttmh gastut a_idnoecnee o shn qeos'r s t occh owanreadigouhteu rt hboeyf sthphmeec dipa-ela oncpidrlc-6uf amcsost ntarcnueclreensse dow. f hseuiacrceih l kyc naishoeei, ttlhaea t rannoytitvheinsg a cnadn pbeers aocncaolirtniepsl istthrreadt . btesulotn wg ittho tthheesme ,p rforecesdhu irneisti,a taivned
dltty o-f man is not to do what he can't, but to do lhe-best he can; a:nd I bblieve is discouraged and fundarnental change is prevented."
ltocilokmrn emstl,cy oibe -ttny7oce e yab,sd eoowhrp atisvitnuletgp lrpiaenobaersst toraunap acGotb olnryvu ellaienrnnsem d-n eaerninvgt,ed,h.r t opityorrc gtcdlzeooap tntto h ui iiswp oawonrr,e p'mtahrfeaidect e;,bd pneyte, d vew enmice ut oombei b-u,c-esoiro"imn 1gZth iioolcesusie,rs tahnisd pGdeeosfosedicrnmtsisa tonic f rcethojenecc tlssuo stcihoieent ygi sei nnde rrwaaXwh invca.h l Hidheiet y bl ievoleife svt heaser etph riaentr n tpihsaees rs t hfdroourtmeco nmwoihnti gctsho
next steps, the wisdom of which can be tcsted in daily life . . .,, the trbsence of better alternatives but to an unwillingness seriously to
MAUDE, in criticism of Leo Tolstoy. consider and accept certain policies-the policies to which he gives
-AYLMER
the frieradly-ironic label "rltopian"" This i-rnwillingness is itself not an
altogether urachangeable, rock-hard social fact on Goodman's view.
ffimHfrms-frsmr Resistance to novelty or to proposals wlaich are or seern radical and
disturbing, can itsetrf be studied and understood, and sornetimes over-
corne" Goodman, conscious that all is not for the best in the best of
GEOMS,E MOI.ilAM alX possibtre worlds, believes that "something can be done about it".
He thinks that there exist mezrns which, withont being self-defeating"
THrs rer,r rs A pr,EA for a revision oli the received libertarian attitude ax'e apt to further modcst but crxrsequentjal ends. He calls them
to meliorism. By meliorism l understand attempts to remedy or reform "expedients", and reminds us of Goethe's objective: "just to live
sI pehcaivf,ec tgori esvaayn ceersro oser (d)Letfte octfs ricnll eacl .dincgn roocnr :aat icb osookc ieotfy .e Sssoamvse bovf wpahautl osinh iali tiyit tolef "r"e ffo-rhner cwointhtrians tc awpiittha liIsVrnna rcxoisut-lhdi shtoarricdislyt bbee limefosr ein c tohrnep ilmetpeo.s-
Goodman.' However this is not a paper on Goodman. X'il r6fer to FIow do libertarians re;rct to altr this? Differences of interest
his views at the outset and also make exernplary use of his work in between Goodrnan and libertarians are obvious enough. He is much
tsoom eh_i mpla, caensd. Bbuety monyd m thaaint ,i nitner cthste i ss tiann pdoasrdii blli6b elirbtearrtiaarnia ral ttrietuacdteio ntso manodre c coarRthmoulinc itiyn phliasn irnatienrge,s tws itthha nth we ea aesreth.e Htice qisu acolintyc eomfe clilf ew iathn dto twhne
meliorism. surrounds of activities; he is interested in the technology and adminis-
Goodman calls himself a "utopian sociologist", meaning of course tration of education; in vocational guidance; in psychotherapy; in
to be ironical. He is a self-confessed pragmatist, stronglli interested youth canaps; and in many other things which to the libertarian-in-
in practical .g.oal_s and in getting things- done. .Atthougli at heart he the-street are either so many unknowns or else hobbies to be pursued
is a social critic, his avowed intention is to combine destr-uctive criticisrn unoffficially. Some of his preoccripations are then ab initio quite
with positive proposals whose acceptance would improve the object of unlikely to arouse rnuch enthusiasrn in our quarters. Nevertheless
criticis_m or even replace it altogether with somethiig better. we should not overstress the differences. For Goodman is among
"I seem to be able to write only practically, inventlng expedients. . . other things an anti-militarist, a critic of superstitious ideologies, an
My yay of writing a book of soiial theory-has beenlo invent com-" advocate of sexual freeclom and of freedom of expression. We do
lAn uliltietyra pryla nsstu. d. My iys pas yrncahnouloagl yo ifs para mctiacanlu cilr ioticf isthrne.r ahp.e udtiiscc uesxesriocins eos.f thhaisv ew ae rleo tle isns tcrouren,m loibne rwtairtiha nwsh, aint avnieimwa toefs tthheei rm soacnia. lI nth eaonryy , cwasoeu lidf
hTuhrins apnr ensaetnut rbeo iosk ais pnroo -gerxacme potifo np.e Idt a-giso-gsioccaila al ncdri tipiiosmrit,ic ablu tre afolmrmoss.t stoti lla h raevfeo rtrone ar cocef ptth aen Gd ornoedernt athn em cohualllde.n gWe eo fc adne lihnainrgd lyth ieginr oarteti tuhdime
lrn v.arilbly (except in momentsbf indignation) r find that I lcnow what just because his interests differ from ours on many points.
