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ELI5 why is anarchy not "the guy with the bigger stick" making the rules? (lemmy.giftedmc.com)

submitted 10 months ago by haui_lemmy@lemmy.giftedmc.com to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

209 comments fedilink hide all child comments

I'm politically agnostic and have moved from a slightly conservative stance to a vastly more progressive stance (european). i still dont get the more niche things like tankies and anarchists at this point but I would like to, without spending 10 hours reading endless manifests (which do have merit, no doubt, but still).

Can someone explain to me why anarchy isnt the guy (or gal, or gang, or entity) with the bigger stick making the rules?

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[–] GBU_28@lemm.ee 2 points 10 months ago (2 children)

Huh? Organized labor can only exist when laws protect them. Otherwise companies will always find scabs, and eventually, willing long term workers.

If organized labor is the law, then they are government all over again.

Not saying positing labor as a governmental body is a bad idea.

[–] CrimeDad@lemmy.crimedad.work 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

For most of the history of capitalism, and in many cases still to this day, organized labor and various labor actions have been illegal, but it still happens.

[–] GBU_28@lemm.ee 1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

True, but what organized labor does exist is supported by, and validated by government.

[–] CrimeDad@lemmy.crimedad.work 1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

No. Organized labor exists in spite of the government. For example, in the US, sympathy strikes are illegal. Many jurisdictions have so called right-to-work laws which weaken unions. A union is its members, not the laws to which it's subjugated.

[–] GBU_28@lemm.ee 1 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

Lol sure. Any examples of organized labor existing in the absence of government, where that group themselves does not become the enforcing, power projecting government?

What you're describing are the symptoms of imperfect government.

The absence of government is a power vacuum that will be filled. Things like labor organization require structure, and if they have to do not have it, if they persist, they become government. (Enforcement, power projection, etc.)

[–] dangblingus@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

What are laws other than agreed upon tenets to live one's life by? We write them down and have a big grandiose way of announcing new legislation currently, all anarchists would do is make sure that those are baked into the social contract. Anarchists and Marxists would be the first group of people to enshrine worker protections into their society.

[–] GBU_28@lemm.ee 4 points 10 months ago

My point is that a governmental body, an enforcer of the social contract (whatever social contract the group wants) is required. I.e. someone with a stick.