[Clips] The Trouble With Socialist Anarchism
R. A. Hettinga
rah at shipwright.com
Thu Mar 30 07:04:14 PST 2006
--- begin forwarded text
Delivered-To: clips at philodox.com
Date: Thu, 30 Mar 2006 10:01:58 -0500
To: "Philodox Clips List" <clips at philodox.com>
From: "R. A. Hettinga" <rah at shipwright.com>
Subject: [Clips] The Trouble With Socialist Anarchism
Reply-To: rah at philodox.com
Sender: clips-bounces at philodox.com
--- begin forwarded text
From: "Mises Daily Article" <article at mises.org>
To: <article at mises.biglist.com>
Subject: The Trouble With Socialist Anarchism
Date: Thu, 30 Mar 2006 09:35:02 -0500
Organization: Mises Institute
Mailing-List: contact article-help at mises.biglist.com
The Trouble With Socialist Anarchism
by Per Bylund
<http://www.mises.org/story/2096>[Posted on Thursday, March 30, 2006]
Subscribe at <http://www.mises.org/content/elist.asp>email services and
<http://www.mises.org/invitation.aspx>tell others.
The new movie "V for Vendetta" has provoked public discussion of the
meaning of anarchism. Murray Rothbard was an advocate of the stateless
society, but he was never accepted by the anarchist movement and is still
considered more a "capitalist lackey" than anarchist thinker. Indeed,
anarcho-capitalism has always been considered an oxymoron by the
self-proclaimed "true" anarchists.
Part of the reason is a general inability to understand different uses and
definitions of words in the classical socialist and liberal traditions.
Socialists refer to "capitalism" as the system in which the state hands out
and protects capitalists' privileges and therefore oppression of labor
workers. They don't see that capitalism, in the classical liberal
tradition, means rather a free market based on free people, i.e., voluntary
exchanges of value between free individuals.
A deeper and more interesting reason is anarchism's socialist roots. As
shown in, e.g., the <http://www.infoshop.org/faq/>Anarchist FAQ, most if
not all historical anarchist thinkers were proud to announce their ideas
belonged to the progressive socialist tradition. The "founding father" of
anarchism, Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, was socialist; American 19th century
individualist anarchists often claimed to be socialists; and the Russian
communist anarchists Mikhail Bakunin and Peter Kropotkin were obviously
socialists.
There were however a few anarchists who were not explicit socialists, but
they were few and relatively unknown if at all accepted as anarchists. The
German egoist <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Stirner>Max Stirner somehow
managed to become generally accepted as an anarchist even though he never
claimed to be a socialist. (He never claimed to be an anarchist, either).
It would be futile to claim the anarchist tradition is not originally and
mostly socialist and that is not the point of this essay. I do not refute
socialism's importance to anarchism in theory nor in practice, but I will
show how the definition of "socialism" is too rigid and statist, as opposed
to what anarchists generally claim, and it seems to be based on an
unfortunate misunderstanding of man and the market. The main problem is the
socialist anarchists' refusal to think anew when new facts have been
revealed.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Kropotkin>Peter Kropotkin, the famous
late 19th- and early 20th-century Russian communist anarchist, stated that
there are essentially two kinds of socialism: statist socialism and
anarchism. The difference between the two is that statist socialism wishes
to take control of the state and use it to enforce socialism, whereas
[socialist] anarchism wishes to abolish the state and thereby the
oppressive capitalist economic system. Kropotkin's distinction solves quite
a few inherent contradictions and problems in statist socialism, such as
enforcing equality through letting a few rule the many via the state.
But some of the problems persist in the anarchist version of socialism. The
problems arise due to the fact that socialists generally tend to have a
static view of society, which makes them totally ignorant of how things
change over time. Socialists would probably not admit this is the case,
since they do know that things have been changing through the course of
history (Karl Marx said so) and that things never seem to stay the same.
But still they argue as if "ceteris paribus" is the divine principle of
reality, and it is not.
Socialism does not allow for a time component (or, it is deemed unimportant
and therefore omitted) in the analysis of the world or the economy. Things
are generally thought to be as they are even though they were not the same
in history and that they need to be changed in the future. In a socialist
world people are equal and should stay equal; the individual choices of
actors in the free marketplace (yes, socialist anarchists do talk about the
market) do not change this fact. In this socialist view of the world there
is simply no understanding whatsoever for that characteristic of the market
that Ludwig von Mises called
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_preference>time preference.
