An Anarchist FAQ (10/17) The Anarchist FAQ Editorial Collective June 18, 2009. Version 13.1 Contents Section I: What would an anarchist society look like? 5 I.1 Isn’t libertarian socialism an oxymoron? 15 I.1.1 Is socialism impossible? ........................ 21 I.1.2 Is libertarian communism impossible? . 35 I.1.3 What is wrong with markets anyway? . 51 I.1.4 If capitalism is exploitative, then isn’t socialism as well? . 58 I.1.5 Does capitalism efficiently allocate resources? . 63 I.2 Is this a blueprint for an anarchist society? 80 I.2.1 Why discuss what an anarchist society would be like at all? . 86 I.2.2 Will it be possible to go straight to an anarchist society from capi- talism? ................................. 88 I.2.3 How is the framework of an anarchist society created? . 94 I.3 What could the economic structure of anarchy look like? 103 I.3.1 What is a “syndicate”? . 109 I.3.2 What is workers’ self-management? . 118 I.3.3 What does socialisation mean? . 125 I.3.4 What relations would exist between individual syndicates? . 133 I.3.5 What would confederations of syndicates do? . 139 I.3.6 What about competition between syndicates? . 148 I.3.7 What about people who do not want to join a syndicate? . 154 I.3.8 Do anarchists seek “small autonomous communities, devoted to small scale production”? . 156 I.4 How could an anarchist economy function? 161 I.4.1 What is the point of economic activity in anarchy? . 166 I.4.2 Why do anarchists desire to abolish work? . 169 I.4.3 How do anarchists intend to abolish work? . 177 I.4.4 What economic decision making criteria could be used in anarchy? 183 I.4.5 What about “supply and demand”? . 190 2 I.4.6 Surely anarchist-communism would just lead to demand exceeding supply? ................................. 199 I.4.7 What will stop producers ignoring consumers? . 202 I.4.8 What about investment decisions? . 207 I.4.9 Should technological advance be seen as anti-anarchistic? . 213 I.4.10 What would be the advantage of a wide basis of surplus distribution? 219 I.4.11 If libertarian socialism eliminates the profit motive, won’t creativ- ity and performance suffer? . 225 I.4.12 Won’t there be a tendency for capitalist enterprise to reappear in any socialist society? . 230 I.4.13 Who will do the “dirty” or unpleasant work? . 235 I.4.14 What about the person who will not work? . 240 I.4.15 What will the workplace of tomorrow look like? . 242 I.4.16 Won’t a libertarian communist society be inefficient? . 245 I.5 What could the social structure of anarchy look like? 248 I.5.1 What are participatory communities? . 252 I.5.2 Why are confederations of participatory communities needed? . 259 I.5.3 What will be the scales and levels of confederation? . 264 I.5.4 How will anything ever be decided by all these meetings? . 267 I.5.5 Aren’t participatory communities and confederations just new states? 272 I.5.6 Won’t there be a danger of a “tyranny of the majority” under liber- tarian socialism? ............................ 276 I.5.7 What if I don’t want to join a commune? . 281 I.5.8 What about crime? . 285 I.5.9 What about Freedom of Speech under Anarchism? . 290 I.5.10 What about political parties? . 293 I.5.11 What about interest groups and other associations? . 294 I.5.12 Would an anarchist society provide health care and other public services? ................................ 295 I.5.13 Won’t an anarchist society be vulnerable to the power hungry? . 302 I.5.14 How could an anarchist society defend itself? . 306 I.6 What about the “Tragedy of the Commons”? Surely communal own- ership will lead to overuse and environmental destruction? 313 I.6.1 How can anarchists explain how the use of property “owned by ev- eryone in the world” will be decided? . 316 I.6.2 Doesn’t any form of communal ownership involve restricting indi- vidual liberty? ............................. 319 3 I.7 Won’t Libertarian Socialism destroy individuality? 324 I.7.1 Do tribal cultures indicate that communalism defends individuality? 329 I.7.2 Is this not worshipping the past or the “noble savage”? . 332 I.7.3 Is the law required to protect individual rights? . 335 I.7.4 Does capitalism protect individuality? . 338 I.8 Does revolutionary Spain show that libertarian socialism can work in practice? 342 I.8.1 Wasn’t the Spanish Revolution primarily a rural phenomenon and therefore inapplicable as a model for modern industrialised societies? 346 I.8.2 How were the anarchists able to obtain mass popular support in Spain? ................................. 348 I.8.3 How were Spanish industrial collectives organised? . 353 I.8.4 How were the Spanish industrial collectives co-ordinated? . 355 I.8.5 How were the Spanish agricultural co-operatives organised and co- ordinated? ............................... 