View source for Anarchy 85/Josiah Warren: the incompleat anarchist

{{header
 | title      = [[../|ANARCHY 85 (Vol 8 No 3) MARCH 1968]]<br>Josiah Warren: the incompleat anarchist
 | author     = Harold Barclay
 | section    =
 | previous   = [[../Utopian means they don't want to do it!|Utopian means they don{{t}} want to do it!]]
 | next       = '''[[Anarchy 86]]'''
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<div style="max-width:500px; margin:auto;">{{p|s1}}<font size="5">'''Josiah Warren:<br>the incompleat anarchist'''</font>

<font size="4">'''[[Author:Harold Barclay|HAROLD BARCLAY]]'''</font>


<div style="text-align:justify;">{{sc|Josiah warren has been pre&shy;sen&shy;ted}} to the world by his various inter&shy;pre&shy;ters as an indi&shy;vidu&shy;alist anar&shy;chist and as the first Ame&shy;ri&shy;can anar&shy;chist. His bio&shy;graph&shy;er, {{popup|W. Bailie|William Bailie, Irish-American author (1867–1957)}}, en&shy;tit&shy;led his work, ''{{l|Josiah Warren: The First Ame&shy;ri&shy;can Anar&shy;chist|http://dwardmac.pitzer.edu/Anarchist_Archives/bright/warren/bailie.html}}'' (1906). Two recent antho&shy;lo&shy;gies of anar&shy;chist wri&shy;tings, {{w|I. L. Horo&shy;wit{{q|z|r}}|Irving_Louis_Horowitz}} ''{{l|The Anar&shy;chists|http://www.worldcat.org/title/anarchists/oclc/577109715}}'' (1964) and {{popup|L. I. Krimerman|Leonard Isaiah Krimerman (born 1934)}} and {{popup|Lewis Perry|(born 1938)}}{{s}} ''{{l|Patterns of Anarchy|http://www.worldcat.org/title/patterns-of-anarchy-a-collection-of-writings-on-the-anarchist-tradition/oclc/266213}}'' (1966), each have selec&shy;tions from Warren. [[Author:George Woodcock|George Wood&shy;cock]] in his survey of anar&shy;chism devotes several para&shy;graphs to Warren and writes: {{qq|&hellip; he deve&shy;loped the theory of the sove&shy;reign&shy;ty of the indi&shy;vidu&shy;al which has led to his being regar&shy;ded, rightly, I think, as the first Ame&shy;ri&shy;can anar&shy;chist}} ({{popup|1962, p. 456|Anarchism: A History of Libertarian Ideas and Movements.}}).

{{tab}}A recent reading of ''{{l|True Civi&shy;liza&shy;tion|http://dwardmac.pitzer.edu/Anarchist_Archives/bright/warren/truecivtoc.html}}'' (1863) and ''{{l|Prac&shy;tical Details of Equitable Commerce|http://dwardmac.pitzer.edu/Anarchist_Archives/bright/warren/equcom.pdf}}'' (1852) has led me to ques&shy;tion how far one should clas&shy;sify Warren as an anar&shy;chist and to suspect that cer&shy;tain&shy;ly as he grew older he assumed a posi&shy;tion like that of {{w|Thoreau|Henry_David_Thoreau}}, or even {{w|Jef&shy;fer&shy;son|Thomas_Jefferson}}, which is more accu&shy;rate&shy;ly des&shy;cribed as de&shy;cen&shy;tra&shy;list demo&shy;crat and, indeed, seems to form a sig&shy;ni&shy;fi&shy;cant link between various ele&shy;ments of the con&shy;tem&shy;po&shy;rary radical right (such as the {{w|Rampart College|Rampart_College}} group at {{w|Lark&shy;spur, Colo&shy;rado|Larkspur,_Colorado}}) and the anar&shy;chist left.

