Chomsky on Anarchism.pdf - Zine Library

CHOMSKY ON ANARCHISM
it and to diminish spontaneous and free experimentation with new social
forms, as it can limit the possibilities for reconstruction of society in the interests
of those who are now, to a greater or lesser extent, dispossessed. Where the
techniques fail, they will be supplemented by all of the methods of coercion
that modern technology provides, to preserve order and stability.
For a glimpse of what may lie ahead, consider the Godkin lectures of
McGeorge Bundy, recently delivered at Harvard. 149 Bundy urges that more
power be concentrated in the executive branch of the government, now "dangerously
weak in relation to its present tasks." That the powerful executive will
act with justice and wisdom-this presumably needs no argument. As an
example of the superior executive who should be attracted to government and
given still greater power, Bundy cites Robert McNamara. Nothing could reveal
more clearly the dangers inherent in the "new society" than the role that
McNamara's Pentagon has played for the past half-dozen years. No doubt
McNamara succeeded in doing with utmost efficiency that which should not
be done at all. No doubt he has shown an unparalleled mastery of the logistics
of coercion and repression, combined with the most astonishing inability to
comprehend political and human factors. The efficiency of the Pentagon is no
less remarkable than its pratfalls. 150 When understanding fails, there is always
more fo rce in reserve. As the "experiments in material and human resources
control" collapse and "revolutionary development" grinds to a halt, we simply
resort more openly to the Gestapo tactics that are barely concealed behind the 75
facade of "pacification."151 When American cities explode, we can expect the
same. The technique of "limited warfare" translates neatly into a system of
domestic repression-far more humane, as will quickly be explained, than
massacring those who are unwilling to wait for the inevitable victory of the war
on poverty.
Why should a liberal intellectual be so persuaded of the virtues of a political
system of four-year dictatorship? The answer seems all too plain.
Source: Noam <strong>Chomsky</strong>, "Objectiviry and Liberal Scholarship," in American
Power and the New Mandarins (New York: New Press, 2002), pp. 23-158. First edition
Pantheon, 1969.