For example, there is a large amorphous country in the north of the continent; the climate there is cold, there are few valuable resources, and a freedom-loving people live there, where almost everyone has an AK under their bed. There are cities in Ancapistan, where order is maintained by private companies and a small PMC for special operations. Suddenly, some valuable resource is found in this beautiful country. A neighboring country, Etatistan, is an ordinary country with corruption and standing armed forces (of a sort). And Etatistan decided to seize this resource. It failed to acquire it through market methods (the landowner did not sell his land, and blackmailing him to get it also failed), and Etatistan declares war on Ancapistan. And my question is: how can Ancapistan defend itself in order to maintain its independence and remain Ancapistan? How can an armed people, who have plenty of firearms and light armored vehicles (like jeeps and BMPs), withstand an army with aviation and heavy equipment?
Baker
This question has been hanging for a long time; I was too lazy to answer it because I had already answered a very similar one. And then a post on the Freedom pride channel appeared, which touches upon a related topic. Why not take advantage of such a free ride?
As is easy to see, the topic of direct military confrontation between a non-state society and a state military machine worries many, because war is historically the most important thing a state had to be able to do if it wanted to survive; and thanks to its competencies in military affairs, practically the entire Earth is today divided among states, while non-state societies lead a marginal existence on the fringes of civilization.
Zolotorev, whom I am quoting, emphasizes that the ancap community, all other things being equal, is definitely wealthier than the state; due to decentralization, it can afford more flexible tactics, and the costs of implementing a state from scratch on the territory of Ancapistan conquered by the state would be disproportionately high for the state—in other words, the game would not be worth the candle.
Freedom pride shows why it would be difficult for a single gang to seize power in a conditions of an already established ancap. But it also states that if it were not a gang, but a state, it would become a problem.
Therefore, in conclusion, I want to suggest you read my longread on the doctrine of deterrence, which shows exactly that a means has already been invented to prevent a state from attacking you—the threat of guaranteed destruction of the state leader. The state is centralized, and this is its weakest point: it is enough to demotivate a very small circle of people from attacking, and the attack will not take place.
So, of course, an AK under the pillow is great sports equipment, but the key role in the conflict will be played by that very small PMC for special operations you described. This “department for working with difficult clients” at the insurance company, in the event of military action, simply captures the commander-in-chief of Etatistan and twists his balls until he agrees to withdraw the troops and pay a penalty. And if they can’t capture him alive, the problem will be solved by a dozen Tomahawks or something along those lines. This is significantly cheaper than heavy armored vehicles and other means of destroying large military formations that Etatistan possesses.
I will note that Etatistan cannot respond symmetrically, as there is no government in Ancapistan. And even sabotage at a PMC military base would only lead to the insurance company simply having to hire another PMC somewhere else, or simply announcing a substantial reward for the head of the dictator of Etatistan.
Although, to be honest, personally I don’t quite understand why the deposit could not be acquired through market means. Everything has its price, and if a price per share with a large premium to the market is offered, what is the point of refusing? But since that is the condition of the problem, then the word goes to the Tomahawks, provided that the shareholders of the deposit are willing to pay for it.
Choosing a private representative? An armed population is great, but tanks, planes, and missiles—who sells them, who buys them, and consequently, who stores them? And obviously, how does a private individual profit from this? Donations? Or will they offer to protect a certain part of the population? Quite strange. Military personnel will go, for example, into various PMCs and become mercenaries, but what about deterrent weapons? A private individual will be paid from the outside, and that’s it. Kaput. Cosmopolitanism is cool, but this scenario is quite real. Again, terrorist attacks carried out for the purpose of intimidation, or due to disagreement with the population based on certain criteria. Who will investigate them? Private security organizations that engage in security activities? People who are interested in what happened? Quite likely. What about firefighters, who are supposed to arrive after the fact? They arrive, but the homeowner is gone, or simply doesn’t exist because the plot of land is a wasteland. Let it burn? Will the city saved from the fire pay them via donations? “Donations” is a crude word, but essentially, if people aren’t obligated to pay for it, they will more likely pay into insurance, and the insurance companies will handle it? Consequently, each insurance company will have its own ties with firefighters, etc. Okay, I answered that myself. But as for weapons of mass destruction and heavy military equipment, it’s still unclear.
Royal hacker
It is quite difficult to answer such broad questions, so I will focus on the very first part.
Indeed, there is a rather peculiar service that seemingly only a state can provide to a person: the service of representation before another state. States do not consider citizens of other states to be subjects of treaties. They negotiate with other states, while citizens and companies act as objects of agreements. This applies to trade tariffs and regulations, visa regimes, and the extradition of criminals. How can the market respond to such rudeness?
Fortunately, states can make decisions regarding foreigners not only in a bilateral but also in an autistic mode. For example, issuing an order that products receiving certain certificates are not subject to customs duties. This means nothing prevents the company issuing the certificates from working with influence groups in those countries that are of interest as a sales market. Similarly, some consortium of travel agencies could work with lobbyists regarding a visa-free regime for buyers of certain tour packages. In general, the task looks difficult but solvable, although it seems more likely to me to obtain visas by purchasing some convenient citizenship (and the more wealthy apatrides wanting to travel there are in the market, the more various small island states will compete for them, and due to the volume, the price of the matter will quite quickly drop to a quite acceptable level).
It is more difficult with the pursuit of criminals. I once wrote about the functions of a prison under ancap, arguing that the criminal needs it primarily as a refuge from retribution. If a criminal has the opportunity to flee to the territory of a state, they effectively receive the same refuge, just without being locked within four walls. On the other hand, the state in terms of protection is a prison for the poor. That is, protection exists, but it is purely nominal. So, if someone hiding on the territory of a state manages to be discovered (which is a quite feasible and legal task for private detective agencies, which they can perfectly perform on the territory of a state), then one can either enter negotiations with them or deal with them in one way or another, since state structures are unlikely to be able to or want to protect them. Finally, one can threaten the criminal not with retribution, but with deportation to the state whose citizenship they acquired to cross the border, and there they can be judged by a state court. A mediocre solution, but threatening to hand one bandit over to other bandits for retribution if they don’t compensate for the damages is more or less permissible.
The rest of your long question is mainly devoted to issues of the use and sale of heavy weaponry. Nothing prevents a private company, operating on stateless territory, from producing weapons and legally supplying them to the territories of states if appropriate contracts are concluded with buyer companies (defense ministries can also act as such). Of course, national armies usually follow standards, and if a specific tank model has been adopted for armament, pushing through a procurement decision for another model is quite a hassle. But these are issues that are already being solved without state patronage, so under ancap, arms companies will handle this—they aren’t children.
As for the purchase of heavy weaponry by some hypothetical ancap PMCs, I personally do not believe in the market justification for such purchases, but I cannot provide clear arguments. Perhaps a few PMCs on stateless territory will go all out; after all, a tank biathlon is a quite monetizable show, something to keep them occupied in peacetime.
Many people have insisted to me that a stateless society is impossible due to human nature. Man is a natural etatist; he always seeks a leader to follow, and in the absence of one, becomes one himself. This is confirmed by experiments on rats, the Stanford experiment, and many other independent studies, and it fully corresponds to the reality we observe. The time has come to admit that these guys are completely right; enough denying the obvious.
But who said that the current leaders are the only possible ones and there is no alternative? The “new transparency” that Ekaterina Schulmann tirelessly drones on about in her lectures clearly demonstrates to us the wretchedness of their motives and the shallowness of their minds. They are no better than we are, and we are no less worthy of ruling. The time has come for each of us to release our inner Leviathan!
It is the Leviathan, as Thomas Hobbes quite rightly notes, that is the only thing keeping humanity from a war of all against all. So, can two hundred Leviathans really save such a vast humanity? No, we need more Leviathans, otherwise the bright anarchist ideal will remain unattainable! Everyone reading this appeal must immediately declare themselves the authorized and sovereign ruler of their entire neighborhood, demand signs of respect from everyone around them, and begin collecting taxes, for it is precisely thanks to taxes that the construction of civilization is possible. Who, if not states, grants people all public goods? There are not enough public goods, which means we need more states!
