Markets Not Capitalism: Individualist Anarchism against Bosses, Inequality, Corporate Power, and Structural Poverty

442 Pages·2011·2.3 MB·English

by  Gary Chartier & Charles W. Johnson (editors)

markEts not caPItalIsm
individualist anarchism against
bosses, inequality, corporate power,
and structural poverty
Edited by Gary Chartier & Charles W. Johnson
Individualist anarchists believe in mutual exchange, not economic privilege. They
believe in freed markets, not capitalism. They defend a distinctive response to the
challenges of ending global capitalism and achieving social justice: eliminate the
political privileges that prop up capitalists.
Massive concentrations of wealth, rigid economic hierarchies, and unsustainable
modes of production are not the results of the market form, but of markets
deformed and rigged by a network of state-secured controls and privileges to the
business class. Markets Not Capitalism explores the gap between radically freed
markets and the capitalist-controlled markets that prevail today. It explains how
liberating market exchange from state capitalist privilege can abolish structural
poverty, help working people take control over the conditions of their labor, and
redistribute wealth and social power.
Featuring discussions of socialism, capitalism, markets, ownership, labor
struggle, grassroots privatization, intellectual property, health care, racism, sexism,
and environmental issues, this unique collection brings together classic essays by
leading figures in the anarchist tradition, including Proudhon and Voltairine de
Cleyre, and such contemporary innovators as Kevin Carson and Roderick Long. It
introduces an eye-opening approach to radical social thought, rooted equally in
libertarian socialism and market anarchism.
“We on the left need a good shake to get us thinking, and these arguments
for market anarchism do the job in lively and thoughtful fashion.”
– Alexander Cockburn, editor and publisher, Counterpunch
“Anarchy is not chaos; nor is it violence. This rich and provocative gathering
of essays by anarchists past and present imagines society unburdened by
state, markets un-warped by capitalism. Those whose preference is for an
economy that is humane, decentralized, and free will read this book with –
dare I use the word? – profit.”
– Bill Kaufmann, author of Bye Bye, Miss American Empire
“It will be hard for any honest libertarian to read this book – or others like
it – and ever again be taken in by the big business-financed policy institutes
and think tanks. In a world where libertarianism has mostly been deformed
into a defense of corporate privilege, it is worth being told or reminded
what a free market actually is. Our ideal society is not ‘Tesco/Wal-Mart
minus the State.’ It is a community of communities of free people. All thanks
to the authors and editors of this book.”
– Sean Gabb, director, UK Libertarian Alliance
“Libertarianism is often seen as a callous defense of privilege in the face of
existing (and unjust) inequalities. That’s because it too often is. But it doesn’t
have to be, and this fascinating collection of historic and current argument
and scholarship shows why. Even readers who disagree will find much to
think about.” – Ken MacLeod, author of Fall Revolution
<.:.Min0r.:.>
.c0mp0siti0ns.
www.minorcompositions.info
autonomedia
Markets Not CapitalisM
individualist anarchism against
bosses, inequality, corporate power,
and structural poverty
Edited by Gary Chartier & Charles W. Johnson
ISBN 978-1-57027-242-4
Gary Chartier and Charles W. Johnson
Markets Not Capitalism: Individualist Anarchism against Bosses, Inequality,
Corporate Power, and Structural Poverty
Includes bibliographic references
1. Economics – philosophy. 2. Socialism. 3. Capitalism. 4. Anarchism. I.
Title II. Johnson, Charles W. III. Chartier, Gary
Cover image based on an image by Walter Baxter.
Released by Minor Compositions, London / New York / Port Watson
Minor Compositions is a series of interventions & provocations drawing
from autonomous politics, avant-garde aesthetics, and the revolutions of
everyday life.
Minor Compositions is an imprint of Autonomedia
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In memory of
Karl Hess

