An Overview of Individualist Anarchist
Thought
Joe Peacott
Economic Notes No. 97
ISSN 0267-7164
ISBN 1 85637 564 1
An occasional publication of the Libertarian Alliance,
Suite 35, 2 Lansdowne Row, Mayfair, London W1J 6HL.
© 2003: Libertarian Alliance; Joe Peacott.
Joe Peacott is an individualist anarchist and professional nurse
currently working in Alaska, USA. He is a leading figure in the BAD
Brigade whose website can be found at http://world.std.com/~bbrigade/.
The views expressed in this publication are those of its author,
and
not necessarily those of the Libertarian Alliance, its Committee,
Advisory Council or subscribers.
FOR LIFE, LIBERTY AND PROPERTY
IntroductionAnarchists all hold two principles in
common: the rejection of involuntary social organizations and
structures and the advocacy of individual freedom of thought and
action. But they have always differed among themselves on many
issues, especially on economic questions and ways of arriving at the
new society. Various libertarians advocate any number of alternative
modes of ownership of property, ways of managing enterprises, methods
of achieving social change, and processes for making decisions. This
diversity of thought has led to a number of distinct branches within
the anarchist movement.The predominant tendency among libertarians is
that of the social revolutionaries. They are generally either
anarchist communists, who believe everything should be owned in
common and that all decisions should be made collectively and
democratically, or anarchists syndicalists who envision a world based
on labor unions and democratically controlled work places, with
planning and decision-making taking place in various committees and
councils. These social anarchists reject individual private property
and believe that individuals' needs and desires are best realized
through groups, collectives, and communities.At the opposite end of
the anarchist spectrum are the anarchist capitalists, who envision a
form of capitalism without the state, which would bear little
resemblance to the economic system which goes by the same name today.
They argue that the inequities associated with capitalism are not the
result of profit, interest, rent and other unearned wealth, but are
caused by the government's favoring of some corporations at the
expense of others by means of corporate welfare and legal
restrictions on competition and access to credit. They believe that
with the abolition of government everyone would have the ability to
form their own capitalist enterprise should they so choose and that
competition and a real free market would enrich virtually everyone
and eliminate poverty.The IndividualistsThere is,
however, another group within the anarchist movement that rejects
both communal and capitalist economic arrangements. These are the
individualists, who originated in the United States in the 1800s.
From the 1820s to the 1860s, Josiah Warren and various associates
engaged in a number of economic and social projects based on the
concepts that cost should be the limit of price, and that profit,
interest, and rent are forms of theft that exist only because of
government promotion and protection. These endeavors ranged from a
'Time Store' in Cincinnati to intentional communities in
various places, including the anarchist village of Modern Times on
Long Island. While all of these enterprises were considered at least
limited successes by their participants, demonstrating the viability
of the anarchist individualist idea, none of them were
long-lived.While the experimental phase of the individualist movement
ended with the demise of Modern Times, a number of individualists
continued to agitate for social change through such publications as
The Word and Liberty, and organizations including
the New England Labor Reform League, and the Boston Anarchists'
Club. This movement faded out when Liberty ceased
publication in 1908 and its editor, Benjamin Tucker, left the United
States. While there were individualist writers, movements, and groups
in France, Italy, Russia, and Germany, the American movement was by
far the largest and most influential.These organizations and
publications were 'rediscovered' in the 1960s and 1970s, with
both capitalist and some non-capitalist anarchists tracing the
origins of their modern movements to the old American libertarian
individualists. The anarchist capitalists, however, reject a key part
of the thought of the individualists, that wealth is created by
individual labor and that rent, interest, and profit are ways to
steal this wealth from its rightful owners. Their support for
capitalist economic forms puts them outside the tradition of these
staunchly anticapitalist anarchists.What Anarchist
Individualists BelieveAnarchist individualists argue that
the initiation of force is always unjust, and that groups of people
are entitled to no more freedom of action than are individuals.
