Chomsky on Anarchism.pdf - Zine Library

CHOMSKY ON ANARCHISM
nity and independence" and of democratic rights and freedoms, as the values
of industrial capitalism were imposed by state and private power, by violence
when necessary.
Workers deplored the "degradation and the loss of that self-respect which
had made the mechanics and laborers the pride of the world," the decline of
culture, skill and anainment and even simple human dignity, as they were subjected
to what they called "wage slavery," not very different from the chattel
slavery of southern plantations, they felt, as they were forced to sell themselves,
not what they produced, becoming "menials" and "humble subjects" of
"despots." They described the destruction of "the spirit of free institutions,"
with working people reduced to a "state of servitude" in which they "see a
moneyed aristocracy hanging over us like a mighty avalanche threatening annihilation
to every man who dares to question their right to enslave and oppress
[he poor and unfortunate." And they could hardly be unaware of the material
condirions at home or in nearby Boston, where life expectancy for Irish was
estimated at 14 years in 1849.
Particularly dramatic, and again relevant to the current onslaught against
democracy and human rights, was the sharp decline in high culture. The "factory
girls" from the fa rms of Massachusetts had been accustomed to spend
their time reading classics and contemporary literature, and the independent
craftsmen, if they had a little money, would hire a boy to read to them while
they were working. It has been no small task to drive such thoughts from people's
minds, so that today, a respected commentator can dismiss with derision
ideas about democratizing the internet to allow access by the less privileged:
One would imagine that the poor get about all the information
they want as things stand now and in many cases, even resist the
efforts of schools, libraries and the information media to make
them bener informed. Indeed, that resistance often helps explain
why they are poor
-along with their defective genes, no doubt. The insight was considered so
profound that it was highlighted in a special box by the editors.14
The labor press also condemned what it called the "bought priesthood" of
the media, the universities, and the intellectual class, apologists for power who
sought to justify the despotism that was strengthening its grip and to instill its
demeaning values. "They who work in the mills ought to own them," working
people wrote without the benefit of radical intellectuals. In that way they
would overcome the "monarchical principles" that were taking root "on democratic
soil." Years later, that became a rallying cry for the organized labor
movement, even its more conservative sectors. In a widely circulated address at
a trade union picnic, Henry Demarest Lloyd declared that the "mission of the
labour movement is to free mankind from the superstitions and sins of the
market, and to abolish the poverty which is the fruit of those sins. That goal
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