Difference between revisions of "FAQAnar:F.3 - Pourquoi les "anarcho"-capitalistes n'attribuent-ils généralement peu ou pas de valeur à l'"égalité" ?"
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| − | + | Murray Rothbard fait valoir que "le libertarien n'est pas opposé à l'inégalité"<ref>Pour une Nouvelle Liberté, p. 47</ref>. En revanche, les libertaires s'opposent à l'inégalité parce qu'elle a des effets nocifs sur la liberté individuelle. Une partie de la raison de l'"anarcho"-capitalisme à placer peu ou pas de valeur à «l'égalité» découle de leur définition de ce terme. "A et B sont « égaux »", fait valoir Rothbard, "si elles sont identiques les uns aux autres par rapport à un attribut... Il y a une et une seule sorte, dans lequel deux personnes peuvent vraiment être à "égalité" dans le sens le plus large : ils doivent être identiques dans tous leurs attributs". Il a ensuite souligné le fait évident que "les hommes ne sont pas uniformes... L'espèce, l'humanité, est particulièrement caractérisée par un degré élevé de variété, de diversité, de la différenciation : en bref, de l'inégalité"<ref>Égalitarisme comme une révolte contre la nature et autres essais, p. 4 et p. 5</ref>. | |
| − | + | En d'autres termes, chaque individu est unique - ce qu'aucun égalitaire n'a jamais nié. Sur la base de cette idée étonnante, il conclut que l'égalité est impossible (à l'exception de "l'égalité des droits") et que la tentative de réaliser "l'égalité" est une "révolte contre la nature". L'utilité du sophisme de Rothbard pour les riches et les puissants devrait être évident car ça déplace l'analyse du système social dans lequel nous vivons sur des différences biologiques. Cela signifie que parce que nous sommes tous uniques, le résultat de nos actions ne seront pas identiques et que les inégalités sociales sont des flux naturels des différences et non pas en raison du système économique dans lequel nous vivons. L'inégalité de départ, dans cette perspective, suppose l'inégalité des résultats et l'inégalité sociale. Comme les différences individuelles sont un fait de la nature, les tentatives visant à créer une société fondée sur "l'égalité" (c'est-à -dire de tous identiques en termes de propriété et ainsi de suite) est impossible et "contre nature". Cela devrait aller sans dire, c'est de la musique pour les oreilles des riches. | |
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| + | Avant de continuer, nous devons noter que Rothbard est en train de détruire la langue pour faire son point et qu'il n'est pas le premier à abuser de la langue dans ce mode particulier. George Orwell, dans 1984, dans l'expression "tous les hommes sont égaux" pourrait être traduit par ''novlangue'', "''mais dans la même proportion que la phrase : «tous les hommes sont roux» serait possible en ancilangue. Elle ne contenait pas d’erreur grammaticale, mais exprimait une erreur palpable, à savoir que tous les hommes seraient égaux en taille, en poids et en force''"<ref>"Appendice : Les Principes de la novlangue", 1984, p. 246</ref>. Il est bon de savoir que "''M. libertarien''" est le voleur des idées de Big Brother, et pour la même raison: rend impossible la pensée critique en limitant le sens des mots. | ||
"Equality," in the context of political discussion, does not mean "identical," it means equality of rights, respect, worth, power and so forth. It does not imply treating everyone identically (for example, expecting an eighty year old man to do identical work as an eighteen violates treating both equally with respect as unique individuals). Needless to say, no anarchist has ever advocated such a notion of equality as being identical. As discussed in section A.2.5, anarchists have always based our arguments on the need for social equality on the fact that, while people are different, we all have the same right to be free and that inequality in wealth produces inequalities of liberty. For anarchists: | "Equality," in the context of political discussion, does not mean "identical," it means equality of rights, respect, worth, power and so forth. It does not imply treating everyone identically (for example, expecting an eighty year old man to do identical work as an eighteen violates treating both equally with respect as unique individuals). Needless to say, no anarchist has ever advocated such a notion of equality as being identical. As discussed in section A.2.5, anarchists have always based our arguments on the need for social equality on the fact that, while people are different, we all have the same right to be free and that inequality in wealth produces inequalities of liberty. For anarchists: | ||
Revision as of 14:34, 23 June 2008
Catégorie:L’anarcho-capitalisme est-il un type d’anarchisme ?
