Decentralism - Where it Came From - Where is it Going?

Today it is likely that more people than ever before are consciously engaged in some kind of decentralist venture which expresses not merely rebellion against authoritarianism, but also faith in the possibility of a new kind of society. Each crises in the human situation has produced its decentralist movements in which men and women have turned away from the nightmares of megapolitics to the radical realities of human relationships. Often mistakenly identified as radical, decentralism is in fact based on many traditional values. With Loomis' great historical understanding, this invaluable book provides indispensable grounding for today's activists. In it she documents the ideas and experiments of some of the early decentralists--among which include Arthur Morgan, Henry George, Benjamin Tucker, Paul Goodman, Ralph Borsodi. They all shared a common belief in restoring community self-reliance and bringing economic and social activities back to a more human scale. Friend of cooperation, of self-sufficiency, of the household economy, of the small community, their early experiments played a pivotal role in introducing and supporting: organic agriculture, consumer rights, and cooperatives and worker-owned businesses. Actively engaged in community land trust, the ecological use of resources, alternative education, consensus decision making, non-exploitive banking, and alternative currency, these earlier movements saw a resurgence of neighbourhood revival, community economic reconstruction, co-ops, and land trusts--many of which continue to operate successfully today.