Nobody said it was 1992, the president ial election and the democratic primary and the candidates were no ones told you, there was no narrator. And nothing appeared to help you. It was and payback is, to pull that off creatively. But what people, but ive asked people what they like is they feel like that what they get is what the campaign wants you to get. And the reason that i think its survived for so long is people feel like that theyre getting to see something that wouldnt normally be available to em. Although it was nothing strategic or anything like that, they felt the sense of sort of realness. And i think thats why the film has sort of survived to the extent it has. And it was, you know, if youre gonna have somebody make a movie about you, have a brilliant film maker. And penny, obviously, was that. Its really come from a study of by the way, did yall see this American Hustle . Wow. Thats a good movie. [laughter] damn good movie. So i think that was what really carries that thing. I just want to really tell you how, i know i speak for mary, how honored we are to be at this press club and to have so many of you turn out on a day, and were very proud of the book, and were very glad that we could share this with yall. And i want to thank the press club for doing this. It was very much appreciated. And we are surprised. Whos going to come out a saturday afternoon in the rain . Thank you, thank you, thank you. And i have one final who dat . Who dat . [laughter] thank you. [applause] folks, thank you very much. I hope you all had a great time. I think you did. I had a great time. Id like to present our guests with the coveted National Press club coffee mug. [applause] great, thank you. [inaudible conversations] [applause] [inaudible conversations] youre watching booktv, nonfiction authors and books every weekend on cspan2. On tuesday former defense secretary robert gates will publish his memoir, titled duty. Mr. Gates who served as secretary of defense under president bush and president obama, discusses his management of the wars in afghanistan and iraq and his relationship with the white house and congress. In excerpts from the book that appeared on the wall street journal web site earlier this week, secretary gates writes about his conflicts with the obama administration. The controlling nature of the Obama White House and its determination to take credit for every good thing that happened while giving none to the career folks in the trenches whod actually done the work offended secretary clinton as much as it did me. He also writes about the pain of dealing with congress, noting that and on the topic of war, he opis that you can watch robert gates discs his book live from the National Constitution center in philadelphia this coming friday, january 17th, at 6 30 p. M. Eastern on cspan2. Or catch the reair on booktv on sunday, january 19th, at 10 p. M. Eastern. Noam chomsky examines the political ideology of anarchism from its history and early opponents to the authors thoughts on its current usage and practicality. This hour and ten Minute Program begins now here on booktv. [applause] its hardly a secret that the terms of political discourse are not exactly models of precision, and considering the way with terms are use the way terms are used, its next to impossible to try to give a meaningful answer to such questions as what is socialism or what is capitalism or what are markets, free markets and many others in common usage. And thats even more true of the term anarchism for reasons that nathan pointed out. Its been not only subject to varied use, but also quite extreme abuse sometimes by bitter enemies, sometimes unfortunately by people who hold its banner high. So much so that, so much is the variation and abuse that it risks any simple characterization. In fact, the only way i can see to address the question that is posed this evening, what is anarchism, is to try to identify some ideas that animate at least major currents of the rich and complex and often contradictory traditions of anarchist thought and virtually anarchist action. Well, i think a sensible approach can start with remarks by the perceptive, important anarchist intellectual and also activist rudolph rocker. Ill quote him. He saw anarchism not as a fixed, selfenclosed social system with multifarious questions and problems of human live, but rather as a definite trend in the Historic Development of mankind which strives for the free, unhindered unfolding of all the individual and social forces in life. Thats from the 1930s. These concepts are not really original. Theyre both from the enlightenment and the early romantic period, in rather similar words one of the founders of classical liberalism among many other achievements described the leading principle of his thought as the absolute and essential importance of Human Development in its richest diversity. Thats a phrase that john stewart mill too took at the epigraph to his own liberty. It follows from that that institutions that constrain such Human Development are illegitimate unless, of course, they couldnt somehow justify themselves. You find a similar conception widely in enlightenment thought. So, for example, in adam smith everyone has read the opening paragraphs of wealth of nations where he extols the wonders of the division of labor, but not many people have gotten farther inside to read his bitter condemnation of division of labor and his insistence that in any civilized society, the government will have to intervene to prevent it because it will destroy personal integrity and essential human rights. It will turn people, he said, into creatures as stupid and ignorant as a human can be. Its not too easy to find that passage, whatever the reason may be. If you look in the standard scholarly edition, the university of chicago bicentennial edition, its not even listed in the index. Or but its one of the most important passages in the book. Looked at in these terms, anarchism is a tendency in Human Development that seeks to identify structures of hierarchy, domination, authority and others that constrain Human Development. And