“Take a very striking case in point: the Russian Bolsheviks. [Vladimir] Lenin created an alleged workers' party, which in every way reflected the Czarist machine, in order to deal with Czarism. And the danger and the hazards of trying to accommodate libertarian principles to the political process as we know it today is that one begins to dissolve the libertarian principles. So I would say that there is an inconsistency there that should be explored.” KnowsWayShouldTryingTodayPoliticalOrderProcessDealsPartyPrinciplesCasesDangerMachinesWorkersLibertarianHazardsAccommodateInconsistencyBolsheviks Author:Murray Bookchin
“I have no quarrel with libertarians who advance the concept of capitalism . I believe that people will decide for themselves what they want to do. The all-important thing is that they be free to make that decision and that they do not stand in the way of communities that wish to make other decisions.” PeopleWayWantBelieveImportantI BelieveWishCommunityDecisionConceptsCapitalismImportant ThingsLibertarianQuarrels Author:Murray Bookchin
“My concern over private property is that it no longer fosters individuality. The historic destiny of private property is that it has created a highly corporatized economy, and I have to ask myself why. What is it in the market that led 100 capitalists to dissolve into 10 as a result of rivalry and accumulation, 10 into 3, and I think if the system has its way, those 3 into 1?” IfsThinkingWayAsksResultsDestinyEconomyConcernPropertyIndividualityCapitalistHistoricAccumulationPrivate PropertyRivalry Author:Murray Bookchin
“I have an admiration, even though I'm not likely to do that sort of thing myself, for [Ayn] Roark's behavior when he decided that his design was not being followed - which was a gross violation, by the way, of private property rights, because the building was his.” WayRightsDesignBuildingBehaviorDecidedPropertyAdmirationGrossViolationPrivate PropertyProperty Rights Author:Murray Bookchin
“What higher property do you have than your own person? I totally agree, by the way, with John Locke's idea that one's body is literally the most precious property that exists. I would say that conscription is the most heinous violation of property that one can imagine.” WayPersonsIdeasBodyImagineHigherAgreePropertyViolationConscription Author:Murray Bookchin
“I don't feel the individualist anarchists, particularly in the American tradition, including the Transcendental tradition of New England, in any way deserve the derogatory comments that are often made about them by the left. When one gets down to it ultimately, my anarcho-communism stems from a commitment to true individuality. My attempt to recover the power and the right of the individual to control his or her life and destiny is the basis to my anarcho-communism.” WayFeelsMadeIndividualLeftDestinyDeserveCommitmentTraditionBasesEnglandIncludingIndividualityCommunismCommentStemAnarchistTranscendentalNew EnglandAmerican TraditionDerogatoryLife And Destiny Author:Murray Bookchin
“If anarcho-communism served to regiment the population in the name of libertarian unity, if it served in any way through collectivist measures to deny the rights of the individual instead of reconciling the rights of the individual with the collective, I would definitely stand completely on the side of the individualist who is trying to rescue above all that most precious thing that makes us human - consciousness and personality.” IfsWayTryingHumansNamesIndividualSidesConsciousnessRightsPersonalityUnityPopulationDenyLibertarianCommunismCollectivesRescueHuman ConsciousnessPrecious Things Author:Murray Bookchin
“I learned that [Trotskyism] were no different from the Stalinists, and they expelled me, which is the typical Marxist-Leninist way of dealing with dissenters. From that point on, I migrated by the 1950s into anarchism, increasingly emphasizing decentralization. Also, I made the all-important step of bridging my social philosophy with ecology. I did that in 1952 and went on to write a whole series of books developing an anarcho-ecological approach.” WayWritingMadeImportantBookDifferentPhilosophyWholeSocialStepsApproachSeriesDevelopingEcologyTypicalAnarchismEcologicalMarxistDecentralization Author:Murray Bookchin
“After reading The Great Transformation by Karl Polanyi, I realized that capitalism did not naturally grow as [Karl] Marx would imply by his theory of historical materialism. People were dragged into capitalism screaming, shouting, and fighting all along the way, trying to resist this industrial and commercial world.” PeopleWorldWayTryingFightingReadingGrowsTheoryCapitalismTransformationHistoricalI RealizedMaterialismShouting Author:Murray Bookchin
