Let’s take a little break from the funny word play in economics this week to talk about a closely related topic, the funny word play in popular discourse on the political doctrine of anarchism, currently used to great effect by anti-democracy conservative fascists. I’m pretty sure I’ve done all this before but maybe not in this particular format. Anyway, if something is worth saying once, it’s worth saying a thousand times. That’s my motto. Or one of my many mottos anyway.
Anarchy refers to a state of lawlessness and political disorder caused by an absence of legal and governmental authority, and anarchism is the promotion of such a situation. Most readily understand the unpleasant, unfortunate nature of such a situation. Some simple sorts do not. Of course, many who identify as “anarchists” reject the dictionary definition and argue “real” anarchy is when their preferred political, legal, economics arrangements hold, perhaps arising spontaneously, naturally, by universal consent, etc. In that case, “anarchy” becomes just whatever they like. I usually denote as “utopian anarchists” those who agree the dictionary definition and associate it with utopia rather than bloody, violent chaos, and “fake anarchists” those who re-define anarchy to be their preferred economic, legal, political arrangements. However, both are utopian in some way.
An anarcho-something else is a fake anarchist who, like all fake anarchists, will propose he or she is talking about real anarchy and thus represents true anarchism. So an anarcho-communist, anarcho-capitalist, anarcho-anything at all are all fake anarchists. I saw a funny bit by comedian Ismo Leikolaon about the word “ass” in US expressions like “big ass truck,” which he noted is just a big truck. One could do the same bit about the term “anarcho.” An anarcho-whatever is just whatever. The “anarcho” does nothing except make it sound hip. One notable expression of fake anarchism is so-called “libertarianism,” an anti-democracy creed that uses anarchist rhetoric to defend conservative views relating to resolving interpersonal conflicts of preferences, allocating resources, markets, economic power, etc.
What makes both utopian real anarchism and (utopian in its own way) fake anarchism so useful to anti-democracy movements like fascism is the first order of business for both is to undermine and destroy whatever government, law currently exist, as for example in the US democracy, the Constitution. Modern anarchists are, in fact, the useful idiots of the anti-democracy right wing fascist movement, which is ironic because historically they were more typically the useful idiots of anti-democracy communist movements, and many today still have trouble considering anarchism outside that context. Speaking of that context, I’m reminded of an account I once read about some rural anarchists in post-revolutionary Russia who asked the local Red Army commander one day when they might expect the promised stateless society, anarchy. One imagines the conversation. “Soon.” “How soon?” “Very soon.”
Don’t be a patsy. Utopian real anarchism is childish nonsense. Real anarchy is a bloody mess people try to end as quickly as possible. Fake anarchism is just anti-democracy egoism. Argue for your preferred arrangements like a normal person, don’t imagine all agree once democracy ends. Anarchists, real or fake, are much like anti-liberal, anti-Democrat, anti-democracy real or fake “leftists.” They’re tools of conservative fascists. Reject it. Affirm liberalism and support left economic values and views based on real economics in the context of democracy, the US Constitution.
