By Cake Boy

I believe that if anarchism in the future wants to be something, it has to focus on libertarian unity. Anarchists should forget leftist unity or rightwing unity.

The channel ‘Springtime of Nations’ (Rothbardian anarchists) agrees with me. This text is based on their video about libertarian unity.

Leftist unity

In the past, many leftist anarchists worked together with Marxists/communists. They believed they had a common enemy, namely, all the rightwing, neoliberal, conservative, libertarian, and populist movements in the world. They called all these movements ‘fascist’. They haven’t had much success because many of these ‘fascist’ movements became popular nonetheless. And people laughed about the dramatic leftist opposition. I would even say that the incompetence of the left propelled the popularity of Trump. People were like: If these Antifa fools are against Trump, then I want to be pro-Trump.

Leftist unity, in the long run, can’t work because communism has completely different motives than anarchism.

What does communism want? They want to create an anti-imperialist super state/police state ruled by a modernist bureaucracy.

What does leftist anarchism, in theory, want? Autonomy for the regions and provinces, usufruct of the land, ownership of the means of production by syndicates (so no state ownership of the means of production, and no capitalist ownership).

These wishes clash with communism’s aims. If they have the opportunity, the communists will destroy anarchism to achieve their goals. They have no respect for anarchism at all. In the past, we saw how the communists stabbed anarchists in the back and used them as pawns. The communists betrayed the Ukrainian and Spanish anarchists, as we know. Under communism, the state needs total control of social and economic life. So, it will destroy anarchist opposition.

Proudhon hated communism more than capitalism because, under communism, there is even more state control than in capitalism. I agree with him. If I had to choose between living in capitalist America and living in Maoist China, I would rather live in America, despite all its flaws.

Fighting the right doesn’t mean you built up your movement. You can be against the right, but people want to know what you bring to the table yourself. Are you about annihilation or creation? People know leftist anarchism now for ‘being against’ all kinds of things. It’s only negation. But negation is, by definition, nothing.

Rightwing unity

A lot of libertarians focus on ‘rightwing unity’ these days. They define themselves as being ‘anti-the left’, and ‘the left’ means everything progressive, woke, or critical about the current order. So, they turn into Jordan Peterson drones, repeating hollow neoliberal clichés.

In the past, libertarianism had its own kind of culture. It was linked to the idea of ‘live and let live’, the classical liberal mindset—a kind of culture that is familiar to me. Libertarians were also more critical about neoliberalism, and some of them even joined the Occupy Wall Street movement. Back then, they said: We must detest the current order because it’s not a real free market but corrupt crony capitalism.

Conservatives have very different values than libertarians/Rothbardians. They want a strong state, closed borders, a focus on collectivism over individualism, and a focus on the greater good over privacy. They want war, if it’s in favor of the nation state, they even want conscription. They see the CEO’s and politicians of neoliberalism as heroes. Also, they have no problem with Zionist imperialist terror. All of this would clash with a sincere/educated libertarian.

You could ask yourself why you need another movement to fight the left or right. Why do you need communists to protest against a nationalist politician? Why do you, as a libertarian, need Trump or Jordan Peterson to be critical of leftism? Can’t you stand on your own feet? Can’t you speak for yourself?

So, communists and conservatives use anarchism and throw it away once they are done with it. It’s always a zero-sum game for anarchists.

Libertarian unity?

Suppose Hans Herman Hoppe, Noam Chomsky, and Kevin Carson (the spokesman of the three big anarchist schools) worked together under the same black banner. Then, anarchism could arise again.

And why shouldn’t this be possible? What does Hoppe want? He said he wanted a Europe of thousands of micro-states. A Europe consisting of a thousand Liechtensteins. In a way, it is not that different from what Proudhon proposed in the 19th century, emphasizing federalism, regionalism, and radically free markets.

What does Chomsky want? Small-scale socialism, worker ownership of the means of production, and decentralization.

What does Carson want? He wants people to choose their own economic and political arrangements as long as they are voluntary.

In a very decentralized zone, it will be easier for people to find a social/political order in their style and, more or less, under their own control. This would come closest to Proudhon’s ideal of ‘free contracts’ instead of imposed law.

Hoppe wants 1000 Liechtenstein’s? 500 of them could be capitalist and 500 of them could be socialists/syndicalist. Or, 333 could be capitalist, 333 Georgist, and 333 socialist. So, why not work together for something like that? If, from the start, you make sure you will give each other space to experiment. If you make sure everyone gets a part of the piece. Everyone gets an opportunity to run their own affairs. I haven’t heard Hoppe saying that all these Liechtenstein’s should be the same. Maybe some of them are very leftist and progressive, while others are Christian, and based on private property?

Hoppe, Chomsky, and Carson have different ideas about cultural issues. Hoppe is conservative, Carson is very progressive, and I believe Chomsky is also pretty progressive but not as progressive as Carson. But the question is not cultural or ethical. The question is about power and economics. That’s the only thing that matters in politics.

When we look at economics, I personally don’t understand why you would pay a landlord if you could also usufruct the earth, or live under a Georgist system, or a system where housing is semi-collectivized. But then again, I wouldn’t force you not to pay landlords if that’s something you really like.

I have always understood the need for workplace democracy and the formation of cooperatives. I never really understood why the workers do the work, while the shareholders get all the profit. I could never wrap my head around it. But then again, I also don’t want to force people to work in a cooperative, or a syndicalist setting. I think the economic left is right, but you can’t push their systems through the throats of people. I think real change is always slow and organic. People have to discover it themselves. And people would be able to discover it, if a lot of accessible different systems exited next to each other. All of this would then be an experimental phase in history.

Leftist and rightwing libertarians could also support their own session approaches. Libertarians could support voluntary socialist communes and community land trusts, and leftist anarchists could then support a projects like Liberland and Anarchopulco. Leftist anarchists could use bitcoins, and libertarian workers could join a syndicate. They could both defend civil liberties like the freedom to use weed, the freedom to bear arms, the freedom to do sex work, the freedom of speech, the freedom to have privacy, and artistic freedom.

People like the guy from the channel named ‘Anark’ (a popular leftist/woke anarchist) and Springtime of Nations (Rothbardians) should work together. I believe Anark already understood that you can’t work together with communists as an anarchist. This is a good development.

I wish Anark and Springtime of Nations would talk with each other for about three hours about the possibility of libertarian unity. (if you read this, reach out to each other)

Anarchism will disappear if there is no period of unification and separation in the next years.

The current communist movement will then be the big radical opposition movement. Then, American communism, the Democratic neoliberals, and the MAGA movement will probably be the three big political players in the world, shaping history.

In a way, this is a pamphlet. The following years will be turbulent, but your anarchist movements do not look very strong at the moment. So, send this pamphlet to all the anarchists you know and translate it into other languages.