{{tab}}Josiah Warren (1798-1874) was born in New England and, after an early mar&shy;ri&shy;age, drifted west&shy;ward even&shy;tu&shy;ally sett&shy;ling in {{w|Ohio|Ohio}}. By pro&shy;fes&shy;sion an or&shy;ches&shy;tra leader and music teacher, he pursued these enter&shy;pri&shy;ses spo&shy;ra&shy;di&shy;cally through&shy;out much of his life. Warren early gave indi&shy;ca&shy;tion of a prac&shy;ti&shy;cal and in&shy;geni&shy;ous turn of mind with his inven&shy;tion of a {{w|lard|Lard}} fed lamp, much cheaper to operate than the usual oil type lamp. Later in his life he turned at dif&shy;fer&shy;ent times to produce other in&shy;ven&shy;tions. His desire to pro&shy;pa&shy;gate his social theo&shy;ries led to an inte&shy;rest in prin&shy;ting and the deve&shy;lop&shy;ment of a cylan&shy;der press which, however, was not accep&shy;ted by printers until rein&shy;ven&shy;ted by another indi&shy;vidu&shy;al a gene&shy;ra&shy;tion later. He, also, deve&shy;loped a nota&shy;tio&shy;nal system for music and a ste&shy;reo&shy;ty&shy;ping process which brought him $7,000, a sum he in&shy;ves&shy;ted in his second expe&shy;ri&shy;men&shy;tal com&shy;mu&shy;nity of Utopia. All in all Warren appears to fit the ste&shy;reo&shy;type of the in&shy;geni&shy;ous Yankee tin&shy;ker&shy;ing among a variety of gadgets and pro&shy;du&shy;cing the most prac&shy;ti&shy;cal tech&shy;no&shy;logi&shy;cal inven&shy;tions. But Warren was more than a creator of new gadgets. {{p|91}}His main claim to fame, of course, is as an inno&shy;va&shy;tor and ex&shy;peri&shy;men&shy;ter with social systems. {{w|J. S. Mill|John_Stuart_Mill}} called Warren a {{qq|remar&shy;ka&shy;ble Ame&shy;ri&shy;can}} and it is a sad com&shy;men&shy;tary on the ''{{w|En&shy;cyc&shy;lo&shy;pae&shy;dia Bri&shy;tan&shy;nica|Encyclopædia_Britannica}}'' and not on Josiah Warren that the en&shy;cy&shy;clo&shy;pae&shy;dia con&shy;tains not a single refe&shy;rence to so crea&shy;tive and unique an indi&shy;vi&shy;dual.

{{tab}}{{w|Martin|James_J._Martin}} sug&shy;gests that had it not been for his asso&shy;cia&shy;tion with {{w|Owen|Robert_Owen}}, Warren might have devoted the rest of his life to busi&shy;ness under&shy;ta&shy;kings and {{qq|become one of the early men of wealth in the growing Midwest}} ({{special1}}). Between 1825 and 1827 Warren was asso&shy;cia&shy;ted with Owen at the {{w|New Harmony|New_Harmony,_Indiana}} colony. He saw its major defects as ex&shy;ces&shy;sive orga&shy;niza&shy;tion and cen&shy;tra&shy;liza&shy;tion and left the com&shy;mu&shy;nity intent upon testing Owen{{s}} idea of eco&shy;no&shy;mic ex&shy;change through {{w|pro&shy;mis&shy;sory notes|Promissory_note}} based upon labour time. Like Thoreau who em&shy;barked upon his {{l|Walden|https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Walden}} stay as an expe&shy;ri&shy;ment, Warren, too, opened a {{qq|time store}} in {{w|Cin&shy;cin&shy;nati|Cincinnati}} in 1827 to test the prac&shy;tica&shy;lity of Owen{{s}} labour note theory. After three years of opera&shy;tion Warren closed his store con&shy;vinced of its fea&shy;sibi&shy;lity and invited others to join him in foun&shy;ding a com&shy;mu&shy;nity based on what he called the prin&shy;ciple of equity, namely, that cost of an item was the labour time in&shy;volved in bring&shy;ing it to the con&shy;su&shy;mer. Ex&shy;change was to be in the form of notes indi&shy;ca&shy;ting a promise to give on demand so much labour time. In addi&shy;tion the com&shy;mu&shy;nity was to be {{qq|based on volun&shy;tary assent and lacking the for&shy;ma&shy;li&shy;ties of majo&shy;rity rule}} (Martin, 1957, p. 43). Thus, he founded Equity which lasted less than three years and was the shor&shy;test lived of his com&shy;mu&shy;ni&shy;ties. Actu&shy;ally Equity was forced to close not because of the failure of the ap&shy;pli&shy;ca&shy;tion of the social theo&shy;ries but because {{qq|Faulty judg&shy;ment had re&shy;sul&shy;ted in loca&shy;ting the set&shy;tle&shy;ment on land in a low-<wbr>lying area, which sub&shy;jec&shy;ted the resi&shy;dents to a variety of ill&shy;nes&shy;ses. The prin&shy;ci&shy;pal one &hellip; was {{w|malaria|Malaria}}}} (Martin, 1957, p. 42). Following the Equity expe&shy;ri&shy;ment Warren vari&shy;ous&shy;ly worked on a new prin&shy;ting press, ran a short&shy;lived manual trai&shy;ning school, edited a {{special2}}, and opera&shy;ted for two years another time store. In 1847 he estab&shy;lished his second com&shy;mu&shy;nity of Utopia and in 1851 still a third called {{w|Modern Times|Socialist_Community_of_Modern_Times}}. Both were orga&shy;nized ac&shy;cor&shy;ding to the same prin&shy;ciples as those of Equity and even&shy;tu&shy;ally suf&shy;fered from the ill-<wbr>effects of the {{w|Civil War|American_Civil_War}} and the avai&shy;labi&shy;lity of cheap lands further west. Both, however, managed to con&shy;tinue on after Warren{{s}} death in 1874. Members gra&shy;du&shy;ally and quietly aban&shy;doned the prin&shy;ciples of equity and the com&shy;muni&shy;ties even&shy;tu&shy;ally wi&shy;thered away after a few secular Utopian ex&shy;peri&shy;ments of the nine&shy;teenth century. And this is a point worth bearing in mind, namely, that of all the secular ex&shy;peri&shy;ments of this nature the two which sur&shy;vived the longest were the ones which were the most liber&shy;ta&shy;rian.

