Government in the Future: An Open Media Pamphlet

In this classic talk delivered at the Poetry Center, New York,\non February 16, 1970, Noam Chomsky articulates a clear,\nuncompromising vision of social change. Chomsky contrasts the\nclassical liberal, libertarian socialist, state socialist, and\nstate capitalist world views and then defends a libertarian\nsocialist vision as “the proper and natural extension … of\nclassical liberalism into the era of advanced industrial\nsociety.”

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In his stirring conclusion Chomsky argues, “We have today the\ntechnical and material resources to meet man’s animal needs.We have\nnot developed the cultural and moral resources or the democratic\nforms of social organization that make possible the humane and\nrational use of our material wealth and power.

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Conceivably, the classical liberal ideals as expressed and\ndeveloped in their libertarian socialist form are achievable. But\nif so, only by a popular revolutionary movement, rooted in wide\nstrata of the population and committed to the elimination of\nrepressive and authoritarian institutions, state and private. To\ncreate such a movement is a challenge we face and must meet if\nthere is to be an escape from contemporary barbarism.”

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