Murray Rothbard fait valoir que "le libertarien n'est pas opposé à l'inégalité"[1]. En revanche, les libertaires s'opposent à l'inégalité parce qu'elle a des effets nocifs sur la liberté individuelle. Une partie de la raison de l'"anarcho"-capitalisme à placer peu ou pas de valeur à «l'égalité» découle de leur définition de ce terme. "A et B sont « égaux »", fait valoir Rothbard, "si elles sont identiques les uns aux autres par rapport à un attribut... Il y a une et une seule sorte, dans lequel deux personnes peuvent vraiment être à "égalité" dans le sens le plus large : ils doivent être identiques dans tous leurs attributs". Il a ensuite souligné le fait évident que "les hommes ne sont pas uniformes... L'espèce, l'humanité, est particulièrement caractérisée par un degré élevé de variété, de diversité, de la différenciation : en bref, de l'inégalité"[2].
En d'autres termes, chaque individu est unique - ce qu'aucun égalitaire n'a jamais nié. Sur la base de cette idée étonnante, il conclut que l'égalité est impossible (à l'exception de "l'égalité des droits") et que la tentative de réaliser "l'égalité" est une "révolte contre la nature". L'utilité du sophisme de Rothbard pour les riches et les puissants devrait être évident car ça déplace l'analyse du système social dans lequel nous vivons sur des différences biologiques. Cela signifie que parce que nous sommes tous uniques, le résultat de nos actions ne seront pas identiques et que les inégalités sociales sont des flux naturels des différences et non pas en raison du système économique dans lequel nous vivons. L'inégalité de départ, dans cette perspective, suppose l'inégalité des résultats et l'inégalité sociale. Comme les différences individuelles sont un fait de la nature, les tentatives visant à créer une société fondée sur "l'égalité" (c'est-à -dire de tous identiques en termes de propriété et ainsi de suite) est impossible et "contre nature". Cela devrait aller sans dire, c'est de la musique pour les oreilles des riches.
Avant de continuer, nous devons noter que Rothbard est en train de détruire la langue pour faire son point et qu'il n'est pas le premier à abuser de la langue dans ce mode particulier. George Orwell, dans 1984, dans l'expression "tous les hommes sont égaux" pourrait être traduit par novlangue, "mais dans la même proportion que la phrase : «tous les hommes sont roux» serait possible en ancilangue. Elle ne contenait pas d’erreur grammaticale, mais exprimait une erreur palpable, à savoir que tous les hommes seraient égaux en taille, en poids et en force"[3]. Il est bon de savoir que "M. libertarien" est le voleur des idées de Big Brother, et pour la même raison: rend impossible la pensée critique en limitant le sens des mots.
"Equality," in the context of political discussion, does not mean "identical," it means equality of rights, respect, worth, power and so forth. It does not imply treating everyone identically (for example, expecting an eighty year old man to do identical work as an eighteen violates treating both equally with respect as unique individuals). Needless to say, no anarchist has ever advocated such a notion of equality as being identical. As discussed in section A.2.5, anarchists have always based our arguments on the need for social equality on the fact that, while people are different, we all have the same right to be free and that inequality in wealth produces inequalities of liberty. For anarchists:
"equality does not mean an equal amount but equal opportunity . . . Do not make the mistake of identifying equality in liberty with the forced equality of the convict camp. True anarchist equality implies freedom, not quantity. It does not mean that every one must eat, drink, or wear the same things, do the same work, or live in the same manner. Far from it: the very reverse, in fact. Individual needs and tastes differ, as appetites differ. It is equal opportunity to satisfy them that constitutes true equality. Far from levelling, such equality opens the door for the greatest possible variety of activity and development. For human character is diverse, and only the repression of this free diversity results in levelling, in uniformity and sameness. Free opportunity and acting out your individuality means development of natural dissimilarities and variations. . . . Life in freedom, in anarchy will do more than liberate man merely from his present political and economic bondage. That will be only the first step, the preliminary to a truly human existence." [What is Anarchism?, pp. 164-5]
So it is precisely the diversity of individuals (their uniqueness) which drives the anarchist support for equality, not its denial. Thus anarchists reject the Rothbardian-Newspeak definition of equality as meaningless. No two people are identical and so imposing "identical" equality between them would mean treating them as unequals, i.e. not having equal worth or giving them equal respect as befits them as human beings and fellow unique individuals.
