Praise for Market Anarchism from Italy
Posted by Kevin Carson on Nov 8, 2011 in Media Appearances • 9 commentsDomenico Letizia of biblioteca dell’egoista had some nice things about Larry Gambone, market anarchism and me in an article entitled “le Cooperative e la cultura americana.” He earlier mentioned Roderick long, free market anticapitalism, and me in an article at Anarchismo Liberale.
When I contacted him by email, Domenico had further positive comments about C4SS. He mentioned the persistence of a cooperative tradition in his country (most C4SS readers, I assume, are somewhat familiar with the Emilia-Romagna economic model by now), and suggested I post links to the Italian articles, in hopes that it would “spark a discussion of the spread of anti-statism in Italy.” May it be so!
Greetings to our newfound comrades in Italy
Dear C4SS. I'm an italian anti-capitalist activist and I live in Bologna, Emilia-Romagna. I'm not an anarchist, even if I follow your commentary and I'm pretty familiar with anarchism. I write only to specify that the cooperative model here in Emilia-Romagna is very far from the anarchist cooperativistic/mutualistic ideal… in fact, they're nothing more than corporative blocks of power, ruled mostly by bureaucrats with strong political links with local administrations. Imho, they're the proof that a truly cooperativistic model can work only in a socialist society… but anyway I think that they don't deserve, today, the label of "cooperatives". Yours, Don Cave.
Thank you for bringing this to our attention friend. Carson, follow up on Mr. Cave's warning. If he is right, then we may need to decline his offer. Much thanks.
I can confirm everything that Don Cave says in his comment. I'm originally from Modena, Emilia-Romagna. I remember that back in the 70s and 80s, it was possible to distinguish "red" cooperatives (the majority in Emilia-Romagna) and "white" cooperatives. Red cooperatives were connected to what was then the Communist Party – the ruling party in local administrations at the time – while white cooperatives were connected to the Christian Democrats. In construction projects for subsidized housing there was a spoil system between red and white cooperatives. Everybody knew that cooperatives funded political parties. In short, "cooperatives" in Emilia-Romagna are paradigmatic examples of the partnership between state and corporations.
Greetings everyone, I'm Dominico Letizia. I wanted to say that what is studied in Italy are the mutual aid societies and groups for mutual support cooperatives in particular non-current if the "COOP", these are merely the product of statism and the biggest scam of the class consumers. This does not mean that Italy has a wonderful story in mutualism economic, political.
greetings to all anti-state.
@Null Void: I wasn't referring to Mr. Letizia's piece, but to Mr. Carson's reference to Emilia-Romagna in his comment. Of course, it's pretty hard that the facts mentioned also by Coop are known in the USA, and that's why internationalism can help in so many ways…
@Kevin Carson: I take the chance to compliment for your book "Studies in Mutualist Political Economy", that I'm reading in these days. Even if I'm not a mutualist or an anarchist, and I don't agree on many issues, I think that your perspective is interesting and challenging even for a marxist-oriented activist like me. Maybe, if that's ok with you, I'll write you an e-mail with my thoughts about it when I'll have finished.
Yours,
Don Cave
Sorry for any misunderstand I may have caused, but that is what I meant. I was talking about Kevin Carson's reference to Emilia-Romagna.
As for that, mutualism is a school of anarchist economics-the oldest one in fact, with origins to Proudhon himself, influencing many anarchists of all types. More specifically, it influenced two schools of anarchist thought-explicitly mutualistic anarchists and individualist anarchists. Benjamin Tucker & Lysander Spooner were part of the individualist wing of mutualist school. In terms of political philosophy, Spooner argued from natural rights while Tucker argued from a modified Stirnerite egoism. Perhaps you knew all this, in which case I apologize. Robert Anton Wilson was the last of the pure Tuckerites. Although "anarcho"-capitalists like to quote Spooner & Tucker, they fail to grasp the anti-capitalist dimension of their thought.
Larry Gambone, in his praise for Studies in Mutualist Political Economy, considered it an important development in explicitly anarchist economics, freeing anarchists from being cornered in economic discussions by appeals to vulgar marxism; as well as saving Tucker and Spooner from being falsely remembered as capitalists.
I started out as what Kevin Carson would call a "vulgar libertarian". The economic crisis and studying the political economy of how capitalism actually developed (defined as being the one that historically existed, as opposed to the Platonic fantasy I used to appeal to) leads me to become more and more sympathetic to an anti-capitalist outlook. I remain firmly individualistic, pro-market even. But I no longer defend, rationalize, or act as apologist for an economic system that could only develop out of state intervention and coercion on behalf of a bunch of rich assholes.
Sorry for the long rant. Thanks for posting friend.
Thanks to all for the clarification re Emilia-Romagna.
My recent post New Book in the Works
Also, thanks for stopping by, Domenico, and thanks to Don and Null for the kind words.
My recent post New Book in the Works
Don Cave and COOP, I would love to know more if you have the literature. If you can email me at my gmail, the user id if taylorkeith.