A correspondent checks in from Paris with an article interviewing Noam Chomsky on anarcho-sandicalism. Chomsky is another one of those Marxists who gets his facts right when he writes.
I've written on anarcho-syndicalism before, and it has much to recommend it, especially as a sort of order-from-the-chaos variety. Here again, anarchists are not against government, as long as it is voluntary.
Chomsky gets his critique of America and capitalism right, but he could have gone farther in his examples. There is a working model of anarcho-syndicalism flourishing today, Mondragon.
Chomsky has actually reviewed Mondragon and pans it for lack of complete anarchy, and while worker owned, not completely worker managed, stuck as it is in the real world of capitalist systems. He does not mention this in his Alternet interview, probably as an MIT professor, Noam criticizing people making real-world compromises might be a bit much.
In any event, as our government disappears into fascist chaos, and after come-what-may, Mondragon is a good example of a phoenix coming up out of the flames, in this instance the Spanish Civil War.
So some elements:
1. Anarchy depends on voluntary association. Workers voluntarily agreeing to a form of management depends on workers with experience in voluntary associations. Mondragon was formed by Catholics, already well versed in anarchy, what with their participation in the largest and oldest single organization in the world. What makes Catholicism unique? Participation and membership is entirely voluntary. You aren't going to get anything out of it unless you put into it. Most organizations fail when they attract people who want more out of it than they will put into it.
2. Small state interference. Small states can hardly interfere with organizations larger than themselves. Since Mondragon provides what "the people" want, then state is in no position to promise people more than they are getting now from work.
A perfect example of this in USA is the fact that the state has priced "medical care" out of range for most people, then introduced a scheme to make it more accessible, while raising the cost even more. It is madness, but possible since the state has such power. The workers contract doctors and keep the cost low, like Elks, Rotary Club, Sons of Italy and other social societies used to do in USA, But becoming a empire and going to war wiped out all of these benefits we had as the state replaced society as a provider of goods and services.
3. Customer focus. Mondragon operates in a state too small to subsidize Mondragon. Therefore, Mondragon must design and market to customer satisfaction. And that is the main thing, the customer calls the shots in anarchy.
Most of the article is about education, upon which Chomsky's comments are beneficial. For my part I've been experimenting in anarchy and education for a dozen years now, over at www.seattleteacherscollege.net.
Feel free to forward this by email to three of your friends.
I've written on anarcho-syndicalism before, and it has much to recommend it, especially as a sort of order-from-the-chaos variety. Here again, anarchists are not against government, as long as it is voluntary.
Chomsky gets his critique of America and capitalism right, but he could have gone farther in his examples. There is a working model of anarcho-syndicalism flourishing today, Mondragon.
Chomsky has actually reviewed Mondragon and pans it for lack of complete anarchy, and while worker owned, not completely worker managed, stuck as it is in the real world of capitalist systems. He does not mention this in his Alternet interview, probably as an MIT professor, Noam criticizing people making real-world compromises might be a bit much.
In any event, as our government disappears into fascist chaos, and after come-what-may, Mondragon is a good example of a phoenix coming up out of the flames, in this instance the Spanish Civil War.
So some elements:
1. Anarchy depends on voluntary association. Workers voluntarily agreeing to a form of management depends on workers with experience in voluntary associations. Mondragon was formed by Catholics, already well versed in anarchy, what with their participation in the largest and oldest single organization in the world. What makes Catholicism unique? Participation and membership is entirely voluntary. You aren't going to get anything out of it unless you put into it. Most organizations fail when they attract people who want more out of it than they will put into it.
2. Small state interference. Small states can hardly interfere with organizations larger than themselves. Since Mondragon provides what "the people" want, then state is in no position to promise people more than they are getting now from work.
A perfect example of this in USA is the fact that the state has priced "medical care" out of range for most people, then introduced a scheme to make it more accessible, while raising the cost even more. It is madness, but possible since the state has such power. The workers contract doctors and keep the cost low, like Elks, Rotary Club, Sons of Italy and other social societies used to do in USA, But becoming a empire and going to war wiped out all of these benefits we had as the state replaced society as a provider of goods and services.
3. Customer focus. Mondragon operates in a state too small to subsidize Mondragon. Therefore, Mondragon must design and market to customer satisfaction. And that is the main thing, the customer calls the shots in anarchy.
Most of the article is about education, upon which Chomsky's comments are beneficial. For my part I've been experimenting in anarchy and education for a dozen years now, over at www.seattleteacherscollege.net.
Feel free to forward this by email to three of your friends.
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