Bodhi O'Shea on Nostr: Rember that quote from Graeber, where he describes his debate in internet newsgroups ...
Rember that quote from Graeber, where he describes his debate in internet newsgroups with ancaps asking how David would stop wage labor in an anarchist society except through force. Graeber offers a hypothetical where an Island is divided. On one side, wage workers starve if they don't make enough. On the other side, certain social guarantees are offered. David wonders where the capitalists will eventually find their waged employees and concludes:
"I’m sure that in practice any attempt to create a market economy without armies, police, and prisons to back it up will end up looking nothing like capitalism very quickly. In fact I strongly suspect it will soon look very little like what we are used to thinking of as a market."
Well, it seems to me that many MLM and liberal types make the same argument as the ancaps Graeber was debating. They assume capitalism and cash markets just arise without the armies, police or prisons needed enforce vulgar and unnatural property rights. And, they think a free market of mutual credit could just as easily create the conditions for capitalism, rent, interest, and wage labor.
Graeber admits he could be wrong, but like Graeber, I am much more interested in creating the conditions where we could find out.
"I’m sure that in practice any attempt to create a market economy without armies, police, and prisons to back it up will end up looking nothing like capitalism very quickly. In fact I strongly suspect it will soon look very little like what we are used to thinking of as a market."
Well, it seems to me that many MLM and liberal types make the same argument as the ancaps Graeber was debating. They assume capitalism and cash markets just arise without the armies, police or prisons needed enforce vulgar and unnatural property rights. And, they think a free market of mutual credit could just as easily create the conditions for capitalism, rent, interest, and wage labor.
Graeber admits he could be wrong, but like Graeber, I am much more interested in creating the conditions where we could find out.