Activities that are unacceptable when engaged in by one person do not
become tolerable when they are engaged in by a group of people, even
if that group constitutes itself as a government. If it is wrong for
my neighbor to steal from me or reduce me to slavery, it is just as
wrong for the state to do so in the form of taxation, the military
draft, or compulsory education. Governments of all sorts are based on
force, robbery, and the mandatory compliance of their subjects with
the laws and regulations of the rulers.Like all other anarchists,
individualists think the way to maximize human freedom and happiness
is to abolish the state and all other involuntary relationships,
organizations, and institutions. They believe that all people should
be free to choose with whom they associate, what kind of work they
do, how they dispose of the products of their labor, where they live,
and what kinds of recreation in which they engage. The only limit on
someone's freedom of action should be the equal freedom of others
to live their lives unmolested. In other words, the area in which
someone may freely swing their arm ends where the nose of another
person begins.Where individualists differ most from other anarchists
is in the area of economics. Unlike communist anarchists,
individualists advocate the private ownership of property and
individual retention of the products of one's labor. This means
the whole product of one's labor. Individualists reject
profit as an unjust theft of the product of the labor of another, and
therefore have as little in common with capitalists as they have with
socialists.Individualists support tenure of land based on use and
occupancy and believe rent is simply another form of profit-taking by
the unproductive. People should have title only to the amount of land
they can use and work themselves, but would be free to pool their
resources in order to engage in larger scale operations for the sake
of efficiency and greater productivity. The parties to such
cooperative arrangements would still be entitled to the full product
of their labor, thus generating no profit. Because the
government's monopoly on the issuance of legal tender and
chartering of banks artificially restricts the supply of money and
increases the cost while decreasing the availability of credit,
individualists advocate an entirely new banking and currency system.
Mutual banks or other credit institutions would be free to issue
their own forms of money and would compete among themselves for
customers, thus driving down the costs of obtaining credit to the
those associated with the bank's operating expenses and the
salaries of the bank workers. Members of such institutions would thus
be able to obtain credit without having to repay loans at the
crippling interest rates now current. Interest, like rent and profit
would no longer exist, as free people with real choices would not be
required to pay tribute to those who now control the money
supply.Social Relations in an Individualist
CommunityIndividualists maintain that people should be free
to associate with whomever they choose and avoid whatever
interactions and institutions they prefer to keep clear of. While
collectively-oriented anarchists envision participatory democracy and
representative committees of various sorts as key parts of their
libertarian societies, individualists tend to foresee few permanent
'public' institutions and bodies. People would come together
on an ad hoc basis to solve specific problems or deal with
certain projects, and then separate again to go about their
independent lives. Individualists see no need for committees,
councils, or other standing bodies to oversee the day-to-day
relationships of people. The spontaneous order generated by the
social and economic interactions of free individuals would produce
all the structure necessary to sustain community life.Contracts
between individuals, whether explicit or simply understood, would
play a key part in interpersonal relations. Unlike governmental
'social contracts', constitutions and laws which purport to
bind people who have not, in fact, consented to be governed,
individuals in a stateless world would have to spell out for each
other their expectations in all social and economic interactions. New
social norms would have to be constantly negotiated and renegotiated
as people and their desires change. While this may seem cumbersome
compared to the relative ease of going along with received social
rules and customs, the vastly increased freedom of action which
individuals would attain would more than compensate for the
inconvenience of having to make up our own minds about
things.Individuals and voluntary groups would produce whatever
products people wish to acquire and exchange would take place in an
unrestricted marketplace, where true free competition would keep
prices down to the level of the actual cost of production. The
regulations and licensing schemes that now restrict the supply and
increase the costs of certain kinds of products and services would be
done away with resulting in increased access to many services and
products, like health care and drugs, that are scarce and expensive
now primarily as a result of government meddling.As with everything
else in a society without government, individuals would have to make
their own provisions for self-defense and the security of themselves
and their property. While people in a freer society with less social
and economic inequality would likely encounter less crime and
violence, interpersonal nastiness would surely still exist. People