{{tab}}Warren{{s}} views may be broadly des&shy;cribed as indi&shy;vidu&shy;alist, ra&shy;tio&shy;na&shy;list and prag&shy;ma&shy;tic and his earlier writing, e.g., ''Equi&shy;table Commerce'', as more spe&shy;ci&shy;fi&shy;cally anar&shy;chist. There is a certain affi&shy;nity between Warren and [[Author:Paul Goodman|Paul Goodman]]: Warren could well have au&shy;thored a ''{{w|Utopian Essays and Prac&shy;tical Pro&shy;po&shy;sals|Utopian_Essays_and_Practical_Proposals}}''. The central theme of Warren{{s}} wri&shy;tings is the {{qq|sove&shy;reign&shy;ty of the indi&shy;vi&shy;dual}}, by which he meant that the star&shy;ting {{p|92}}place of any philo&shy;sophy is with the indi&shy;vi&shy;dual who by im&shy;pli&shy;ca&shy;tion is above all a ratio&shy;nal being. The primi&shy;tive con&shy;di&shy;tion of man re&shy;qui&shy;ring self-<wbr>pre&shy;serva&shy;tion pro&shy;duced clan orga&shy;niza&shy;tion which stressed the su&shy;pre&shy;macy of the group over the indi&shy;vi&shy;dual, the dis&shy;solu&shy;tion of indi&shy;vi&shy;dua&shy;lity in the group, and dis&shy;cou&shy;raged all indi&shy;vi&shy;dual res&shy;pon&shy;sibi&shy;lity. The clan idea has been per&shy;petu&shy;ated in modern times in the concept of na&shy;tion&shy;hood, in the {{qq|Union of states}} and in com&shy;mu&shy;nism. True civi&shy;liza&shy;tion is based on the sove&shy;reign&shy;ty of the indi&shy;vi&shy;dual not of the group.

{{tab}}Before des&shy;cri&shy;bing the doc&shy;trine of self-<wbr>sove&shy;reign&shy;ty further and its spe&shy;ci&shy;fic rela&shy;tion&shy;ship to the idea of go&shy;vern&shy;ment{{dash|which is the main burden of this paper}}it should be pointed out that Warren saw true civi&shy;liza&shy;tion as a pos&shy;sibi&shy;lity only when indi&shy;vi&shy;dua&shy;lity and self-<wbr>sove&shy;reign&shy;ty ope&shy;rated in concert with what he called the prin&shy;ciple of equi&shy;va&shy;lents and the prin&shy;ciple of equi&shy;table money. The prin&shy;ciple of equi&shy;va&shy;lents holds that the price of an item is go&shy;verned by its cost which in turn amounts to the labour of pro&shy;ces&shy;sing and deli&shy;ve&shy;ring the item to the con&shy;su&shy;mer. Cost should not be con&shy;fused with value; to base price on value is an ini&shy;quity. One cannot deter&shy;mine value, but one can deter&shy;mine cost by labour exerted. Skill or talent which cost nothing are natural wealth and should be ac&shy;ces&shy;sible to all without price. Warren, fol&shy;low&shy;ing Owen, advo&shy;cates the equa&shy;lity of labour: the labour time of the phy&shy;si&shy;cian is equal to that of the store clerk. This raises the ques&shy;tion that if cost of an item varies ac&shy;cor&shy;ding to labour time why doesn{{t}} the {{qq|cost}} of the labour time vary ac&shy;cor&shy;ding to the amount of energy and the in&shy;vest&shy;ment of past trai&shy;ning. In other words, should not past pre&shy;para&shy;tion and ex&shy;pen&shy;di&shy;ture of energy make the sur&shy;geon{{s}} hour more costly than the shop&shy;kee&shy;per{{s}}<!-- 'shopkeepers' in original -->?

