"The Best Form of Government…": Cage’s Laissez-Faire Anarchism and Capitalism

Pace, Ian (2006) "The Best Form of Government…": Cage’s Laissez-Faire Anarchism and Capitalism. The Open Space Magazine, 8. pp. 91-115. ISSN 1525-4267

Abstract / Summary

This article is a thorough-going critique of Cage’s political views, as expressed in his writings and interviews, all interrogated in great detail, from an essentially Marxist viewpoint. Cage’s relationship to the thought of Henry David Thoreau (and the resonances of Thoreau’s thought with the attitudes towards government to be found in the US Republican Party), his thoughts on taxation, the rule of law, democratic voting, protest and mass action, his brief flirtation with Maoism, the role of individual vs. collective revolution, the environment, and unemployment are all examined and critiqued in detail. Pace draws upon a wider range of reference to the anarchist and other writings that informed Cage's work, as well as setting them in the context of contemporary events and politics. In the form of an ideology critique, this essay seeks to challenge the vaguely ‘leftist’ interpretation of Cage’s politics in favour of a view which suggests greater resonances with the politics of the libertarian right. It is planned to be the first of various articles interrogating the mythology surrounding Cage’s thought and work (which are so often equated), in the interests of encouraging a greater separation between the two. Future projects include critique of the cult of personality around Cage, and the hagiographic discourse that has often formed the mainstay of positive critical reception of his work. This issue of Open Space magazine also included an extended interview between Ian Pace and Gordon Downie on issues of modernism and Marxism in particular. Following the publication of both of these, Ian Pace was appointed to the editorial board of the publication.

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