Blogroll: After:All (plus commentary)
An intelligently written new blog definitely worth following is mAtt in Switzerland’s After:All.
Let me highlight one piece right off the bat: Economics: The Market as an Inevitable Result of Individualism, subtitled “Or, Anarcho-Communists Can in Fact Be Regarded as Pro-Market“.
Many State socialists and anarchists within the socialist tradition condemn economic competition as it appears on the market as being cruel. They say that we should abolish the market if we want to live in harmony with each other. I am not going to point out the many advantages of the free market and as a result of it the many advantages of competition. However, I will explain why even fully State socialist or anarcho-communist societies could not get rid of the market, even when it comes to producing essential goods, as the market and competition is a logical consequence of individualism.
I would add that the most essential thing, in my own opinion and regardless of ideological labels, is commitment to voluntaryism and development of a broad consensus on where the rightful bounds of individual autonomy are. I would also say that’s particularly important with regard to scarce material resources, as disputes over those are inevitable in any society. The only question is whether such disputes can be peacefully resolved when they arise.
No — it’s not that I’m obsessed with money, secretly want to be Donald Trump and slink back to my evil master’s secret base underneath the Rockefeller mansion every evening to report back.
Rather — we are material beings and people argue, and sometimes fight, over material things. Without a broad consensus on how to determine who rightfully decides what about what, bloodshed and slaughter are the inevitable consequence. If peace and freedom matter to you, then “property” ought to matter — regardless of what negative associations one might have with the word.
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Thanks for mentioning my blog! There really must have been a glitch in the Matrix. ;)