{{tab}}With the prin&shy;ciple of equi&shy;va&shy;lents usury dis&shy;ap&shy;pears and a bor&shy;row&shy;er is charged, as Warren charged his bor&shy;row&shy;ers, for the labour time it takes the lender to arrange for and ulti&shy;mate&shy;ly collect the loan. The capi&shy;ta&shy;list obtains, under Warren{{s}} scheme, only payment for the time in&shy;ves&shy;ted in over&shy;see&shy;ing and other similar duties. Warren men&shy;tions two factors which will prepare the way for the estab&shy;lish&shy;ment of this prin&shy;ciple. First, stres&shy;sing the ra&shy;tio&shy;nal nature of man, is the ob&shy;ser&shy;va&shy;tion that men, capi&shy;ta&shy;list and non-<wbr>capi&shy;ta&shy;list alike, will see that this ap&shy;proach is most rea&shy;so&shy;nable. Those who do not will, by the opera&shy;tion of {{qq|equi&shy;table com&shy;peti&shy;tion}}, even&shy;tu&shy;ally be forced to engage in {{qq|equi&shy;table com&shy;merce}}. Another es&shy;sen&shy;tial ingre&shy;dient of true civi&shy;liza&shy;tion is equi&shy;table money where notes indi&shy;ca&shy;ting a promise to pro&shy;vide a stated amount of labour time on demand are used for all com&shy;mer&shy;cial trans&shy;ac&shy;tions. Such a system was ap&shy;plied by Warren in his time stores and in his com&shy;muni&shy;ties where it appa&shy;rent&shy;ly met with some success, suf&shy;fe&shy;ring little from what one might con&shy;sider its most obvious draw&shy;backs, namely, an ina&shy;bi&shy;lity to redeem the notes and depre&shy;cia&shy;tion as a result of over-<wbr>issue.

{{tab}}Warren uses the model of equi&shy;table com&shy;merce as the basis for his ap&shy;proach to edu&shy;ca&shy;tion and all social rela&shy;tions. At one point in his work such eco&shy;nomic empha&shy;sis is ex&shy;pressed in a naive eco&shy;no&shy;mic deter&shy;mi&shy;nism.

<blockquote>{{qq|Pecu&shy;ni&shy;ary affairs are the very basis of society. When we change {{p|93}}these we change all insti&shy;tu&shy;tions, for all are built, di&shy;rect&shy;ly or indi&shy;rect&shy;ly upon pro&shy;per&shy;ty consi&shy;dera&shy;tions. &hellip; The great excuse for laws and go&shy;vern&shy;ment is, the pro&shy;tec&shy;tion of persons and pro&shy;per&shy;ty, but were it not for pro&shy;per&shy;ty, persons would not be in danger.}} (''Prac&shy;tical Details'', p. 71.)</blockquote>

When methods of ac&shy;qui&shy;ring pro&shy;per&shy;ty are so altered that each may share in an abun&shy;dance {{qq|with less trouble than it will cost him to invade his neigh&shy;bour}}, we shall be able to dis&shy;pense with rules (''Prac&shy;tical Details'', p. 71). Warren makes, then, in this one in&shy;stance what today would be consi&shy;dered a vulgar Marxist ex&shy;pla&shy;na&shy;tion, but both ''Prac&shy;tical Details'' and ''True Civi&shy;liza&shy;tion'' are per&shy;mea&shy;ted with an intel&shy;lec&shy;tua&shy;lis&shy;tic causal theory inti&shy;ma&shy;ting that the real dynamic force in society is the ra&shy;tio&shy;nal man who comes to realize his own self-<wbr>inte&shy;rest.

