Chomsky on Anarchism.pdf - Zine Library

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CHOMSKY ON ANARCHISM new computer technology"-"not only the best talents, but eventually the entire complex of social prestige and social stams, will be rooted in the intellectual and scientific communities."7 A careful look at the "skeletal structure" of this new society, if such it is, is hardly reassuring. k Daniel Bell points out, "it has been war rather than peace that has been largely responsible for the acceptance of planning and technocratic modes in government," and our present "mobilized society" is one that is geared to the "social goal" of "military and war preparedness." Bell's relative optimism regarding the new society comes from his assumption that the universiry is "the place where theoretical knowledge is sought, tested, and codified in a disinterested way" and that "the mobilized postures of the Cold War and the space race" are a temporary aberration, a reaction to Communist aggressiveness. In contrast, a strong argument can be made that the universiry has, to a significant degree, betrayed its public trust; that matters of fo reign policy are very much "a reflex of internal political fo rces" as well as of economic institutions (rather than "a judgment about the national interest, involving strategy decisions based on the calculations of an opponent's strength and intentions"); that the mobilization for war is not "irony" but a natural development, given our present social and economic organization; that the technologists who achieve power are those who can perform a service for existing institutions; and {hat nothing but catastrophe is to be expected from still funher centralization of decision making in government and a narrowing base of corporate affiliates. The experience of the past few years gives little reason to feel optimistic about these developments. 13 Quite generally, what grounds are there for supposing that those whose claim to power is based on knowledge and technique will be more benign in their exercise of power than those whose claim is based on wealth or aristocratic origin? On the contrary, one might expect the new mandarin to be dangerously arrogant, aggressive, and incapable of adjusting to failure, as compared with his predecessor, whose claim to power was not diminished by honesry as to the limitations of his knowledge, lack of work to do, or demonstrable mistakes.S In the Vietnam catastrophe, all of these fa ctors are detectable. There is no point in overgeneralizing, bur neither history nor psychology nor sociology gives us any particular reason to look forward with hope to the rule of the new mandarins. In general, one would expect any group with access to power and affiuence to construct an ideology that will justifY this state of affairs on grounds of the general welfare. For JUSt this reason, Bell's thesis that intellectuals are moving closer to the center of power, or at least being absorbed more fully into the decision-making structure, is to some extent supported by the phenomenon of counterrevolutionary subordination noted earlier. That is, one might anticipate that as power becomes more accessible, the inequities of the society will recede from vision, the status quo will seem less flawed, and the preservation of order will become a matter of transcendent importance. The fact is that American intellectuals are increasingly achieving the status of a doubly privileged elite: first, as
OBJECTIVITY AND LIBERAL SCHOLARSHIP American citizens, with respect to the rest of the world; and second, because of their role in American society, which is surely quite central, whether or not Bell's prediction proves accurate. In such a situation, the dangers of counterrevolutionary subordination, in both the domestic and the international arena, are apparent. I think that O'Brien is entirely correct in pointing to the necessity fo r "increased and specific vigilance" towards the danger of counterrevolutionary subordination, of which, as he correctly remarks, "we hear almost nothing." I would like to devote this essay to a number of examples. Several years ago it was enthusiastically proclaimed that "the fundamental political problems of the industrial revolution have been solved," and that «this very triumph of democratic social evolution in the West ends domestic politics for those intellectuals who must have ideologies or utopias to motivate them to social action."9 During this period of faith in "the end of ideology," even enlightened and informed commentators were inclined to present the most remarkable evaluations of the state of American society. Daniel Bell, for example, wrote that "in the mass consumption economy all groups can easily acquire the outward badges of stams and erase the visible demarcarions." 1 0 Wriring in (:(}mmmtary in O .. rohr 19(}4, h m
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LRNGURGE FIND FREEDOM human spirit
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LRNGURGE FIND FREEDOM In every anim
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LRNGUAGE AND FREEDOM
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LRNGUAGE AND FREEDOM other facultie
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LRNGURGE FIND FREEDOM 1. 1. 4 deriv
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LRNGUAGE AND FREEDOM ty, or even in
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THREE NOTES ON ANARCHISM (1970) U8
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NOTES ON RNRRCHISM through (he taki
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NOTES ON RNRRCHISM 1. 22 shabby, an
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NOTES ON RNRRCHISM bourgeoisie. It
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NOTES ON RNRRCHISM 1. 28 remarks by
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NOTES ON RNRRCHISM NOTES This essay
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NOTES ON RNRRCHISM 27 For discussio
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THE RElEVANCE OF ANARCHO-SYNDICALIS
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PREFACE TO ANTOLOGIJA ANARHIlMA
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PREFACE TO ANTOLOGIJA ANARHIlMA of
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CONTRINING THE THREAT OF DEMOCRACY
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CONTRINING THE THRERT OF DEMOCRACY
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SEVEN ANARCHISM , MARXISM AND HOPE
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RNRRCHISM, MRRXISM RND HOPE FOR THE
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EIGHT GOALS AND VISIONS (1996) In r
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GOALS AND VISIONS It should be adde
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GOALS AND VISIONS 1928 that "Labour
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GOALS AND VISIONS understand what l
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GOALS AND VISIONS 1. 98 assisted ma
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GOALS AND VISIONS Medicine cites th
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GOALS AND VISIONS power lies elsewh
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GOALS AND VISIONS funds that serve
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GOALS AND VISIONS Minnesota Press,
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NINE ANARCHISM, INTELLECTUALS AND T
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ANARCHISM, INTEllECTUALS FIND THE S
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ANARCHISM, INTEllECTUALS AND THE ST
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INTERVIEW WITH BRRRY PRTEMRN I was
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INTERVIEW WITH BRRRY PRTEMRN every
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INTERVIEW WITH BRRRY PRTEMRN My son
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INTERVIEW WITH BRRRY PRTE MRN it-th
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ELEVEN INTERVIEW WITH ZIGA VOD OVN
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INTERVIEW WITH ZIGA VODOVNIK J thin
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INTERVIEW WITH ZIGA VODOVNIK onize
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INTERVIEW WITH ZIGA VODOVNIK What i
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