then it seeks to subject them to a very reasonable challenge; justify yourself, demonstrate that youre legitimate, and maybe in some special circumstances or conceivably in principle. And if you cant meet that challenge, which is the usual case, the structure should be dismantled. And as nathan rightly adds, not just dismantled, but reconstructed from below. Of the ideals that found expression during the enlightenment and the romantic era, they foundered on the shoals of rising industrial capitalism which is completely ant net call to them. But rocker argues, i think quite. Plausibly, that they remain alive in the socialist traditions. These range pretty widely. They range from left antibolshevik marxism that people like anton [inaudible] paul maddock and others including the cynicism that reached its peak of achievement in the revolutionary period in spain in 1936 and its well to remember that despite its substantial achievements and successes, it was crushed by the combined force of fascism, communism and western democracy. They had differences, but they agreed that this had to be crushed, the effort of free people to control their own lives. That had to be crushed before they turned to their petty differences which are what we call the spanish civil war. The same, the same tendencies reach further to workercontrolled enterprises. Theyre springing up in large parts of the old to rust belt in the United States, in northern mexico. Theyve reached their greatest development in the bask country in spain Basque Country in spain. Partly a reflection of the achievements of the long, complex, rich spanish tradition of anarchism, and partly it comes out of christian anarchist sources. Theres also included in this general tendency are the quite substantial and cooperative movements that exist in many parts of the world. And i think it also encompasses at least a good part of feminist and human rights activism. Well, in part all of this sounds like truism. So why should anyone defend illegitimate structures . No reason, of course. And i think that perceptions correct. It really is truism, i think. Anarchism might be called truism. One is a merit of being true, unlike most political discourse. This particular truism belongs to an interesting category of principles, principles that are not only universal, but doubly universal. Theyre universal, and theyre almost universeally accepted, and universal in that theyre almost universeally rejected and practiced. This is one of many of these. For example, the general principle that we should apply to ourselves the same standards we do to others, if not harsh ones. A few would object, a few would practice it. Or more specific policy proposals like democracy promotion or the humanitarian intervention, professed generally, rejected in practice almost universally. All doubly universal. And this truism is the same, the truism that we should challenge and coercive institutions of all kinds demand that they justify themselves, dismantle and reconstruction. If they do not, easy to stay but not so easy to act on in practice. Well, proceeding with similar thoughts, ill quote rocker again anarchism seeks to free labor from economic exploitation and to free society from ecclesiastical or political guardianship. And by doing that, opening the way to an alliance of free groups of men and women based on cooperative labor and a planned administration of things in the interest of the community. Now, rocker was an anarchist activist as well as political thinker, and he goes on to call on the workers organizations, other popular organizations to create not only the ideas, but also the facts of the future itself within the current society. Thats an injunction that goes back to the conant. One traditional anarchist slogan is [speaking in native tongue] no god, no master. Its a phrase that was the title of the very valuable collection of anarchist classics. I think its fair to understand the phrase no god in the terms that i just quoted from rocker, opposition to ecclesiastical guardianship. Individual beliefs are a different matter. Thats no matter of concern to a person concerned with Free Development of thought and action. That leaves the door open to the lively and impressive tradition of religious anarchism, for example. Dorothy days very impressive catholic workers movement. But the phrase no master is different. That refers not to individual belief, but to a social relation, a relation of subordination and dominance. A relation that anarchism, if taken seriously, seeks to dismantle and rebuild from below unless it can somehow meet the harsh burden of establishing its legitimacy. Well, by now weve departed from truism. In fact, too ample controversy. In particular right at this point, the rather peculiar american brand of whats called libertarianism that departs very sharply from thelibertarian tradition, it accepts and, indeed, strongly advocates the subordination of working people to the masters of the economy. And furthermore, the subjection of everyone to the restrictive discipline and destructive features of markets. These are topics worth pursuing. Ill take them up later, if youd like, but ill put them aside here. Though also recommending to you nathans comment, his suggestion about bringing together in some way the energies of the young libertarian left and right. As is, indeed, sometimes done. For example, its done in the quite important work of valuable theoretical and practical work of economist David Ellerman and some others. Well, anarchism, of course, is famously opposed to the state while statement advocating planned administration of things in the interests of the community, rockers phrase again. And beyond that broader ped rations federations of selfgoverning communities, workplaces. Well, in the real world of today, the same dedicated anarchists who are opposed to the state often support state power to protect people and society and the earth itself from the ravages of concentrated private capital. So it takes a venerable anarchist journal like freedom. It goes back to 1886, journal of socialist anarchism by