{{tab}}While Warren conti&shy;nued through&shy;out his life a faith in the prin&shy;ciples of equi&shy;table com&shy;merce, he appa&shy;rent&shy;ly modi&shy;fied his views con&shy;cer&shy;ning the prin&shy;ciples of indi&shy;vi&shy;dua&shy;lity and self-<wbr>sove&shy;reign&shy;ty as they relate to the role of go&shy;vern&shy;ment. Thus, Martin writes:

<blockquote>{{qq|Agita&shy;ted by the violence and dis&shy;rup&shy;tion which was beco&shy;ming a part of the exis&shy;tence of many in all parts of the land, Warren pub&shy;lished a curious tract, ''Modern Go&shy;vern&shy;ment and Its True Mission, A Few Words for the Ame&shy;ri&shy;can Crisis'' which advo&shy;cates expe&shy;di&shy;ents greatly at vari&shy;ance with prin&shy;ciples which have un&shy;alter&shy;able status among anar&shy;chists. A study of the work reveals a re&shy;gres&shy;sion to func&shy;tio&shy;nal aspects long taught by Robert Owen}} (Martin, p. 82).</blockquote>

Martin does not elabo&shy;rate further, but when one ex&shy;plores ''True Civi&shy;liza&shy;tion'', written a year after (1863), his meaning becomes more appa&shy;rent. Warren here has become the advo&shy;cate of a form of limited go&shy;vern&shy;ment much in the tra&shy;di&shy;tion of Thomas Jef&shy;fer&shy;son.

<blockquote>{{qq|The true func&shy;tion of go&shy;vern&shy;ment deals only with the of&shy;fen&shy;sive en&shy;croach&shy;ments upon persons or pro&shy;per&shy;ty{{dash|an expe&shy;di&shy;ent choice of evils where there is nothing but evil to choose from}}to prevent un&shy;neces&shy;sary des&shy;truc&shy;tion of life or pro&shy;per&shy;ty}} (''True Civi&shy;liza&shy;tion'', p. 28).</blockquote>

True civi&shy;liza&shy;tion never uses vio&shy;lence {{qq|un&shy;neces&shy;sa&shy;rily}} ac&shy;cor&shy;ding to Warren. At other places in ''True Civi&shy;liza&shy;tion'' he states:

<blockquote>{{qq|The Modern Mili&shy;tary, as a Go&shy;vern&shy;ment, will be neces&shy;sary only in the tran&shy;si&shy;tio&shy;nary stage of society from confu&shy;sion and wanton vio&shy;lence to true order and mature civi&shy;liza&shy;tion}} (p. 33).</blockquote>

And in the con&shy;clu&shy;ding pages of the same volume he is appa&shy;rent&shy;ly not ob&shy;jec&shy;ting to go&shy;vern&shy;ment so much as he is oppo&shy;sing {{qq|Ag&shy;gres&shy;sive Go&shy;vern&shy;ment}}.

<blockquote>{{qq|And when&shy;ever a Go&shy;vern&shy;ment governs an iota more than is abso&shy;lute&shy;ly neces&shy;sary to res&shy;train or repair un&shy;neces&shy;sary en&shy;croach&shy;ments on ag&shy;gres&shy;sion, it then becomes ag&shy;gres&shy;sive, and should ''itself'' be go&shy;verned and res&shy;trained}} (p. 179).</blockquote>

{{tab}}Some hints of this inter&shy;pre&shy;ta&shy;tion of the role of go&shy;vern&shy;ment appear in ''Prac&shy;tical Details'' which Warren pub&shy;lished more than ten years before ''True Civi&shy;liza&shy;tion''. Thus,

{{p|94}}<blockquote>{{qq|There are some cir&shy;cum&shy;stan&shy;ces ''under'' which orga&shy;niza&shy;tion and laws seem to be jus&shy;tifi&shy;able which ought to be a tem&shy;po&shy;rary expe&shy;di&shy;ent, has been created into a uni&shy;ver&shy;sal rule, to which even the objects aimed at have become sub&shy;ordi&shy;nate!}} (''Prac&shy;ti&shy;cal Details'', p. 54).</blockquote>

Warren holds this condi&shy;tion is wrong, since, again stres&shy;sing his prag&shy;ma&shy;tism, he<!-- 'be' in original --> be&shy;lieves each case must be exa&shy;mined on its own. Later in this short book, he dis&shy;cus&shy;ses his ex&shy;peri&shy;ences in opera&shy;ting a manual trai&shy;ning school. He pre&shy;sents views on edu&shy;ca&shy;tion which are a nine&shy;teenth century pre&shy;vi&shy;sio&shy;ning of the phi&shy;loso&shy;phy of [[Author:A. S. Neill|A. S. Neill]]<!-- 'Niell' in original --> as well as a further appli&shy;ca&shy;tion of his prac&shy;tical, liber&shy;ta&shy;rian and ra&shy;tio&shy;nalis&shy;tic ap&shy;proach. In brief, he be&shy;lieves chil&shy;dren should be moti&shy;va&shy;ted to obey not by com&shy;mand, threats, or pu&shy;nish&shy;ment, but by the prin&shy;ciple of labour for labour, love for love, i.e., the mutua&shy;list ideal. Children {{qq|have their own sove&shy;reign&shy;ty as much as adults and it should be exer&shy;cised in the same limits ''at their own cost''}} (''Prac&shy;tical Details'', p. 64). On the other hand, and this point is rele&shy;vant to his remarks on go&shy;vern&shy;ment, {{qq|I cannot allow my child to exer&shy;cise his sove&shy;reign will in all things, until, in ''all'' things, he can take the conse&shy;quen&shy;ces on himself}} (p. 68). In other words, I would submit that even in ''Prac&shy;tical Details'' written by Warren in 1852 there are indi&shy;ca&shy;tions of a trend that finally cul&shy;mina&shy;ted in ''True Civi&shy;liza&shy;tion'' and appa&shy;rent&shy;ly also in his essay ''Modern Go&shy;vern&shy;ment and Its True Mission''.

