Kevin A. Carson

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Kevin Carson is a contemporary mutualist author and individualist anarchist. His written work includes Studies in Mutualist Political Economy and a forthcoming book, Anarchist Theory of Organizational Behavior, both of which he has made freely available online. Carson has also written prolifically for a variety of internet-based journals and blogs, including Just Things, The Art of the Possible, the P2P Foundation and his own Mutualist Blog. His writing on the subject of political economy is cited by the widely read Anarchist FAQ and has been discussed in the Journal of Libertarian Studies.

Carson describes his politics as existing on "the outer fringes of both free market libertarianism and socialism." He has identified the work of Benjamin Tucker, Ralph Borsodi, Lewis Mumford and Ivan Illich as sources of inspiration in this philosophy.[1]

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In addition to individualist anarchist Benjamin Tucker's "big four" monopolies (land, money, tariffs, and patents), Carson argues that the state has also transferred wealth to the wealthy by subsidizing organizational centralization, in the form of transportation and communication subsidies. He believes that Tucker overlooked this issue due to Tucker's focus on individual market transactions, whereas Carson also focuses on organizational issues.

The theoretical sections in Studies in Mutualist Political Economy are presented as an attempt to integrate marginalist critiques into the labor theory of value.[citation needed]

[edit] On free markets

Kevin Carson defines his economic perspective as a form of free market anti-capitalism and socialism. He devotes much of his blog to the critique of other writers who identify themselves as pro-market. Carson credits himself with coining the pejorative term "vulgar libertarianism," a phrase that describes the use of a free market ideology in defense of economic inequality. According to Carson, the term is derived from the phrase "vulgar political economy", which Karl Marx described as an economic order that "deliberately becomes increasingly apologetic and makes strenuous attempts to talk out of existence the ideas which contain the contradictions [existing in economic life]." [2]

In Studies in Mutualist Political Economy, Carson asserts that,

The ideal 'free market' society of such people, it seems, is simply actually existing capitalism, minus the regulatory and welfare state: a hyper-thyroidal version of nineteenth century robber baron capitalism, perhaps; or better yet, a society 'reformed' by the likes of Pinochet, the Dionysius to whom Milton Friedman and the Chicago Boys played Plato.

Economists and organizations accused of vulgar libertarianism include Ludwig von Mises, Milton Friedman, Madsen Pirie, Radley Balko and the Adam Smith Institute. The term is most frequently employed by libertarians and anarchists who favour a free market focus on popular equality, but reject corporate capitalism.[citation needed]

[edit] On capitalism

See also: Capitalism

Unlike some other market anarchists, Carson defines capitalism in historical terms, emphasizing the history of state intervention in market economies. He says "[i]t is state intervention that distinguishes capitalism from the free market."[3] He does not define capitalism in the idealized sense, but says that when he talks about "capitalism" he is referring to what he calls "actually existing capitalism." He believes that "laissez-faire capitalism, historically speaking, is an oxymoron" but has no quarrel with anarcho-capitalists who use the term and distinguish it from "actually existing capitalism." This, according to Carson, is deliberately chosen to resurrect an old definition of the term.[4] Carson holds that capitalism is founded on "an act of robbery as massive as feudalism." Carson argues that in a truly laissez-faire system, the ability to extract a profit from labor and capital would be negligible.[5] Carson argues the centralization of wealth into a class hierarchy is due to state intervention to protect the ruling class, by using a money monopoly, granting patents and subsidies to corporations, imposing discriminatory taxation, and intervening militarily to gain access to international markets. Carson’s thesis is that under an authentic free market economy, the separation of labour from ownership and the subordination of labor to capital would be impossible, bringing a class-less society where people could easily choose between working as a freelancer, working for a fair wage, taking part of a cooperative, or being an entrepreneur (see The Iron Fist Behind The Invisible Hand).

Carson has written sympathetically about several anarcho-capitalists, arguing that they use the word "capitalism" in a different sense than he does and that they represent a legitimate strain of anarchism. He says "most people who call themselves individualist anarchists today are followers of Murray Rothbard's Austrian economics, and have abandoned the labor theory of value." However, with the release of his book, Studies in Mutualist Political Economy, he hopes to revive "mutualism." In his book he attempts to synthesize Austrian economics with the labour theory of value.[citation needed]

[edit] Criticism

Economist and anarcho-capitalist Walter Block characterizes Carson as a "Marxist". He says Carson's philosophy is full of errors, which are mostly due to his acceptance of the labor theory of value. "For someone in this day and age to even take this doctrine seriously, let alone actually try to defend it, is equivalent to making a similarly widely and properly rejected position vis à vis the flat earth, or the phlogiston theory. It is, in a word, medieval."[6]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Carson, Kevin. Introduction. The Art of the Possible (March 6, 2008)
  2. ^ HES: DISC - Marx and origin of "classical"
  3. ^ Carson, Kevin. Mutualist Political Economy, Preface
  4. ^ Carson, Kevin A. Carson's Rejoinders. Journal of Libertarian Studies, Volume 20, No. 1 (Winter 2006): 97-136, p. 116, 117
  5. ^ Anxiety Culture: Bluffer's Guide to Revolutionary Economics
  6. ^ Block, Walter. Kevin Carson as Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Journal of Libertarian Studies, Volume 20, No. 1 (Winger 2006), pp. 35-36

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