On nationalism:  An anti-fascist intervention

20Jun10

And two from anarchism’s capitalist far right: For a no state solution; Israel and Palestine: A Statist War.

Filed under: anti-nationalism, Antifa | 5 Comments

5 Responses to “On nationalism:  An anti-fascist intervention”

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1 DarianWorden on July 2, 2010 said:

Hi, I’m the author of “No State Solution.” One of my friends pointed me to this post. I’m interested in what criteria qualified me for “anarchism’s capitalist far right.”

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2 antigermantranslation on July 5, 2010 said:

Thank you for visiting Darian. I was wrong to use that phrase without really knowing much about where you are coming from, and apologise if you find it offensive. However, C4SS, where the essay was published, is an explicitly market anarchist or anarcho-capitalist site, so that’s where I located the essay.

I see market anarchism as anarchism’s right wing, right-wing in the very basic sense of being interested in liberty and the pursuit of profit, but not so interested in social justice or overcoming non-state forms of exploitation – whereas anarchism’s left wing, its mainstream, also believes in class struggle and the supercession of capitalism.

I do not see anarcho-capitalism as fascist or anything like that, although I think the paleo-libertarian milieu which overlaps a little with the anarcho-capitalist one does skate close to some dodgy territory.

I am, therefore, amending the post to simply read “from anarchism’s capitalist right wing”, to avoid any sense that my use of “far right” implies some kind of fascism.

Incidentally, if you look at my no state solution categoryhttp://antigerman.wordpress.com/category/no-state-solution/ , you will see that this is basically my own orientation too.

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3 antigermantranslation on July 5, 2010 said:

Sorry, url is http://antigerman.wordpress.com/category/no-state-solution/

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4 DarianWorden on July 7, 2010 said:

AGT, thanks for responding.

I wasn’t offended, but was curious where you are coming from. C4SS is an explicitly market anarchist site, but I would say that market anarchist is a category that includes, but is not limited to anarcho-capitalists. I wouldn’t consider myself a capitalist, because I consider workplace hierarchy to be undesirable as it makes worktime authoritarian, and contributes to authoritarianism in other areas. However I do have anarcho-capitalist friends and my general sense is that it’s okay if some people choose to work in employer-employee relationships so long as other options like cooperatives, communes, local gift economies, etc are vibrant. My position is pretty close to the Tuckerite individualists in that I think money and trade are not in themselves exploitative, but state privilege allows capitalists to dominate the economy. I think if you look at some market anarchists like Kevin Carson, who also writes at C4SS, you will find that many do desire a more egalitarian society but do not see monetary exchange as an impediment to getting there.

I do share your mistrust of “paleo-libertarians” though. There is a lot of that at the Mises Institute but there are also worthwhile writers there.

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5 Rad Geek on July 11, 2010 said:

AntiGermanTranslation: However, C4SS, where the essay was published, is an explicitly market anarchist or anarcho-capitalist site

C4SS is definitely a market anarchist site but it’s not an anarcho-capitalist site. I think most of the writers there would consider themselves free-market anti-capitalists. Some (e.g. Kevin Carson) are mutualists; others (e.g. Brad Spangler) are agorists. Mutualists and agorists have their disagreements, but they tend to agree with each other on class and other economic issues than either of them agrees with anarcho-capitalists.

AntiGermanTranslation: right-wing in the very basic sense of being interested in liberty and the pursuit of profit, but not so interested in social justice or overcoming non-state forms of exploitation

Many people who call themselves anarcho-capitalists are right wing in that way. But a lot of pro-market, pro-property individualists (like Darian or Kevin or me or Sheldon Richman Roderick Long) have specifically written about the need for individualists to see individual liberty as one part of many interconnected struggles, and to develop ways to combat non-state forms of exploitation throughgrassroots, antiauthoritarian, non-state means.

AntiGermanTranslation: I think the paleo-libertarian milieu which overlaps a little with the anarcho-capitalist one does skate close to some dodgy territory.

I definitely agree with you about that. The paleo-libertarian approach is really toxic, and I think “anarcho”-capitalists who inhabit it are generally worth less than nothing to Anarchism, unless and until they start to break out of it. (Which, to be fair, a few have.)

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