this post was submitted on 20 Mar 2026
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Oh, I believe that individual humans are capable of treating other humans with compassion and otherwise being generally well-behaved. There are even people who would sooner die than defend themselves against violence.
But I don't believe that human society at large is capable of existing without violence. I believe that all of our recorded history demonstrates this quite thoroughly.
Also, I will tell you that you don't know what you yourself are capable of until you've gone more than three days without food with uncertainty about when or how you're going to eat next (fasting by choice, which you know will end with the opportunity to eat again, doesn't count).
Agreed. Anarchists don't claim to be able to eliminate violence. That would be almost impossible.
I also agree with you here. This is part of the reason anarchists believe there would be less violence under anarchy. Withholding food from another person would not be allowed, as that would be a form of hierarchical authority. Food is withheld from millions of people in our current system simply because they cannot afford it.
Er, and who would enforce this?
Also, the measures necessary to enforce it at large scale would probably be unethical.
Well OK, this is getting more into socialism or communism, but the next obvious question is where is this food coming from, if people are not required to pay for its production?
Even if you want some sort of idealized currency-free economy, it costs resources to grow food and to distribute it to the people who want to eat it (land, water, infrastructure, time, labor, etc). Does everyone contribute to food production with their own labor? Is this a purely agrarian society? Is food withheld from people who do not contribute labor?
Large-scale farming as it is done today depends highly on the socioeconomic structure around it. Sure, there's a lot of waste, but the system also supports a large population who do not have to participate in agriculture in order to eat.
While I'm sure other systems are possible, I'm not sure that other systems can operate at a similar scale. Which is to say that the impression I get from everyone who argues for such things is that they carry some form of idealized "from each according to their ability, to each according to their need" agrarian society in their head, some romantic idea about small-scale farming and simple life. Mostly these are people who have never worked on a farm themselves. The whole idea sounds regressive to me, practically tradlife conservative.
I believe what you are referring to there is a state. States enforce laws at a large scale. All anarchists oppose the existence of states.
It is everyone's responsibility to oppose hierarchical authority wherever it appears. There are probably hundreds of ways to do this, and some methods will work better than others depending on the situation. The rapid response networks in Minneapolis are a great example of this.
I have grown up near and worked in orchards, potatoes, beef and dairy cows. Even with that experience, I do not tell experts how to do their work. Workers are better at managing resources than bosses who haven't spent a day in the field.
Food is wasted due to being commercially unviable. There were potatoes that were too big left to rot in a field. The potatoes were bagged by the community separate from the commercial entity and handed out as gifts. I produce too much fruit to preserve and have to give it away. Gift economies predate capitalism.
I find the argument strange that under anarchy there would be no technology or infrastructure. The form may be different to decentralize power. Technology and infrastructure under capitalism is designed to benefit the capital class.