don't like-.only by contrast with some concrete proposal that makes tr envisage the standard libertarian response to Goodrnan as an
rnore sense." application to a particular case of our general doctrine of anti-
Goodrnan is not in the tradition of 18th and lgth century reformers reforrnism. Thus I expect rnost libertarians would be critical of
who were obsessed with the idea of a Grand pran to cur.i atillk ot Goodn'ran's style of thinking, his pragmatism. And I do not mean
mankind at one stroke and forever. His thought is therefore not to here criticism of his excesses, his occasional blunders and over-all
be compared to classical .anarchisrn, fo. he ieerns interested iJeiy superficiality. tr mean a deep-seated aversion. The reasons for this
in. piecemeal re-f orms and changes._._ fn modern American fiili aversion fall into three rough categories. (1) There is the thought that
thinking men are faced with a moral dilernma: meliorism is inefIective: it regularly or characteristically fails of its
"It is only by the usual technological and organisationatr procedures
GEORGE MOLNAR's article was given as q paper to a symposium
lPaul G^oodman: utopian Essays and praolical proposals. vintage Booxrs, to the Libertarian Conference at Sydney University in December, 1966,
N,Y., 1964. as wa,s the reply 6y Ross Poole which follows it.
78 79
intended eftects, especially when the intended eftects are genuinely to it, or some part of it, may become more probable than otherwise,
triberal. (2) tn addition to ineffectiveness and perhaps more important especially at some subsequent time. We know that many piecemeal
than it, melior:ism regLrlarly generates r.rnintended and unwanted-effects ctianges are the result of the cumulative impact of advocacy (and
which blight the hope ol' rcfurrners to have achieved a net improvement othef things) spread over a period. Nor is it necessary that these
in the world by their ellirrts (3) [.inally. the result of meliorism effects of one's advocacy should be exactly calculable.
will be conl'usior.r in tlro nrirrrl irnd bchavi<tnr of the reformer: his Inasmuch as the inacceptability of a policy is based on reasons,
ends, being in conflict, will l'all into disarray, and it is predictable that the advocacy may lower the initial inacceptability. The advocacy clf
ln such an cventuality ho will let go ol' his liberal intentions before p- olicies may have an educational effect.
letting go of his practical strivings. Advocating a policy in public may disclose more precisely the
Let me considcr thcse points in tuln (and not just with special obstacles to it. Frequently the reformcr or would-be reformer starts
ref'erence to Goodman). My general line will bc to suggest that these ofi with guesses about the acceptability of his schemes, and he may
criticisnrs are severally overstttletl and exuggeruted, and that the anti- test his guesses with advocacy. The institutions and social forces of
rneli<lrism to which they add up is theretore toct irulisr:rirninate. our environment are not always translritrcnt in thcir w<trkings, some-
In considering the charge of ineftectiveness (utopianisnr in the times we can lind out their rcsponscs only by stinlLrlating them.
unfriendly sense) we should dislinguish the technical irnpossibility of Finally, take a. policy whiclt is otltorwisc ftrtilc in tltc foreseeable
proposed policies fronr their unsLritability to the audience. By technical future. Such a policy jusl by bcing "tttt lltc htloks" nray serve as iln
impossibility I mean that there are. at the time and place in question, ideal or standard by which to jtrclgc ltttd cvlrltttc ttcttlal or proposed
no physical, technologiczrl, or economic means to the ends envisaged, alternatives. (This nriglrt be thc rcsiclual trtttlt in C)soar Wilde's maxim
nor are there any nleans to the rneans. Defects under the second on Utopia.)
