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[Reelya]

As I thought, cell structure... Smaller group = much easier to manage via democracy. I think various cells quite compete (workforce, funding) with each other, right ? And they may have very different salary levels, right?

Yes, actually when I think about it, I think "set wages" systems are only tenable in state-socialism or state-capitalism type arrangements. Only when there's a ruling class who can enforce the rules on wages for the rest of the people.

In a distributed socialist model and autonomous workplaces with no ruling class (or at least formed into a federation) , negotiation, bargaining, trading and competing will all be necessary. After all, the different collectives will have to agree somehow on how much resources each one will receive, and what resourcess they will provide to the other collectives. So there will still be a market in some fashion, and there would certainly be competition. So you can see a distributed model vs a State model, would work very differently.

[Sheb]

Godwin marketing is best marketing.

But yeah, all serious non-state controlled economic models use markets, because markets are what you get when several people trade stuff. Plus, as an anarchist-leaning type and biologist, I really dig the complex, working relationship that emerges from market without anyone on top.

Actually, if SalmonGod read this, or anyone else that can answer: why do anarchist seems to hate markets so much? To me, they're the perfect example of anarchist principles in actions.

[Reelya]

They don't really object to the broader concept of "market" but they do tend to object to the narrow concept of "the free market", which is really a specific model.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anarchist_economics

Collectivist anarchism (also known as anarcho-collectivism) is a revolutionary doctrine that advocates the abolition of the state and private ownership of the means of production. Instead, it envisions the means of production being owned collectively and controlled and managed by the producers themselves. For the collectivization of the means of production, it was originally envisaged that workers will revolt and forcibly collectivize the means of production. Once collectivization takes place, workers' salaries would be determined in democratic organizations based on the amount of time they contributed to production. These salaries would be used to purchase goods in a communal market.

^ Now, that's just one model, but it's a popular one connected to such figures a Bakunin.

Mutualism is an anarchist school of thought which can be traced to the writings of Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, who envisioned a society where each person might possess a means of production, either individually or collectively, with trade representing equivalent amounts of labor in the free market.

^ Mutualism is associated with Proudhon

Anarchist communism (also known as anarcho-communism and occasionally as free communism or libertarian communism[51]) is a theory of anarchism which advocates the abolition of the state, markets, money, capitalism, and private property (while retaining respect for personal property),[52] and in favor of common ownership of the means of production,[53][54] direct democracy and a horizontal network of voluntary associations and workers' councils with production and consumption based on the guiding principle: "from each according to his ability, to each according to his need".

^ Now, there's a system without markets, but I'm not sure I've ever met an Anarcho-Communist.

Anarcho-capitalism advocates the elimination of the state in favor of individual sovereignty in a free market.

^ Like a more extreme version of Libertarian, these guys are often mocked by other anarchists, who think that a form of corporate anarchism would become hell-on-Earth.

[Sheb]

So what would be the difference between an anarchist market and a free market? By definition, an anarchist society doesn't have an authority that can skew markets.

[10ebbor10]

So what would be the difference between an anarchist market and a free market? By definition, an anarchist society doesn't have an authority that can skew markets.

Supposedly, there would be no monopolies/price rising/other bad stuff because the means of production are democratically owned.

It's a very fragile system.

[Morrigi]

Fragile maybe, but also adaptive if that makes sense. Government-controlled entities are often slow and ponderous in their responses and this often results in disaster. A decentralized system cannot be brought down by an event affecting a small part of it, while in a centralized system that small part directly affects the central agency (like wall street) and brings it down along with everyone else.