Those who do not follow the appeal, fearing to recognize their own sovereignty, will only prove that they are unworthy of it. Well, there will always be those who take them under their benevolent patronage and make them their kind taxpayer. Thus, from shitty democracy, bypassing the pointless intermediate stage of monarchy, we will return once again to the ideal of natural aristocracy, in full accordance with the teachings of Hans-Hermann Hoppe—but on a new dialectical level, in full accordance with the teachings of Marx and Engels.
With this manifesto, I announce the founding of sovereign Ancapistan, the best of states. Bitcoins are declared the only legal means of payment in Ancapistan. Taxes are paid to the wallet 1A7Wu2enQNRETLXDNpQEufcbJybtM1VHZ8
Those who do not pay the tax will be left in Putin’s Russia. Is that really what you want?
I have already had to answer regarding graffiti, but that was about current reality. How will the situation differ in Ancapistan?
Every wall is private property; where can a free artist go? Free creativity can only be illegal, otherwise what rebellious spirit could there be? So, we will leave banalities like the idea that one could only paint by contract with the wall owner to the lovers of banalities.
So, will private walls be painted in Ancapistan without asking the owner’s permission? Yes, of course they will! It could be a sincere desire to decorate a boring space, it could be Vasya’s intention to tell the whole world about his unearthly love for Olya, it could be the longing of a miserable lover to express his bitter regret that his beloved is leaving for Ptiburdokov—there are plenty of reasons one can imagine to fill an empty space with one’s own content!
What exact sanctions face the graffiti artist? Well, what sanctions are you prepared to impose on someone caught painting the wall of your private house? Well, you might swear, try to shame them, promise to give them a good thrashing next time. Or you might say, “Dude, sign your drawings so everyone knows it’s you who paints so poorly, and they can wish you a speedy improvement in your artistic skills.” Naturally, the more expensive the property, the more provocative the drawing, the greater the danger threatening the author of the masterpiece. He knows this. Nevertheless, I don’t recommend shooting them—people won’t understand. If you want to take a hard line, it’s better to sue and demand monetary compensation for damages.
This picture has already been here, but I am a pathetic copy-paster, not a proud graffiti artist
Will everyone really be on edge and ready to defend themselves immediately (with weapons), ruining all the fun?
анонимный вопрос
Alexander Rozov, in his recent books from the endless Meganesian cycle, painted a rather vivid picture of what unfortunate pranksters face in a society where everyone is on edge and ready to defend themselves immediately. In those stories, the pranksters took a severe beating, but since the footage of them getting beaten was broadcast live, their ratings only grew, along with their monetization. It’s a strange way to make a living, but people commit to even more serious eccentricities just for the sake of a joke.
Generally, a sense of humor is the ability to derive pleasure from the discrepancy between what is observed and what is expected (not my definition; I don’t remember where I read it). In a society where everyone is on edge, it will indeed be difficult to maintain a sense of humor in situations where you have every reason to perceive a subject’s actions as an attack, only for it to turn out to be a prank. However, the already famous prank with Vader and the street toilet is perfectly suitable for replication in any armed society. Even if the girl in the screenshot had a submachine gun instead of a bag, she would hardly have opened fire, but she certainly could have raised her weapon to see how these guys liked a counter-prank, and whether Lord Vader would wet his pants.
Unfortunately, it is difficult for me to answer the first part of the question. My knowledge of the series is entirely exhausted by the information that there is a sad boy named Carl somewhere in there. So I will not go into specifics; let’s talk about the zombie apocalypse in general, without tying it to a specific series.
I would define a zombie apocalypse roughly like this: it is a phenomenon of an unstudied nature in which the bodies of dead people become deadly to the living. In such a general formulation, humanity has encountered the zombie apocalypse repeatedly. Every epidemic of some plague became a zombie apocalypse. According to one version, the great zombie apocalypse in England in the 17th century even contributed to the Industrial Revolution and the emergence of liberalism, since it increased the cost of labor.
A typical cinematic zombie apocalypse differs from historical analogues only in that the dead body pursues living people with all the appropriate cinematic special effects: it approaches with a tragic gait, waves household equipment terrifyingly, and scrapes its nails against stone in powerless rage if the victim manages to climb to a height. Hygienic measures against zombies are generally about the same as during an epidemic: burn the corpses.