heading include the following; Enough has been said, I hope, to show that the slogan "Reform is
There is no (eflective) audience. e.g. Domain oratory. always ineflective" will not serve as an adequirte basis for a general
It is the wrong (irrelevant, impotent) audience. Goodman himself condemnation of meliorism.
provides the example: there is something distinctly odd about propa- John Anderson claimed that
ganda for civic and political proposatrs being disseminated in literary ". . . the well-intentioned reformer always produces results
jor.rrnals. which he did not anticipate, helps on tendencies to which he
'Il.rere ale leasons to lrcnicvc l-hat the Policy is not acceptable to is avowedly opposed."'
the (right) audicncc. Ferhaps this claim is true, but only in a sense too wide to be useful"
It would be patcntly itbsurd to ar,luc that all proposals for reform AII social action may have incalculable consequences but what we
are technically irnpossiblc. MosL ol. them, at any rate most of those want to know, in the present context. is whether meliorist action is
nowadays put forward by raclicals, disscnters, liberals and democratic especially prone to have such side-effects. Protest, after all, can and
socialjsts in our times are not in this class. .ln any case there is no sohe times does have unplanned and unwelcorne outcomes, for
national way of judging the matter a priori. The possibility or impos- instance the strengthening of repressive laws, but this fact cannot
sibility of .proposals must be iissessed as they canre up. in the light of seriously be taken as a global objection to protesting. I don't think
the situation to which they are meant to apply. Somewhat more the position of reformers is essentially dilTerent from that of
-protesters,
guardedly the same can be said about the unacceptability of meliorist although there may be dillerences of degree. There is perhap-s- more
proposals. Whether a policy is or is not acceptable is sometimes a risk in promoting ieforms: it is more calculable that refonns will have
rnore or,less open question which can be settled conclusively only by incalculable effects than it is tl-rat protests will. The degree of risk
putting the policy forward and seeing the public reaction. (Goodmair will depend on the sort of plans zrdvocated, the times and and
irnplies this when he calls his utopian proposals "hypotheses".) Pre- styles of advocacy, and other factors. A great deal of di,fpf-elarceensc e is
scinding from questions of uncertainty, there is a second point to be mrade by these details. Tl-rat is why the argument frorn unintended
made here. Suppose a proposal passes all reasonable tests, other than effects is not a knock-down argument against meliorism.
acceptability.to the-appropnate audience. Is advocacy of such a policy There are two specifically libertarian arguments to be looked at
unrealistic simply because it is not in:mediately aCceptable to ^those under the heading of unintended consequences. First, it will be said
concemed? The answer is not always yes. If the policy in question that the method of implementing plans of social reform is itself
is not of the now-or-never type, if. that is, immediate aiceptance and essentially "political", involving compromises, unsaYoury alliances, and
implementation is not of its essence, then even if it is now uriacceptable so on. Second, the reformer is obliged, as soon as he meets with the
there may be some point to advocating the policy despite opp6sition slightest resistance, to lean in an authoritarian direction; to become
or indifference.
Through advocating the policy at a certain time, some analogy 2J1o9h62n, Apn. d3e3r2s.o nO: riSgtiundaile se minph Easmisp.irical Philosophy, Angus & Robertson, Sydney'
80 8l
a rneddler who, out of ignorance or righteousness, is inclined to impose These are definite and fairly rnodest aims; whether or not they ar:e
his conception of what is desirable. practicable remains to be seen."S
That the method of effective plans is political, involving com- This does not sound like a meddler speaking. Yet it may be said
promises and conruritments to allies not quite lcosher, is often the case, that to the extent to which Goodman shows us a clean pair of hands,
and forcseeably so. Whether it is always a sufficient reason for just to that extent he is ineft'ective and bound to remain so. For
libertarians to reject the action which entails comprornises is another practical success requires that the reformer should work with and
question. To me the issue is rnuch rnore a matter of degree than through institutions and seats of power (government, civic authorities,
preserving the pr"rrity of an absotrute principle. In some circumstances, business, parties, trade unions, etc.). fn accepting these institutions
for some ends, one may weigtrr the trikely cost of cornprornising against as part of his means the reformer is also accepting their characteristic
other factors, and corne down on the side of action. Two observations I wa.ys of working which is authoritarian. In mitigation of this one can
are relevant here. (1) Libertarianism is not a "single value" ethic as answer:
it has sometirnes been rnade out to be. F'reedom or anti-authoritarianism I That some refouners (e.g. Goodrnan) show great awareness of the
loorns large in our thoughts but it is not the oniy consideration. (I think, difficutrties and are looking, more hopefultry than snccessfully, for
for example, that the crucial objections to racial discrimination which alternatives.
