anarchism

hoov hoov at freenet.tlh.fl.us
Wed Jun 3 11:19:34 PDT 1998



> There is a long tradition of what is called "individualist anarchism"
> stretching back to the 19th century which certainly has much in common with
> the politics of Murray Rothbard. This tradition is particularly rich in the
> United States, classic home of individualist everything.

although the boldest statement of anarchist convictions based upon the idea of the sovereign individual is probably Max Stirner's _The Ego and his Own_ (1845)...for Stirner, egoism was a philosophy placing the individual at the centre of the moral universe..in his view, the individual should simply act as he or she choose, without any consideration for laws, social conventions, religious or moral principles...however,Stirner's 'anarchism' contained few constructive proposals...

the individualist argument was developed by Thoreau (whose 'anarchism' placed individual conscience above demands of political obligation) and Benjam Tucker & Josiah Warren...the latter who believed that a system of market exchange could bring the independent actions of individuals into harmony with one another...

Warren thought that individuals had a sovereign right to the property they themselves produced, but were also forced by economic logic to work with others in order to gain advantages from a division of lapor. ..he suggested this could be achieved by s system of 'labor for labor' exchange and he set up 'Time Stores' through which one person's labor could be exchanged for a promise to return labor in kind... Tucker argued that 'genuine anarchism is consistent Manchesterism' (referring to the free trade/free market principles of Cobden & Bright)...Michael Hoover



More information about the lbo-talk mailing list