Tuesday 30 May 2023
Politics and Coffee
Noel Yaxley has an entertaining Critic piece on the failure of The Anarchist Cafe in Canada.
The rise and fall of an anti-capitalist café
What if — and I hope you’re sitting down — capitalism works better?
With the exception of Katherine Ryan and Nickelback, I have always looked up to Canadians. From the Pacific to the Atlantic, they share a collective mindset that embodies a spirit of self-reliance and resilient individualism. Having spent a lot of time in small fishing villages around Nova Scotia myself, I know this all too well. It is no exaggeration to say that Canadians are the product of a harsh environment. Temperatures can drop to minus 40 degrees, and the polar bears will leave you alone if you have a gun.
So, I sympathise with Gabriel Sims-Fewer in many ways. This ambitious young Canadian had dreams of opening his own coffee shop in downtown Toronto. There’s nothing wrong with that. Entrepreneurialism is admirable. It’s refreshing to find a driven, passionate man who believes in unfashionable virtues like discipline and hard work. Plus, who doesn’t want to have a damn good coffee?
The whole piece is well worth reading as a reminder that there are many people who think political ideology can bypass the realities of human nature and human organisations which actually generate value.
The Anarchist Cafe at 190 Jarvis Street described itself as an “anti-capitalist, anti-colonial cafe, shop, and radical community space on stolen land”. If it is stolen land, should he not give it back? The strangeness doesn’t end there. Here we have an entrepreneur who starts a business under the pretext of rebelling against capitalism.
The Anarchist Cafe encouraged customers to pay what they can afford — at least for filter coffee. Other items, such as espresso, tea and baked goods, were charged at full price to offset lost revenue.
Somehow, this did not lead to unqualified success. The store will close permanently on May 30, according to the company’s website. Who would have thought a politically divisive, ultra-progressive company would go out of business in just one year?
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7 comments:
He didn't have to pay any rent for the first six months of his lease, so that little bit of philanthropy from a wealthy capitalist wouldn't have gone amiss!
A similar pace in Brighton is still going, but that's Brighton for you...
I look forward to visiting Brighton, it'll be like a trip to the zoo.
Strange how, over and over, non-capitalist endeavours fail - and some people do not learn from others' experience.
Capitalism is not really a 'system' but a continuing set of behaviours that work well enough to continue. One of those behaviours is that cheaters do not (in the long run) prosper. Most Utopians seem to think that all people are full of responsibility and kindness, preferring not to think about the cheaters. This leads to disappointment.
DJ you are so so right. I used to baffle and irritate my left wing fellow undergrads by asserting that there was no such thing as 'capitalism'. What I really meant was it didn't exist in the way they thought. It wasn't a constructed ideology like Marxism. It was exactly what DJ describes.
The Israeli Kibutz movement, founded by Marxists in the 1950s has collapsed for the same reasons, incompatibility with human nature.
Hayek was wise: many things that work in society are a result of human action rather than human design.
Scrobs and Sackers - I've never been to Brighton, maybe that's an omission I should maintain?
DJ and Tammly - yes, the word "capitalism" has become a term often indicating political dismissal rather than something more useful. Worth avoiding where possible. "Free enterprise" doesn't quite have the Marxist baggage.
dearieme - yes, trial and error works but we invest too much in the errors and try to plan our futile way towards a world without them.
Good decision, AK...
I worked there and daughter went to Sussex, and apart from some great friends who had to work there, I think you're better off where you are!
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