Anarchism in the United States

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Josiah Warren is the first American individualist anarchist

Individualist anarchism, while being advocated among some European philosophers in various forms, has a distinctive flavor in The United States of America. Whereas as some individualists, such as Germany's Max Stirner, oppose all forms of property, American individualist anarchism is particularly distinguishable from collectivist or communist-based philosophies of anarchism by its strong advocacy of private property (other than in ownership of unused land). American individualist anarchism is sometimes regardeded as a form of "liberal-anarchism" [1], as it is often seen as a more radicalized version of classical liberalism. The American individualists oppose the use of physical force other than in defense of body and property.

Traditional individualist anarchism

Theorists in traditional American individualism (historically called "Boston anarchism" at times, often derogatorily) include Josiah Warren, Ezra Heywood, William B. Greene, Benjamin Tucker, Lysander Spooner, Stephen Pearl Andrews, Henry Bool, and Steven T. Byington. The origin of the American tradition draws heavily on Josiah Warren and France's Pierre Proudhon, though both working without association or apparent knowledge of the other. The tradition bases its philosophy on what Warren calls the "soveriegnty of the individual" (often called self-ownership). As corollary to this, the individualists hold that all individuals should have the liberty to retain to the produce of their labor as private property. This includes private ownership of capital, with one important exception: no titles to land should be granted unless it is occupied or in use, as land itself is not the product of labor. Maintaining that the value of anything is the amount of labor that was performed to produce or acquire it (see the labor theory of value), they assert that equal amounts of labor should therefore be paid equal wages. Or, in other words, an individual who labors for another should be always be paid his "full produce," rather than an employer who was labored less retaining a portion as profit. The individualists believe that capital is concentrated in the hands of a privileged few as a result of government restriction on entering the banking business and issuing currency, as well as a result of government protection of land that is not in use. As the land itself may not be owned, they naturally oppose rent of land. They oppose profiting from lending capital, and believe that the possibility of profiting is the result of government restrictions on who may issue and lend currency. They believe that if any individual is allowed to issue and lend his own currency, that competition would be so prevalent that the possibility of profiting through interest will be nearly non-existent (see free banking). Benjamin Tucker says in State Socialism and Anarchism: "Just as the idea of taking capital away from individuals and giving it to the government started Marx in a path which ends in making the government everything and the individual nothing, so the idea of taking capital away from government-protected monopolies and putting it within easy reach of all individuals started Warren and Proudhon in a path which ends in making the individual everything and the government nothing....though opposed to socializing the ownership of capital, they aimed nevertheless to socialize its effects by making its use beneficial to all instead of a means of impoverishing the many to enrich the few."

Josiah Warren

Josiah Warren is the first individualist anarchist in the American tradition. He also issued what some believe to be the first anarchist periodical ever published, called The Peaceful Revolutionist in 1833. Warren had participated in a failed collectivist experiment called "New Harmony" and came to the conclusion that such a system is inferior to one where individualism and private property is respected. He details his conclusions in regard to this collectivist experiment in Equitable Commerce. In a quote from that text that illustrates his radical individualism, he says: "Society must be so converted as to preserve the SOVEREIGNTY OF EVERY INDIVIDUAL inviolate. That it must avoid all combinations and connections of persons and interests, and all other arrangements which will not leave every individual at all times at liberty to dispose of his or her person, and time, and property in any manner in which his or her feelings or judgment may dictate. WITHOUT INVOLVING THE PERSONS OR INTERESTS OF OTHERS" (Tucker's emphasis). In True Civilization Warren equates "Sovereignty of the Individual" with the Declaration of Independence's assertion of the INALIENABLE right to Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness." He claims that an person's "instinct" to soveriegnty "cannot be alienated or separated from that organism," and that therefore, "this instinct being INVOLUNTARY, every one has the same absolute right to its exercise that he has to his complexion or the forms of his features, to any extent, not disturbing another." Beyon this, Warren coined the phrase "Cost the limit of price" to refer to his interpretation of Adam Smith's labor theory of value. The labor theory holds that the value of a commodity is equal to the amount of labor required to produce or acquire it. Warren maintains, therefore, that the price of labor of one individual must be equal to the production of the equivalent amount of labor of every other individual. And, consequently, that an employer who labors not, but retains a portion of the produce of an employee as profit is guilty of violating the "cost principle" --he recieves payment without cost to himself. Warren regards this practice as "invasive." If an employer is to be paid, he must not be paid unless he labors. Warren and Proudhon had similar philosophies though the worked with association or apparent knowledge of the other. However, Warren's protege, Benjamin Tucker, says that the idea that profit is exploitative since it violates the labor theory of value "was Proudhon's position before it was Marx's, and Josiah Warren's before it was Proudhon's" (Liberty or Authority).In 1827, Warren put his theories into practice by starting a business that he called a "labor for labor store" in Cincinatti, Ohio. Warren, like all the American individualists, that followed was a strong supporter of the right of individuals to retain the product of their labor as private property.

