Chomsky on Anarchism.pdf - Zine Library

CHOMSKY ON ANARCHISM
My personal visions are fairly tradirional anarchist ones, with origins in the
Enlightenment and classical liberalism. Before proceeding. I have to clarifY
what I mean by that. J do not mean the version of classical liberalism that has
been reconstructed for ideological purposes. bur the original. before it was broken
on the rocks of rising industrial capitalism, as Rudolf Rocker put it in his
work on anarcho-syndicalism 60 years ago-rather accurately. I think.l
As state capitalism developed in to the modern era, economic, political and
ideological systems have increasingly been taken over by vast institutions of
private tyranny that are about as close to the totalitarian ideal as any that
humans have so far constructed. "Within the corporation," political economist
Robert Brady wrote half a century ago, "all policies emanate from the
control above. In the union of this power to determine policy with the execution
thereof, all authority necessarily proceeds from the top to the bottom and
all responsibility from (he bottom to the top. This is, of course, (he inverse of
'democratic' control; it follows (he structural conditions of dictatorial power."
"What in political circles would be called legislative, executive, and judicial
powers" is gathered in "controlling hands" which, "so far as policy formulation
and execution are concerned, are found at the peak of the pyramid and are
manipulated without significant check from its base." As private power "grows
and expands," it is transformed "into a community force ever more politically
potent and politically conscious," ever more dedicated to a "propaganda program"
that "becomes a matter of converting the public .. to the point of view
191
of the control pyramid." That project, already substantial in the period Brady
reviewed, reached an awesome scale a few years later as American business
sought to beat back the social democratic currents of the postv{ar world, which
reached the United States as well, and to win what its leaders called "the everlasting
battle for the minds of men," using the huge resources of the Public
Relations industry, the entertainment industry, the corporate media, and
whatever else could be mobilized by rhe "control pyramids" of the social and
economic order. These are crucially important features of the modern world,
as is dramatically revealed by the few careful studies.2
The "banking institutions and moneyed incorporations" of which Thomas
Jefferson warned in his later years-predicting that if not curbed, they would
become a form of absolutism that would destroy (he promise of the democratic
revolution-have since more than fulfilled his most dire expectations.
They have become largely unaccountable and increasingly immune from popular
interference and public inspection while gaining great and expanding control
over the global order. Those inside their hierarchical command structure
take orders from above and send orders down below. Those outside may try to
rent themselves to the system of power, but have little other relation to it
(except by purchasing what it offers, if they can). The world is more complex
than any simple description, bur Brady's is pretty close, even more so today
than when he wrOte.