1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
|
<html>
<head>
<title>Section D - How do statism and capitalism affect society?</title>
</head>
<body>
<h1>Section D - How do statism and capitalism affect society?</h1>
<p>
This section of the FAQ indicates how both statism and capitalism affect
the society they exist in. It is a continuation of sections B
(<a href="secBcon.html">Why do anarchists oppose the current system?</a>)
and C (<a href="secCcon.html">What are the myths of capitalist economics?</a>)
and it discusses the impact of the underlying
social and power relationships within the current system on society.
</p><p>
This section is important because the institutions and social relationships
capitalism and statism spawn do not exist in a social vacuum, they have deep
impacts on our everyday lives. These effects go beyond us as individuals
(for example, the negative effects of hierarchy on our individuality) and have
an effect on how the political institutions in our society work, how technology
develops, how the media operates and so on. As such, it is worthwhile to point
out how (and why) statism and capitalism affect society as a whole outwith the
narrow bounds of politics and economics.
</p><p>
So here we sketch some of the impact concentrations of political and economic
power have upon society. While many people attack the *results* of these
processes (like specific forms of state intervention, ecological destruction,
imperialism, etc.) they usually ignore their *causes.* This means that the
struggle against social evils will be never-ending, like a doctor fighting
the symptoms of a disease without treating the disease itself or the conditions
which create it in the first place. We have indicated the roots of the problems
we face in earlier sections; now we discuss how these impact on other aspects
of our society. This section of the FAQ explores the interactions of the causes
and results and draws out how the authoritarian and exploitative nature of
capitalism and the state affects the world we live in.
</p><p>
It is important to remember that most supporters of capitalism refuse to do
this. Yes, some of them point out <b>some</b> flaws and problems within society
but they never relate them to the system as such. As Noam Chomsky points
out, they <i>"ignor[e] the catastrophes of capitalism or, on the rare occasions
when some problem is noticed, attribut[e] them to any cause <b>other</b> than the
system that consistently brings them about."</i> [<b>Deterring Democracy</b>, p. 232]
Thus we have people, say, attacking imperialist adventures while, at the
same time, supporting the capitalist system which drives it. Or opposing
state intervention in the name of "freedom" while supporting an economic
system which by its working forces the state to intervene simply to keep
it going and society together. The contradictions multiple, simply because
the symptoms are addressed, never the roots of the problems.
</p><p>
That the system and its effects are interwoven can best be seen from the
fact that while right-wing parties have been elected to office promising
to reduce the role of the state in society, the actual size and activity
of the state has not been reduced, indeed it has usually increased in
scope (both in size and in terms of power and centralisation). This is
unsurprising, as "free market" implies strong (and centralised) state --
the "freedom" of management to manage means that the freedom of workers
to resist authoritarian management structures must be weakened by state
action. Thus, ironically, state intervention within society will continue
to be needed in order to ensure that society survives the rigours of market
forces and that elite power and privilege are protected from the masses.
</p><p>
The thing to remember is that the political and economic spheres are not
independent. They interact in many ways, with economic forces prompting
political reactions and changes, and vice versa. Overall, as Kropotkin
stressed, there are <i>"intimate links . . . between the political regime
and the economic regime."</i> [<b>Words of a Rebel</b>, p. 118] These means that
it is impossible to talk of, say, capitalism as if it could exist without
shaping and being shaped by the state and society. Equally, to think that
the state could intervene as it pleased in the economy fails to take into
account the influence economic institutions and forces have on it. This
has always been the case, as the state <i>"is a hybridisation of political
and social institutions, of coercive with distributive functions, of
highly punitive with regulatory procedures, and finally of class with
administrative needs -- this melding process has produced very real
ideological and practical paradoxes that persist as major issues today."</i>
[Bookchin, <b>The Ecology of Freedom</b>, p. 196] These paradoxes can only
be solved, anarchists argue, by abolishing the state and the social
hierarchies it either creates (the state bureaucracy) or defends (the
economically dominant class). Until then, reforms of the system will
be incomplete, be subject to reversals and have unintended consequences.
</p><p>
These links and interaction between statism and capitalism are to be
expected due to their similar nature. As anarchists have long argued,
at root they are based on the same hierarchical principle. Proudhon,
for example, regarded <i>"the capitalist principle"</i> and <i>"the governmental
principle"</i> as <i>"one and the same principle . . . abolition of the
exploitation of man by man and the abolition of the government of man
by man, are one and the same formula."</i> [quoted by Wayne Thorpe, <b>"The
Workers Themselves"</b>, p. 279] This means that anarchists reject the
notion that political reforms are enough in themselves and instead
stress that they must be linked to (or, at least, take into account)
economic change. This means, for example, while we oppose specific
imperialist wars and occupation, we recognise that they will reoccur
until such time as the economic forces which generate them are
abolished. Similarly, we do not automatically think all attempts to
reduce state intervention should be supported simply because they
appear to reduce the state. Instead, we consider who is introducing
the reforms, why they are doing so and what the results will be. If
the "reforms" are simply a case of politicians redirecting state
intervention away from the welfare state to bolster capitalist power
and profits, we would not support the change. Anarchist opposition
to neo-liberalism flows from our awareness of the existence of
economic and social power and inequality and its impact on society
and the political structure.
</p><p>
In some ways, this section discusses class struggle <b>from above</b>, i.e.
the attacks on the working class conducted by the ruling class by means
of its state. While it appears that every generation has someone
insisting that the "class war" is dead and/or obsolete (Tony Blair
did just that in the late 1990s), what they mean is that class struggle
<b>from below</b> is dead (or, at least, they wish it so). What is ignored
is that the class struggle from above continues even if class struggle
from the below appears to have disappeared (until it reappears in yet
another form). This should be unsurprising as any ruling class will be
seeking to extend its profits, powers and privileges, a task aided
immensely by the reduced pressure from below associated with periods
of apparent social calm (Blair's activities in office being a striking
confirmation of this). Ultimately, while you may seek to ignore
capitalism and the state, neither will ignore you. That this produces
resistance should be obvious, as is the fact that demise of struggle
from below have always been proven wrong.
</p><p>
By necessity, this section will not (indeed, cannot) cover all aspects
of how statism and capitalism interact to shape both the society we
live in and ourselves as individuals. We will simply sketch the forces
at work in certain important aspects of the current system and how
anarchists view them. Thus our discussion of imperialism, for example,
will not get into the details of specific wars and interventions but
rather give a broad picture of why they happen and why they have
changed over the years. However, we hope to present enough detail
for further investigation as well as an understanding of how anarchists
analyse the current system based on our anti-authoritarian principles
and how the political and economic aspects of capitalism interact.
</p>
</body>
</html>
|