libertarians share with others have little to do with liberty and much There is a big ditrterence between the State and other institutions,
with justice.) Now conflict betweem various libertarian goods is, pace as we have always emphersised.
Anderson, possible: frequently reforrns pose a challenge to evaluate There is linally no reason to asstrme that every political act which
conflicting ends. (2) Apart frorn this, even issues of freedom can lead is channelled through the State must be authoritarian in its net effects.
to conflict of ends which require compronlise and adjudication. To set (I'll bring rrp some examples later.)
one's face "on principle" against the very possibility of compromise Now to the third objection to meliorism which was that the liberal
is dogrrratic. I suggest that these theoretical considerations are recog- impuise behind leform activities becomes corrupted in the very course
nised, in a backhanded way, in libertarian practice, although they have of these activities. hdeans do not corrupt ends, or those whose ends
no place in our explicit doctrine. It has long been our habit to pick they are, automaticaLly or mechanically. Social and psychological
and choose issues ernd sitnntions on or in which to speak and act, and car.lsation is more subtle than that. If the attitude of those advocating
it frequenttry happens" rnore trnd rnore of late, that the whole move- some rcforrl is a reasonable mean between two,extremes, it is at least
urent lapses into long periods of inactivity for want of the right issue. possible to embark on a course of action without being cornmitted to
tr diagnose this intermittent existence as due in part to a fear of com- seeing it through no n4&tter what. The extrernes are blindly optimistic
prornise which js obsessive, a horror of soiling one's political purity. faith in the power of Reason on the one hand, and a fetishistic pre-
The mistake, if it is a mistake, lies not in the world for being t<io conception about inescapable corruption on the other. A more rational
unl"ind to us, but in us for being too inflexible and paying too much attitude may be located in between. If circumstances change so should
attention to generalities and too trittle to the particulars of actual designs, intentions and determinations. What looks desirable or feasible
situations. at one stage, say at the stage of contemplated action, may change at
The reformer is a rneddler, tempted by authoritarian means and another, and become through new developments, less desirable, more
often succurnbing to the temptation. This is also true very often. Again, rnessy. Then rve rnay consider getting ofl the bus. Certainly a man
it is not necessariiy true of all rneliorists. Flear, for example, Goodman who invests his iropes and enthusiasm in a project is less likely to keep
on ttrre grounds of his selection of the fields in which he proposes a cool head when things become connplicated. His sensitivity is liable
expedients; to be blunted, his patience to become short, his restraint weak. These
". . . characteristicaily, f choose subjects that are political, personal, { are psychological cornmonplaces. But they are not necessities, not
or Iiterary problems of practice. . . . And the problems are rny problems. invariant phenomena. To say that the liberal impulse of the reformer
As a writei: f am irampeled by the present Iaws on pornography, and I is likely to wither away is valuable as a warning against dangers which
as a rnan and a father by the sexual climate of that law; sb it is a are often not easy to circumvent. And it is, perhaps, just bs wetrl to
problem for me. It is as a New Yorker that I propose to ban the cars be finicky here. However what we are taced *ith ii a danger, a risk,
from the streets and create a city of neighborhoods. As an intellectual not the certainty of doorn.
man thwarted, I write on the inhibition of grief and anger and look Where are we in our argurnent? The standard libertarian attitude
for a ther-apy to unblock thern. And it is because I am htrngry for tho to rneliorism is a reaction to 18th and 19th century utopianism and
beauty of a- practical and scientific environment that tr am dismayed to their aftermath: an exaggerated faith in the welfare state. It seems
by our 'applied science' and would like to explain it away." to rne that rvhile the positions to which we react are quite wrong
".
the content of my own 'arbitraryt proposals'is determined
by rny own justified concerns. tr propose what tr know to be my business. sGoodman: loc. cit. p. xv, p. 116. Original emphasis.