This important piece of information about how the market works (that is,
how people function) means a person usually prefers having a value now to
having the same value some time in the future. This has nothing to do with
earning interest on investments, but is rather a natural part of what it
means to be a rational being (one would do better with a certain amount of
food now than with that same amount food a week from now). Without
knowledge about this (or even without time preference per se), calculating
what "will be" on the market would be a whole lot easier (but totally
wrong).
But time preference is not a part of the socialist perception of the world
or economics. Understanding this fact makes it a lot easier to understand
the socialist demand for teleological equality, i.e., equality as a measure
of justice applicable both before and [especially] after interactions and
exchanges have taken place in the market place. If the world and economy
would be perpetually static and thus no values are ever created, then
economic equality is theoretically possible. (It is perhaps even fair.)
But this is not the case, and thus the socialist analysis is wrong. This
weakness, which we can call time ignorance, persists in the anarchist
version of socialism.
Socialist Time Ignorance
Kropotkin defines this kind of socialism as "an effort to abolish the
exploitation of Labour by
Capital,"<http://www.mises.org/story/2096#_ftn1>[1] and
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Tucker>Benjamin Tucker says "the
bottom claim of Socialism [is] that labour should be put in possession of
its own."<http://www.mises.org/story/2096#_ftn2>[2] Well, that doesn't
sound that bad. Another way of saying the same thing would be that every
individual has a natural right to that which he produces, and that it is a
violation of his natural rights to forcefully remove this product of his
labor from his hands.
Whether you call it natural rights or not, this is the essence and common
theoretical basis for how value is generated in both classical liberalism
and Marxism. Whenever an individual invests his time, skill, and effort
into trying to achieve a value, he creates value and is as its creator the
rightful owner of that value. It is hard to argue the individual is not the
rightful owner of his labor; John Locke even went so far as to call labor
the "unquestionable property of the labourer." If the individual doing the
work does not own his labor, then who does?
The difference between classical socialism and liberalism is not in the
definition of ownership or how it arises, but in its meaning. Pierre-Joseph
Proudhon, even though he is famous for stating "property is theft" (meaning
property privileges causing exploitative conditions), also stated that
"property is freedom" in the sense that man is only free when he is the
sole owner of that which is in his possession and that which he creates.
What he was referring to is wage labor being exploitation of the labor
worker by the privileged capitalist.
To understand this view, we need to remember time preference is not
applicable (or not allowed). From the socialist perspective, any difference
in value between input and output is either fraud or theft (to use
libertarian terminology). If you invest labor (input) to achieve a value of
$100 and receive pay (output) of $95 dollars you are being oppressed.
This is part of why capitalism, using the socialist definition, is
oppressive. Whoever "offers" a job (i.e., the capitalist) makes a profit
simply because the value of the workers' invested labor is greater than
what they receive in pay. (The reason they can do this, socialists claim,
is because of state-enforced property privileges indirectly forcing labor
workers into wage slavery.)
Another way of saying this is that surplus value is released for the
managers and owners of industry through paying labor workers only part of
their labor input. In this static view of how the world works under the
capitalist economic system, employment sure is usury and "wage slavery." I
can't argue with that, and I will not argue with the identification of many
historical and contemporary employment schemes being de facto usury due to
privileges handed out to capitalists by the political class.
The analysis, however, is fundamentally wrong, and it is so simply because
socialists don't understand time preference. It is of value (but not
necessarily monetary value) to many a worker frequently to receive a fixed
amount of pay for invested labor instead of taking the risks of producing,
marketing, and selling a product in the market place (even if the
enterprise is not carried out individually but in cooperation with other
workers).
It is also true in reverse: the "capitalist" values money now more than
money later; thus, profits at a later time need to be greater than labor
costs now to "break even." The point here is that if a worker would
voluntarily choose between multiple different alternatives there is reason
to believe employment is sometimes (or, in perhaps often) an attractive
choice.
The reason this is so, is because of division of labor, risks in the market
place, and so on. But it is primarily because of time preference, meaning a
worker might value a fixed wage now and at predetermined intervals more
than investing his labor now and gain the full value later. The laborer
could therefore be in equilibrium when investing labor generating $100
worth of products a month from now even if he is paid only $95 now.
To some people less money now than more money later is indeed usury, but
that is only a fact that strengthens the theory of time preference as put
forth by Austrian economists. People have different perceptions of value
and do value different things at different times, and therefore one
individual may very well find employment is to his benefit while other
individuals cannot for the world accept such terms. And the same
individuals might think very differently at a different point in time.
