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An Introduction to Mormon Anarchism
By William Van Wagenen
Introduction
In this paper I wish to show that the consistent application
of the principles expounded in Mormon scripture, should
lead a person to become an anarchist. In other words, every
Mormon should look forward to the abolition of govern-
ment and the building of a socialist society based on free
association and mutual cooperation. Attempting to ar-
gue such a case may seem perplexing, given the generally
pro-capitalist, pro-government, pro-war stance of many
American Mormons today.
By arguing that every Mormon should be an anarchist, I
am not attempting to imply that the Church of Jesus Christ
of Latter-day Saints is currently in a state of \u201capostasy\u201d
because its membership does not openly strive for the
establishment of an anarchist society. Governments and
THE
Mor mon
Worker
\u201cI Teach Them Correct Principles and They Govern Themselves\u201d\u2013Joseph Smith
Issue 1
September 2007
\u2022An Introduction to Mormon Anarchism
William Vanwagenen
\u2022The Mormon WorkerCory Bushman
\u2022Mitt Romney: A Mormon Presidential Candidate?
William Vanwagenen
\u2022The Force of War and the Force of Peace? The Same
Force Moving in the Opposite Direction?
Tom Fox
\u2022 Book Review: Milton Meltzer\u2019s Bread-and Roses:
The Struggle of American Labor 1865-1915
Kristen Kinjo-Bushman

\u2022The Things Refuseniks AcceptTovah Ben David
\u2022War and the StateWilliam Vanwagenen
\u2022 Stewardship of the Creation: According to The Book

of Moses in the Pearl of Great Price
Kristen Kinjo Bushman
\u2022\u201cProviding For A Family\u201d; or, Why Engels Was Right
Peter McMurray
\u2022Noam Chomsky\u2019s \u201cStar System\u201d and the Modern
Neoconservative EliteAsh Bledsoe
\u2022Revolutionary CharityTyler Bushman
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2
The Mormon Worker

capitalist economies constitute the reality in which Mor- mons must live, making some degree o\ue001 cooperation with government necessary \ue001or the Mormon Church to simply exist and evangelize. In the decades \ue001ollowing the \ue001ound- ing o\ue001 the Mormon religion in 1830, the \ue001ederal and state

authorities directly threatened the Church\u2019s existence vari-

ous times, in the \ue001orm o\ue001 imprisonments, expulsions, land con\ue000scations, and so \ue001orth. The most notorious example o\ue001 this came in 1838 when the then Governor o\ue001 Missouri,

Lilburn Boggs, issued an executive decree stating, \u201cthe
Mormons must be treated as enemies, and must be exter-
minated or driven \ue000rom the State i\ue000 necessary \ue000or the public
peace.\u201d1 Even a\ue001ter the Mormons \ue000nally \ue001ound a sa\ue001e haven
in the deserts o\ue001 Utah, the US government threatened the
existence o\ue001 the Church several times. In 1856, President
Buchanan sent 2,500 soldiers to Utah to put down the \u201cMor-
mon Rebellion,\u201d while the entire leadership o\ue001 the church
was at one time either imprisoned or \ue000orced into hiding

by \ue001ederal authorities due to the Mormon practice o\ue001 po- lygamy. As a result o\ue001 such persecution, it was necessary \ue001or Mormons to come to some kind o\ue001 an accommodation

with the State. Further, it is the responsibility o\ue000 Mormons
to care and provide \ue000or their \ue000amilies, making participation
in capitalist economies largely unavoidable.
What is necessary to criticize regarding the current
state o\ue000 a\ue000\ue000airs however, is that many Mormons do not
consider support \ue001or government and capitalism as neces-
sary evils, demanded by current conditions, but rather see
capitalism and government as divinely inspired institutions,
A Note to Our Readers

The Mormon Worker is an independent newspaper/jour- nal devoted to Mormonism and radical politics. It is pub- lished by members o\ue001 the LDS Church. The paper is mod- eled a\ue001ter the legendary Catholic Worker which has been in publication \ue001or over seventy years.

