Studies
The Thought of Ivan Illich: A Libertarian Analysis
      Introduction: Two Kinds of Society Illich’s most common term for the kind of society or mode of production he is critiquing is “industrial age.” The overall theme of his projected future writing, he notes, is “an epilogue to the industrial age.” I want to describe the fading monopoly of the industrial mode…
Historical Materialism: A Brief Overview and Left-Libertarian Reinterpretation
  View or download a PDF copy of Corri Ebert’s C4SS Study here: Historical Materialism: A Brief Overview and Left-Libertarian Reinterpretation Introduction One of the most famous theories forwarded by Karl Marx is that of historical materialism—although Marx himself apparently never used that exact term in his work [1]. To put it succinctly, Merriam-Webster defines…
Prison Labor: Capitalism Without Markets, Understanding the Economics of Totalitarian Institutions
 View or download a PDF copy of Joseph Parampathu’s C4SS Study here: Prison Labor: Capitalism Without Markets, Understanding the Economics of Totalitarian Institutions Abstract Prison labor remains a paradox in many ways. Simultaneously sparsely studied or recorded, and ubiquitous; derided by labor unions and free workers as unfair competition and lauded by businesses as…
The Methodenstreit Revisited: Marginalism and the Lost Power Context
View or download a PDF copy of Kevin Carson’s C4SS Study: The Methodenstreit Revisited: Marginalism and the Lost Power Context The Methodenstreit was a long-running and fairly acrimonious debate over the methodology of economic science, between Carl Menger (posthumously regarded as the founder of Austrian economics) and Gustav Schmoller of the German Historical School, which eventually…
Hayek’s Fatal Conceit
Traducción al español: La fatal arrogancia de Hayek View or download a PDF copy of Kevin Carson’s C4SS Study: Hayek’s Fatal Conceit Oskar Lange famously said, against the background of the debates over Ludwig von Mises’ economic calculation argument, that a statue of Mises should be erected in the planning ministry of a future socialist…
Capitalist Nursery Fables: The Tragedy of Private Property, and the Farce of Its Defense
View or download a PDF copy of Kevin Carson’s C4SS Study: Capitalist Nursery Fables: The Tragedy of Private Property, and the Farce of Its Defense Traduzione italiana, I Miti del Capitalismo: La tragedia della proprietà privata e la farsa della sua difesa Introduction Since the beginning of class society, every ruling class has required a…
Scarcity and Abundance Under Anarchism
[Hear an in-depth discussion on this article and its topics in this episode of The Enragés] View or download a PDF copy of Rai Ling’s C4SS Study: Scarcity and Abundance Under Anarchism Introduction To what extent are contemporary production and consumption trends compatible with the abolition of the state and authority in general? There are…
We Are All Degrowthers. We Are All Ecomodernists. Analysis of a Debate.
View or download a PDF copy of Kevin Carson’s full C4SS Study: We Are All Degrowthers. We Are All Ecomodernists. Analysis of a Debate. Introduction One of the biggest problems with the debate over “degrowth” is the term itself. In many ways, “degrowth” is an unfortunate choice for a label because it is so ambiguous. On…
Fight Fascists, Destroy Fascism
The ruling party of the United States has embraced fascism, but people throughout the country are resisting. Donald Trump had fascist tendencies and appealed to fascists since the early days of his campaign, but by now he has clearly embraced a fascist style of governing. The Republican Party has mostly gone along with it. The…
Killing 8chan: The Heart of Modern Nazi Terrorism [CW]
In addition to all kinds of scariness, it’s important also to mention exactly how mediocre 8ch is. It’s the human equivalent of the magazines in your dentist’s but– if it’s even possible– more tryhard. That they consider themselves to be an intellectual vanguard is on par with a grown adult self-identifying as Rick from Rick and Morty. It’s laughably pathetic and sad.
Libertarian Municipalism: Networked Cities as Resilient Platforms for Post-Capitalist Transition
    View or download a PDF copy of Kevin Carson’s full C4SS Study: Libertarian Municipalism: Networked Cities as Resilient Platforms for Post-Capitalist Transition   Español, Municipalismo libertario: Ciudades en red como plataformas resilientes para la transición post-capitalista We live in a time of terminal crisis for centralized institutions of all kinds, including the two most…
Agency and Other Anarchist Themes In Paul Goodman’s Work
Perhaps the most important characteristic Goodman shares with the other “anarchists without adjectives” in this series is his high regard for human agency, and his primary focus on the way actual human beings assert that agency in interacting with their environment. Read Kevin Carson’s full C4SS Study on Goodman here!
Deleuze, Guattari and Market Anarchism
There’s been a lot of talk about Deleuze and Guattari around both academic and activist scenes for quite some time. Sometimes they are objects of unfounded derision (decried as “holy fools” by traditionalist socialists like Richard Barbrook), and other times they are the beneficiaries of overtly non-critical praise.
Postmodern Philosophy and Market Anarchism: Allies or Enemies?
‘Postmodern Philosophy and Market Anarchism: Allies or Enemies?’ aims to evaluate the extent to which postmodern philosophy can strengthen the case for market anarchism, as well as provide novel modes of praxis for combating power structures (including, but not limited to, the state). Examining the ideas of Foucault, Deleuze, Crenshaw, Derrida…
We Are Not Disposable! Building Alternatives To Prisons
This study presents a critical investigation of prisons, how they operate, what defines them, and what we can do to move away from them. There are many philosophical, practical and statistical angles by which to evaluate the harm that have prisons have historically inflicted and continue to. These harms not only impact inmates but also impact society as a whole…
Rethinking Markets: Anarchism, Capitalism, and the State
Markets are generally conceived as the bulwark of capitalism, greasing the wheels of capital accumulation and mobilisation and creating the class relations characteristic of modern capitalism. It creates winners and losers, and displaces workers and firm owners through the mechanisms of creative destruction and competition.
Anarchists Without Adjectives
The “anarchism without adjectives” designation (the phrase, at least — the concept, as we shall see below, may have originated with Malatesta) was originally the work of two Spanish anarchists, Ricardo Mella and Fernando Tarrida del Marmol. Mella and Tarrida del Marmol worked out their theory in response to doctrinal disputes within the European…
Techno-Utopianism, Counterfeit and Real
Techno-Utopianism, Counterfeit and Real (With Special Regard to Paul Mason’s Post-Capitalism) Download a PDF copy of Kevin Carson’s full C4SS Study: Center for a Stateless Society Paper No. 20 (Spring 2016) I. Capitalist Techno-Utopianism from Daniel Bell On II. Categories of Leftist Techno-Utopianism III. Other Non-Capitalist Techno-Utopianisms John Holloway Michel Bauwens Accelerationism IV. Analysis: Comparison of the…
Gender Identity and Libertarianism
Download a PDF copy of Mikayla Novak’s full C4SS Study: Gender Identity and Libertarianism Abstract People who do not identify with a gender status consistent with conventional fixed, binary gender stereotypes remain the target of a complex array of typically intertwining state policies and civil societal norms which greatly inhibit their liberties. Transgender and other gender-diverse…
The Fulcrum of the Present Crisis
The Fulcrum of the Present Crisis: Some Thoughts on Revolutionary Strategy Center for a Stateless Society Paper No. 19 (Winter 2015) [PDF] The Cult of Mass, Lionization of Protest Culture & Other Industrial Age Holdovers Protest Culture. The so-called “cargo cults” of New Guinea, Micronesia and Melanesia evolved in response to the influx of American manufactured…
Anarchy and Democracy
Fighting Fascism
Markets Not Capitalism
The Anatomy of Escape
Organization Theory