George Walford: The Higher The Fewer

Raven, the anarchist quarterly, [1] includes a review-article by Brian Morris. Against the writers who seem to be kidding themselves that as a serious critique of Marxism anarchism doesn’t exist, he asserts that it does.

He is, of course, right. Anarchism exists as a critique of Marxism, but Marxism has no theory capable of criticising anarchism; it can only dismiss or (when in power) suppress it. Marxism exists as a critique of labour-socialism, but labour-socialism has no theory capable of criticising Marxism; it can only dismiss or (when in power) obstruct it. Labour-socialism exists as a critique of liberalism, but liberalism has no theory capable of criticising labour-socialism; it can only dismiss or (when in power) discourage it. Liberalism exists as a critique of conservatism, but conservatism has no theory capable of criticising liberalism; it can only dismiss or (when in power) try to disregard it. Conservatism exists as a critique of the non-political people, but the non-politicals have no theory capable of criticising conservatism. None the less they, by the force of their numbers, can decide whether conservatism shall hold office or not. All the way along the range, the smaller the power of criticism the larger the number of adherents and, consequently, the greater the political influence.

Note:
[1] Raven Volume 2 No.2, July 1989.

Continue reading Angles on Anarchism by George Walford (1991):
Class Politics; an Exhausted Myth | Anarchy Renamed | Why So Few? | Gnostics as Anarchists of Old | The Two-Sided Anarchist | The Higher the Fewer | The Anarchist Police Force | Even Worse | In the Beginning | The Competitive Co-operators | I. Q. Against Anarchism | Anarchism in Series | Friendly Reason | Anarchist Research | Are They Not Anarchists? | The Trouble With Success | Of Governments and Gardens | The Poll Tax Lesson | Healthy Freedoms | The Conventional Artist | Underground Activity | The Cretan Egoist.