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Mutualist Blog: Free Market Anti-Capitalism

To dissolve, submerge, and cause to disappear the political or governmental system in the economic system by reducing, simplifying, decentralizing and suppressing, one after another, all the wheels of this great machine, which is called the Government or the State. --Proudhon, General Idea of the Revolution

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Friday, September 24, 2010

At C4SS: Cultural Authoritarianism Breeds Political Authoritarianism

2 Comments:

Blogger Julia Riber Pitt said...

I think the worst cultural authoritarianism is seen in the capitalist workplace (and private property ownership), also because most of these other forms of totalitarianism grew out of that. I know many workers who are trying to control their own workplaces through unionization who end up being threatened by their bosses.

Having lived in a very wealthy part of New England, I can honestly say that I've seen people's worship of their property turn into a very authoritarian attitude, because if you base your entire existence on what you own (as opposed to what you do) you become paranoid at the thought of losing it.

September 28, 2010 3:44 PM  
Blogger Kevin Carson said...

As someone who's been accused of being a petty bourgeois deviationist himself, I confess a strong sympathy to people's attachment to small properties as a base of economic independence, simply because freedom and security are such precious things in a world dominated by corporate power.

Of course that petty bourgeois attitude has its ugly, mean-spirited side, as well. But I think the ugly side is in large part a side effect of economic brutalization and just how hard people have had to work and claw to achieve their small properties as bases of independence. In a world without artificial scarcity rents, where it was easier to acquire such bases of independence and secure a comfortable livelihood without being a Type-A workaholic, I think people would have a lot softer edges.

September 28, 2010 6:49 PM  

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