'Base interest rate' and capitalism

[milo]

I'm trying to find out how/why this is used but i can't find anything beyond 'the bank of england changes to base rate to affect things like inflation'. What exactly does the base rate 'do'? Also id always regarded capitalism as being ultimately about self-perpetuation/regulation, ie without statist control (ideally).

In a system like anarcho-capitalism i assume central bank control is redundant, so im confused about what the role of central banks actually is. Surely it would be better for every private bank to issue its own currency? (that was affected by consumer confidence in each bank concerned)