Why I'm not a Libertarian

[gold_bug]

There are many reasons why I'm not a Libertarian, this is one. This is regarding the logical outcome of laissez faire anarcho-capitalism on workers. We can look back to the period 1870 - 1937 in the USA and see how unfettered capitalism that Libertarians propose affected people's lives. (The numbers in parentheses refer to bibliographic notes at the end of the text).

Techniques of corporate repression, 1870 - 1937

The Company Town

Robert J. Goldstein in his book "Political Repression in Modern America" described the company town thusly: "...companies simply owned entire communities adjacent to their mines, mills, or factories and exercised complete control over the inhabitants as a matter of law." (1) The company owned the land, the streets, the gas and water supplies, the houses and apartments, the schools, and the churches. Employees were forced to pay rent to, and purchase utilities from the company at oftentimes inflated prices. Employees also had to buy goods from company stores at fixed prices. Any employee considered to be a "troublemaker" could be evicted from his house by the company.

Often, the only police in town were the company police. The company police could declare mass meetings illegal and could arrest strikers and picketers. Union organizers could be barred from town, or jailed, deported, intimidated, or beaten.

In many company towns employees could only read newspapers and literature that passed company censorship, and could have their mail censored as well.

One observer noted that the company town needed "only castles, draw-bridges, and donjon-keeps to reproduce to the physical eye a view of feudal days." (2) The Senate LaFollette committee declared in 1939 that the company town "is an autocracy within a democracy... it is an offense against duly constituted authority." (3)

Private Police

Corporations hired private police, espionage agents, and accumulated private arsenals. The purpose of these private police forces was ostensibly to protect company property and to increase productivity within a factory. But the true purpose of the private police and detectives was to crush labor organizing. There are many cases where private police forces shot and killed or seriously wounded strikers, and the private police were rarely prosecuted. (4)

The infamous Pinkerton Detective Agency employed more men than did the US Army in the late nineteenth century. (5) From 1933 to 1937, four major American steel companies each purchased more tear gas than any law enforcement agency in the country. (6)

notes:

(1) Goldstein, Robert J.; "Political Repression in Modern America, 1870 to the Present" Cambridge, Mass: Schenkman Publishing company, Inc., 1978 (see page 10).

(2) Aurebach, Jerold S.; "Labor and Liberty" USA: Bobbs-Merrill Company, Inc., 1966 (see page 115).

(3) ibid. see page 105

(4) Goldstein, Robert J.; "Political Repression in Modern America, 1870 to the Present" Cambridge, Mass: Schenkman Publishing company, Inc., 1978 (see page 11).

(5) Wolff, Leon; "Lockout, The Story of the Homestead Strike of 1892" USA: Harper & Row Publishers, 1965. (see page 69).

(6) Aurebach, Jerold S.; "Labor and Liberty" USA: Bobbs-Merrill Company, Inc., 1966 (see page 101).

[DBoon]

1. Excellent!

n/t

[Bush loves Jiang]

I'm not a libertarian...

Because the last thing I want is Coca-Cola having the right to hire fascist para-millitaries to bust strikes like they do in Colombia.

[Bush loves Jiang]

2. I'm not a libertarian...

Because the last thing I want is Coca-Cola having the right to hire fascist para-millitaries to bust strikes like they do in Colombia.

[rudeboy666]

3. There are different flavors of libertarianism

..including Left-Libertarianism!

http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/libertarianism/

[AP]

4. Sometimes I wonder if the rise of Libertarianism is just a well-funded

effort to put the political cart before the policy-goal horse. I'm not sure if that metaphor makes sense. However, the sense I get is that a bunch of rich industrialists decided that they needed a political philosophy that would return America to the era you described. They decided that Libertarianism would do the trick, so now it gets the hell promoted out of it. It's a means to an end, in my opinion.

[Lexingtonian]

5. Here's the oldies but goodies on Libertarianism

Critiques Of Libertarianism, the comprehensive website
http://world.std.com/~mhuben/libindex.html

A Non-Libertarian FAQ
http://world.std.com/~mhuben/faq.html