Alright, these are all very sweet reflections, but how will zombies help in the construction of Ancapistan? For this, we will have to introduce another fantastic assumption. A zombie does not just lunge at everyone indiscriminately. No, he purposefully and inventively sets out to take revenge specifically on the person he considers responsible for his death. By analogy with the philosophical zombie, I will call this subspecies the “legal zombie.” Agree that, compared to the fantastic assumption that brisk corpses exist at all, such a specification of their motivations looks like a quite modest and realistic addition.
Such a zombie is a living… pardon, non-living embodiment of the non-aggression principle: no one has the right to initiate violence with impunity. Let’s add that a legal zombie also lunges at anyone who prevents another legal zombie from carrying out their revenge. Having finished the retribution for their death, the legal zombie finds peace.
I assert that in the world of a legal zombie apocalypse, Ancapistan will be built quite quickly. A living person is such a more pleasant companion than a zombie that the very idea of contributing to the appearance of a new zombie would already be horrifying. Therefore, people will soon learn mutual politeness, develop a readiness for charity and cooperation in difficult situations, and will even evacuate from the Titanic into lifeboats only after ensuring that a seat was voluntarily provided to them.
But we don’t have to wait for the arrival of a legal zombie apocalypse; we can learn mutual respect, cooperation, and compassion for the weak in advance, and be ready to pounce on any violator of the NAP. Why postpone for the afterlife what can be done today?
A similar question was asked of me three years ago, and at that time I wrote a whole essay on the subject titled “Why Altai Succeeded.” Now, without overthinking it, I am simply publishing it with minimal edits.
Why Altai Succeeded
The Gorno-Altai Autonomous Region is a small, sparsely populated peripheral territory of Southern Siberia on the border with Mongolia. There are no railways, almost no industry; there are mineral resources, but they are expensive to export due to a lack of infrastructure. It is inhabited predominantly by livestock breeders who are united into kolkhozes purely formally. It possesses significant tourism potential, which was practically unused by the socialist planned economy.
In the summer of 1990, talk of sovereignty began in the autonomous region. The leadership planned to demand a status upgrade to an autonomous republic, but instead, announcements began to appear—first in Gorno-Altaysk and Mayma, a few days later in all other district centers, and then everywhere. They hung on poles, on the doors of shops, post offices, and savings banks, or were simply pasted onto gates. The first print run was produced at the regional newspaper’s printing house, and thereafter it became a grassroots effort: some used typewriters, some wrote by hand. The text was as follows:
Comrades!
The General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU, Comrade N.S. Khrushchev, promised Soviet citizens the construction of communism by 1980. Unfortunately, he was removed from office by a handful of party officials who preferred to develop the socialist system instead of building communism. But the laws of dialectical materialism cannot be cheated! And so, ten years after the promised deadline, Altai has finally built communism.
According to the teachings of Marx-Engels-Lenin, the state is an instrument of class oppression. A communist society is classless; therefore, the state on the territory of Altai has henceforth naturally ceased to exist. The Communist Party, which served as the vanguard of the builders of communism, no longer persists as a structure separate from the rest of the people upon the achievement of communism. The task of the Communist Party is accomplished!
The basic principle of communism is: from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs. Therefore, the inhabitants of communist Altai shall henceforth freely exchange any goods and services, valuing them only and exclusively according to their own needs. The amount of labor invested, which served as the socialist measure of a commodity’s value, is now disregarded. Concepts of added value, price zones, central planning, and the like are henceforth considered obsolete and possessing only historical value. Since states that use money as a measure of value still exist in the rest of the world, the inhabitants of Altai may also freely use the currencies of any states in their settlements according to their own needs, alongside any other values.
In their relations with one another, the inhabitants of Altai shall henceforth be guided by only two principles: mutual respect and communist consciousness. The first means that in their actions, residents take into account the interests of their neighbors and other involved parties, cementing their decisions with agreements. The second means that residents consider not only immediate needs but also care about what they will leave behind for their grateful descendants.
All conflicts are settled amicably by the residents involved in the conflict, according to the principles of mutual respect and communist consciousness. They may also turn to any other persons or organizations for judgment, pledging to carry out the decision rendered by them.
All property remaining to the inhabitants of Altai from the times of the socialist system, both personal and state-owned, continues to remain under the management of the same persons who managed it under socialism. Mechanisms for changing the managing persons are developed by the residents independently for each specific case, based on the principles of mutual respect and communist consciousness.
In relations with citizens of other states, the inhabitants of Altai are guided by the same principles as in their relations with each other. Any person is free to come to Altai for recreation, for settlement, or to engage in various activities. As long as they observe our principles, they are our welcome guest.
The inhabitants of Altai consider wars to be a remnant of a bleak past; therefore, they respect the borders of states and have no intention of seizing their territory by force. When traveling outside Altai, the inhabitants of Altai are guided not only by the principles of mutual respect and communist consciousness but also comply with the other requirements of those states.
The inhabitants of Altai will not tolerate attempts to turn history backward; therefore, they will oppose any attempts to revive a class society and a state on the territory of Altai. A sign of a class society is the distinction of any groups for whom different rules apply than for others. Signs of a state are: the forced seizure of valuables, the coercion of people to work, the restriction of freedom of action, and other violent actions carried out otherwise than as compensation for specific calculated damage.
It is clear that the stated principles differed greatly from the trends of recent years, and scholars of Marx’s works might find many of the introduced definitions quite debatable. But, first, the main, well-known communist principles were explicitly stated in this manifesto. Second, anyone who had read science fiction could easily recognize the bright communist future in these principles, and nothing else. But the most important psychological factor was that the manifesto declared victory. While the rest of the USSR was contemplating admitting defeat in the competition with capitalism, and reading “Dunno on the Moon”—where it was assumed that man is a wolf to man—as a visual aid for building a new order, the majority in Altai understood perfectly well what kind of system they had established and how to behave within it.
According to the manifesto, all functionaries of the national economy fully retained their positions; only party workers were left completely without roles. Attempts to assert their rights led to them being reminded: “You bitches removed Khrushchev!”. And, frankly speaking, the CPSU aktiv was not that large in a territory with a population of fewer than two hundred thousand. In any case, some party workers left for Russia; no one placed obstacles in their way.
Russia took a pause; the union leadership found itself in a predicament. Had this been a matter of militant nationalism, with the oppression of Russians and other excesses, they might have considered deploying troops. But to forcibly return those who had already moved to a new stage of development back to socialism? That would mean the collapse of the entire ideology. Keeping such a thing secret would have been impossible; glasnost had long been triumphantly sweeping across the USSR. It ended with Gorbachev officially announcing in October 1990 that an experiment on the transition to communism within a single region had begun on the territory of the Gorno-Altai Autonomous Region.
Already the following year, as everything in the USSR began to shake and the first foreign investors arrived in Altai—several hotel chains and one agro-industrial holding—a mass exodus of Soviet cooperators, currency traders, and other sufficiently wealthy citizens to Altai began. They discovered that both they, their money, and their initiative were welcome here.
At first, Soviet rubles were mainly used in Altai, then they predominantly switched to the US dollar and the Swiss franc. No one saw the need to conduct their own currency policy.
The few asphalted roads did not have time to fall into complete neglect during the transition period. Road services initially scraped by on small orders for asphalt paving inside villages or repairing bridges over mountain rivers, but gradually larger investors stepped in, and orders became overwhelming. In 1991, road workers set up a post at the entrance from Russia and began charging transport traveling to Mongolia. This was enough to maintain the Chuysky Trakt in a satisfactory condition. Gradually, a sufficient number of services emerged, each grabbing various road sections for maintenance and profit. Over time, the fee-collection mechanisms evolved toward greater user convenience—as is customary, in accordance with the principles of communist consciousness and mutual respect. Also, strangely enough, the total absence of any bodies designed to establish traffic rules and monitor their compliance did not particularly affect the accident rate.
Small aviation continued to operate between district centers, as well as to Biysk and Barnaul. By the time small aviation in Russia began to wither away, the Japanese had already started building an international airport in Gorno-Altaysk.
Private clinics first began to appear at hotels and sanatoriums; over time, solvent demand emerged in district centers as well. The rescue service began moonlighting by transporting patients from remote villages to district hospitals. In some cases, these were one-off orders, in others, subscription service agreements with residents, and in some, insurance companies managed to hustle in.
