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Accumulation of Freedom Writings on Anarchist Economics

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Accumulation of Freedom Writings on Anarchist Economics The Accumulation of Freedom Writings on Anarchist Economics Deric Shannon, Anthony J. Nocella II, John Asimakopoulos 2012 Contents Acknowledgments 7 Deric Shannon ........................................ 7 John Asimakopoulos ..................................... 7 Anthony J. Nocella, II .................................... 7 Preface 9 Anarchist Economics: A Holistic View 13 Anarchism and Economics ................................. 14 Capitalism and the Anarchist Critique ........................... 17 Anarchist Economics ..................................... 23 Mutualism ....................................... 25 Collectivism ...................................... 26 Communist Anarchism ................................ 27 Other Unique Characteristics ............................. 29 The Contents of This Anthology .............................. 29 Part 1: History 32 Examining the History of Anarchist Economics to See the Future 34 Situating “Anarchist Economics” .............................. 34 So What Is an Economy and Why Do We Need One? . 35 Property Relations ...................................... 35 Class and Division of Labor ............................... 37 Remuneration Schemes ................................... 40 Allocation ........................................... 43 Closing Comments ...................................... 47 Laying the Foundations: Proudhon’s Contribution to Anarchist Economics 49 What Is Property? ...................................... 49 System of Economic Contradictions ............................. 51 Solution of the Social Problem ................................ 53 General Idea of the Revolution ................................ 55 The Federative Principle ................................... 56 Conclusion: From Proudhon to Kropotkin ......................... 58 2 Part 2: Analysis 59 Capitalism in the 2000s: Some Broad Strokes for Beginners 61 Globalization from Above .................................. 62 “I have found a flaw” ..................................... 63 Polls Show Increased Interest in Socialist Alternatives . 65 The Meaning of “Crisis” ................................... 66 The Feminization of Poverty ................................ 67 An Intersectional Analysis ................................. 68 The Now More-than-Obvious Unsustainability of Capitalism . 68 Toward a Post-Capitalist 2000s ............................... 70 Fight to Win! Tools for Confronting Capital 71 Context: How to Assess Success or Failure? ........................ 71 “Differential Accumulation” as an Analytical Tool .................... 73 Case Study 1: Anti-Sweatshop Targeting of Nike . 76 Case Study 2: Take Down SNC-Lavalin! ........................ 78 Case Study 3: Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty (SHAC) . 80 Conclusions ......................................... 82 Escaping Capitalist Hegemony: Rereading Western Economies 84 Introduction ......................................... 84 A Capitalist Hegemony? ................................... 85 A Call to Unleash Our Economic Imaginations ...................... 86 Understanding Dominant Economic Trajectory: One of Plurality and Difference . 90 A Critical Focus on Non-Exchanged Work in Western Economies . 90 Not-For-Profit Monetary Transactions ........................... 93 Explaining the Persistence of Alternative Economic Practices . 96 Conclusion .......................................... 97 Part 3: Critique 99 Globalized Contradictions of Capitalism and the Imperative for Epochal Change 101 Components of the Global SSA ............................... 102 The financial regime .................................. 102 The neoliberal trade regime .............................. 104 Globally segmented labor markets . 105 Toward Collapse: A Global SSA without Income? . 109 Reform versus Structural Solutions to Boom and Bust . 110 The Economic Crisis and Libertarian Socialists 113 Why Libertarian Socialists Reject Capitalism . 113 The Problem Libertarian Socialists Must Solve . 113 Explaining This Crisis .................................. 114 Explaining the Abysmal Response ............................. 117 3 Greece and the European Union .............................. 120 There Are Much Better Options ............................... 122 Addendum: Recent Events ................................. 123 Education’s Diminishing Returns and Revolutionary Potential in the United States and Beyond 125 Time Travel .......................................... 125 Introduction ......................................... 125 The “Crises” Continue .................................... 126 The False Promises of School and Work . 129 Early Studies of Resistance to Schooling . 