Book Review - Alongside Night

Alongside Night is the first novel published by author Joesph Neil Shulman, about the formation of an agorist anarchist society in America during a severe economic crisis. To call this novel simplistic is somewhat understated, but never the less, the novel is suitable for young adults with little to no understanding of anarchism or agorist principles.

The story itself is fast paced, but fails to deliever on important and vital details on social aspects of the society. However, the novel does give a thorough explanation of economic agorism.

The Revolutionary Agorist Cadre is a group of anarcho-capitalists' who have managed to form a society within a society during the demise of the American economy. Possessing gold (or counter-currency) is an offence, (mimicked in real life by the New Hampshire Liberty Dollar), and inflation is so high that parallels can only be drawn to the current economic crisis in Zimbabwe where inflation runs at 100,000% a year. Agorist currency is the gold standard, or European currency unaffected by inflation.

Members of the cadre are required to sign a contract:-

"Arbitration shall enforce the law of the contract to effectuate its purposes, and shall decide the issues by the application of reason to the facts under the guidance of the Law of Equal Liberty (each has the right to do with his/ her own what he/she wishes so long as he/she does not forcibly interfere with the equal right of another)."

The contract called the Submission to Arbitrate enables business between members for the economic benefits of both parties under the proviso that no harm or force must come between them, less they be held accountable by the arbitration committee. This contract is meant to serve as an alternative to mafia tactics (common among underground societies) for those who fail to meet their agreed upon responsibilities. The arbitration committee uses economic sanctions to maintain order within the Agorist Cadre, who retain control of the nation un-surprisingly through the threat of military force, namely nuclear weapons. No doubt exactly what would be required in real life.

However, there are more questions raised than answered in Alongside Night as to how exactly this agorist utopia would function. In terms of economic considerations, the novel is quite explicit, while other more social concerns are ignored. "Laissez-faire" or free market is used in the novel by cadre members as a greeting, and no doubt used as repetitive mind control in the novel, forgetting that the free market is not an end in itself, as not all considerations are economic. Free market demand can include prostitution and narcotics, which when left un-regulated, presume ably is left to the arbitration committee to sort out. But what are the long term impacts of the arbitration committee? Is it the equivalent to legal precedent?

Further, the idea of arbitration is only valid when the committee for arbitration is separated from the cadre to ensure integrity. How in practise would this work, and what procedure is in effect to stop the wealth of the nation becoming concentrated into the hands of a few? What will be used to stop the formation of cartels if the only sanctions are economic, and cartels can afford the inconvenience of fees? We are left to ponder these issues for ourselves.

One of these social examples sees our female hero Lorimer witness an orgy in the cadre complex, which seems to fit in with agorist principle. "Live and Let Live". It reminds me of an article I read from the New Right - The Tyranny of Individualism - where at the Love Parade in San Francisco, men can be seen walking around the streets masturbating. Personally, I can't accept this sexual "free market" proposed by Shulman in Alongside Night, but I respect the position of not forcing my "prudish" manner onto those who would want such a free market. For these reasons, I will accept the economic agorist principle, but for social considerations, I will accept a more national anarchist approach. That is, community members who wish to have a sexual free market with on the street masturbating, will only be able to do so without offending the right of conservative anarchists like myself if they are segregated into their own communities, with trade relationships between them.

All in all the book is worth a read.