{{tab}}It is inte&shy;res&shy;ting to look for a moment at the type of go&shy;vern&shy;ment Warren envi&shy;saged. If indi&shy;vidu&shy;als are unable to settle their affairs by mutual and volun&shy;tary contract Warren advo&shy;cates appeal to deli&shy;bera&shy;tive coun&shy;cils com&shy;posed of members who volun&shy;teer their servi&shy;ces and are, of course, recog&shy;nized in their role by the various sove&shy;reign indi&shy;vidu&shy;als. These councils are to act as medi&shy;a&shy;tors, but

<blockquote>{{qq|when an issue has already been raised and no one of these deci&shy;sions is ac&shy;cep&shy;table to both parties, the deci&shy;sion may be laid before the mili&shy;tary (or go&shy;vern&shy;ment) to act at its dis&shy;cre&shy;tion, selec&shy;ting that course which pro&shy;mi&shy;ses the least vio&shy;lence}} (''True Civi&shy;liza&shy;tion'', p. 30).</blockquote>

{{tab}}Warren tends to iden&shy;tify go&shy;vern&shy;ment with the mili&shy;tary estab&shy;lish&shy;ment and, hence, in line with his thin&shy;king, it is neces&shy;sary to create a mili&shy;tary or {{qq|home guard}} com&shy;posed of sove&shy;reign indi&shy;vidu&shy;als. Thus, he sug&shy;gests that the idea of com&shy;man&shy;ding or go&shy;ver&shy;ning be re&shy;placed by the prin&shy;ciple of gui&shy;dance or direc&shy;tion. {{qq|Men may lead and men must execute but intel&shy;li&shy;gence, prin&shy;ciple, must regu&shy;late}} (''True Civi&shy;liza&shy;tion'', p. 22). An essen&shy;tial part of the trai&shy;ning of the mili&shy;tary is in instil&shy;ling the idea of indi&shy;vi&shy;dual sove&shy;reign&shy;ty and the pro&shy;tec&shy;tion of the person and pro&shy;per&shy;ty.

<blockquote>{{qq|Part of the drill for such a force would be to give orders to do some un&shy;neces&shy;sary harm on purpose to be diso&shy;beyed in order to accus&shy;tom the sub&shy;ordi&shy;nate to {{q|look before they leap}} or strike!}} (''True Civi&shy;liza&shy;tion'', p. 27).</blockquote>

Such a home guard would be {{qq|within but not under disci&shy;pline}}, or, in other words the Sab&shy;bath is made for man and not man for the Sab&shy;bath.

{{tab}}When the {{qq|coun&shy;sel&shy;lors}} have re&shy;ferred an issue to this mili&shy;tary {{p|95}} orga&shy;niza&shy;tion of sove&shy;reign indi&shy;vidu&shy;als {{qq|&hellip; of course members of the mili&shy;tary may them&shy;selves assert their ina&shy;lie&shy;nable right to decline to act!}} (''True Civi&shy;liza&shy;tion'', p. 23).

<blockquote>{{qq|The most intel&shy;li&shy;gent people always make the best sub&shy;ordi&shy;nates in a good cause, and in our ''modern mili&shy;tary'', it will require more true manhood to make a good sub&shy;ordi&shy;nate than it will to be a leader: for the leader may very easily give orders, but they take the res&shy;pon&shy;sibi&shy;lity of that ''only'', while the sub&shy;ordi&shy;nate takes the res&shy;pon&shy;sibi&shy;lity of exe&shy;cu&shy;ting them, and it will require the great&shy;est and highest degree of manhood, of self-<wbr>go&shy;vern&shy;ment, pre&shy;sence of mind, and real heroism to ''dis&shy;crimi&shy;nate'' on the instant and to stand up indi&shy;vidu&shy;ally before all the corps and future criti&shy;cism, and assume, alone, the res&shy;pon&shy;sibi&shy;lity of dissent or diso&shy;bedi&shy;ence. His only support and strength would be in his cons&shy;cious&shy;ness of being more true to his pro&shy;fessed mission than the order was, and in the assu&shy;rance that he would be sus&shy;tained by public opinion and sym&shy;pathy as far as that mission was under&shy;stood}} (''True Civi&shy;liza&shy;tion'', p. 23).</blockquote>

