Freedom, Society, and State - Ludwig von Mises Institute
Freedom, Society, and State - Ludwig von Mises Institute
Freedom, Society, and State - Ludwig von Mises Institute
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CHAPTER VII<br />
The Politico-Economic Perspective<br />
of Individualist Anarchism<br />
The i nd i v i dual ist anarchist paradign is a synthesis<br />
0 f phi los 0 phi c a I a narchism wit h mo der n e conom i c s •<br />
The ph i losophical anarchist framework of competing police<br />
agencies sell ing their services on the free market<br />
i sad 0 pte d • But the phi los 0 phi ca I ana r ch i s t s, s ubscr<br />
i bing to the labor theory of value, bel ieved that<br />
free competition would eliminate profit, rent <strong>and</strong> interest<br />
by reducing price to cost. This belief in the<br />
labor theory of value is replaeed by the subjective<br />
value-marginal utility approach of modern economics.<br />
The individualist anarchists do not believe that free<br />
competition would eliminate profit. Rather, it is the<br />
phenomenon of profit <strong>and</strong> loss as they see it, that performs<br />
the essential social function of directing economic<br />
activity into the satisfaction of consumer dem<strong>and</strong>.<br />
By blending the institutional framework of philosophical<br />
anarchism with the marginal utility approach of<br />
modern economics, the individualist anarchist believes<br />
t ha t he has developed the out line for a workable<br />
government less society.<br />
This chapter deals with a series of diverse topics<br />
that wi 11 clar i fy the organizational principles upon<br />
which individualist anarchism is based. It is only<br />
after this general framework has been articulated that<br />
the specifics of the individualist anarchist framework<br />
can be examined.<br />
1. SOCIAL COORDINATION<br />
All societ ies must have some means for coordinating<br />
the act ions of the individual members. The larger<br />
<strong>and</strong> m0 r e compie x the soc i e t y the morediff i cuI t<strong>and</strong><br />
crucial this problem becomes. How the individualist<br />
a n arc his t soc i e t y w0 u 1d a pproa c h t his prob I em ca n be<br />
seen by contrasting the operations of the collective<br />
anarchist society with that of individualist anarchism.<br />
Bot h t Ypes 0 fan arc his mad v 0 cat e e con om i c f r e edom.<br />
Yet, it is clear that they mean widely different things<br />
by this. The collectivist anarchists believe that<br />
economic freedom entails the abolition of the entire<br />
market paraphernalia of exchange, private property,<br />
wages, profit <strong>and</strong> loss, while the indIvidualist anar-<br />
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