(Belated) Halloween Thoughts (2)
The best means of governing a post-zombie apocalypse (or really post-any apocalypse) community would be to lean heavily on the anarcho-syndicalist model of organizing.
(This position, of course, is surely influenced by my own anarch-ish socialist sympathies, but I don’t imagine that’s terribly surprising. I expect most, though not all, would imagine the best way of governing a society after the fall of civilization would roughly reflect their ideas about how the world should be governed before the fall of civilization.)
This goes against a lot of the popular thinking on the topic. Meathook strongman dictatorships are the most common systems we see in popular fiction. If we look to the Walking Dead, the obvious parallel is Negan, but if we think about it, even Rick’s party is led by, well, Rick. He’s more even-handed and less ambitious, but he still calls the shots. King Ezekial reveals the root of this thinking in a conversation he has with Carol about the rather absurd pomp and circumstance around his own rule, that people “needed” a leader in these trying times.
And there is at least something of a point here. In times of crisis, we have a tendency to want a strong hand at the helm to guide us, to keep us safe when the wolves (or the undead) are at the door. If we look back at recent American history, the tragedy of 9/11 elevated the rather bumbling, inept President Bush to this elevated stature. During the Depression and the Second World War, Roosevelt had a cult of personality built around him, viewed as the nation's father during trying times.
Moreover, during times of acute turmoil, there will be moments where a single voice issuing an order that is to be followed may be better than a subcommittee meeting to ensure survival. If a flood is coming, an emergency manager telling residents where to go and what to do is surely better than having a roundtable meeting of people arguing if the water is rising at all. During the chaos of a zombie apocalypse, with both the undead and other survivors as potential existential threats to a community’s survival, there should be a “Cinncinatus option,” where power can briefly be handed over to a chief executive, with mechanisms to reclaim that power once the emergency has passed.
All that being said: I still hold that the general model for governing a community in the wasteland is found in the anarcho-syndicalist model, for a few reasons. The first is most “leaders” aren’t Rick; they’re more likely to be Negan, although less interesting and undoubtedly less entertaining. The platonic ideal of the “philosopher king” is largely absent from recorded history, mostly because those aspiring to the throne tend to have greater interest in feathering their own nest and expanding their own power. This isn’t universally true; there are numbers of people who seek to grow and expand power in the service of the common good. However, the ambition and calculation of the power-hungry can all too often outmaneuver the well-intentioned statesman.
Which relates to the second point: the key value in a survivor's community has to be stability. This is the appeal of the tyrant, benevolent or otherwise; it’s also why the tyrant shouldn’t be the model. You’re in a survivalist enclave in the burnt out husk of Minneapolis, you’re fending off zombie hordes and raiding marauders, you’re scavenging for enough food to survive the winter, and you’re being led by Mad King George, the Last Man on Earth? I personally wouldn’t like those odds.
A much more stable and secure system is one where power, labor, and wealth are fairly evenly distributed and democratically managed. The day to day business would be run by a spokescouncil, representing the various working groups within a community: housing, agriculture, security, scavenging, health, what have you. For larger decisions, turn to a general assembly of all members. Some issues will be dealt with by consensus, others by an up or down majority vote, but the point is: All members of the community should have a buy-in to ensuring the health of the community, and its other members.
Sharing in the labor to ensure the community survives; sharing in the fruits of those labors without privilege; and sharing in the decision-making directly; these are the essential components of building a powerful, tight-knit community that can survive should civilization come apart at the seams.
This information will be important to remember, not just in the face of zombies, but should any of the dozen or so potential catastrophes we’re facing down come to pass, from climate change to an EMP. By banding together and not pining for dictatorship, we can build a more stable, just future, as best as we can under the circumstances.