by Benjamin Ricketson Tucker
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Product Description
This Elibron Classics book is a facsimile reprint of a 1897 edition by Benj. R. Tucker, New York.
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Average Customer Review:
12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
Tucker's one moral law: "Mind your own business!", 2008-07-10
Benjamin Tucker is one of the more interesting American political thinkers. I have earlier reviewed The Federalist Papers, John C. Calhoun, and Herbert Croly, among other important American political tracts, and Tucker deserves to be read as well. His one major book-length work has a beguiling title, "Instead of a Book, by a Man too Busy to Write One." What's that all about? As Tucker says (Pages ix-x): "Anarchism. . .lacks a systematic text-book. . . . [H]owever, I have been too busy, and there is no prospect that I shall ever be less so." In short, he was too busy to write a proper, formal book--but he did publish a volume with his (and others') "greatest hits" from his biweekly journal, "Liberty."
Tucker calls himself an anarchist, but he is probably more aptly called an American libertarian. He reads Kropotkin out of the anarchist camp and adopts a more individualist orientation, consistent with American thinkers like Paine and Jefferson and Spooner and Warren.
The very first essay in this non-book lays out Tucker's basic philosophy. Entitled "State Socialism and Anarchism: How Far They Agree, and Wherein They Differ," he notes the clear dividing line between Marx and his own vision. While he admires Marx' devotion to ordinary people (as per an essay mentioned later) and his attacks on the powerful, he cannot countenance Marx' idea of a strong government to work on behalf of the people (his "dictatorship of the proletariat," for example). He describes state socialism as (Page 7) ". . .the doctrine that all the affairs of men should be managed by the government, regardless of individual choice." Au contraire, Tucker's contrary perspective is anarchism, defined as (Page 9): ". . .the doctrine that all the affairs of men should be managed by individuals or voluntary associations, and that the State should be abolished." He refers to anarchists as (Page 14) "unterrified Jeffersonian Democrats."
Any code of morals? Only one great law, in Tucker's mind (Page 15): "'Mind your own business' is [anarchism's] only moral law. Interference with another's business is a crime, and the only crime, and as such may properly be resisted." The following section, "The Individual, Society, and the State" pulls together a whole series of works from "Liberty" that elaborate on the themes from the rather brief introductory essay.
Quirky elements. (1) Tucker's rather generous assessment of Karl Marx upon Marx' death (see pages 477-480, in which he refers to Marx as "friend and foe"); (2) His strong statement of respect for Lysander Spooner on Spooner's death (pages 491-493).
Interested in American libertarian thinking? Benjamin Tucker must be read, just as Murray Rothbard or Robert Nozick must be read. Will readers agree with Tucker? Many surely will not, but his is a perspective worth confronting.
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