So what should we make of Rothbard's claim? It is tempting just to quote Rousseau when he argued "it is . . . useless to inquire whether there is any essential connection between the two inequalities [social and natural]; for this would be only asking, in other words, whether those who command are necessarily better than those who obey, and if strength of body or of mind, wisdom, or virtue are always found in particular individuals, in proportion to their power or wealth: a question fit perhaps to be discussed by slaves in the hearing of their masters, but highly unbecoming to reasonable and free men in search of the truth." [The Social Contract and Discourses, p. 49] This seems applicable when you see Rothbard proclaim that inequality of individuals will lead to inequalities of income as "each man will tend to earn an income equal to his 'marginal productivity.'" This is because "some men" (and it is always men!) are "more intelligent, others more alert and farsighted, than the remainder of the population" and capitalism will "allow the rise of these natural aristocracies." In fact, for Rothbard, all government, in its essence, is a conspiracy against the superior man. [The Logic of Action II, p. 29 and p. 34] But a few more points should be raised.
The uniqueness of individuals has always existed but for the vast majority of human history we have lived in very egalitarian societies. If social inequality did, indeed, flow from natural inequalities then all societies would be marked by it. This is not the case. Indeed, taking a relatively recent example, many visitors to the early United States noted its egalitarian nature, something that soon changed with the rise of capitalism (a rise dependent upon state action, we must add). This implies that the society we live in (its rights framework, the social relationships it generates and so forth) has far more of a decisive impact on inequality than individual differences. Thus certain rights frameworks will tend to magnify "natural" inequalities (assuming that is the source of the initial inequality, rather than, say, violence and force). As Noam Chomsky argues:
"Presumably it is the case that in our 'real world' some combination of attributes is conducive to success in responding to 'the demands of the economic system.' Let us agree, for the sake of discussion, that this combination of attributes is in part a matter of native endowment. Why does this (alleged) fact pose an 'intellectual dilemma' to egalitarians? Note that we can hardly claim much insight into just what the relevant combination of attributes may be . . . One might suppose that some mixture of avarice, selfishness, lack of concern for others, aggressiveness, and similar characteristics play a part in getting ahead and 'making it' in a competitive society based on capitalist principles. . . . Whatever the correct collection of attributes may be, we may ask what follows from the fact, if it is a fact, that some partially inherited combination of attributes tends to material success? All that follows . . . is a comment on our particular social and economic arrangements . . . The egalitarian might respond, in all such cases, that the social order should be changed so that the collection of attributes that tends to bring success no longer do so. He might even argue that in a more decent society, the attributes that now lead to success would be recognised as pathological, and that gentle persuasion might be a proper means to help people to overcome their unfortunate malady." [The Chomsky Reader, p. 190]
So if we change society then the social inequalities we see today would disappear. It is more than probable that natural difference has been long ago been replaced with social inequalities, especially inequalities of property. And as we argue in section F.8 these inequalities of property were initially the result of force, not differences in ability. Thus to claim that social inequality flows from natural differences is false as most social inequality has flown from violence and force. This initial inequality has been magnified by the framework of capitalist property rights and so the inequality within capitalism is far more dependent upon, say, the existence of wage labour rather than "natural" differences between individuals.
