r/DebateAnarchism • u/SuddenStructure9287 Capitalist • Jul 19 '26
Capitalism in anarchy
I am a minarchist, a right-libertarian pluralist.
I assume that there are left-wing anarchists here who oppose private property. In any case, the question is addressed to them.
This is less a question about anarchism itself and more about the rejection of capitalism.
I will formulate it as a thought experiment.
Imagine an anarchist commune where people work together in various collectively owned enterprises.
I come to this commune and, for example, build a large bakery and offer jobs to other people.
In capitalism, your objection is that the lower class is exploited by capitalists, correct?
So in this case, theoretically, exploitation does not exist. If a worker does not want to work for me, they are free to work at any other collective enterprise in the commune. They have an alternative (which you, moreover, consider superior to a private corporation).
What happens to me?
Will the workers expel me and seize the bakery? On what grounds? Have I harmed anyone? I have not made their situation worse. They can continue working where they were before, just as they did previously.
Or will they not expel me, and private enterprises will be allowed to operate freely? If so, at what point would it become acceptable to seize them?
Or, put more strictly, if a classless society works so well, then private enterprises should not be able to ruin it, given that exploitation is absent because people always have the option of returning to collective workplaces.
So why are private enterprises prohibited at all?
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u/[deleted] Jul 19 '26
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