Albert Jay Nock: Encyclopedia II - Albert Jay Nock - Thought

Albert Jay Nock - Thought

Describing himself as a "philosophical anarchist", Nock called for a basically conservative and bourgeois vision of society free from the influence of the political state. He described the state as that which "claims and exercises the monopoly of crime". He opposed centralization, regulation, the income tax, and mandatory education, along with what he saw as the degradation of society. He denounced in equal terms all forms of totalitarianism, including "Bolshevism ... Fascism, Hitlerism, Marxism, [and] Communism", but was also harshly critical of democracy. Nock argued instead that, "[t]he practical reason for freedom is that freedom seems to be the only condition under which any kind of substantial moral fiber can be developed -- we have tried law, compulsion and authoritarianism of various kinds, and the result is nothing to be proud of." ("On Doing the Right Thing", The American Mercury, 1925)

During, the 1930s, Nock was one of the most consistent critics of Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal programs. In Our Enemy, the State, Nock argued that the New Deal was merely a pretext for the federal government to increase its control over society. He was dismayed that the president had gathered unprecedented power in his own hands and called this development a "coup d'etat". Nock criticized those who believed that the new regimentation of the economy was temporary, arguing that it constituted a permanent shift. He believed that the inflationary monetary policy of the Republican administrations of the 1920s were responsible for the onset of the Great Depression, and that the New Deal was responsible for perpetuating it.

Albert Jay Nock was also a passionate opponent of war and the U.S. government's aggressive foreign policy. He believed that war could only bring out the worst in society, arguing that it led inevitably to collectivization and militarization and "fortified a universal faith in violence; it set in motion endless adventures in imperialism, endless nationalist ambitions," while, at the same time, costing countless human lives. During the First World War, Nock wrote for The Nation, which was censored by the Wilson administration for opposing the war. Despite his distaste for communism, Nock harshly criticized the U.S. invasion of Russia following the Bolshevik revolution in that country. Before the Second World War, Nock wrote a series of articles deploring what he saw as Roosevelt's gamesmanship and interventionism leading inevitably to U.S. involvement. Nock was one of the few who maintained a principled opposition to the war throughout its course.

Despite becoming considerably more obscure in death than he had been in life, Nock was an important influence on the next generation of the American right, including libertarians such as Murray Rothbard, Frank Chodorov, and Leonard Read, and conservatives such as William F. Buckley, Jr. Nock's conservative view of society would help inspire the paleoconservative movement in response to the development of conservatism during the Cold War. In insisting on the state itself as the root problem, Nock's thought was one of the main precursors to anarcho-capitalism.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Thought", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki