This article is from the Daily Illini, the local student
newspaper on November 23, 1993. 


Scholar says anarchism is logical end to liberal thought.
News story by Elaine Richardson, pg. 5.

Anarchism is the logical end to the classical liberal ideology that stemmed
from the Enlightenment, a University visiting scholar said Friday during
a speech.
"Anarchism is the best political answer we have to the questions posed
by this generation," said Carl Estabrook in his speech titled "Anarchism:
The Conclusion of Liberalism," given to the Friday Forum at the University
YMCA, 1001 S. Wright St., Champaign. The speech was the last in an 11-part
series called "Sustaining Ideologies: What's Left to Believe In?"
Estabrook said that when people think about anarchism they automatically
think it suggests anarchy.
"Anarchism comes from the Greek and means without a chief or leader," Estabrook
said. "When it came into English, anarchism meant a terrible person who
threatened to throw the country into chaos. But Democrats and Republicans
used to mean the same thing."
Estabrook said anarchism, or libertarian socialism, is historically left
of center in the socialist movement and does represent a lasting ideology.
"It is a sustaining ideology. I'm uncomfortable with the term ideology
because libertarian socialism is not an ideology in terms of a doctrine.
It's a historical idea, a thought. I think it will continue as a permanent
strain," Estabrook said.
Estabrook said that anarchism, rather than the political ideologies people
now adhere to, is the true and right conclusion to liberalism.
"Anarchism is the true heir to the classical liberal political tradition
which descended from the Enlightenment and which both Democrats and Republicans
in this country claim to represent," Estabrook said.
Classical liberalism theory believes that state intervention should be
minimal and stress freedom, which is in direct opposition to the "wage
slavery" of industrial capitalism, he said.
"Classical liberal thought seems to lead directly to anarchy when combined
with an understanding of industrial capitalism," Estabrook said.
Anarchism also has connections to socialist theory, he said.
"To be an anarchist one must first be a socialist. Socialism we understand
as a democratic control of production," Estabrook said. "The judgment of
history that socialism has been tried and failed is false."
Estabrook said the two main arguments against anarchism are that the ideal
of freedom in economic life is incompatible with human nature and that
anarchism will not work in a complex economy.
"The idea that it won't work is funny with all the ideas of free market
and free enterprise that drips off us these days," Estabrook said. "Anarchism
is a heuristic--a way of finding out what questions need to be asked."
People need to establish a common position, Estabrook said, not surrender
to the idea that nothing can be done.
"We're hearing a lot about Malcolm X this week," Estabrook said. "He said,
'I think there will be a clash between those who are oppressed and those
who do the oppressing. I think there will be such a clash, but I don't
believe it will be based on the color of the skin.' "