This can be seen from existing society: we see that in workplaces and across industries many, if not most, unique individuals receive identical wages for identical work (although this often is not the case for women and blacks, who receive less wages than male, white workers for identical labour). Similarly, capitalists have deliberately introduced wage inequalities and hierarchies for no other reason that to divide and so rule the workforce (see section D.10). Thus, if we assume egalitarianism is a revolt against nature, then much of capitalist economic life is in such a revolt and when it is not, the "natural" inequalities have usually been imposed artificially by those in power either within the workplace or in society as a whole by means of state intervention, property laws and authoritarian social structures. Moreover, as we indicated in section C.2.5, anarchists have been aware of the collective nature of production within capitalism since Proudhon wrote What is Property? in 1840. Rothbard ignores both the anarchist tradition and reality when he stresses that individual differences produce inequalities of outcome. As an economist with a firmer grasp of the real world put it, the "notion that wages depend on personal skill, as expressed in the value of output, makes no sense in any organisation where production is interdependent and joint -- which is to say it makes no sense in virtually any organisation." [James K. Galbraith, Created Unequal, p. 263]
Thus "natural" differences do not necessarily result in inequality as such nor do such differences have much meaning in an economy marked by joint production. Given a different social system, "natural" differences would be encouraged and celebrated far wider than they are under capitalism (where hierarchy ensures the crushing of individuality rather than its encouragement) without any reduction in social equality. At its most basic, the elimination of hierarchy within the workplace would not only increase freedom but also reduce inequality as the few would not be able to monopolise the decision making process and the fruit of joint productive activity. So the claim that "natural" differences generate social inequalities is question begging in the extreme -- it takes the rights framework of capitalism as a given and ignores the initial source of inequality in property and power. Indeed, inequality of outcome or reward is more likely to be influenced by social conditions rather than individual differences (as would be expected in a society based on wage labour or other forms of exploitation).
Rothbard is at pains to portray egalitarians as driven by envy of the rich. It is hard to credit "envy" as the driving force of the likes of Bakunin and Kropotkin who left the life of wealthy aristocrats to become anarchists, who suffered imprisonment in their struggles for liberty for all rather than an elite. When this is pointed out, the typical right-wing response is to say that this shows that real working class people are not socialists. In other words if you are a working class anarchist then you are driven by envy and if not, if you reject your class background, then you show that socialism is not a working class movement! So driven by this assumption and hatred for socialism Rothbard went so far as to distort Karl Marx's words to fit it into his own ideological position. He stated that "Marx concedes the truth of the charge of anti-communists then and now" that communism was the expression of envy and a desire to reduce all to a common level. Except, of course, Marx did nothing of the kind. In the passages Rothbard presented as evidence for his claims, Marx is critiquing what he termed "crude" communism (the "this type of communism" in the passage Rothbard quoted but clearly did not understand) and it is, therefore, not surprising Marx "clearly did not stress this dark side of communist revolution in the his later writings" as he explicitly rejected this type of communism! For Rothbard, all types of socialism seem to be identical and identified with central planning -- hence his bizarre comment that "Stalin established socialism in the Soviet Union." [The Logic of Action II, pp. 394-5 and p. 200]
Another reason for "anarcho"-capitalist lack of concern for equality is that they think that (to use Robert Nozick's expression) "liberty upsets patterns". It is argued that equality (or any "end-state principle of justice") cannot be "continuously realised without continuous interference with people's lives," i.e. can only be maintained by restricting individual freedom to make exchanges or by taxation of income. [Anarchy, State, and Utopia, pp. 160-3] However, what this argument fails to acknowledge is that inequality also restricts individual freedom and that the capitalist property rights framework is not the only one possible. After all, money is power and inequalities in terms of power easily result in restrictions of liberty and the transformation of the majority into order takers rather than free producers. In other words, once a certain level of inequality is reached property does not promote, but actually conflicts with, the ends which render private property legitimate. As we argue in the next section, inequality can easily led to the situation where self-ownership is used to justify its own negation and so unrestricted property rights will undermine the meaningful self-determination which many people intuitively understand by the term "self-ownership" (i.e., what anarchists would usually call "freedom" rather than self-ownership). Thus private property itself leads to continuous interference with people's lives, as does the enforcement of Nozick's "just" distribution of property and the power that flows from such inequality. Moreover, as many critics have noted Nozick's argument assumes what it sets out to proves. As one put it, while Nozick may "wish to defend capitalist private property rights by insisting that these are founded in basic liberties," in fact he "has produced . . . an argument for unrestricted private property using unrestricted private property, and thus he begs the question he tries to answer." [Andrew Kerhohan, "Capitalism and Self-Ownership", pp. 60-76, Capitalism, Ellen Frankel Paul, Fred D. Miler, Jr, Jeffrey Paul and John Ahrens (eds.), p. 71]