CoNteNts
acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix
introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Part One . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
The Problem of Deformed Markets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
1 . the Freed Market . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
William Gillis
2 . state socialism and anarchism: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Benjamin R . Tucker
3 . General idea of the revolution in the Nineteenth Century . . . 37
Pierre-Joseph Proudhon
4 . Markets Freed from Capitalism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Charles W . Johnson
Part Two . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Identities and Isms
5 . Market anarchism as stigmergic socialism . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Brad Spangler
6 . armies that overlap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Benjamin R . Tucker
7 . the individualist and the Communist: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Rosa Slobodinsky and Voltairine de Cleyre
8 . a Glance at Communism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Voltairine de Cleyre
9 . advocates of Freed Markets should oppose Capitalism . . . 107
Gary Chartier
10 . anarchism without Hyphens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
Karl Hess
11 . What laissez Faire? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
Sheldon Richman
12 . libertarianism through thick and thin . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
Charles W . Johnson
13 . socialism: What it is . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
Benjamin R . Tucker
14 . socialist ends, Market Means . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
Gary Chartier
Part Three . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
Ownership
15 . a plea for public property . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
Roderick T . Long
16 . From Whence Do property titles arise? . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
William Gillis
17 . the Gift economy of property . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
Shawn Wilbur
18 . Fairness and possession . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
Gary Chartier
19 . the libertarian Case against intellectual property rights . . 187
Roderick T . Long
Part Four . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
Corporate Power and Labor Solidarity
20. Corporations versus the Market, or Whip Conflation Now . . 201
Roderick T . Long
21 . Does Competition Mean War? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211
Benjamin R . Tucker
22 . economic Calculation in the Corporate Commonwealth . . . 213
Kevin Carson
23 . Big Business and the rise of american statism . . . . . . . 223
Roy A . Childs, Jr
24 . regulation: the Cause, Not the Cure, of the Financial Crisis . . . 241
Roderick T . Long
25 . industrial economics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247
Dyer D . Lum
26 . labor struggle in a Free Market . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255
Kevin A . Carson
27 . should labor Be paid or Not? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269
Benjamin R . Tucker
Part Five . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271
Neoliberalism, Privatization, and Redistribution
28 . Free Market reforms and the reduction of statism . . . 273
Kevin A . Carson
29 . Free trade is Fair trade: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279
Joe Peacott
30 . two Words on “privatization” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283
Charles W . Johnson
31. Where Are the Specifics? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289
Karl Hess
32. Confiscation and the Homestead Principle . . . . . . . . . . 293
Murray N . Rothbard
Part Six . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 299
Inequality and Social Safety Nets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 299
33 . let the Free Market eat the rich! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 301
Jeremy Weiland
34 . individualism and inequality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 309
Joe Peacott
35 . How Government solved the Health Care Crisis . . . . . 315
Roderick T . Long
36 . the poverty of the Welfare state . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319
Joe Peacott
Part Seven . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 323
Barriers to Entry and Fixed Costs of Living
37 . How “intellectual property” impedes Competition . . . . 325
Kevin A . Carson
38 . the american land Question . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 335
Joseph R . Stromberg
39 . english enclosures and soviet Collectivization: . . . . . . . 347
Joseph R . Stromberg
40 . Health Care and radical Monopoly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 369
Kevin A . Carson
41 . scratching By . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .377
Charles W . Johnson
Part Eight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 385
Freed-Market Regulation: Social Activism and
Spontaneous Order
42 . regulation red Herring: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 387
Sheldon Richman
43 . We are Market Forces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 391
Charles W . Johnson
44 . platonic productivity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 395
Roderick T . Long
45 . libertarianism and anti-racism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 401
Sheldon Richman
46 . aggression and the environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 405
Mary Ruwart
47 . the Clean Water act versus Clean Water . . . . . . . . . . 415
Charles W . Johnson
48 . Context-keeping and Community organizing . . . . . . . 421
Sheldon Richman
Contributors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 425