[lbo-talk] Libertarian "smackdwn" on Chomsky's "private tyranny" idea re: corporations

socialismorbarbarism socialismorbarbarism at gmail.com
Tue Jan 27 04:12:51 PST 2009


" Is Wal-Mart as totalitarian an institution as the Bolshevik state of Vladimir Lenin?"

Yes, that is ridiculous. Lenin never came close to devising, let alone instituting, the economic and social control mechanisms of Wal-Mart.

On the subject of Wal-Mart and socialism, as opposed to totalitarianism (a highly inefficient model for power), if Lenin had had Wal-Mart's wondrous IT and inventory control system back in the day, those Hayekian distribution problems in the USSR may never have happened. Of course, this is anachronistic idealism--but wouldn't be for a future socialist society, hint hint.

On Mon, Jan 26, 2009 at 6:29 AM, B. <docile_body at yahoo.com> wrote:


> [The writer is an Australian "PhD candidate." He doesn't need to go to
> Chomsky for the view that corporations are private tyrannies. A lot of
> really-existing capitalists -- financiers like Carl Icahn -- have also said
> as much. I've always been amused by the disconnect between academic
> libertarians and their really-existing private sector capitalist heroes, who
> do not proceed under sterling libertarian principles in the real economy
> that the egghead essay writers extol. - B.]
>
>
> http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig9/oneill1.html
>
>
> On 'Private Tyrannies'
>
> by Ben O'Neill
>
> ...


>
> But what are the "structural conditions" for dictatorial power? And are
> corporations really "about as close to the totalitarian ideal as any
> [institution] that humans have so far constructed," as Chomsky contends? Is
> Starbucks as close to the totalitarian ideal as, say, the National Socialist
> regime of Adolf Hitler? Is Wal-Mart as totalitarian an institution as the
> Bolshevik state of Vladimir Lenin? Even to ask these questions is to see
> their patent absurdity. For, while a dictatorship is certainly structured as
> a hierarchy, this is most clearly not a sufficient condition. Rather, the
> most basic and essential condition for dictatorial power, which stands out
> unmistakably in truly totalitarian regimes, is the ability of the dictator
> to initiate physical force to compel others to do as they are told.
> ___________________________________
> http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/mailman/listinfo/lbo-talk



More information about the lbo-talk mailing list