So in response to the claim that equality could only be maintained by continuously interfering with people's lives, anarchists would say that the inequalities produced by capitalist property rights also involve extensive and continuous interference with people's lives. After all, as Bob Black notes "it is apparent that the source of greatest direct duress experienced by the ordinary adult is not the state but rather the business that employs him [or her]. Your foreman or supervisor gives you more or-else orders in a week than the police do in a decade." ["The Libertarian As Conservative", The Abolition of Work and Other Essays, p. 145] For example, a worker employed by a capitalist cannot freely exchange the machines or raw materials they have been provided with to use but Nozick does not class this distribution of "restricted" property rights as infringing liberty (nor does he argue that wage slavery itself restricts freedom, of course). Thus claims that equality involves infringing liberty ignores the fact that inequality also infringes liberty (never mind the significant negative effects of inequality, both of wealth and power, we discussed in section B.1). A reorganisation of society could effectively minimise inequalities by eliminating the major source of such inequalities (wage labour) by self-management. We have no desire to restrict free exchanges (after all, most anarchists desire to see the "gift economy" become a reality sooner or later) but we argue that free exchanges need not involve the unrestricted capitalist property rights Nozick assumes (see section I.5.12 for a discussion of "capitalistic acts" within an anarchist society).
Rothbard, ironically, is aware of the fact that inequality restricts freedom for the many. As he put it "inequality of control" is an "inevitable corollary of freedom" for in any organisation "there will always be a minority of people who will rise to the position of leaders and others who will remain as followers in the rank and file." [Op. Cit., p. 30] To requote Bob Black: "Some people giving orders and others obeying them: this is the essence of servitude." [Op. Cit., p. 147] Perhaps if Rothbard had spent some time in a workplace rather than in a tenured academic post he may have realised that bosses are rarely the natural elite he thought they were. Like the factory owner Engels, he was blissfully unaware that it is the self-activity of the non-"elite" on the shop floor (the product of which the boss monopolises) that keeps the whole hierarchical structure going (as we discuss in section H.4.4, the work to rule -- were workers do exactly what the boss orders them to do -- is a devastating weapon in the class struggle). It does seem somewhat ironic that the anti-Marxist Rothbard should has recourse to the same argument as Engels in order to refute the anarchist case for freedom within association! It should also be mentioned that Black has also recognised this, noting that right-"libertarianism" and mainstream Marxism "are as different as Coke and Pepsi when it comes to consecrating class society and the source of its power, work. Only upon the firm foundation of factory fascism and office oligarchy do libertarians and Leninists dare to debate the trivial issues dividing them." [Op. Cit., p. 146]
So, as Rothbard admits, inequality produces a class system and authoritarian social relationships which are rooted in ownership and control of private property. These produce specific areas of conflict over liberty, a fact of life which Rothbard (like other "anarcho"-capitalists) is keen to deny as we discuss in section F.3.2. Thus, for anarchists, the "anarcho"-capitalist opposition to equality misses the point and is extremely question begging. Anarchists do not desire to make people "identical" (which would be impossible and a total denial of liberty and equality) but to make the social relationships between individuals equal in power. In other words, they desire a situation where people interact together without institutionalised power or hierarchy and are influenced by each other "naturally," in proportion to how the (individual) differences between (social) equals are applicable in a given context. To quote Michael Bakunin, "[t]he greatest intelligence would not be equal to a comprehension of the whole. Thence results . . . the necessity of the division and association of labour. I receive and I give -- such is human life. Each directs and is directed in his turn. Therefore there is no fixed and constant authority, but a continual exchange of mutual, temporary, and, above all, voluntary authority and subordination." [God and the State, p. 33]
Such an environment can only exist within self-managed associations, for capitalism (i.e. wage labour) creates very specific relations and institutions of authority. It is for this reason anarchists are socialists. In other words, anarchists support equality precisely because we recognise that everyone is unique. If we are serious about "equality of rights" or "equal freedom" then conditions must be such that people can enjoy these rights and liberties. If we assume the right to develop one's capacities to the fullest, for example, then inequality of resources and so power within society destroys that right simply because most people do not have the means to freely exercise their capacities (they are subject to the authority of the boss, for example, during work hours).
