Chomsky on Anarchism.pdf - Zine Library

THE RElEVANCE OF ANARCHO-SYNDICALISM
they serve the public imerest, and I think that this system of production of
waste and of destruC[ion would essentially be dismantled in a libertarian society.
Now onc shouldn't be roo glib about this. If one can imagine, let's say, a
social revoimion in the United States-that's rather distant, I would ass lImebut
if that (Ook place, ir's hard to imagine that there would be any credible
enemy from the outside that could threaten that social revolution-we wouldn't
be attacked by Mexico or Cuba, let's say. An American revolurion would not
require, I think, defense against aggression. On the other hand, if a libertarian
social revolution were to take place, say, in Western Europe, then I think the
problem of defense would be very critica1.
/ was going to say, it can't surely be inherent in the anarchist idea that there
should be no selfdeftnse, because such anarchist experiments as there have
been have, on the record, actually been destroyed from without.
Ah, but I think that these questions cannot be given a general answer, they
have to be answered specifically, relative to specific historical and objective
conditions.