Mutualism

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"I protest against every order with which some authority may feel pleased on the basis of some alleged necessity to over-rule my free will. Laws: We know what they are, and what they are worth! They are spider webs for the rich and mighty, steel chains for the poor and weak, fishing nets in the hands of government."

Mutualism, also called Proudhonism or Anarcho-Mutualism (AnMut), is an economically left-wing (but pro-market), Anarchist and culturally variable ideology primarily based upon the writings of Pierre-Joseph Proudhon.

He advocates for a socialist system based on a free market economy and usufructs, the introduction of a mutual credit bank, ownership of the means of production by either the workers collectively or by the individual(s) using them, and the representation of trade by equal amounts of labour in the free market.

Additionally, he is strongly in favour of individual liberty and can be seen as the unifying ideology between the social, individualist, and market schools of anarchist thought, and was highly influential in the development of other anarchist ideologies that came after it.

History

In a general sense, mutualism can be considered the original anarchy since the mutualist Pierre-Joseph Proudhon was the first person to identify himself as an anarchist.

According to A Mutualist FAQ, mutualism was "the original form taken by the labor movement, first in Great Britain and shortly thereafter in France and the rest of Western Europe. Both mutualist practice and theory arose as part of the broad current of working class radicalism in England, from around the time of the publication of Paine's Rights of Man and the organisation of the first Societies of Correspondence in the 1790s, to the Chartist movement. Mutualism existed for some time as a spontaneous working class practice before it was formalised in theory."

Beliefs

Individualism and Subsidiarity

Most Mutualists tend to separate themselves from other social anarchists by rejecting collectivism. Mutualists believe in Subsidiarity, giving decision making to the lowest possible level. Mutualists also justify their socialism with the belief in the self-management of the worker.

Perennialism

Much to the dismay of modern mutualists, some reactionary rhetoric can be traced back to Proudhon himself, who unfortunately decided to moonlight as an anti-Semite. This culminated in his 1847 essay On the Jews, which mutualists would probably prefer to file under 'Whoops, not that Proudhon!'".

Personality and Behaviour

Mutualism is known to reject traditional currency, instead proposing an alternative system based upon "labour notes", which is sometimes used as a running joke. He often attempts to unify the left and right anarchists through his proposed mix of socialism and a market economy, to varying degrees of success. Sometimes, his relative obscurity is played upon in comics ("what actually is mutualism?").

While he does not have strong established cultural views and leans progressive like his fellow anarchists, he has had a history of occasionally making sexist or anti-Semitic remarks, much to the dismay of his friends (this being a reference to certain views espoused by Proudhon himself).

However, he seems somewhat ashamed of these past mistakes, having been heard saying "my ideal society would have sent me to the guillotine for being too conservative".

How to Draw

Flag of Mutualism
Flag of Mutualism (Trade circle design)

Drawing Mutualism is very easy:

  1. Draw a ball,
  2. Draw a black diagonal line,
  3. Fill the space below the line in black and the space above with an orange
  4. Add the eyes and you're done!
  5. (Optional) Draw, in the centre of the ball, two curved arrows which form a circle; an orange one in the black section and a black one in the orange section.
Color NameHEXRGB
 Black#141414rgb(20, 20, 20)
 Orange#F7941Ergb(247, 148, 30)


Relationships

Friends

  • Anarchism - Love you daughter! <3
  • Agorism - My best grandson and fellow lover of anarchism and underground markets.
  • Anarcho-Individualism - The Boston Anarchists were Mutualists!
  • Anarcho-Syndicalism - Worker's unions are cool.
  • Left-Wing Market Anarchism - Anarchism and market economics are both based.
  • Libertarian Socialism - Close friend, both a protector of liberty and the working people.
  • Anarcho-Egoism - Loved your milk co-op! (Stop hating on me though!)
  • Anarcho-Frontierism - Weird yee-haw son.
  • Social Libertarianism - Similar, yet so far apart, let's talk ideas sometime!
  • Anarcho-Collectivism - I really like you, just wish you understood that markets aren't actually that bad. And like libsoc we also agree on the jews
  • Market Socialism - I support an economy of decentralized cooperatives.
  • Anarcho-Distributism - To say I'm you is very inaccurate, but damn are we really similar. You're basically just me, but more Catholic.
  • Left-Rothbardianism - Genuinely not bad, and certainly much better than him. Just ditch the private property stuff and you'd be even better.
  • Cosmopolitanism - "There will no longer be nationality, no longer fatherland, in the political sense of the words: they will mean only places of birth. Man, of whatever race or colour he may be, is an inhabitant of the universe; citizenship is everywhere an acquired right."

Frenemies

  • Distributism - I wouldn't rely on the strong state to do it, but your goal is fine.
  • Jacobinism - I am greatly thankful for the French revolution but your despotism? No thanks.
  • National Anarchism - Good economics, but nationalism and racism are unacceptable. Except for with the Jews.
  • National Syndicalism - Same as above, but also authoritarian and illiterate. Please stop citing me. It's true that Rousseau's ideology of social contract was flawed but I'm not a monarchist or a fascist!
  • Anarcho-Capitalism - I respect your admiration for the free market, but I'd like you to drop the whole capitalism thing. Rothbard is a jew
  • Anarcho-Communism - Whilst we both agree that Capitalism and the State are bad, please be more open towards concepts such as Markets, Misogyny, and Individualism.
  • Marxism - We used to be friends, but then he called me a "utopian" and accused me of not understanding Hegel. also a k*ke
  • Georgism - At least he understands that land property is theft.
  • Social Georgism - Better version of the guy above, though I don't like how most of you like that glorified statist.
  • Democratic Socialism - You're a socialist, but statist and tends to work with him. Anyway, I guess some of you are pretty cool.
  • Illegalism - Maybe I should change argument that "property is theft" because it will make you capitalist... Also anarchy is when no law
  • Post-Left Anarchy - You have a few interesting ideas, but stop calling me dogmatic!

Enemies

  • Authoritarian Capitalism - Death to capitalism and the state!
  • Marxism–Leninism - Despite our origins, I have nothing to do with you. Marx wasn't exactly perfect, but I'm pretty sure he would have a heart attack if he saw what you've become.
  • Corporatocracy - Your existence makes good propaganda for our ideology.
  • Conservative Liberalism - The idea of an anti-government and pro-market socialist must make his head explode.
    • No, no. It simply disgusts me.

Gallery

Portraits

Alternative designs

Comics and Artwork

Further Information

For overlapping political theory see:

Anarcho-Individualism, Anarchism without Adjectives Anarcho-Collectivism, Market Anarchism, Ego-Mutualism, Ricardian Socialism, Utopian Socialism, Classical Liberalism, Anarcho-Distributism, National Anarchism, Synthesis Anarchism, Techno-Anarchism,

Literature

Online Communities

Wikipedia

Videos

Notes

References

  1. "How then is it possible to make few laws? How can they be simple? How can the best law be anything but detestable?"

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