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If You Oppose
Tyrannical Government,
Then Oppose
Tyrannical Capitalism!

Economic and Political
Authority are Both a Threat
to Individual Liberty

By Punkerslut

From Peace Libertad Blog
Image: From Peace Libertad Blog,
the "No capitalisme" Gallery

Start Date: June 11, 2010
Finish Date: June 11, 2010

"Capitalism means that the productive apparatus is in the hands of the capitalists. Because they are the masters of the means of production, and hence of the products, they can seize the surplus value and exploit the working class. Only when the working class itself is master of the means of production does exploitation cease. Then the workers control entirely their conditions of life."
          --Anton Pannekoek, 1938
          "General Remarks on the Question of Organisation"

     Governments across the world have set themselves apart from all other institutions in their ability to cause human suffering. They have constructed prison camps for dissidents and minorities, for prisoners of war and for civilians. States have made slaves out of weaker peoples, through imposed trade agreements, exploitation, and conquest. Everywhere, the state has worked towards improving the interests of just a few rich at the cost of the many poor.

     Hundreds of millions have been put into forced labor, under the rule of the both the United States and Britain, both the Soviet Union and the Third Reich, both in Asia and Europe. And beyond this, millions have been killed by the "laws" and "orders" of government. The death penalty has been imposed by King Draco of Ancient Greece for stealing a head of cabbage [*1]; it has also been imposed by the United States government on the people of Waco, the inmates of Attica, the commune members of John Africa's MOVE Organization. There have always been governments that oppressed the poor, the hungry, the desperate, and the friendless.

     At its peak of power, the government is authoritarian, hierarchical, and built from the top down. In its most wicked condition, the state imprisons and executes its people for activity that is not harmful to the majority; whether it is protestantism or drug prohibition. In its most lenient condition, it still imprisons, executes, and slaughters unjustly. It is always tyrannical, no matter what form it takes, but there are less tyrannical forms. The government theorist is only concerned in choosing a government that minimizes this oppression by making it controlled. There will always be opposition to tyrannical governments, then, as long as there continue to be governments. It is a good sentiment, which seeks to elevate the liberty of each person -- to provide a truly peaceful and harmonious accord between all people.

     If the acts of government are to be detested, then certainly the acts of capitalism are equally brutal and inhumane. For every war, there is someone to profit off of it. For every strip of land that is taken from the enemy, there is new access to cheap labor, cheap natural resources, and monopolies over markets -- the wealthy capitalist encourages the war so that they can exploit the people and environment of a new, dominated society. There are forests to be cut down and fields of earth to be dug up; and, there are now unfree hands ready to do the work, all for a miserable existence.

     Since it is business and capitalists who profit most by war, it is only natural that they are always its greatest supporters. And where they do not directly advocate for militarism and war, they advocate for ideals that support this program: nationalism and patriotism, religious duty and piety, and even racial supremacy. These distinctions are made up by the capitalist system to divide the common people. They are used throughout the mainstream media to encourage people that certain human societies are inherently wrong -- and that our violence against them is justifiable and good.

     The act of war provides the capitalist with natural resources, government contracts, and new markets to exploit. The most prized possession of conquest, though, is the people -- slaves who have been won through violence and killing. Who is it that has made investments in this economy of forced labor? Who is it that reaps the great profits of paying workers only enough to live? In one age, it is called the capitalist, and in another, it is called the nobleman. In one nation it is the upper caste, and in another nation, it is the patrician class. In one phrase, it is the propertied class, and just as the nobility of Feudalism were capitalistic, so are the capitalists of corporations feudal.

     If there is not slavery by force, then there is slavery by market domination. Chains are one form of threat; starvation is another. One is enacted by a monopoly of force; the other is enacted by a monopoly of land, factories, and productive forces of society. In the one case, a person must work, because they are threatened with the bodily harm of imprisonment, torture, and execution. In the other case, a person must work, because they are threatened with the bodily harm of starvation. By possession of all the lands, the capitalist has significantly greater bargaining power than any of the propertyless workers. With this advantage, they can negotiate to the position where the laborers are living a bare minimum of existence -- poverty, unemployment, and starvation wages. The capitalist is the authority of the economy, as the state is the authority of politics -- they are equal tyrants.

