Mr. Garner asks Nel two questions. Firstly, would an anarcho-communist society "permit workers to exchange their labour amongst themselves." Secondly, would such a society ban capitalist acts between consenting adults.
Well, I have discussed question one with Mr. Garner in the pages of Freedom before and will not do so again (suffice to say, he knows the answer so why is he asking?). As for the second, the question arises "what is a capitalist act"?
Does it mean exchanging the product of your labour? No, as that predates capitalism. So it must mean "can people become wage slaves in a free society?" The answer then becomes, why would they want to? While the idea that people will happily become wage slaves may be somewhat common place (particularly with supporters of capitalism) the evidence of history is that people, given a choice, will prefer self-employment and resist wage labour. As E. P. Thompson notes, at the start of the 19th century, the "gap in status between a 'servant,' a hired wage-labourer subject to the orders and discipline of the master, and an artisan, who might 'come and go' as he pleased, was wide enough for men to shed blood rather than allow themselves to be pushed from one side to the other. And, in the value system of the community, those who resisted degradation were in the right." Over one hundred years later, the rural working class of Aragon showed the same dislike of wage slavery. After Communist troops destroyed their self-managed collectives, the "dispossessed peasants, intransigent collectivists, refused to work in a system of private property, and were even less willing to rent out their labour." (Jose Peirats).
Moreover, the would-be capitalist would have to provide such excellent conditions of labour that it would be unprofitable for him to do so. With the possibility of managing your own work and working conditions available for all, few, if any, would take up the offer. Combined with the constant dangers of agitators organising strikes, unions and boycotts, the possibility of someone turning possession into property is slight in the extreme.
Ironically, capitalism must forbid "capitalist" acts between consenting adults. For 40 hours plus a week, workers are employed by a boss. In that time they are given resources to use, under instructions of their boss. They are most definitely not allowed to use the resources they have been given access to for furthering their own plans. If they do, they will be fired. Moreover, private property involves the continual banning of socialist acts between consenting adults. For example, if workers agree to form a union, then the boss can fire them. If they decide to control their own work, the boss can fire them for not obeying orders.
Now, it is true that a very small percentage of people do not sell their liberty to a boss to survive (around ten per cent are not wage slaves, some being bosses, others self-employed). As a generalisation, the comment that under capitalism people are obliged to sell themselves to a boss is true. A handful of exceptions just proves the rule. Under capitalism, a very small percentage of the population owns the means of life. The vast majority has to sell their liberty to them in order to survive. This, obviously, restricts liberty. It has absolutely nothing to do with workers being forced to supply goods to other workers, as Mr. Garner knows full well. It is, rather, the monopolisation of the means of life by a few and the exclusion of the rest of society from them (as Proudhon put it, "we who belong to the proletaire class, property excommunicates us!").
And as for "Richard A" stating that Proudhon "seems to have had no problem with the private ownership of property" I would suggest he consult my earlier exchange with Mr. Garner where I proved that Proudhon argued for the abolition of private property in favour of possession.
yours,
Iain McKay