supporters of kerr pot ken. If you open its page, youll find that much of it is devoted to defending rights of people, the environment, society often by invoking state power. Like regulation of the environment or safety in Health Regulations and the workplace. Theres no contradiction here as sometimes thought. People live and suffer and endure in this world and not some world that we imagine. And all the means available should be used to safeguard and benefit them even if the longterm goal is to displace these devices and construct preferable alternatives. Discussing this, ive sometimes used an image that comes from the brazilian workers movement. Its a discussed and interesting work by mayberry lewis. The image is widening the floors of the capable. The cage is existing coercive institutions that can be widened by committed popular struggle. Happened effectively over many years. And you can extend the image beyond. Think of the cage of coercive state institutions as a kind of protection from savage beasts that are roaming outside; namely, the predatory statesupported capitalist institutions that are dedicated to the principle of private gain, power, domination with the interest of the community at most a footnote. Maybe revered in rhetoric, but dismissed in practice and, in fact, even in Anglo American law. Well, its worth, also worth remembering that anarchists condemned really existing states, not visions of unrealized democratic dreams such as government of, by and for the people. They bitterly opposed the rule of what was called the red bureaucracy which was predicted 50 years in advance would be among the most savage of human creations. And be they also opposed parliamentary systems that are instruments of class rule. The contemporary United States, for example, which is not a democracy, its a plutocracy. Very easy to demonstrate. The majority of the population has no influence over policy. As you move up the income, wealth scale, you get more and more influence. People get way what they want. Well established by political science, but familiar to everyone who looks at the way the world works. A truly democratic system would be quite different. It would have the character of, quote again, an alliance of free groups of men and women based on cooperative labor and a planned administration of things in the interests of the community. In fact, thats not too remote from one version of the mainstream democratic ideal. Actually, one version, i stress that. Ill return to others. So take, for example, the leading American Social philosopher of the 20th century, john dewey. His Major Concerns were democracy and education. No one took dewey to be an anarchist. But Pay Attention to his ideas. In his conception of democracy, illegitimate structures of coercion must be dismantled. And that includes, ill quote him, domination by business for private profit through private control of banking, land, industry, reinforced by command of the press, press agents, other means of publicity and propaganda. He recognized, still quoting, that power today resides in control of the means of production, exchange, publicity, transportation and communication. Whoever owns them, rules the life of the country each if democratic forms remain. And until these institutions are in the hands of the public, politics will remain the shadow cast on big cast by big business on society. Very much what we see around us, in fact. But its important that dewey went beyond calling for some form of public control. That could take many forms. He went beyond. And in a free and democratic society, he wrote, the workers should be the masters of their own industrial fate. Not tools rented by employers. Not directed by state authorities. Now, that position goes right back to the leading ideas of class call liberalism classical liberalism articulated by smith, others, and extended in the anarchist tradition. Turning to education, dewey held that it is ill liberal and immoral to train children to work not freely and intelligently, but for the sake of the work earned. To achieve test scores, for example. In which case their activity is not free because its not freely participated in, and its quickly forgotten, too, as all of us know from our experience. So he proceeded to conclude that industry must be changed from a feud listic to a democratic social order, and educational practice should be designed to encourage creativity, exploration, independence, cooperative work. Exactly the opposite of whats happening today. Well, these ideas lead to a vision of society based on workers control of productive institutions, the link to Community Control within the framework of Free Association and federal organization. In the general style of thought that includes, of course, along with many anarchists others too, say g. D. H. Cowles, the left antibolshevik marxism, the current developments, for example, the participatory or economics in politics of michael albert, stephen shall um and ores along others along with important work in theory and practice by the late seymour mehlman, his associates and many others. And notably [inaudible] very valuable recent contributions on workerowned enterprise and cooperatives. Not just talk, but actual taking place. Well, going back to dewey, he was as american as apple pie, to borrow the old cliche. Right in the mainstream of American History and culture. And, in fact, all of these ideas and developments are very deeply rooted in the american tradition. And in American History. A fact which is kind of suppressed, but is very, very obvious when you look into it. And when you pursue these questions, you enter into an important terrain of inspiring, often bitter struggle. Ever since the dawn of the Industrial Revolution which was right around here, eastern massachusetts, mid 19th century. The first serious scholarly work, study of the industrial worker this those years was 90 years ago by norman ware. He reviews the hideous working conditions that were imposed on formerlyindependent craftsmen and farmers, immigrants as well as the socalled factory girls, young women brought from the f