So, in direct contrast to anarchism, right-"libertarianism" is unconcerned about any form of equality except "equality of rights". This blinds them to the realities of life; in particular, the impact of economic and social power on individuals within society and the social relationships of domination they create. Individuals may be "equal" before the law and in rights, but they may not be free due to the influence of social inequality, the relationships it creates and how it affects the law and the ability of the oppressed to use it. Because of this, all anarchists insist that equality is essential for freedom, including those in the Individualist Anarchist tradition the "anarcho"-capitalist tries to co-opt ("Spooner and Godwin insist that inequality corrupts freedom. Their anarchism is directed as much against inequality as against tyranny" and so "[w]hile sympathetic to Spooner's individualist anarchism, they [Rothbard and David Friedman] fail to notice or conveniently overlook its egalitarian implications." [Stephen L. Newman, Liberalism at Wit's End, p. 74 and p. 76]). Without social equality, individual freedom is so restricted that it becomes a mockery (essentially limiting freedom of the majority to choosing which master will govern them rather than being free).
Of course, by defining "equality" in such a restrictive manner, Rothbard's own ideology is proved to be nonsense. As L.A. Rollins notes, "Libertarianism, the advocacy of 'free society' in which people enjoy 'equal freedom' and 'equal rights,' is actually a specific form of egalitarianism. As such, Libertarianism itself is a revolt against nature. If people, by their very biological nature, are unequal in all the attributes necessary to achieving, and preserving 'freedom' and 'rights' . . . then there is no way that people can enjoy 'equal freedom' or 'equal rights'. If a free society is conceived as a society of 'equal freedom,' then there ain't no such thing as 'a free society'." [The Myth of Natural Law, p. 36] Under capitalism, freedom is a commodity like everything else. The more money you have, the greater your freedom. "Equal" freedom, in the Newspeak-Rothbardian sense, cannot exist! As for "equality before the law", its clear that such a hope is always dashed against the rocks of wealth and market power. As far as rights go, of course, both the rich and the poor have an "equal right" to sleep under a bridge (assuming the bridge's owner agrees of course!); but the owner of the bridge and the homeless have different rights, and so they cannot be said to have "equal rights" in the Newspeak-Rothbardian sense either. Needless to say, poor and rich will not "equally" use the "right" to sleep under a bridge, either.
As Bob Black observed: "The time of your life is the one commodity you can sell but never buy back. Murray Rothbard thinks egalitarianism is a revolt against nature, but his day is 24 hours long, just like everybody else's." [Op. Cit., p. 147]
By twisting the language of political debate, the vast differences in power in capitalist society can be "blamed" not on an unjust and authoritarian system but on "biology" (we are all unique individuals, after all). Unlike genes (although biotechnology corporations are working on this, too!), human society can be changed, by the individuals who comprise it, to reflect the basic features we all share in common -- our humanity, our ability to think and feel, and our need for freedom.
Notes et references
- ↑ Pour une Nouvelle Liberté, p. 47
- ↑ Égalitarisme comme une révolte contre la nature et autres essais, p. 4 et p. 5
- ↑ "Appendice : Les Principes de la novlangue", 1984, p. 246
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