Chomsky’s Contributions to Anarchism

Written as an introduction to the anthology Chomsky on Anarchism, this brief glimpse into the relationship between Chomsky and the anarchist tradition portrays the famous linguist as a “fellow traveller,” but hardly a major contributor to the anarchist canon. Graham divorces Chomsky’s linguistic ideas from any relevance to political ideology, and argues that Chomsky’s depiction (with Edward Hermann) of the manipulation and manufacture of consent by political elites — itself not an explicitly anarchist critique — may nonetheless be his most significant contribution to anarchism.

Originally published in issue 39.