Atlas / Comparisons / Anarcho-Capitalism vs Bolsheviks
Anarcho-Capitalism and Bolsheviks
Measured distance across six axes
Opposite ends of the recorded space. No axis places them within three points of each other. They diverge by eight points or more on EC, AU, SC.
Axis by axis
| Axis | Rothbard | RSDLP(b) | Gap | Reading | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EC · Economic organisation | +10 | −09 | 19 | Diverges | Carries the disagreement. Any claim that these two are alike has to explain this. |
| CU · Social and cultural order | +01 | −05 | 6 | Differs | Real difference, but not the dividing line. |
| AU · Organisation of power | −10 | +08 | 18 | Diverges | Carries the disagreement. Any claim that these two are alike has to explain this. |
| SC · Scale of decision | −10 | +07 | 17 | Diverges | Carries the disagreement. Any claim that these two are alike has to explain this. |
| ID · Rule of membership | −02 | −07 | 5 | Differs | Real difference, but not the dividing line. |
| CH · Method and tempo | +03 | +10 | 7 | Differs | Real difference, but not the dividing line. |
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.
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.
RSDLP(b) · EC −09
Banks, land and large industry were taken into state ownership within a year of the seizure of power.
- Documented act or statuteThe Decree on Land abolished private landownership in November 1917.
- Documented act or statuteBanks were nationalised in December 1917 and large-scale industry in June 1918.
Rothbard · AU −10
At the floor with anarcho-communism, from the opposite economic pole. The pairing is the strongest single refutation of the one-dimensional model.
- Comparative datasetBoth traditions reject the state as such; they differ by nineteen points on the economic axis.
RSDLP(b) · AU +08
Other parties, factions and the elected assembly were removed within four years.
- Documented act or statuteThe Constituent Assembly, in which the Socialist Revolutionaries held a majority, was dissolved by force after one sitting in January 1918.
- Documented act or statuteThe Cheka was established in December 1917, six weeks after the seizure of power.
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-Capitalism
1970– · United States
All state functions including courts, police and defence should be supplied competitively on the market; taxation is theft.
Bolsheviks
1903–1924 · Russia
A disciplined vanguard party seizes power in the name of the working class and imposes socialism from above.
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.
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