<blockquote>{{qq|When a high degree of intel&shy;li&shy;gence, great manhood, self-<wbr>go&shy;vern&shy;ment, close dis&shy;crimi&shy;na&shy;ting ''real'' heroism and gentle huma&shy;nity are known to be neces&shy;sary to mem&shy;ber&shy;ship in our mili&shy;tary corps (or go&shy;vern&shy;ment), these quali&shy;ties will come into fashion, and become the cha&shy;rac&shy;teris&shy;tics of the people; and to be thought desti&shy;tute of them, and un&shy;wor&shy;thy of mem&shy;ber&shy;ship in the mili&shy;tary would cause the great&shy;est morti&shy;fica&shy;tion: while to be known as a member in good stan&shy;ding would be an object sought in the highest honour}} (''True Civi&shy;liza&shy;tion'', p. 24).</blockquote>

If this rea&shy;so&shy;ning is correct Warren be&shy;lieves we have the clue to the

<blockquote>{{qq|true mission and form of Go&shy;vern&shy;ment{{dash|to the most perfect, yet harm&shy;less sub&shy;ordi&shy;na&shy;tion}}the recon&shy;cili&shy;ation of obe&shy;di&shy;ence with FREEDOM{{dash|to the ces&shy;sa&shy;tion of all hos&shy;tili&shy;ties between parties and Nations}}to uni&shy;ver&shy;sal co-<wbr>opera&shy;tion for uni&shy;ver&shy;sal pre&shy;serva&shy;tion and secu&shy;rity of person and Pro&shy;per&shy;ty}} (''True Civi&shy;liza&shy;tion'', p. 24).</blockquote>

Warren{{s}} views about the trans&shy;for&shy;ma&shy;tion of the mili&shy;tary into a body of sove&shy;reign and ratio&shy;nal indi&shy;vidu&shy;als appear almost fan&shy;tas&shy;tic, parti&shy;cu&shy;larly in our day when we have been made so much more aware of the nature of mili&shy;tary orga&shy;niza&shy;tion{{dash}}as the epitome of auto&shy;cracy and autho&shy;rita&shy;rian struc&shy;ture. Indeed, such ideas appear more the despe&shy;rate efforts of a man fran&shy;ti&shy;cally sear&shy;ching for means to salvage his liber&shy;ta&shy;rian phi&shy;loso&shy;phy in the face of a hither&shy;to harmo&shy;ni&shy;ous world now shat&shy;tered by the vio&shy;lence of the Civil War period.

{{tab}}In descri&shy;bing Warren{{s}} later views as only peri&shy;phe&shy;rally anar&shy;chis&shy;tic, I do not wish thereby to imply some doc&shy;tri&shy;naire defi&shy;ni&shy;tion of anar&shy;chism. I con&shy;ceive of anar&shy;chism essen&shy;tial&shy;ly as being at one end of a pole oppo&shy;site to abso&shy;lute des&shy;po&shy;tism, or, to put it diffe&shy;rent&shy;ly, at one end of a con&shy;tinu&shy;um is a condi&shy;tion in which all power is equally dif&shy;fused among all members of society and at the other end is a condi&shy;tion under which all power is vested in a single person. There are {{qq|ideal types}} and it is hardly con&shy;cei&shy;vable that either has ever existed or ever will exist, al&shy;though certain systems ap&shy;proach one or the other poles and various pres&shy;sures produce in a social system a dia&shy;lec&shy;tic process pushing society in one direc&shy;tion or the other. Obvi&shy;ously, Warren{{s}} thoughts fit on the anar&shy;chis&shy;tic side of con&shy;tinu&shy;um. If Warren was an anar&shy;chist in the first half of his life as is evi&shy;denced by the nature of his expe&shy;rimen&shy;tal com&shy;muni&shy;ties, his cri&shy;tique of the Owenite expe&shy;ri&shy;ments, and by the writings of this period, he had taken towards the close of his life a position which does not appear to fall within that minimal defi&shy;ni&shy;tion of anarchy as the absence of go&shy;vern&shy;ment. Cer&shy;tain&shy;ly, the anar&shy;chist society is to be free of the coer&shy;cive forces of go&shy;vern&shy;men&shy;tal insti&shy;tu&shy;tions even though nume&shy;rous other coercive forces will inevi&shy;tably persist. (And as some have pointed out these latter can become more of a threat to indi&shy;vi&shy;dual sove&shy;reign&shy;ty than go&shy;vern&shy;ment.) By placing the mili&shy;tary as the ulti&shy;mate aribter and per&shy;mit&shy;ting indi&shy;vidu&shy;als within that body to refuse to act, Warren per&shy;petu&shy;ates autho&shy;rita&shy;rian elements of the present social order and, in addi&shy;tion, enhan&shy;ces the pos&shy;sibi&shy;li&shy;ties of {{qq|civil war}} between rival fac&shy;tions of the mili&shy;tary. Warren, of course, neg&shy;lec&shy;ted or at least totally under&shy;esti&shy;mated the role of the irra&shy;tio&shy;nal in man and the effect of cul&shy;tural forces in moul&shy;ding men.

