Atlas / Comparisons / Bolsheviks vs Minarchist Libertarianism
Bolsheviks and Minarchist Libertarianism
Measured distance across six axes
Opposite ends of the recorded space. They agree within three points on CU, ID. They diverge by eight points or more on EC, AU, SC, CH.
Axis by axis
| Axis | RSDLP(b) | Nozick, LP | 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 | −05 | −03 | 2 | Agrees | Effectively the same position. Not what an argument between them is about. |
| AU · Organisation of power | +08 | −08 | 16 | Diverges | Carries the disagreement. Any claim that these two are alike has to explain this. |
| SC · Scale of decision | +07 | −07 | 14 | Diverges | Carries the disagreement. Any claim that these two are alike has to explain this. |
| ID · Rule of membership | −07 | −04 | 3 | Agrees | Effectively the same position. Not what an argument between them is about. |
| CH · Method and tempo | +10 | −03 | 13 | Diverges | Carries the disagreement. Any claim that these two are alike has to explain this. |
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.
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.
Nozick, LP · EC +10
At the market pole: police, courts and defence only.
- Programme textNozick's Anarchy, State, and Utopia (1974) derives a night-watchman state and no more.
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.
Nozick, LP · AU −08
Coded −8: strict constitutional limits and civil liberties.
- Programme textThe US party platform has opposed surveillance, conscription and drug prohibition since 1972.
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.
Bolsheviks
1903–1924 · Russia
A disciplined vanguard party seizes power in the name of the working class and imposes socialism from above.
Minarchist Libertarianism
1971– · United States, worldwide
A night-watchman state limited to police, courts and defence; maximum personal and economic freedom otherwise.
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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