Anarchy and the menacing corporations

Alan Saunders The Philosopher’s Zone, Radio National
Robert Wolff: It’s not cynicism. I think that’s the wrong description of it. It’s certainly not organised, thoughtful, systematic philosophical anarchism. Nothing like that. What it is, is a deep suspicion of authority claims, and a deep suspicion of authority claims is the starting point for a recognition of the truth of anarchism. Until you are prepared to recognise that those who are in positions of purported authority have no greater claim on our loyalty or our obedience than anyone else, it’s very hard to think through these issues of authority and autonomy.
Alan Saunders: Critics of your books suggest though that it’s not the State that’s the real threat to the autonomy of individuals these days, it’s companies, and even other individuals – think of those Russian oligarchs who simply took over whole sections of the Russian economy after communism collapsed. The State is sidestepped, and it’s arguably overpowered by forces more powerful than itself.
Robert Wolff: That’s true. That’s absolutely true. I don’t view anarchism as an alternative to a critique of the corporate powers. I view it as simply a part of a full-scale critique of authority claims and the exercise of authority, frequently the exercise of concealed authority. One of the ways in which corporations are more menacing than the State is that it’s less obvious to us that our lives are controlled by those corporations than it is that our lives are controlled by the States, and it’s the State after all puts people in police uniforms and sends us tax bills and puts us in jail and does all sorts of other obvious controlling things. And I haven’t I must confess, encountered that criticism of my book, but if somebody were to make it, I would agree with it completely.
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