would be free to protect themselves with whatever weapons they choose
when the governments and laws that attempt to disarm the populace are
done away with. They would also have the option of forming voluntary
groups for joint self-defense or purchasing defense services from
others willing to provide them for a fee.All of the new freedoms
experienced with the abolition of the state would also entail new
risks for individuals. An unregulated health care market would allow
anyone to offer themselves up as a healer, the elimination of gun
laws would increase the supply of lethal weapons, and potentially
dangerous drugs would be freely available. Without the supposed
safety net of government rules and regulations and state welfare
programs, we would all have only ourselves and our chosen associates
to rely on to keep out of harm's way and deal with the
consequences of our mistakes and misjudgments. People would have to
take it upon themselves to become informed as individuals about
products, services, and other people, and try to make wise decisions
in dealing with their new-found freedoms. Freedom is a risky
business, but its benefits far outweigh the risks.How to Get
There from HereMeans and ends are inextricably connected for
the anarchist individualist. Thus, it is important to choose methods
of pursuing social change that do not conflict with libertarian
values and do not violate the freedoms of others. While
individualists often see themselves as abolitionists, in that they
advocate the immediate abolition of all government and laws and
welcome any diminution in the power of the state, they recognize that
social change in a libertarian direction will come about
gradually.While some individualists are pacifists, rejecting any form
of violence, others support individuals' freedom to defend
themselves against aggression using force if necessary. While
condoning such force in self-defense, however, libertarians oppose
any initiation of violence and advocate the use of non-violent direct
action as the primary method of changing society and abolishing
government.Viewing capitalist economic relations as forms of legal
theft, individualists support workers who occupy their workplaces and
continue to run the operations as worker-owned and run cooperatives,
including farmworkers who take over and cultivate tracts of land
currently held by profit-making corporations. But, in addition to
such direct confrontation with state-supported economic institutions,
anarchists advocate setting up alternative organizations and
cooperatives to take the place of and/or compete with conventional
businesses. Ranging from worker-initiated and run small enterprises
to intentional communities to local currencies, such endeavors can
substitute, at least for their participants, a libertarian
arrangement for some of the most exploitative relationships in the
mainstream economy, as well as provide an example to others of the
possibilities available to self-directed individuals and groups.As
for abolishing political institutions, the individualist anarchist
approach is to encourage people to withdraw their support for the
state whenever and wherever possible, eventually forcing the state
out of business by starving it of money, personnel, and deference.
Tax avoidance/evasion, draft resistance, refusal to vote, public
denunciation of government war-making and international meddling,
withdrawal from government schools, and circumvention of state rules
and regulations all help weaken and lessen respect for government
power. As in the case of the economy, it is also important to set up
alternatives to state-provided 'services' that many have come
to depend on. Homeschooling networks, private charitable hospitals
and clinics, and food pantries and shelters on the model of those run
by groups like the anarchist Catholic Workers can take the place of
government-provided miseducation, illness care, and homeless
'services'. These alternative efforts instead offer a humane,
respectful, and caring substitute model for the hierarchical,
invasive, and judgemental way in which governments herd and warehouse
their young, infirm, and unlucky subjects.Besides supporting and
participating in alternatives to capitalism and the state,
libertarians need to publicize their efforts, explain the
individualist outlook and approaches to others, and continuously
point out the shortcomings and evils of the political, economic and
social institutions to which we are all subject. This requires the
use of all communication methods available, including print and
broadcast media; public demonstrations, lectures, and discussions;
and the internet. Unless other people become aware there are
alternatives to the current set-up, and come to see change in the
direction of liberty as desirable, there is no way an anarchist
society will ever come about.The individualist anarchist methods of
promoting social change discussed above will not bring about a new
world quickly and will require a great effort on the part of
individualists. But they are the only means by which such change can
be accomplished without compromising anarchist principles and
endangering the lives and freedoms of others. And the protection of
life and the promotion of liberty are the whole point of the
anarchist individualist project.This essay first appeared in the
February 2003 issue of The Individual, the journal of the
Society for Individual Freedom (www.individualist.org.uk),
pp16-19.
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