The level of education naturally dipped at first. Former school teachers worked with individual students on specific subjects, spending the rest of their time in their own gardens. Gradually, it became clearer what kind of specialists the communist economy needed, and the process began; in some places, it remained at the level of tutoring, while in Gorno-Altaysk and Ulagan, one secondary school each opened. Mainly, teachers gathered mixed-age groups and gave an intensive course of one or two subjects over a couple of months. The academic load remained laughable compared to the Soviet past, so children were more involved in household chores and found a full source of income quite early. On the other hand, it became common to voluntarily study specific areas of knowledge at a more mature age, when a person knew exactly what they needed and was ready to pay for it.
In the early nineties, excesses occurred when gangs from Russia arrived in jeeps, stealing cars, household appliances, and money. These issues were resolved in different ways. One could obtain contacts for a rival gang and lead them to the gang returning with the loot. One could organize armed resistance, as there were no restrictions on carrying weapons in Altai. One could provide leads to the Russian cops. In Mayma, which naturally suffered from raids more than others, a private security organization existed for a time—it was founded by Biysk gangsters who had been pushed out of the station market by competitors. Gradually, the opinion formed in the criminal circles of the Altai Krai that it was “beneath them” to act lawlessly toward the communists. They went there for cultured recreation, and sometimes for arbitration—the communist consciousness of their southern neighbors could be trusted.
In ninety-eight, Belokurikha joined communist (the de facto anarcho-capitalist system thus retained its original ideologized name de jure) Altai. In the RF, there was a default, a carousel of changing prime ministers, salary delays—while Altai investors offered good money in hard currency for the state property in the purchased Belokurikha. In the early two-thousands, the RF unilaterally carried out the demarcation of the border, established customs checkpoints and other strange attributes that states love so much. In 2014, Zhirinovsky suggested considering that Belokurikha and Northern Kazakhstan, along with Novorossiya, are ancestral Russian lands, but Zyuganov pulled him back, telling him not to dare sharpen his teeth on communists, and that in general, we could actually learn something from our southern neighbors rather than intruding upon them with our volunteers.
In 2006, there was an attempt to officially register the state of the Communist Republic of Altai—with the goal of joining the UN, WTO, and providing offshore services. However, the next day, the applicant’s entire fence was plastered with the communist manifesto, and he, after sober reflection, decided that things were fine as they were. He did not attempt to prove to his neighbors that his idea implied neither taxation nor other signs of a state mentioned in the manifesto, and he dropped his initiative. This communist inflexibility of the Altai people meant that no international company could keep its headquarters in Altai, as it was required to have a state registration, but this did not hinder real operational activity.
For trips around the world, the inhabitants of Altai initially used primarily Russian passports, which they obtained in Russian Biysk, but after the 2008 Georgian war, citizenship of the Baltic states and Israel became fashionable, and from 2010, Mongolia introduced a simplified procedure for the inhabitants of Altai, thereby fully satisfying the market demand.
Altai became a refuge for Edward Snowden, but this was not his most successful idea. NSA representatives, not hiding themselves particularly, flew to Gorno-Altaysk and captured the fugitive sysadmin, after which they departed for the RF and then to Washington. The Altai people did not obstruct the detention, but, first, they began to refuse US dollars en masse, gradually switching to Swiss francs for cash and bitcoins for cashless settlements, and second, in 2014, a veterans’ club opened near Onguday—something like a base for free mercenaries from all over the world—and when in 2017 the Russian FSB tried to capture Arkady Babchenko, who had fled to Altai, its employees were met with a rather unkind reception. However, it was managed without casualties or international scandals.
In 2020, the Manifiesto Comunista spread to Cuba, but that is a completely different story…
Our helicopter, fly ahead, the stop is at the commune!
I want to recommend a channel that will be useful to anyone interested only in the audio tracks of various near-libertarian videos available on the internet. It’s very convenient: you’re walking down the street, phone in your pocket, listening to some fresh Shulman in your headphones who appeared on YouTube just a couple of hours ago, and she’s already been ported as audio to Telegram.
I promised you that there would be no promotional posts here. So, to clarify: we are agreeing with the owner of the channel that his audio library will also migrate to my website. The Telegram channels will remain separate. I hope that over time, I will be able to build a small, cozy Ancapistan around myself)
Start your acquaintance with the channel with a couple of programs about lustration. You love lustrations, don’t you?
