Freedom, Society, and State - Ludwig von Mises Institute

of the Ruhr in 1923.
Later examples include: resistance In
several NaZI-occupied countries, especially
Norway, the Netherlands, and Denmark; governmen
1 a I and popu I a r me as ures 10 null i f Y an t i ­
JeWIsh measures in several Nazi-allied and
Nazi-occupied countries, such as Belgium,
I ta I y, France, and Denmark; the toppl ing by
popular noncooperation and defiance of the
die tat 0 r s 0 f E 1 Sal va d 0 ran d G ua t ema I a in
1944; the 1963 and 1966 campaigns of the
Buddhists against the Saigon regimes in South
Vietnam.(107)
Whi Ie civi I ian defense has no guarantee of
success, it should not be cavalierly dismissed. It
has, unfortunately, been given scant attention by the
anarchists although it could prove one possible means
of defending the nonstate, as well as the method most
in accord with their moral principles.
A sec 0 n d p 0 s sib iii t y, g u err i I I a wa r far e, s h 0 u I d
also be considered. Guerrilla forces seldom win military
battles. But they are capable of winning wars and
ous t ing invaders, provided they are able to retain the
support of the community. Guerrilla wars are not won
militarily but, as Andrew Mack has observed, by means
of the progressive attrition of their opponents' political
capacity to carryon the war.(I08) This is
a C com p lis h e d by mea n s 0 f apr 0 t r act e d wa r, i n wh i c h
the insurgents' goal is to provoke the invader into
escalating his military commitment. As the war drags
onandin ere a s esin cos t, b 0 1h h uma nand rna 1e ria I, the
fact that the war would probably force cutbacks in the
production of consumer goods a1 home, together with the
fact that it was being fought against a country that
p 0 sed not hrea1, co u I d res u I tin the ernerge nee 0 f pol i ­
tical 'divisions in the invader's horne country. These
divisions could hamper the war effort and, in time, sap
the i n va de r 's wi I Ito prosecute the wa r to a suec e s s f u I
conclusion. The guerrilla has a fairly good chance of
WIn n i n g pro v ided he i s a blet 0 fig htaprot rae ted wa r •
As Henry Kissinger has aptly put it, "the guerrilla
WIns if he does not lose; the conventional army loses
if it doesn't win.TI(I09)
Th is too might prove to be a method for defense of
the nonstate. In contrast to civilian defense guerril­
I a war far e w0 u I d ern ploy v i 0 len ce, but 1he fa c t t hat i t
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