Values are Subjective
This necessarily brings us to another important point that is closely
related to the nature of time preference, and that is the identification of
values as subjective. Monetary values are objective in the sense that $1 is
always $1 (or, in other words, 1=1 or "A is A"), but receiving the amount
of $1 could mean a lot to one individual and at the same time mean close to
nothing to another. Of course, socialist anarchists and even statist
socialists understand the relativity of values, e.g., that $1 to a poor
person means a lot more than it ever would to a wealthy person (even though
it is still only $1). That's why socialists often claim rich people have
nothing to fear from taxes (even large sums don't mean much to them)
whereas poor people can gain "a lot."
But relative value in this sense means only that the individual assessment
of the value of $1 is relative to how many dollars he or she already has
(or can easily get). This is different from the identification of values as
subjective.
A subjective value does not necessarily mean a certain amount of money is
compared to another amount. Values are subjective in the sense that
something of value means you consider yourself being better off with it
than without it. This has nothing to do with amounts of monetary units or
comparing apples with apples; subjective value is the individual assessment
of something as compared with the same individual's assessment of the
alternatives. Values are subjective in the sense that the individual alone
makes the assessment and makes it according to his or her individual
preferential hierarchy. Thus, subjective value does not depend on what is
being valued, but rather on how it is perceived!
Therefore, a laborer's analysis of whether employment is beneficial does
not only involve the monetary value of invested labor and received payment,
but also everything else he values. Employment could be of great value to a
risk aversive individual, since the risk of losing money is very low,
whereas the same deal for someone else, who perhaps gets a kick out of
taking risk, is nothing but outright slavery. People are different.
This brings us to a third and last important point that follows directly
from the fact that values are subjective: there are only individuals. Even
though cultural and social identities tend to make people think in the same
direction, they are still not the same and they do think differently.
Socialists in general obviously fail to realize this.
As has been shown in the example of employment versus no employment,
individuals value things differently. Some individuals would accept wage
labor and be fully satisfied with it (and even find it the best available
alternative), while others cannot find employment to their benefit at all.
Individuals are uniquely different, and that means they do have different
preferences.
This is one of the main reasons state policies are always oppressive and
never can work satisfactorily: they provide one system or solution for one
kind of people, and that has to cause problems when applied on a population
such as the 300 million unique individuals living in the United States.
Anarchism: A World of Sovereigns
The fact that "there are only individuals" is also a great argument for
anarchism. There cannot be a single system forced on any two individuals
without it fitting one individual better than the other, and thus such a
system would create legal inequalities (and therefore be oppressive). Also,
since there are only individuals there is no reason to believe some
individuals should have the power to rule other individuals. If there are
only individuals, all of them should be sovereign self-owners and enjoy an
equal full right to their selves.
But this fact means also that people are different and that some people
will value certain things while other people value completely different
things. Some people will have high time preference for certain values,
while others will have low time preference. Some people will be able to use
their time and skill to create a lot of value to others (assessed
subjectively), while others create value only recognized by a few. And
individual choices will always be individual choices, the decisions made
depending on the individual's subjective assessment of values he chooses to
identify.
Socialism, as commonly defined by the socialists (of both anarchist and
statist varieties), fails to realize this fact and therefore categorically
dismisses market solutions, functions, and institutions that arise
voluntarily and spontaneously. It might be true that socialists themselves
would never accept wage labor, but many others would perhaps happily accept
employment as being beneficial to them individually or collectively.
The same is true with the famous Marxian credo, usually advocated also by
socialist anarchists, that the laborer is free only when he has taken
ownership of the means of production. But how can we say a certain kind of
profession or "class" shares the exact same values? That necessarily
presupposes an extreme class consciousness, where individuals no longer
exist. If "class consciousness" is instead interpreted rather as a sense of
class belonging and unity in certain values, time preference and
subjectivity of values would still apply!
A free-market anarchist can embrace many of the socialist-anarchist goals,
such as equality in the right to self, one's labor, and any fruits thereof.
We can support the socialist anarchist goal to abolish the state as an
inherently evil institution forcing individuals to relinquish that which is
theirs by natural right. But we also see the shortcomings of socialism as
currently defined; time preference is a fundamental piece of information on
how people, and therefore the market and society, function.
