Most of you probably know my politics, because I try to keep from being coy about it. It's an effort, because I know, consciously, that knowing my politics may cause friendly folks to turn away from me.
It's been a while, though, since I've had an in-depth discussion about what and why and how, and so here is my
Now, I've studied the works of Marx and other prominent communist ideologues more than the average U.S. citizen, but less than the average self-professed communist. I also interact daily with liberal activists who think communism is totalitarian, unrealistic, and/or simply unachievable. AND I grew up in a rural, Midwestern area, and went to public school. The vast majority of my community voted republican, and even those that didn't still believed capitalism was a good thing. Nonetheless, I found a lot in common with my working class high school classmates values and logic, and different things in common when I eventually went to college, with my liberal, wealthier classmates.
I found this interesting, that from some perspectives, my communist ideology was more relatable to my right wing friends than to my left wing friends. Now, I certainly found more palatable many of the liberal ideas like homosexuality is okay, feminism is good, and higher education should be more inexpensively available to everyone. They also had developed ideas that kind of put band-aids on some of the wounds of capitalism. People (not everyone, but some) advocated for a universal minimum income to counteract the loss of jobs caused by automation. People advocated for "single-payer" healthcare (this was before the ACA). There was support for Planned Parenthood, and you weren't "out there" for being pro-choice, though of course that remained a divisive issue.
At the root, though, these ideas were more palliative than anything. My liberal classmates didn't see a problem inherent to capitalism (I mean, some of them did, but we'll get to that edit: I didn't get to that), they just saw individual societal problems that they wanted to solve with legislation one at a time. My friends and classmates in High School recognized, deep down, that there was something wrong with the system as a whole. I could tell that the wages paid by their bosses (or the price paid for the goods they grew on their farms) weren't based on how much the company or the purchasers were able to pay for them. They were set so as to maximize the profit for whomever ran the co- I'm getting ahead of myself. My point is, Communism isn't Left Wing or Right Wing. It is working class politics, and whatever your viewpoint on some of the specific issues I mentioned (which I happen to hold left wing views on), Communism is about empowering the workers to change society for their better. Capitalism is about empowering owners to change society for their better.
Let me define worker: someone who MUST work in order to afford living above the poverty line. This includes small business owners and farmers. (fellow communists, I know this isn't exactly a great definition. We'd actually call small business owners the petty bourgeoisie... but we also acknowledge that their interests lie with the workers, so I call that a petty distinction. Or do I? Now I'm treading into dangerous territory. Suffice it to say, the definition is meant to tell us whether you think your interests are better served by communism)
Let me define owner: Someone who has the power to exploit the wealth created by workers, taking it for themselves. This includes corporate owners, CEOs of major corporations, and... um... you know, there aren't that many people in the world who fall into this category.
Here's my first pitch: So ask yourself, are you a worker or an owner?
Communism, loosely described, is a system by which the the workers control the means of production. Marx says, and it's a good line, so I'll quote him, "The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles." For example, just prior to the rise of capitalism, the merchant class had revolutions that resulted in overcoming the aristocracy to replace a monarchy with capitalism. So communism is the next step, as the workers take the power from the owners.
The idea of communism is that, rather than an owner taking the surplus value of the goods that, say, a factory produces, as profit, the workers in the business, and/or perhaps the workers in the community where that factory is, get to determine what the best use of their surplus is. It is not about centralized control (which is where people get the idea that communism is Stalinism), but rather about coordinating the needs of communities with the abilities of communities.
The central precept of communism, and one which I would hope appeals to everyone with morals, is "Take according to your need, and give according to your ability."
Another thing to mention is that Marx didn't think communism was the end goal (and neither do I). A productive anarchy is the end goal. One without central governance, but with cooperation between communities. He believed (and so do I) that we need communism as a stage to help us adjust to a world after capitalism. People need to grow up with principles of fellowship, of GLOBAL fellowship. It sound a little Christian, but it's not about the soul, it's about making sure that everyone in the world has their material needs met, and, as we produce more and more surplus, about using that labor to increase our definition of what material needs are (e.g. 100 years ago, we might not have considered access to certain healthcare a material need that can be met, but now, if the world can afford it, everyone who needs cancer medications should be able to get them. Or the internet. That's a big one. I absolutely think that making sure everyone has access to the internet is a need that can and should be met. Hang on, I'm getting ahead of myself again.)
Here's a list of the things I think are of greatest concern to the world
You know, it's not an exhaustive list, but it's enough to start with. I'm not even sure it's in any particular order. The point is, just off the top of my head, these are problems that are absolutely solvable that capitalism has proven itself incapable of solving, and in most cases that capitalism exacerbates.
Let's start with climate change. If you're a climate change denier reading this, well, that's a whole 'nother discussion to have. Right now there are wildfires where I live in drier conditions than there have ever been in December. I dunno. It's a whole conversation, where we each pull out all the evidence we have, and I don't know how to convince you if we're starting from such different sources of trust. For those of you still with me, how is communism better than capitalism for solving this problem? (Maybe you'll point out that China is a terrible polluter - and if you do, I will first point out that I don't think China is any more a communist state than I think Nazi Germany was a capitalist state.)
each owner is competing to be the most efficient at extracting profit from its environment. If it fails to extract as much or more than its competitors, it will cease to exist (either by being bought up or by simply ending). This includes not only trying to keep wages as low as it can, but also finding every efficiency, and using its power to manipulate world politics to put itself in the best possible position to extract profit. When it comes to climate change that means that if fossil fuels are more efficient, it will continue to burn them, no matter the impact on the environment. It means that businesses directly profiting from the status quo, will use their considerable power and wealth to maintain the status quo, through marketing, legislation lobbying, and other, even more despicable means (like buying out small competitors or otherwise hamstringing technologies and movements that might threaten them).
If people are cooperating for the greater good, there's an incentive for the whole society to take a look at what is being done, and look, not just at present surplus value, but at the future. Capitalist corporations fail in the very short term if they can't compete. A communist community can look at what the long-term impact of their decisions are, and together we can takes steps to increase quality of life for everyone.
All this talk about communism is making me hungry for change, but since I can't have that, I'll have breakfast. BRB
I'm back.
This has been written about extensively. In order for capitalist enterprises to succeed, they must grow. At some point that means finding new markets. ... You know what, I know you're here for my perspective, but other people have more interesting facts: http://socialistreview.org.uk/394/why-does-capitalism-lead-war
... You know, I think you get it.
It seems so outlandish, doesn't it? We see capitalism all around us. It feels like this is just the way things are. There are only two parties being elected to major legislative bodies, and both of them are flavors of capitalism (french vanilla and vanilla bean). The other parties that people occasionally suggest as third party competition are also capitalist (the libertarians and the greens). The labor unions have suffered extensive setbacks in the last couple decades, and they were traditionally tools of power for the working class, and could have been in the vanguard of a revolutionary movement. Why is this remotely possible?
Well, because it must be. Or we will perish. The problems listed above are problem of capitalism. They cannot be solved by the same system that created them. War, in particular, is inherent to capitalism. I suppose we might all die before we solve these problems. That's kind of depressing and fatalistic. So, if I have to choose where to put my energy: into just trying to survive longer than my neighbor in a destiny of humanity's demise, or in trying to work with my neighbor to prevent that demise, and to leave a world for my kid that can flourish for the foreseeable future, I choose the latter.
I hope you will, too. Even if you think it's unreasonable, unbelievable, impossible, please choose life. If we all do, maybe we can leave a livable world for our children and their children. And maybe we can alleviate the suffering of the super-exploited. And maybe we can even make the world a better place for ourselves.
Photo Credit Lindsay Renee
