Atlas / Comparisons / Anarcho-Communism vs Anarcho-Capitalism
Anarcho-Communism and Anarcho-Capitalism
Measured distance across six axes
Opposed programmes with little shared ground. They agree within three points on AU, SC, CH. They diverge by eight points or more on EC, CU.
Axis by axis
| Axis | Kropotkin | Rothbard | Gap | Reading | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EC · Economic organisation | −09 | +10 | 19 | Diverges | Carries the disagreement. Any claim that these two are alike has to explain this. |
| CU · Social and cultural order | −07 | +01 | 8 | Diverges | Carries the disagreement. Any claim that these two are alike has to explain this. |
| AU · Organisation of power | −10 | −10 | 0 | Agrees | Effectively the same position. Not what an argument between them is about. |
| SC · Scale of decision | −10 | −10 | 0 | Agrees | Effectively the same position. Not what an argument between them is about. |
| ID · Rule of membership | −08 | −02 | 6 | Differs | Real difference, but not the dividing line. |
| CH · Method and tempo | +06 | +03 | 3 | Agrees | Effectively the same position. Not what an argument between them is about. |
Each axis runs from −10 to +10; the distance is the straight-line separation across all six at once, out of a maximum of 49.0. How the scoring works →
The evidence behind the widest gaps
A distance figure is worth nothing unless the scores behind it can be checked. These are the artefacts supporting the axes that separate these two most.
Kropotkin · EC −09
Abolition of private property in the means of production and of money and wages together.
- Programme textKropotkin's Conquest of Bread argues for distribution according to need with no wage system at all.
Rothbard · EC +10
At the ceiling. Every function including law and defence is to be supplied by contract.
- Programme textRothbard's For a New Liberty treats taxation as theft without qualification and proposes private courts and defence agencies.
Kropotkin · CU −07
Strongly egalitarian on every inherited hierarchy, including within the family and the workplace.
- ScholarshipNineteenth-century anarchist movements campaigned for free union, secular education and women's autonomy well ahead of socialist parties.
Rothbard · CU +01
Coded near neutral: the doctrine is silent on social order, holding that any arrangement may be contracted.
- Programme textRothbard's framework derives all obligations from property and contract, with no substantive social prescription.
What this comparison does not establish
Proximity means similarity of stated position. It carries no claim about competence, circumstance, scale of operation, or what either organisation actually did to the people under it. Two organisations can sit close together and produce entirely different histories, because those things are not on any axis and could not be.
Anarcho-Communism
1872– · Russia, Europe
Abolish the state and private property simultaneously; distribution according to need through voluntary federation.
Anarcho-Capitalism
1970– · United States
All state functions including courts, police and defence should be supplied competitively on the market; taxation is theft.
Distance is not the whole answer. Two organisations can sit the same distance apart for entirely different reasons, and the reason is the content of any claim about them. Open the comparison in the atlas to weight the axes yourself.
Open in the atlas