"Capitalists, who can grow rich only where there is an oppressed body of labourers..."
          --Thomas Hodgskin, 1825
          "Labour Defended against the Claims of Capital"

     Capitalism and all systems of privileged domination are not tyrannical simply because they assist the government in repression and persecutions. In itself, private monopoly of society's productive powers has the same effect as private monopoly of the laws -- Capitalism is the Monarchy of economics, as each person is dependent and submissive to a single lord who determines their liberties, their privileges, and their right to life. To oppose governments that are oppressive and imprison their people is logical. But if you do not oppose capitalists that are exploitive and starve their people, then you are in a contradiction.

     Liberty is based on autonomy -- the individual being the person who has the greatest effect in determining their own destiny. In Capitalism, the individual must submit to the assembly line or to mining conditions; each must become a worker or a laborer in one some way. They have no right to determine how much they earn, when they work, how they work, when the industry has a boom or a bust. They are completely at the mercy of their vassal lords, whose edicts and laws of economy send billions into poverty. There is no autonomy in Capitalism, as there is no liberty in Capitalism. The only individual with liberty is the Capitalism, who can buy and sell people, because of their isolated power of economy -- just as the dictator and the despot bought and sold people, because of their isolated power of politics.

     Like government, it is a matter of degrees, and so while some opposed to capitalism will complain when profits are high, those who are completely opposed to capitalism will complain about any profits. As government is inherently repressive, capitalism is inherently exploitive. To desire a world that has neither oppression nor poverty requires the abolishment of both the state and Capitalism.

     Authority, in the name of the state, is nothing more than a puppet for privileged interests; like a puppet, it doesn't act except according to the one giving it force, and similarly, the only reason why it is capable of action is because someone has the strength to animate it. The state operates along these lines, becoming as strong as its most wealthy supporters, or as weak as its most powerful enemies. When the states war and there a survival of the fittest, just states that do not exploit or enslave will be weaker, becoming dominated by violent and authoritarian governments. The tendency of government then is always towards advancing the interests of a few against those of the many.

     It is not enough to destroy the puppet, the justifications of authority and governmental rule, because once dead, a new one is put on the other hand. The only way to destroy this game is not attack only the puppet, but to attack the puppeteer -- Capitalism! The aristocratic class, whether called 'capitalist' or 'feudal baron,' always takes shelter within the moral justification and armed forced of government. If a Nationalist government falls, then the exploiters will live in the house of Liberalism, and if that government falls, they may even start to live in the house of State-Socialism. Soviet Russia had its aristocrats, just like Tsarist Russia, and they equally enjoyed their mansions, their luxury, and their banquets, similarly at the cost of the working class.

     The Anarchist Revolution is not only opposed to the power of the state; it is opposed to authority and domination, no matter where it is and under what name it calls itself. Our enemies are both Capitalism and the state, because of their inherent domination and anti-cooperative natures. Likewise, our enemies include Sexism and Racism, Imperialism and Colonialism, Nationalism and Homophobia. All of these ideas are born on the premise of one class of society dominating another class, each conceived from hate and matured into pride. Anarchism, in opposing authority, naturally opposes Capitalism and the state, but it also opposes all social forms that exclude part of society. True Anarchism is all-inclusive, and it is society built for people, rather than people built for society.

     Opposition to both legal and economic domination is essential for a revolution that is capable of liberating the people. Freedom from the state provides full liberty of body and mind; freedom from capitalism provides opportunity to fully use that liberty.

"...the completely formal freedom which the State imposes, judges and regulates, this eternal lie which in reality consists always of the privileges of a few based upon the slavery of all..."
          --Mikhail Bakunin, Late 1800's
          "Where I Stand"

Punkerslut,

Resources

*1. "Lives of the Great Romans and Greeks," by Plutarch, Section: Solon, circa 100 AD.


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