A People's Economic Revolution

Harry Valentine

[Posted June 13, 2002]

People's revolutions generally have their origins in inappropriate
governmental behavior. This behavior may be exploitative, it may be
oppressive, tyrannical, or even despotic. In rare instances, the opportunity
may present itself whereby the people may rise up and overthrow an otherwise
unpopular government. Not all successful uprisings, such as the Bolshevik
Revolution or Iran's anti-American revolution, are to the long-term
advantage of all citizens.

The recent monetary and economic upheavals in Argentina, caused by state
behavior in the monetary system, now make that country ripe for a peaceful
people's economic revolution. The foundational ideas of such a revolution
have been written up in the works of economists such as the late Murray
Rothbard. Rothbard argued that an absence of forcible coercion in human
relations and freedom of peaceful action would form the basis of a free
society as well as a viable free-market economy.

The meltdown of Argentina's monetary system leaves the bulk of the
population there with little choice but to peacefully take economic control
away from their government, through a nationwide informal or underground
economy. Ludwig von Mises advised in his writings that people would revert
to bartering in the event of monetary destabilization.

In recent weeks, large numbers Argentineans have in fact been turning to the
underground economy as a means of economic survival. Most of the
participants may never even have heard of Mises or Rothbard, yet their ideas
offer hope to large masses of people who are willing to peacefully engage in
a voluntary exchange of goods and services.

In Argentina today, there exists a small number of people who have actually
read the works of Mises, Rothbard, and Hayek and are familiar as to how
these ideas and theories can apply to a real-world economic environment. The
central leadership idea offered implicitly by Rothbard's theories is that a
peaceful mass revolt and mass rejection against centralized economic power
and centralized economic control is possible through mass underground
economic action involving the majority of a nation's population.

This implicit idea can put the collective decision making of the masses of
individual people who are engaged in peaceful and private economic planning
in direct control of Argentina's economic recovery, as well as its future
economic evolution. Whereas political opponents may imprison a Mandela or
assassinate a Gandhi, a peaceful revolution led by a well-formulated idea
presents the opponent with a far more perplexing adversary.

A successful nationwide informal economy operating in Argentina, one that
benefits large masses of citizens, has the potential to politically
embarrass governments of other nations. The tools of production that are
available today are far more advanced and far more efficient than their
predecessors of bygone eras, when bartering flourished. Far higher
individual levels of productivity, involving large numbers of people, are
possible today. Modern computer technology enables accurate tracking of
credits and debts incurred in local regions by participants in the
underground economy.

Argentina has a long history of oppressive governmental behavior as well as
of state economic misbehavior. Severe state action to combat mass informal
economic activity is almost a foregone conclusion, despite the fact that
over half of Argentina's 37 million overtaxed citizens live below the
poverty line.

Argentina's elitists, mercantilists, and statist parasites would inevitable
resort to oppressive measures to rob the masses of control of their economic
destiny. Foreign assistance to Argentinean governmental forces in this
regard is also a foregone conclusion, despite it having the potential of
precipitating a return to oppressive state behavior in areas beyond the
economic arena. Argentina's elitists are practically guaranteed support from
players in Washington and Brussels in this regard.

A nationwide informal economy in Argentina not only has the potential to
embarrass foreign political leaders, but it also has the potential to
illustrate to the citizens of the world that the masses could rise up
against statist economic oppression, in a people's economic revolution
driven by the ideas of Rothbard, Mises, and Hayek.

The well-being of the majority of a nation's economically disenfranchised
citizens could be realized without any state control of the nation's money
supply or state regulation of peaceful economic activity. It is a lesson
that the IMF, the World Bank, and a few national leaders would prefer that
it never be illustrated in the real world. It is a lesson that could inspire
entire populations of economically disadvantaged citizens living elsewhere
in the not-so-free world to wrest control of the economy away from the
statist elitists.