This wonderful segment aired on… CBS?!
Edit: I somehow missed Mark’s post:
14 Likes
“You’ve got that eternal idiotic idea that if anarchy came it would come from the poor. Why should it? The poor have been rebels, but they have never been anarchists; they have more interest than anyone else in there being some decent government. The poor man really has a stake in the country. The rich man hasn’t; he can go away to New Guinea in a yacht. The poor have sometimes objected to being governed badly; the rich have always objected to being governed at all. Aristocrats were always anarchists.”
– G. K. Chesterton, The Man Who Was Thursday
Chesterton understood these things pretty well.
9 Likes
Not really. Not at all in fact.
I can’t see most rich people wanting anything to do with anarcho-communism, anarcho-syndicalism or mutualism (Peter Kropotkin being the obvious exception). They would have to share their power and wealth fairly with the poors and then they woundn’t be rich and powerful anymore.
I see he also makes the usual mistake of assuming anarchism is no rules. It is no rulers. This is why Ayn-caps are not anarchists, they just want to be absolute monarchs in their own fiefdom with no-one telling them what to do.
But I am just a working-class anarchist, so what do I know?
19 Likes
He’s talking about anarchy, not anarchism. A not uncommon conflation.
1 Like
Yes, and the core of the quotation is this part: “The poor have sometimes objected to being governed badly; the rich have always objected to being governed at all.”
That’s a perfect description of the present-day late-stage American capitalism, with its mania for deregulation and complete lack of responsibility or concern for long-term effects on the society.
6 Likes
I would have definitely snuck a fake sign in there.
9 Likes
Malleus and Falx seem a good choice. 
1 Like
Or at least the real, but ignored sign Ophiuchus.
4 Likes
I’m fairly certain that @anon73430903, of ALL people here are aware of that distinction.
5 Likes
The book says otherwise
The propaganda at the time was that all anarchists were illegalists. G.K. Chesterton was an anti-communist so he would likely have bought into the propaganda.
9 Likes
I should have remembered that, but the main thing that stuck with me about this book was Chesterton’s weird rant against blocks of flats near the start of the book.
Sorry about the necro-reply, but I was just catching up here.
I just ordered this:
9 Likes
Please let us know if it’s good!
6 Likes
You betcha!
3 Likes
