No, the Anarchists weren't a bunch of mustachioed bomb-throwing spooks in trench coats--although they were usually portrayed that way by Capital.
Anarchists did not believe in private ownership of the means of production, that it should be owned collectively. Not by the State, but collectively and democratically. Factories would be owned by the workers, who would elect executives and managers, or hire professionals to do that work. In essence, it was a business where the employees were stockholders, and had a stake in the enterprise. Anarchists, unlike the Communists, rejected the State altogether. Everything was democratic. Remains of this system survive today as "co-ops", but in the late 19th century it was catching on big all over Europe. However, it was fiercely resisted by Capital, and their allies in the State. By "resisted" I mean, like, with bayonets.
In the Cuban Community in Tampa, where my immigrant grandparents were active, these co-ops opened social clubs that handled the cultural and educational needs of those communities. Workers, through a small subscription fee, could join a "social society" which erected grand buildings with ballrooms, libraries, gymnasiums, athletic facilities and medical clinics. These community centers took care of the social and cultural needs of those communities for very reasonable fees, and they were owned and operated by the subscribers, not by Capital.
In spite of resistance by the Spanish cigar factory owners and the US medical profession (yes, they were complaining about "socialized medicine" even back then) these facilities thrived until the Depression and the cigar-making machines displaced the highly skilled cigar workers and the culture that coalesced about them.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circulo_Cubano_de_Tampa
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Ybor_City#The_Mutual_Aid_Societies_(social_clubs)
There are alternatives to capitalism, and benign variations of it. But you can count on businessmen to resist them violently if they feel their own hegemony and profit is threatened. So much for the Free Market and the Invisible Hand
Off Topic » in reply to Don't get misty on us, Buck.
Did your Marxist professor tell you about the Anarchists?
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