Society must change to protect everyone's sovereignty from infringement. All systems that may link or combine people, and all other systems that may cause individuals to be unable to move freely and dispose of property at any time-as long as such actions do not hinder the equal rights of others, they must be avoided.
In Real Civilization, Warren equates "personal sovereignty" with "inalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" advocated in the American Declaration of Independence. He argues that personal sovereignty is "innate" and "cannot be separated or transferred by organisms", so "this nature cannot be changed, and everyone has the same absolute right to pursue his beliefs or his own characteristics, no matter to what extent, as long as it does not hinder others." Warren also created the famous saying that "cost is the price limit" to describe his explanation of labor theory of value.
The labor theory of value holds that the price of a commodity is determined by the amount of labor that produces it. From this point of view, Warren thinks it is immoral to raise the price of a commodity beyond the production cost. He called his benchmark motto "Cost is the price limit". In addition, Warren also believes that if labor itself is the ultimate value, then two different individuals must carry out equal and equivalent labor.
1827, Warren founded an experimental store named "Cincinnati Time Store" according to his theory. Vouchers issued by store staff are used as money, and people can use them to buy products in the store. This labor ticket experiment can be regarded as the first practice of proudhon's theory of economic mutual assistance. Warren and Proudhon, who belong to the United States and Europe, have developed similar philosophies, but they have never cooperated and have never heard of each other's names. Benjamin Tucker believes that the theory that Li Run is regarded as exploitation based on labor value was first put forward by Warren, then by proudhon and finally by Marx.
Like all American individualists later, Warren firmly supported the individual's right to keep the products of his labor, including the tools of production, which were private property. He also opposed the granting of land ownership by the early state, believing that it would create a special privileged class and monopoly, but as he later stated in Fair Trade, he also accepted the right to own, buy and sell land. But he only supports selling land without profit. This position was also adopted by some later anarchists such as Stephen Pearl Andrews.
Warren declared: "As long as the government is removed, we will eliminate the greatest threat to human rights." James martin, an American historian, said: "The basic framework of American anarchy undoubtedly comes from josiah warren's social and economic experiments and works." American anarchists after Warren also respected his influence. Stephen Pearl Andrews is a personal anarchist and a close friend of josiah Warren. Andrews first took part in the Fourier movement, but after reading many Warren's works, he became a radical individualist. He insisted on "personal sovereignty" as the highest principle.
Andrews believes that when individuals act for their own interests, they will inadvertently benefit the whole society. He believes that it is a "mistake" for human beings to create "national, church or public ethics" because these systems and traditions emphasize that individuals should serve the group instead of pursuing their own happiness. In the article Love, Marriage and Wealth, and Personal Sovereignty, he said, "Let's give up using more methods to solve the evil problems created by the former government. The solution should be to move towards individualism and freedom without government ... Nature created human beings, not countries; As long as there are countries in the world, individual freedom will inevitably be violated. "
185 1 year, Andrews and Warren founded a personal anarchist society named "Modern Times" in Long Island, new york. When talking about Andrews' contribution to personal anarchy, Benjamin Tucker said: "Anarchists will especially remember his contribution, because he left the best English works defending the principles of anarchy. William green didn't become a mature anarchist until the last ten years before his death, but he participated in the anarchist movement for a longer time and made considerable contributions to the development of individualistic economic theory. Warren's concept of individualistic economy is "cost is price limit", and Green is most famous for his concept of "mutual bank" (although lysander spooner developed this concept in his early works, he did not cooperate with other anarchists at that time). Green is sometimes called "Prudon of America" because his concept of mutual bank is very similar to Pierre-Joseph Prudon of France.
He is the most famous and widely circulated in a paper called Mutual Bank. Benjamin Tucker said: "I am grateful that Green Mutual Bank has recorded more financial knowledge than all my similar books and periodicals-this is the most concise, straightforward and clear paper on the theory of mutual money."
Green saw the urgent need for banks. He believes that people need an intermediary service platform so that those with surplus capital can lend their capital to those in need. He believes that the government stipulates that the establishment of banks must apply for a license, which seriously hinders those who are interested in co-financing the establishment of banks. Green admits that interest is determined by the relationship between supply and demand, but he thinks that if lending and interest compete freely, the market will produce a certain degree of "natural interest rate". He thinks it is impossible for banks to make a profit at natural interest rates.
He advocates that such mutual banks should allow individuals to use any of their property as trade currency. He strongly criticized the government for not defining its official currency as the only "legal tender" and monopolizing the right of others to issue currency. Green and several other well-known individualists also worked together to get permission to set up banks, but they were rejected because they pursued mutual banks. But all this only strengthened the determination of individual anarchists to oppose "bank monopoly". Ezra Heywood is another personal anarchist influenced by Warren, and also a radical abolitionist and feminist. He also wrote one of the earliest papers on anarchy feminism. Heywood believes that the phenomenon of excessive concentration of capital in the hands of a few people in society at that time was caused by the privileges granted by the government to a few individuals and companies.