131 Resistance and Reform by Schools ............................. 133 Contemporary Student Resistance and Possibilities for Broad Social Change . 136 Final Reflection ........................................ 140 Part 4: Practice 141 Anarchist Economics in Practice 143 Varieties of Anarchist Economic Practice . 144 Withdrawal ....................................... 144 Anarchist unions .................................... 145 Workplace and university occupations . 145 Cooperatives and communes .............................. 146 Local currencies .................................... 147 Food Not Bombs .................................... 147 Free shops and “really, really free markets” . 148 DIY cultural production ................................ 148 The electronic commons ................................ 149 Anarchist Economics and Revolutionary Strategy . 149 Currency and Café Anarchy: Do-It-Yourself Economics and Participatory Resis- tance to Global Capitalism 153 Global Economic Chaos and Uniform Distlanceless . 154 No Future: Globalization and Capitalism . 155 Ithaca Baby: Dollars and Hours ............................... 158 Café Capital: Coffee, Communication, and Possibility . 160 Conclusion: Another World Is Possible . 162 Part 5: Resistance 165 Occupy, Resist, Produce! Lessons from Latin America’s Occupied Factories . 165 Breaking Chains ....................................... 167 Hide-and-Seek Capitalism .................................. 170 Syndicalism and Self-management ............................. 172 A New Chapter in Working-Class History . 174 4 We Can Write Our Own Futures! .............................. 174 Call It an Uprising: People of Color and the Third World Organize against Capi- talism 176 Globalization and the Reshaping of Race . 179 Fighting Back against Capitalism .............................. 182 Interrogating the Future ................................... 186 Part 6: Vision 189 Chopping Off the Invisible Hand: Internal Problems with Markets and Anarchist The- ory, Strategy, and Vision ............................... 189 Theory ............................................ 190 A Few Words on Strategy .................................. 193 Vision ............................................. 195 For the Accumulation of Freedom ............................. 197 Ditching Class: The Praxis of Anarchist Communist Economics 199 Libertarian Communism, the Aspiration of Classes in Struggle . 199 Praxis ............................................. 200 Lived Libertarian Communism ............................... 201 A Libertarian Communist Society ............................. 205 A Critique of the Wage System ............................... 210 Toward Communism .................................... 212 The Anarchist Method: An Experimental Approach to Post-Capitalist Economies 213 Issues Raised by Differing Models of Post-Capitalism . 216 Afterword: Porous Borders of Anarchist Vision and Strategy 222 Anarchist Vision ....................................... 222 As an Example, Consider the Economy . 223 Anarchist Strategy ...................................... 229 What can a strategic commitment mean? . 229 So what’s my point? .................................. 232 Postscript: Toward the Occupation of Everyday Life 234 Contributor Biographies 237 5 The Accumulation of Freedom: Writings on Anarchist Economics 6 Acknowledgments We would of course like to thank everyone at AK Press—especially Zach, Charles, Lorna, Jes- sica, and Kate—the contributors, and the many people who have written in support of the book. Without all of you this book would not be possible. Deric Shannon Since this book is about anarchist criticisms and alternatives to capitalism, I would like to take the time to thank people who have helped me along in the spirit of mutual aid. Without many of these people I would have gone without food and shelter, without others I would have gone without needed kindness and friendship, and without them all my life would certainly be emp- tier. First and foremost, thank you to Amney Harper for repeatedly saving my life. I will never forget my debt to you. Secondly, and in no particular order, I would like to thank: Amanda Rose Zody, Jacquelyn Arsenuk, Abbey Volcano, Joe Sutton, Jilly Weiss, Tyler Watkins, David Burns, Liz Burns, Kevin Blue, Andrew Salyer, Kevin McElmurry, E Marino, John Wyatt, Gloria Felts, Courtney Cook, Naitha Bellesis, Ryan Ramsey, Nic Lee, Judi Lee (my bestest), Jesse Lee, Ryan Lash, Andrew Jackson, Josh Young, Maria Yates, Matt Sharp, Brooke, Virgil Carstens (you hand- some bastard), Delicia Garcia, Bill Armaline, Abe DeLeon, Li’l Jerry (I miss you), Chloe and Sofie, Chris Wendt, Joe Hill, Jessica Forgille, Randy Hull, my brothers—Rich and Dustin, my mother, fa- ther, and grandmother, and a host of others who shall remain unnamed. My apologies to anyone I
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