The Cannibal State

The Greeks had accurate words for most things, but when they tried to make one word do double duty for “Society” and “the State” they created a confusion that still haunts us. In the compact little cities of the Hellenes, with slaves to do the dirty work, it may well have seemed that the difference between the two concepts was unimportant. But because of the one area of murk in Greek political science, it has been given to few individuals since Aristotle’s time to know just what it is that causes civilizations to fail.

Frank Chodorov, like his teacher Albert Jay Nock, has spent a lifetime trying to clear up the single unfortunate legacy of Greek political thought. As in all his previous writings, he hammers away in his new book, The Rise and Fall of Society (Devin-Adair, $3.95), at the fundamental difference between Society (which consists of voluntary groupings of individuals) and the State (which originated in the need of individuals and groups to protect life, liberty and property from internal and external marauders). It is axiomatic with Chodorov that “Society is all-of-us.” But it is just as axiomatic with him that the State is not all-of-us—it is merely that part of us that is entrusted with the power to club the rest of us into line.

JC

About the Author

John Chamberlain

John Chamberlain (1903–1995) was an American writer.

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The Greeks had accurate words for most things, but when they tried to make one word do double duty for “Society” and “the State” they created a confusion that still haunts us. In the compact little cities of the Hellenes, with slaves to do the dirty work, it may well have seemed that the difference between the two concepts was unimportant. But because of the one area of murk in Greek political science, it has been given to few individuals since Aristotle’s time to know just what it is that causes civilizations to fail.

Frank Chodorov, like his teacher Albert Jay Nock, has spent a lifetime trying to clear up the single unfortunate legacy of Greek political thought. As in all his previous writings, he hammers away in his new book, The Rise and Fall of Society (Devin-Adair, $3.95), at the fundamental difference between Society (which consists of voluntary groupings of individuals) and the State (which originated in the need of individuals and groups to protect life, liberty and property from internal and external marauders). It is axiomatic with Chodorov that “Society is all-of-us.” But it is just as axiomatic with him that the State is not all-of-us—it is merely that part of us that is entrusted with the power to club the rest of us into line.