by Kevin Carson for the Center for Stateless Society

Pirate utopias, both as a real-world phenomenon and cultural theme, are especially significant when juxtaposed to the authoritarianism prevailing in the legally approved maritime culture of naval and merchant ships. “Modern factory discipline,” Graeber writes, “was born on ships and plantations.” So pirate utopias were compelling symbols not only to seamen of the 18th century, but to the later proletarians in the mills of Manchester and Birmingham.

Read the article on the C4SS website