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On Sat, 2010-02-13 at 12:00 -0700, marxism-requ...@lists.econ.utah.edu wrote: > We need to define "anti-capitalism," because there is a tradition in > the > anarchist movement of defending individual property rights to the > point > where it smudges into a libertarian hostility to government regulation > and > what amounts to the idolatry of the free market...which isn't a state > planned economy. (Maybe this is more a problem among US and Canadian > anarchists, but I doubt it.) I can assure you that the equation of "Anarchism" and "Libertarianism" with Capitalism, Rayndism and idolatry of the "free" market is confined to the US. Everywhere else, "anarchism" since the 1860s is synonymous with communism and radical anti-capitalism. Even Proudhon in the 1840s can not be considered pro-capitalist, but was rather in favour of collectivizing banks, industrial cooperatives and small agricultural holdings where wage-labour and exploitation would be impossible. Only such people as Tucker and Spooner in the US ever claimed that capitalism (and I think he did not mean large corporations but individuals) was compatible with Anarchism. To a non-US reader, a French reader say, it is actually quite confusing to read about American "Libertarians" exhorting Bush to deregulate the economy and extolling the virtues of entrepreneurs who manage to successfully exploit their workforce. Such a usage of "Libertarian" sounds like a contradiction in terms, because if you are against injustice and authority you can't be on the side of the bosses... Just as the term "Liberal" has a weird meaning in the context of American politics. It means "progressive" and not "pro-free market" as in Europe. ________________________________________________ Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