He said: "The government is like the northeast wind, blowing property into the hands of at least a few nobles, and the price paid is a serious erosion of the democratic foundation. Through sly legislative bills ... the privileged class can steal the property of most people with the government's laws as the backing. "
He thinks it is improper to profit from renting a house. He doesn't object to the rent, but he thinks that the total rent should not exceed the sum of the relocation fee, insurance fee and house maintenance fee paid by the owner. He even thinks that if the tenant keeps the house better than when no one lives, the owner should pay the rent to the tenant in turn. Although other anarchists, such as Warren, Andrews and Green, all support that unoccupied land can be used to obtain ownership, Heywood thinks it is very evil to crown ownership on unoccupied land.
On this issue and other issues, Shanghai Wood and Warren clashed, but they still maintained a friendly relationship. Heywood's philosophy was widely circulated through a large number of pamphlets and articles, and at the same time, he republished many works of Warren and Green, further expanding the concept of personal anarchy. Benjamin Tucker was influenced by Warren (Tucker called Warren the "first light" in his life), Green and Heywood, as well as French proudhon and German Max Stayner. He was probably the most famous American individualist. Tucker defined anarchism as "all human affairs should be managed by individuals or organized spontaneously, and the state should be abolished."
Like the individualists who inspired him, he rejected the concept that "society" itself has rights and advocated that only individuals can have rights. At the same time, like all anarchists, he opposes the government's exercise of democratic system, because it may lead to the majority ruling the minority. However, Tucker's main concern is economic issues. He opposes profits, and thinks that only when the government "restrains or restricts competition" and wealth is extremely accumulated can profits be generated.
He believes that restricting competition is accompanied by four kinds of "monopolies": bank monopoly, land monopoly, tariff monopoly, patent and copyright monopoly. According to Tucker, he thinks the most harmful thing is the monopoly of goods and currency, because it will restrict competitors who want to enter the banking industry and issue currency. At the same time, the monopoly of idle land is also extremely harmful, because it will cause wealth to gather in the hands of a few privileged people.
Tucker explicitly opposes the concept of collectivism-such as economic egalitarianism. He believes that the inequality of wealth distribution is the inevitable result in a free environment.
Tucker believes that economic monopoly forces almost everyone to engage in usury. But again, he thinks this problem can be solved by canceling the monopoly on banks. The "primary sinner" of bank monopoly is the state-because it is the state that has established this monopoly, and the "primary usurer" is a person who enjoys monopoly privileges, not an ordinary individual who pursues profits. Although Tucker thinks that profiteering is a usury, he opposes prohibiting people from profiteering. He believes that individuals should have the right to sign any contract as long as they do not harm and/or kill human beings: "We are defending the right to profit from usury, not the right of usury itself". He believes that everyone should be allowed to issue loans without government permission. He believes that with the intensification of competition, it will become more and more difficult to make profits by issuing loans. Tucker believes that as long as the control of the banking industry is relaxed, the wages of workers can be raised. He believes that as long as there is competition between banks, the interest rate of banks will be reduced and the wave of entrepreneurship will be further stimulated. He believes that this will greatly reduce the number of individuals seeking paid jobs and enable them to start their own businesses, and the frequent competition that follows will further increase the wages of workers. "Therefore, lowering interest rates will also trigger a wave of wage increases."
Tucker opposes the protection of unused land, arguing that land can only be granted ownership when it is occupied or used. He believes that if all "monopolies" are broken, the private ownership of capital will be more widely distributed to the whole society. This will increase the competition in the loan and job market, making it almost impossible to make a profit. Tucker initially put his philosophy on natural law, but after reading Max Steiner's egoistic works, he turned to think that morality and rights could not exist before the contract was signed, so the contract must be equal to morality and rights themselves, and guided by human self-interest, which is the foundation of private law.
Tucker published a periodical called Liberty, which is widely regarded as the best periodical published by personal anarchism in the English-speaking world. Tucker once described his philosophy as "fearless Jefferson democracy".
Like many individualists, Tucker does not believe that utopia's ideal of peace will be realized in anarchy. Therefore, he advocates entrusting personal freedom and property to private security agencies, but he opposes letting the state monopolize public security services. He advocates that private companies providing public safety services should compete with each other in the free market. He said: "Public security service, like other services, is useful and demanding labor, so it should also be a commodity that conforms to the principle of supply and demand economically. In a free market, goods will be priced according to the production cost, and competition is quite common. Consumers will choose the party with the lowest price and the best quality. However, at present, the production and sales of this commodity are still monopolized by the state; As for the state, like all monopolists, the fees are too high ... and in the end, the state will charge more than all other monopolists because it can enjoy the privilege of forcing everyone to buy its products, whether people really want to or not. "
Tucker said in his later years: "Capitalism is at least tolerable, but socialism and capitalism are definitely not." According to Susan Love Brown, this theory "further extends to anarchic capitalism that appeared in1970s". Lysander spooner seldom cooperated with other individualists for most of his life, and it was not until his most famous paper was published in his later years that he began to exert his influence. At that time, his philosophy changed from advocating limiting the role of the state to completely opposing the state system. Spooner is a staunch supporter of "natural law". He believes that all individuals have the "natural right" to do whatever they want as long as they do not infringe on others' bodies or property.
