Arguements Amongst the Anarchists

I don’t get why we (anarchists) argue anymore. In an anarchist society, a real one, private business would spring up and so would co-ops, and they would be indistinguishable from an outsider. Without government all production and services would more than likely be local.

So in an anarchist society both systems private and communal could co-exist. If one is truly better than the other, well then the system that truly sucks ass will die out due to competition.

Here is the problem though, when you have a business, whether it be cooperatively or privately owned there really isn’t much a difference. Lets say a co-op burger store pops up. The co-op has to allow a minimum of $145,000 a year to acquire food and other costs. Four people operate and manage it. The store has already accounted for set up and all of that. So what ever the gross income of the store is, we have to subtract at least $145,000. Lets say in perfect conditions "not taking in other costs" the store brings in a net (income minus expenses) $160,000. Divide this by 4 and that is what everyone earns working at "Commie Burger". Not bad, $40,000, for flipping burgers, and everyone had equal risk starting the business.

Now lets say a privately owned burger joint operates under the same conditions. It’s the owner, one other manager, and two "general" employees. Lets say all costs are the same, and income is the same. $160,000 minus, lets say $9.50 an hour multiplied by x amount of hours (say, 40 a week) for the general employees, and equals about $20,140 annually for each of the two people in charge of flipping burgers, frying potatoes, etc. The manager has a set salary of $50,000 a year lets say, plus every six months, if the store profits highly she gets a bonus of $2,000, (which is not uncommonly more), so she can receive at best conditions $54,000 a year for taking care of the store, doing basically everything. The business owner, who took all the risk opening the store, helps manage, trains new employees, cooks, serves, etc, is left with a net income of $65,720. Business at “Greed Burger” isn’t doing that bad.

Now lets analyze each.

The co-op was founded as a way for 4 “comrades” to make a living, this will more than likely be it for those friends, or business partners. This is their business; they need $40,000 a year for food, and other things. They devote all of their time to that burger joint, making sure it doesn’t fail.

Now lets analyze “greed burger”. The manager is doing what she is probably always going to do, manage a store, and possible one day start her own. This is the business she/he wants to be in. The owner, well duh, this is also the business she/he wants to be in, and he/she created it.

The two general employees would be stupid to stay in the burger flipping industry. This is probably never the case in reality anyway. They have their own goals, one wants to be a doctor, and one wants to be a pilot. Chances are they still live at home and work for extra money to help out their household. Ones father works at Commie Burger, he only brings in 40 K a year, so the extra money really helps out, and his child can save for training so he/she can become a doctor. Ones mother is the manager at Greed Burger. The kids extra income also helps out the family and he/she is saving up to get his/her own training in flight. Also this family’s income is actually higher than the owner of greed burger.

Once these two employees leave greed burger, and do their own thing, two more people can join greed burger. People would be continuously moving through greed burger, and then moving on to other things, and then eventually starting their own business (co-op or not) or whatever.

Poor individuals would be better off in Co-ops, earning a living equal to everyone else, and possibly having a place to stay at the co-op (This is also possible at a private business, maybe less likely).

This is a highly far-fetched scenario, I do agree, but besides the numbers being highly variable it shows the basic idea of each. There isn’t any evil in either system, mostly because evil doesn’t exist, but secondly because they both meet the needs of certain lifestyles. Some individuals would go to co-ops, some would go to private business.

If one is truly the best then one will eventually die of natural causes.