The liberal Thomas Jefferson says: "Whenever there is any country uncultivated lands and unemployed poor it is clear that the laws of property have been so far extended as to violate natural rights. The earth is given as a common stock for man to labor and live on." In accordance with the philosophies of classical liberals of the time (such as Thomas Paine, Thomas Jefferson, Adam Smith, and John Locke), Warren holds that raw land cannot be looked at as property in the same way that the product of labor can be. As the production of land itself is not the result of human labor, he proposes that raw land should not be owned, bought, and sold. However, land may be privately put to use, with the results of cultivating it being regarded as private property. Raw land may also may be appropriated to establish homes and businesses; vacant land should not be protected. This aversion to ownership of raw land is a constant among the 19th century American individualist anarchists.

Ezra Heywood

Ezra Heywood is another individualist anarchist, influenced by Warren and other classical liberals, who was a ardent slavery abolitionist and feminist. He wrote one of the first feminist anarchist essays. Heywood saw what he believed to be the disproportionate concentration of capital in the hands of a few to be the result of government-backed priveleges to certain individuals and organizations. He says: "Government is a northeast wind, drifting property into a few aristocratic heaps, at the expense of altogether too much democratic bare ground. Through cunning legislation, . . . privileged classes are allowed to steal largely according to law."

Benjamin Tucker

Benjamin Tucker, being influenced by Warren (who he credits as being his "first source of light"), Greene, Heywood, Proudhon's mutualism, and Stirner's egoism, is probably the most famous of the Americans. Tucker defines anarchism as "the doctrine that all the affairs of men should be managed by individuals or voluntary associations, and that the State should be abolished." [2] Like the other individualists, he also follows this tradition of opposing government-backed privilege, opposing profit, and supporting private property as being essential to liberty. He inititially premised his philosophy on natural law. But, by the influence of his reading of Stirner's egiost individualism, he maintained that morality and rights did not exist without contract and that therefore contract, guided by self-interest, is the proper basis of private law. Tucker opposes protection of unused land, asserting that titles should only be granted for land being occupied or used. He believed that titles to unworked land, as well as state restrictions on who may enter the banking business and issue currency, were responsible for wealth being concentrated in the hands of a privileged few. However, Tucker makes clear his opposition to collectivist notions such as economic egalitarianism, believing unequal wealth distribution to be a natural result of liberty [3]. Tucker published a periodical called Liberty that was instrumental for the development of individualist anarchist theory. Tucker describes his philosophy as "unterrified Jeffersonianism." He advocates private defense of individual liberty and private property property [4] including "private police" [5]. Tucker once proposed insurance companies to protect life and property. He said "There are many more than five or six insurance companies in England, and it is by no means uncommon for members of the same family to insure their lives and goods against accident or fire in different companies. Why should there not be a considerable number of defensive associations in England in which people, even members of the same family, might insure their lives and goods against murderers or thieves? Defense is a service, like any other service" (Instead of a Book).

Lysander Spooner

Lysander Spooner is an individualist anarchist who apparently worked without association with the other individualists of the time except for brief periods later in his life, but came to approximately the same conclusions. Lysander Spooner, like his compatriots, strongly emphasizes private property. He says that "...the principle of individual property... says that each man has an absolute dominion, as against all other men, over the products and acquisitions of his own labor." However, unlike Tucker, he also maintains that the ideas of an individuals should be considered their private property; he supports intellectual property rights. He says: "So absolute is an author's right of dominion over his ideas that he may forbid their being communicated even by human voice if he so pleases." Spooner started and operated a private mail delivery business called American Letter Mail Company to compete with the United States Post Office by offering lower rates, but was thwarted by the U.S. Government which enforces the USPS's coercive monopoly.

Others

Voltairine de Cleyre was an individualist anarchist for several years before abandoning the philosophy. In opposition to comminist-anarchist Emma Goldman she said: "Miss Goldman is a communist; I am an individualist. She wishes to destroy the right of property, I wish to assert it." However she later abandoned that philosophy, reasoning that: "Individualism and Mutualism, resting upon property, involve a development of the private policeman not at all compatible with my notion of freedom."

American individualist anarchists were not without influence outside U.S. borders. John Henry Mackay is a German individualist anarchist who was heavily influenced by Benjamin Tucker.

Contemporary American individualist anarchists include Robert Anton Wilson, Joe Peacott, Wendy McElroy (an anarcho-capitalist), and James J. Martin.

Anarcho-capitalism

Main articles: Anarcho-capitalism, Individualist anarchism and anarcho-capitalism

Anarcho-capitalism differs from traditional individualist anarchism in that it do not regard profit as exploitative. While individual anarchists of the anti-capitalist tradition are still active today, most individualist anarchists refer to themselves as anarcho-capitalists [6].

See also

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