I was an anarchist for a couple of years and abandoned it because you just can't get people to do their share! They have to be forced to do it. On the other hand, I live in a wonderful small community where we barter and share with no profit motive in mind, and although it's not a "living" it makes the living so much better. I don't have to try to grow tomatoes on my shady bit of land. I can trade blueberries for them. It's not quite utopia, but it's been a way for the small farmers in the area to mutually benefit. But it only works if everyone is willing to give equally, and that's hard to come by. Thanks for the informative post! It will definitely give me something to think about on Thursday!

As an aside, the lesson I took from my foray into anarchism is that any social structure works when the sample is small enough. Even communism. The problems seem to arise when too many people are involved. It's too hard to get them on the same page, and one by one they slip through the cracks, assuming someone else will be there to pick up the slack. So it's really a human problem.