With natural rights comes contractual rights, which Spooner thinks is very important. He believes that the government should not create laws, because laws already exist naturally; Any government action that violates the laws of nature (using coercive force) is illegal. Since the government has not signed contracts with individuals under its rule, he believes that the government itself is in violation of natural law, because the government forces those individuals who have not signed contracts with it to pay government funds through the tax system. As for democracy, he believes that democracy also needs the consent of a few people, and most people must also abide by the restrictions of natural law applicable to all individuals and cannot use coercive force: "No matter how many people or how many people sign a constitutional contract with the government, as long as they destroy or infringe on anyone, this government contract is absolutely illegal and invalid."
Spooner, like other anarchists, attached great importance to private property rights. He wrote: "... the principle of personal property ... declares that everyone has absolute control over the products obtained from his labor and is not influenced by anyone else." He added two ways to form private property: "first, simply take products that occupy natural resources or are brewed by nature;" Second, through artificial production of other wealth. "
He believes that it is not enough to just acquire natural resources. A person must mix his own labor to become his private property. In his view, land can also become private property through labor: "Before a person claims to possess some natural resources on the earth, he must first possess them and then turn them into his own property. He must own a piece of land before he can make it his own property, harvest crops on that land and settle down on that land. " Unlike Tucker, spooner has no restrictions on the "possession and use" of land-he believes that as long as land is mixed with a person's labor, property rights will be generated, and even if it is not used continuously, rights will continue to be maintained.
He claimed that natural resources would only become a person's private property after his labor, and thus would overcome the "primitive wildness". He said: "The only way that natural resources can be used to benefit mankind is to be possessed by individuals and thus become their private property." Unlike Tucker, Spooner supports intellectual property rights. He believes that the concept of personal ideas should also be regarded as their private property. He said: "Whether an author wants to spread his ideas depends entirely on his personal decision."
Spooner did not object to charging interest, but he believed that the high interest rate at that time was caused by the government's restrictions on opening banks. He said: "it is a natural right for a person to borrow capital and mix capital with labor." All laws and regulations that limit interest rates are arbitrary and arbitrary. " Spooner believes that the government's restrictions on interest rates through laws will hinder those who do not have many channels to obtain capital. Because lenders are restricted by laws, they will not be able to compensate for higher risks by raising interest rates, so they will not lend to those with lower borrowing qualifications. Spooner also has no objection to the employment mechanism: "If a laborer owns stones, wood, iron, wool and cotton and mixes his labor, then he can legally own the extra labor value of these items. But if he doesn't own these items and he mixes his labor with these items, then he can't possess his extra labor value for these items, but must sell his labor value to the owners of these items. " However, Spooner does encourage individuals to develop their own careers so that they don't have to rely on their employers' salaries. At the same time, he believes that if capital can be exempted from government restrictions, then "anyone who has the ability to borrow capital to start his own business will no longer be willing to work for others to get wages."
One of spooner's most famous deeds is his challenge to the government's postal monopoly. /kloc-the interest rate of the U.S. post office was surprisingly high in the 1940s, so in 1844, spooner established the American letter and mail company to counter the monopoly of USPS postal service by offering lower interest rates and cheaper stamps. Although the postal company in spooner finally won the commercial victory, the government sued him to protect the compulsory monopoly, which made him exhausted in the subsequent litigation, just to defend his right to participate in the competition. Benjamin Tucker called spooner "one of the greatest contributions to the wisdom of human political philosophy", a traditional personal anarchism, which originated in the19th century. It is usually against profit and so-called "capitalism". However, anarchic capitalism that does not oppose profits is still regarded by some as a form of personal anarchy. For example, Joe Picot, a contemporary anti-capitalist individualist, declared that personal anarchy was anti-capitalist and compared it with anarchy capitalism. But he does not deny that anarchist capitalists are part of individual anarchists, and he also calls them "capital anarchists" and "individualists". Individualist Larry Gamburn believes that anarchism itself is incompatible with capitalism. Gamburn pointed out: "For anarchists, capitalism is the result of national development, so all capitalism refers to-state capitalism." . However, Gambone pointed out that this definition also has its problems. He said that when "classical anarchists" refer to capitalists, they usually refer to "people who gain wealth by manipulating government power", while libertarians in modern free markets refer to capitalism that supports "free trade" and opposes "collusion between officials and businessmen". He said that the mercantilism that liberals strongly oppose is actually a classic anarchist capitalism. Therefore, anarchist capitalists will inevitably oppose what classical anarchists call "capitalism." In addition, Wendy Moailoyi, an individualist, also said that when traditional individualists mentioned the word "capitalism", they "referred to state capitalism-collusion between the state and enterprises".