"anarchy and communism has shown me that, in practice, neither seems to work very well"
Well, countries who call (or have called) themselves communist, typically aren't. It's like saying the "democratic people's republic of north korea," is a democracy, or the nazi party is socialist (which they claimed to be). China, Russia etc. are/were closer to "state capitalism". In any case, I don't think communism looks good on paper or in practice, so I'm not arguing with you there. I also don't think it has much to do with anarchism.
Catalonia was working just fine until it was crushed militarily, so I guess for now we really don't know if it would have worked in the long run or not as it's the only real example of anarcho-syndicalism.
However, I will say I'm incredibly grateful to those who embrace anarchist philosophy. Nearly all the movers and shakers of the labor movement around the turn of the century were anarchists. Anarchism.. that is.. the idea that *labor* has the value (and therefore the workers), beyond wages that provide only for a desperate survival, that gave people the strength to rise up and demand fair treatment.
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Date: 9/11/08 07:03 pm (UTC)From:Well, countries who call (or have called) themselves communist, typically aren't. It's like saying the "democratic people's republic of north korea," is a democracy, or the nazi party is socialist (which they claimed to be). China, Russia etc. are/were closer to "state capitalism". In any case, I don't think communism looks good on paper or in practice, so I'm not arguing with you there. I also don't think it has much to do with anarchism.
Catalonia was working just fine until it was crushed militarily, so I guess for now we really don't know if it would have worked in the long run or not as it's the only real example of anarcho-syndicalism.
However, I will say I'm incredibly grateful to those who embrace anarchist philosophy. Nearly all the movers and shakers of the labor movement around the turn of the century were anarchists. Anarchism.. that is.. the idea that *labor* has the value (and therefore the workers), beyond wages that provide only for a desperate survival, that gave people the strength to rise up and demand fair treatment.