358 I.8.6 What did the agricultural collectives accomplish? . 361 I.8.7 I’ve heard that the rural collectives were created by force. Is this true? 364 I.8.8 But did the Spanish collectives innovate? . 374 I.8.9 Why, if it was so good, did it not survive? . 376 I.8.10 Why did the C.N.T. collaborate with the state? . 378 I.8.11 Was the decision to collaborate a product of anarchist theory, so showing anarchism is flawed? . 383 I.8.12 Was the decision to collaborate imposed on the CNT’s membership? 390 I.8.13 What political lessons were learned from the revolution? . 395 I.8.14 What economic lessons were learned from the revolution? . 401 4 Section I: What would an anarchist society look like? 5 So far this FAQ has been largely critical, focusing on hierarchy, capitalism, the state and so on, and the problems to which they have led, as well as refuting some bogus “solutions” that have been offered by authoritarians of both the right and the left. It is now time to examine the constructive side of anarchism — the libertarian- socialist society that anarchists envision. This is important because anarchism is essentially a constructive theory, in stark contradiction to the picture of usually painted of anarchism as chaos or mindless destruction. In this section of the FAQ we will give an outline of what an anarchist society might look like. Such a society has basic features — such as being non-hierarchical, decentralised and, above all else, spontaneous like life itself. To quote Glenn Al- brecht, anarchists “lay great stress on the free unfolding of a spontaneous order with- out the use of external force or authority.” [“Ethics, Anarchy and Sustainable Develop- ment”, pp. 95–117, Anarchist Studies, vol. 2, no. 2, p. 110] This type of development implies that anarchist society would be organised from the simple to the complex, from the individual upwards to the community, the bio-region and, ultimately, the planet. The resulting society, which would be the outcome of nature freely unfold- ing toward greater diversity and complexity, is ethically preferable to any other sort of order simply because it allows for the highest degree of organic solidarity and freedom. Kropotkin described this vision of a truly free society as follows: “We foresee millions and millions of groups freely constituting them- selves for the satisfaction of all the varied needs of human beings … All these will be composed of human beings who will combine freely … ‘Take pebbles,’ said Fourier, ‘put them in a box and shake them, and they will arrange themselves in a mosaic that you could never get by instructing to anyone the work of arranging them harmoniously.’” [The Place of Anarchism in Socialistic Evolution, pp. 11–12] Anarchist opposition to hierarchy is an essential part of a “spontaneously or- dered” society, for authority stops the free development and growth of the indi- vidual. From this natural growth of individuals, groups and society as a whole an- archists expect a society which meets the needs of all — for individual and social freedom, material goods to meet physical needs and free and equal social relation- ships that meet what could be termed “spiritual needs” (i.e., mental and emotional wellbeing, creativity, ethical development and so on). Any attempt to force soci- ety or individuals into a pre-determined structure which restricts their liberty will produce dis-order as natural balances and development is hindered and distorted in anti-social and destructive directions. Thus an anarchist society must be afree society of free individuals, associating within libertarian structures, rather than a series of competing hierarchies (be they political or economical). Only in freedom 6 can society and individuals develop and create a just and fair world. In Proudhon’s words, “liberty is the mother of order, not its daughter.” As the individual does not exist in a social vacuum, appropriate social condi- tions are required for individual freedom to develop and blossom according to its full potential. The theory of anarchism is built around the central assertion that individuals and their organisations cannot be considered in isolation from each other. That is, social structures shape us, “that there is an interrelationship between the authority structures of institutions and the psychological qualities and attitudes of individuals” and that “the major function of participation is an educative one.” [Ca- role Pateman, Participation and Democratic Theory, p. 27] Anarchism presents this position in its most coherent and libertarian form. In other words, freedom is only sustained and protected by activity under conditions of freedom, namely self- government.