The primary objective o\ue001 The Mormon Worker is to mean- ing\ue001ully connect core ideas o\ue001 Mormon theology with a host o\ue001 political, economic, ecological, philosophical, and social topics.

Although most contributors o\ue001 The Mormon Worker are members o\ue001 the LDS church, some are not, and we accept submissions \ue001rom people o\ue001 varying secular and religious backgrounds.

The opinions in The Mormon Worker are not the o\ue001\ue000cial
view o\ue001 The Church o\ue001 Jesus Christ o\ue001 Latter-day Saints.
In solidarity,
The Mormon Worker
THE MORMON WORKER
140 West Oak Circle
Woodland Hills, UT 84653
Subscribe to our print edition:
www.themormonworker.org
themormonworker@gmail.com
http://themormonworker.wordpress.com
An Introduction to Mormon Anarchism
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3
The Mormon Worker
which Mormons are obligated to enthusiastically support
and unquestioningly obey. Mormons thus \ue000nd themselves
supporting capitalism and government, and there\ue001ore ex-
ploitation, imperialism, jingoism, and militarism, consider-
ing these things inherent to their religion, despite the many
resources within Mormon scripture advocating the con-
trary. It is important that Mormons not see establishment
o\ue000 capitalism and its above-mentioned o\ue000\ue000spring as the \u201cend

o\ue001 history,\u201d but rather look \ue001orward to the establishment o\ue001 a society and economic system in accordance with the principles contained in their own sacred writings.

The Political Dominion of the State
Insight into the reason Mormonism (as well as Christian-
ity generally) is inimical to the State and Capitalism is
revealed in Mathew 20:25. Jesus, speaking to his disciples
about authority, says:
Ye know that the princes o\ue000 the gentiles exercise domin-
ion over them, and they that are great exercise authority
upon them; but it shall not be so among you; but whosoever
will be great among you, let him be your minister, and who-
soever will be chie\ue001 among you, let him be your servant.
Note that there are two types o\ue000 authority acknowl-
edged here. One is characteristic o\ue000 the Gentiles, while
the other is characteristic o\ue001 those who \ue001ollow Jesus. The
authority o\ue001 the Gentiles is such that some men or women
\u201cexercise dominion over\u201d others. This, ostensibly, is a re\ue000er-
ence to the authority o\ue001 the Roman Empire which ruled in
Jesus\u2019 day. In other words, the authority o\ue001 the Gentiles is

the authority o\ue001 the State. John Howard Yoder de\ue000nes the State as \u201cthe phenomenon that society is organized by the appeal to \ue001orce as ultimate authority.\u201d2 As the sociologist Max Weber explained,

I\ue001 no social institutions existed which knew the use o\ue001
violence, then the concept o\ue001 \u2018state\u2019 would be eliminated,
and a condition would emerge that could be designated

as \u2018anarchy,\u2019 in the speci\ue000c sense o\ue001 this word. O\ue001 course, \ue001orce is certainly not the normal or the only means o\ue001 the state \u2013 nobody says that \u2013 but \ue001orce is a means speci\ue000c to

the state. Today the relation between the state and vio-
lence is an especially intimate one. In the past, the most
varied institutions. . . have known the use o\ue000 physical \ue000orce
as quite normal. Today, however, we have to say that a
state is a human community that (success\ue000ully) claims the
monopoly o\ue001 the legitimate use o\ue001 physical \ue001orce within a
given territory (emphasis in the original).3
Those who challenge the sovereignty o\ue001 the State, or
who do not \ue001ollow its laws, will be \ue001orced to submit by vio-
lence. This may take the \ue000orm o\ue000 imprisonment, execution,
or in the case o\ue000 rebellions, counterinsurgency war\ue000are.
Because the State has an overwhelming advantage over its
population in the capacity \ue000or violence, it is able to exist and
retain power. Sovereignty is lost as soon as this advantage
in violence can no longer be maintained. Thus, the politi-
cal and military leadership o\ue001 any state uses violence and
the threat o\ue000 violence to \u201cexercise dominion over\u201d others.
4
O\ue001 course, the violence necessary to maintain sovereignty
can be reduced when a state can secure the consent o\ue001 the
An Introduction to Mormon Anarchism
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