this post was submitted on 07 Jan 2025
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Lefty Memes
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The only way to try and get everyone to follow communism is through force, which requires a state, that is true. This is why I prefer anarcho-communism, where there is no state enforcing it.
It is also true under anarchism people have the option to not cooperate peacefully. As you said, humans are still humans at the end of the day and some will take advantage of others or hoard resources.
But I don't think that is reason enough to not at least try to get there. Because under capitalism those same issues still exist, only people are expected to be okay with losing their autonomy and giving up their resources for the sake of a wealthy ruling class.
Regarding Communism, I mean, kinda? But at the point of Communism, where all production is owned and managed collectively along a common plan, what would you reasonably want that would cause you to want to go against the rest of Humanity?
I certainly agree that reasonably there should be no need to go against humanity when resources are shared collectively and needs are met. However, humans don't always act in a reasonable way, not to mention sociopaths and psychopaths that may place short term gain ahead of long term stability.
There would still be healthcare facilities, mental heakth facilities, and social workers.
Wonder why we cant just hammer capitalism into the socialism everyone wants with money. Just beat the shit out of it with money until its utopia. Well, i imagine thats what the neoliberals would like to do. Too bad people give more money to evil people
I just can't see how you aren't describing feudalism once anarchist communities become large and widespread enough to create resource competition between them. Some people are just always going to accumulate some foothold of power and then it's all downhill from there.
I want to love anarchism and communism, but I can never escape the fact that they require consistent, universal altruism in a way that just seems utopian to me. It comes across as maybe the ultimate example of perfect-is-the-enemy-of-good.
Communism doesn't require "constant universal altruism," the goal is a collectively owned and planned world Socialist Republic, kinda like Star Trek. There's criticism that differences between communes in Anarchism could lead to a resurgance of competition, trade, and Capitalism eventually (which I'll let Anarchists respond to, not me), but Communism in the Marxian understanding is the opposite of Utopian.
Star Trek isn't a realistic model, though. I understand the goal you're describing, but what's the motivation that gets enough of the population to play along?
Star Trek is just to get an image in your head. Motivation is similar for other modes of production, labor for goods and services. At a lower stage, Communism would likely have systems like labor vouchers to credit an hour of labor, with more for more intense or skilled labor. At a higher phase with sufficient automation, this becomes less necessary to keep production going.
I see your point on altruism, it seems a much larger problem with large-scale anarchism. I think my primary issue with what you're describing is that I hold a dim view of planned economies. Thanks for explaining.
No problem! If you want to look more into the results of planned economies, Blackshirts and Reds is an excellent and snappy read.