Freedom, Society, and State - Ludwig von Mises Institute

society. It is not surprising, "therefore, that the
European anarchists did not adhere to individualist
premises. Their only experience with a market economy
was one hampered by government restrictions established
p rima r i I Y for the bene fit 0 f pa r ticu Ia r mem be r s 0 f the
capitalist class. But the only alternative to the
market as a method of economic coordination is some
foro m 0 f d ire c t con t r 0 I, and sinc e the s tat e wa s to be
eli mina t ed, there was no poss i ble method of implementing
economic coordination on a large scale. Hence, it
was quite natural for the European anarchists to opt
for small autarkic or semi-autarkic, worker-controlled
communities where production would be directly controlled
by all the members.
American anarchism was just as individualist as
E u r 0 peananarchism wa s collec t i vis t • And t his too can
probably be explained by environmental factors. Attempts
were made to transplant the European feudal
structure in colonial America by means of royal and
proprietary colonies that regulated nearly every aspect
of 1 ifeand demanded a rigid conformity. The Puritans
oft heM a. s sachuse t t s Ba y Co Iony, says Eun ice Sc h us t e r ,
"demanded of each individual absolute conformity to a
s t ric t cod e 0 f tho ughtand act ion - - a code i mm uta b Ie,
divinely conceived, and ordained by God."(3) But these
"feudal thrusts,tI almost without exception, failed due
to one condi t ion absent in Europe, the open frontier.
Hence, says Rothbard, "not only relative freedom, but
e ve n 0 u t rig h tanarchistins tit uti ons grew up ear Iyin
the interstices between the organized, despotic English
colonies."(4) Individualism can be seen as a natural
outgrowth of frontier conditions. As Schuster notes:
The per i 0 dun dere 0 nsidera t ion wa s a period
of westward expansion. Only a small portion
of the country had even been observed by
white men. To the West lay land to be had
for the t a kin g 0 fit • The We s t wasst i I I a
haven of escape. If conditions became unb
ear a b Ie, 0 r bus i n e s s f a i led, i t wasst ill
poss ible for a courageous, adventurous family
to assemble its worldly goods and try its
fortune in the West. If they survived the
attacks of the Indians, the rigors of the
climate, crop failures, and all the trials of
pioneer life, they did so by good fortune and
the i r own ph Ysica 1 s t r eng t h . In genera 1 the y
did not wa n t the go ve r nrne n t to in t e r fer e wit h
them. The government had not assisted them
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