[lbo-talk] Chomsky now at No. 1 on Amazon, No. 2 at Barnes & Nobl

jthorn65 at sbcglobal.net jthorn65 at sbcglobal.net
Sun Sep 24 17:05:49 PDT 2006



> jthorn65 at sbcglobal.net wrote:
>
> > You don't get it Charles. Chavez can't be a genuine representative of the working class
>
> I get it perfectly well. I'm taking an anarchist position. Do you
> understand what an anarchist is?
>
> Hugo Chavez is just another manifestation of the left wing of capitalism.
>
> Chuck

That was directed at Charles Brown but either way I don't see how your response demonstrates that you understand much of what is happening in Venezuela.

I do know what an anarchist is however being an anarchist does not make one automatically opposed to capitalism. Many anarchists support private property and market competition as well as capitalist ownership of the means of production. It is the opposition to the state that anarchists agree on but an anarcho-capitalist and an anarcho-syndicalist do not agree on the economic arrangement that works best. In my opinion with the possible exception of anarcho-syndicalism all the rest of the anarchist schools of thought are adolescent fantasies. Generally I see you writing like a individualist rather than a collectivist so I assume you are not a proponent of anarcho-syndicalism but rather prefer mutualism.

Chavez is a democratic socialist. He is not a manifestation of "the left wing of capitalism" unless capitalism's definition has now broadened to include state ownership of natural resources and large industries, appropriating private property and working to install collectivist run farms as well as workers participatory decision making as an economic mechanism in the allocation of resources and consumption instead of relying on market forces. I don't believe it has but maybe the definition changed and no one thought to tell me.

I'm excited about his experiments in workers participation in the allocation of resources will work in the aluminium mills and paper mills where it is being tried out. I just hope the US doesn't step in and fuck it up. If it begins to appear successful no doubt they will try.

John Thornton



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