Quote by Noam Chomsky
The consistent anarchist should be a socialist, but a socialist of a particular sort. He will not only oppose alienated and specialized labor and look forward to the appropriation of capital by the whole body of workers, but he will also insist that this appropriation be direct, not exercised by some elite force acting in the name of the proletariat. Some sort of council communism is the natural form of revolutionary socialism in an industrial society. It reflects the intuitive understanding that democracy is largely a sham when the industrial system is controlled by any form of autocratic elite, whether of owners, managers, and technocrats, a vanguard party, or a State bureaucracy.
Summary
This quote advocates for a specific form of socialism, known as council communism, as the ideal system for a revolutionary and industrial society. The anarchist viewpoint expressed here argues against alienated and specialized labor by promoting the collective ownership of capital by the workers themselves. Furthermore, it emphasizes the importance of direct appropriation and democratic control, rejecting the idea of an elite force or centralized authority acting on behalf of the proletariat. In essence, the quote suggests that true socialism can only be achieved when power is decentralized, and decision-making is distributed among the working class.
Topics
Anarchy
By Noam Chomsky
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