Chomsky on Anarchism.pdf - Zine Library

CHOMSKY ON ANARCHISM
Worse still, "the rot may spread," in the terminology of U.S. government
leaders; there may be a demonstration effect of successful independent development
in a form that attends to the peoples' sores. Internal government planning
documents, and even the public record, reveal that a driving concern of
U.S. planners has been the fear that the "virus" of democracy and social reform
might spread, "infecting" regions beyond. Examples include the first major
postwar counterinsurgency operation in Greece in the late 1940s, the undermining
of the labor movement in Europe at the same time, the U.S. invasion
of South Vietnam, the overthrow of the democratic governments of Guatemala
and Chile, the attack against Nicaragua and the popular movements elsewhere
in Central America, and many other examples.
Similar fears were expressed by European statesman with regard to the
American revolution. This might "lend new strength to the apostles of sedition,"
Metternich warned; it might spread "the contagion and [he invasion of
vicious principles" such as "the pernicious doctrines of republicanism and popular
self-rule," one of the Czar's diplomats explained. A century later, the cast
of characters was reversed. Woodrow Wilson's Secretary of State Robert
Lansing warned that if the Bolshevik disease were to spread, it would leave the
"ignorant and incapable mass of humanity dominant in the earth"; the
Bolsheviks, he continued, were appealing "to the ignorant and mentally deficient,
who by their numbers are urged to become masterS, ... a very real danger
in view of the process of social unrest throughout [he world." As always, it is
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democracy that is the awesome threat. When soldiers' and workers' councils
made a brief appearance in Germany, Woodrow Wilson feared that they would
inspire dangerous thoughts among "the American negro [soldiers] returning
from abroad." Already, negro laundresses were demanding more than the
going wage, saying that "money is as much mine as it is yours," Wilson had
heard. Businessmen might have to adjust to having workers on their boards of
directors, he feared, among other disasters if the Bolshevik virus were not
exterminated.
With these dire consequences in mind, the Western invasion of the Soviet
Union was justified on defensive grounds. in defense against "the Revolution's
challenge ... ro the very survival of the capitalist order," as a highly-regarded
contemporary diplomatic historian puts it approvingly. And it was also necessary
to defend the civilized order against the popular enemy at home. Secretary
of State Lansing explained that fo rce must be used to prevent "the leaders of
Bolshevism and anarchy" from proceeding to "organize or preach against government
in the United States." The repression launched by the Wilson administration
successfully undermined democratic politics. unions, freedom of the
press, and independent thought, in the interest of corporate power and the
state authorities who represented its interests, all with the general approval of
the media and elites generally, all in self-defense against the ignorant rabble.