{{tab}}Warren was not the only anar&shy;chist who did not con&shy;sis&shy;tent&shy;ly follow an anar&shy;chist posi&shy;tion. {{w|Proudhon|Pierre-Joseph_Proudhon}}, who in so many ways is similar to Warren and made many keen in&shy;sights into the nature of go&shy;vern&shy;ment, at various points in his life was elected to the {{w|Chamber of Depu&shy;ties|Chamber_of_Deputies_(France)}}, saw {{w|Louis Napoleon|Napoleon_III}} as a vehicle for ini&shy;tia&shy;ting the Revo&shy;lu&shy;tion, and sought to legis&shy;late a society of free con&shy;tract. Such diffi&shy;cul&shy;ties or contra&shy;dic&shy;tions as pre&shy;sen&shy;ted by Warren and Proud&shy;hon{{dash|namely, their inci&shy;sive cri&shy;tiques of go&shy;vern&shy;ment, their plea for freedom and the indi&shy;vi&shy;dual coupled with what is pro&shy;bably best des&shy;cribed as a naivete about the essen&shy;tial nature of power, of go&shy;vern&shy;ment and of the mili&shy;tary, espe&shy;cial&shy;ly}}suggest the source of their problem. Neither, I suspect, had the ana&shy;lytic and theo&shy;retic turn of mind{{dash|more cha&shy;rac&shy;teris&shy;tic in a {{w|Marx|Karl_Marx}}}}to dig down to the roots of these insti&shy;tu&shy;tions and clearly per&shy;ceive their full im&shy;pli&shy;ca&shy;tions. Obvi&shy;ously, the Civil War dis&shy;tur&shy;bance caused Warren to re&shy;consi&shy;der and re&shy;for&shy;mu&shy;late his earlier posi&shy;tion. Yet had he more fully com&shy;pre&shy;hen&shy;ded the nature of go&shy;vern&shy;ment and the mili&shy;tary, as well as the limits of the ratio&shy;nal in man, even in the new light of this crisis, it is dif&shy;fi&shy;cult to see his rea&shy;ching the ambi&shy;gu&shy;ous and naive con&shy;clu&shy;sions ex&shy;pressed in ''True Civi&shy;liza&shy;tion''.

{{tab}}If any&shy;thing Warren{{s}} and, one can include here as well, Proud&shy;hon{{s}} strug&shy;gle to for&shy;mu&shy;late a con&shy;cep&shy;tion of the free society is only a review of the basic problem facing all liber&shy;tari&shy;ans: How can a free society recog&shy;nize the use of vio&shy;lence as a legi&shy;ti&shy;mate tech&shy;nique for resol&shy;ving issues? Cer&shy;tain&shy;ly, if anar&shy;chists are to have an army in their society it would have to be the kind por&shy;trayed by Warren, but as I have sug&shy;ges&shy;ted above, in light of what we know today of human psy&shy;cho&shy;logy and of the nature of the mili&shy;tary struc&shy;ture, the pos&shy;sibi&shy;li&shy;ties of such an army appear sheer fantasy. The problem in effect comes down to the ques&shy;tion can anar&shy;chists hold that the threat or use of vio&shy;lence is in any case legi&shy;ti&shy;mate? Con&shy;verse&shy;ly can those who call them&shy;selves paci&shy;fists sub&shy;scribe to the poli&shy;ti&shy;cal theory of the legi&shy;ti&shy;macy of the state?

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Josiah Warren : incompleat anarchist , the}}