Anarchism and capitalism : Surplus Value
There is different views on capitalism depending on which anarchist will speak about it. The most common idea would be that an anarchist would be against capitalism and therefore tending more toward communism. But after reading some articles, I see that you might be able to conciliate both.
Therefore we can see that some anarchist advocate free market and laissez-faire. What are those ? Let’s see wikipedia :
A free market is a market in which property rights are voluntarily exchanged at a price arranged completely by the mutual consent of sellers and buyers.
Laissez-faire : From the French dictum first used by the eighteenth century physiocrats as an injunction against government interference with trade, it became used as an economic ideology which advocates minimal state intervention on the economy.
In that case, it would basically be “as long as people want to exchange, let them be”. No government intervention, no tariff, no taxes. This would lead to free global exchange and extreme capitalism, I guess.
The problem with that is that it create a new form of exploitation (the boss versus the employees) and we go back to Marx’s theory of surplus value, or something like that. The main problem is centered around profit : if there is profit, it means that the wages are not high enough. If a company is able to gain more than it needs, why not giving this to the employees ? If all the profits is not splitted, then we get into some kind of exploitation of the workers, meaning that they don’t get paid fully for what they accumplished. It also means that the owner of the company keeps the product of the employees’ work for himself.
To me this can be kind of right, but in the end in a free market everyone is free to choose to work for a specific company or even free to create one ! So is there really exploitation when someone is willing to work ?
And to me, I always have this problem with “everyone is 100% equal”. It is just not possible. We can (we should) get the same rights, the same duties, but in the end two person will be different, even if only by their choices. Someone may want to get a nice quiet job and the other may want to create a huge company to take over the world.
So why not letting people do what they want? If I want to create a company and if people are willing to join me by working for me or partnering up, why not let all that be? I want to have total liberty over what I do of my time and what I own.
And of course, if I want to create a company, I will have to put a lot of time and work into that process. I will have to find investors, find partners… why can’t I be rewarded for that ? And if I’m not, why should I do it ? What I’m trying to say is that if people don’t see a point into creating a business, creating wealth, creating jobs, why would they do it ? Let’s be realistics here, humans are not that nice, a large majority will not kill themselves at work just to end up with the same thing as the next guy who stayed home watching TV. Some will. Most won’t.
So what to do with capitalism in all that ? Should one be able to live without doing nothing because people are working for him ? I’ll quote Bakunin :
“What is property, what is capital in their present form? For the capitalist and the property owner they mean the power and the right, guaranteed by the State, to live without working…[and so] the power and right to live by exploiting the work of someone else…those…[who are] forced to sell their productive power to the lucky owners of both.” The Political Philosophy of Bakunin
Hum. Good point… but it looks like something is missing. He’s not talking about self-made men and so on. So is that way of thinking really valid ?
Tags: Anarchism, Capitalism, Karl Marx, Surplus Value
November 2nd, 2008 at 12:36 am
There is a serious debate between Anarchists about Capitalism and Anarchism, and how it would work, or not work, as it were. Now, I’m a staunch opponent of Anarcho-Capitalism in the Austrian economic school of thought of Mises and Rothbard. Which is 100% privatization. i actually had a bit of a blog war about it just recently. :D
All emotive arguments aside, there is a basic flaw in Anarcho Capitalism that I see. First and foremost, you will have private entities taking over State functions. This makes the State no less of a State, it simply makes it an economic State. Anarcho-Capitalists stress the absence of State with regards to business, but not with regards to individual rights and liberties.
When individual liberties are sacrificed for the betterment of the State, and the State is a monopolistic combination of State power and economic system, what you have is Fascism.
Here’s the deal, Capitalism requires capital, legal contracts, and private property. Thus laws are necessary. As well as currency, and the regulation of currency. (Without regulation of currency as we know it, the dollar will have no value, and thus, be worthless rendering the economic system that relies on it null and void.)
Can you begin to see the basic problems that exist with Anarcho Capitalism? I don’t mean to rant on you blog, so I won’t! But don’t be a stranger, I’ve written a bunch about Anarcho-capitalism, free trade, fair trade, and our current economy. So come on over.
Oh, and welcome to Anarchism ;)
November 4th, 2008 at 6:55 am
Thanks for the comment Anok !
I already though about all that, but the thing is that I can’t see how everything could work without capitalism. It feels like it’s the best way to meet customers needs and create wealth. We could of course go back a few years in the past, but that wouldn’t be good.
Then the problem is that these big companys will become like a new government… I guess it wouldn’t be as bad since it would have been chose by the market and the market could dismiss it, but I’m still not sure about that.
And if you don’t go with capitalism, what would be the best in your opinion? Because from what I read so far (and just using comon sense), anarcho capitalism sounds like the most possible theory. I mean, it would be good to go without big corporations, but it doesn’t sounds like something that could happen. Or work.
But then again, I’m still reading and learning. I’ll take a look at your blog later on and let you know what I think !
November 6th, 2008 at 3:47 am
I find that for purposes of practicality - being that w e live in a world that is not at the moment conducive to Anarchism of any real sort - the mixed economies that we are moving towards are best for the moment.
I myself, prefer fair trade barter and gift economies - keeping in mind that in my ideal Anarchist world the social structure would be very different than it is now.
The other aspect of Anarcho-capitalism that I take issue with is inequality. Class, or caste systems are inherent to capitalism, which is why most Anarchists oppose it. Now, when I talk about economic equality, I mean that each person’s contribution to society is deemed valuable, and equal in worth. Think about it - the factory worker’s job is as important as the waste management guy’s job, which is as important as a mother’s job to raise her child, which is as important as the seamstress, and teh farmer etc and so forth.
Without each part of society working together, society has a very hard time functioning. But in capitalist societies, those whose jobs are unsavory, pay less, or are simply deemed “fringe” or unworthy become the determining factor of that person’s social status in life.
I’m a little tired tonight, but i’ll write more tomorrow. Keep on reading and exploring!!
November 10th, 2008 at 8:56 am
Thanks for the informations, I’ll look into that and come by to your blog to let you know what I think !
November 13th, 2008 at 9:49 am
[...] He was reacting to a post I made about anarcho-capitalism. [...]
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