"Anarchy Reigns in Social Production" re: unions

s-t-t at juno.com s-t-t at juno.com
Fri Aug 16 09:20:08 PDT 2002


Gordon Fitchwrites:


> > > Is there an implication here that coercion is necessary to
> > > accomplish projects over a certain size? If so, can it be
> > > made more explicit?

I was addressing the anarcho-syndicalist repsonse, which has not explained what they mean by coercion in the production of complex technologies. If they did, I missed it. Brian said the workers would determine that, apparently by sentiment rather than by any criteria that has been outlined here.

Two anarchists of separate stripes have said two answers: no, there will be no new planes built (Chuck), and it remains to be seen, only the workers can decide (Brian). A no, and a we'll see..


> I already made the argument that no necessary limit to the
> complexity of self-organized systems has been presented, but
> no one cared about that, so I'm trying to play the game on
> _your_ court.

I would hope your right. What throws me is that there is an anarcho-syndicalist problem (possibly, can't tell until the councils are up and running) with it. The vision of worker's councils, who won't be elected by the larger public, voting away the social infrastructure, a sweeping decision of how society functions, is one of the problems of anarcho-syndicalism. Who mediates the production decisions that impact all of society, and what check is there to prevent the councils of major industries from holding society hostage? This is why Bertrand Russell, even back when he was sympathetic with anarcho-syndicalism, said some form of limited state was necessary.

-- Shane

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