<http://www.mises.org/store/Socialism-P55C0.aspx>
<http://www.mises.org/store/Socialism-P55C0.aspx>Mises crushed them: $25
Because of time preference it is not possible to dismiss totally the notion
that inequalities might arise in the free
marketplace.<http://www.mises.org/story/2096#_ftn3>[3] Individuals will act
in accordance with their perception of what is most beneficial to them and
the people, gods, or artifacts important to them. Some value monetary
wealth while others value health, leisure, family, a nice house, or fast
cars. People will choose differently depending on their situation and their
preferences, and even if they start off in a state of egalitarianism some
choices will be better (with respect to something, e.g., amount of monetary
assets) and some poorer.
It is not unlikely some people will choose to accumulate wealth (to
whatever degree possible without the existence of state privileges) while
others will eagerly spend what they earn on entertainment or engage in
conspicuous consumption. The choice should be the individual's and there is
no way we can say it is "right" or "wrong" it is for the individual to
decide.
Thus, if we truly believe in the individual as a self-owner and sovereign
we shouldn't claim to know what he or she will (or should) choose, and we
cannot say what he or she will not choose. In a society of only free
individuals, all of them will be equal in their right to self and thus we
cannot tell people they cannot trade their labor in the future for value
now. They will do what they perceive to be in their interest, and I will do
what I perceive to be in mine, and what is in our interests personally or
mutually is for us to decide individually.
This is the reason one cannot say employment and capital accumulation
vanishes when the state is abolished. Indeed, the opposite is true. This is
also the reason Murray Rothbard truly was an anarchist, even though he did
not accept the illusion of a world without time preference.
Per Bylund works as a business consultant in Sweden, in preparation for PhD
studies. He is the founder of <http://www.anarchism.net/>Anarchism.net.
Send him <mailto:Per at anarchism.net>mail. Visit his
<http://www.perbylund.com/>website. Comment on the
<http://blog.mises.org/archives/004849.asp>blog.
<http://www.mises.org/story/2096#_ftnref1>[1] Evolution and Environment,
p. 81
<http://www.mises.org/story/2096#_ftnref2>[2] The Anarchist Reader, p. 144
<http://www.mises.org/story/2096#_ftnref3>[3] In a free market, it is
however less likely than in a state system, since no one can gain
coercively enforced privileges at the expense of others.
<http://www.mises.org/story/2096>[Print Friendly Page]
<http://www.mises.org/content/webcasts.aspx>
<http://www.mises.org/content/webcasts.aspx>
<http://www.mises.org/store/>
<http://www.mises.org/elist.asp>Mises Email List Services
<https://www.mises.org/donate.asp>Join the Mises Institute
<http://www.mises.org/store>Mises.org Store
<http://www.mises.org/>Home | <http://www.mises.org/about.asp>About |
<http://www.mises.org/elist.asp>Email List |
<http://www.google.com/u/Mises>Search |
<http://www.mises.org/contact.asp>Contact Us |
<http://www.mises.org/journals.asp>Periodicals |
<http://www.mises.org/articles.asp>Articles |
<http://www.mises.org/fun.asp>Games & Fun
<http://www.mises.org/fun.asp>FAQ |
<http://www.mises.org/StudyGuideDisplay.asp?SubjID=117>EBooks |
<http://www.mises.org/scholar.asp>Resources |
<http://www.mises.org/catalog.asp>Catalog |
<https://www.mises.org/donate.asp>Contributions |
<http://www.mises.org/calendar.asp>Freedom Calendar
You are subscribed as: rah at ibuc.com
Manage
<http://mises.biglist.com/list/article/?p=prefs&pre=l&e=13958347&pw=1tyvx5togc>your
account. Unsubscribe
<http://mises.biglist.com/list/article/?m=627&p=unsub&pre=l&e=13958347&pw=1tyvx5togc&msgnum=627>here
or send email to <mailto:article-unsub-13958347 at mises.biglist.com>this
address.
Report abuse or Spam on the
<http://mises.biglist.com/abuse/article/13958347/627>abuse page.
--- end forwarded text
--
-----------------
R. A. Hettinga <mailto: rah at ibuc.com>
The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/>
44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA
"... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity,
[predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to
experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'
_______________________________________________
Clips mailing list
Clips at philodox.com
http://www.philodox.com/mailman/listinfo/clips
--- end forwarded text
--
-----------------
R. A. Hettinga <mailto: rah at ibuc.com>
The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/>
44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA
"... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity,
[predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to
experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'
More information about the cypherpunks-legacy
mailing list