this post was submitted on 30 Jan 2024
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To end capitalism we need to ignore it. (lemmy.dbzer0.com)
submitted 9 months ago by Danterious@lemmy.dbzer0.com to c/general@lemmy.world
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cross-posted from: https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/post/13355449

Capitalism is a game where only a few people get to win.

We have also seen time and time again that it is a game that is able to manipulate and change whatever ideology or behaviour you have to work towards its own benefit.

So the only way to actually "win" is to not play the game.

Right now that seems impossible because it is a massive collective action problem, however this whole platform is a testament to show that it's possible to overcome that kind of problem.

Reddit is a dominant platform that is starting to destroy itself. People are in turn finding alternatives such as Lemmy to satisfy the need that Reddit once did.

I view capitalism in the same way. It will never truly completely cease to exist (the same way Digg never truly died), but it can become irrelevant over time if we collectively decide to just use another system to satisfy the same needs that capitalism is satisfying today.

The one example that I can think of that tries to tackle this problem is the idea of free stores that are based on a gift economy. If more people decided to use this system instead of capitalism then capitalism will have less sway over people's lives.

And in the end it doesn't have to be specifically a free store that needs to be adopted by wider society but whatever it is does need to satisfy the same basic need that capitalism does in our current society.

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[–] Danterious@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 9 months ago (2 children)

Ok I agree with that definition, but the suggestion that you were making, at least how I interpreted it, was to start a socialist company to try and be successful within that same exploitative system which I think sort of misses the point of what I was trying to say.

[–] surewhynotlem@lemmy.world 6 points 9 months ago (2 children)

You can't not participate in capitalism from day 1. You start a company (or call it whatever), then someone else does the same. You trade with them. You build.

Unless you have an island with no government where you'd like to start fresh?

[–] captainlezbian@lemmy.world 2 points 9 months ago

Exactly. And you can help fund fellow socialist companies. Sure maybe you’re a coop with low startup expenses, but if you put aside cash to help fund a factory that’s either part of your coop or a sibling coop that’s helping spread worker ownership

[–] ElectroVagrant@lemmy.world 1 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)

You start a company (or call it whatever), then someone else does the same. You trade with them. You build.

Expanded/extended mutual aid networks amidst non-profit/not-for-profit companies and worker coops might be really interesting. This reminds me to dig around some more for any histories on attempts of this nature to identify what issues emerged to try to address them.

[–] surewhynotlem@lemmy.world 2 points 9 months ago

One Free Community is full of like minded people doing a bit of this

https://discord.com/invite/wCpKpQjq

[–] Buddahriffic@lemmy.world 3 points 9 months ago

It wasn't my suggestion. And personally, I only think it would work at a small scale. If it gains momentum that makes some capitalists nervous, they'll come down hard on it with the power of the state. And even before it gets to that point, other companies won't likely play nice with you. You wouldn't just be a competitor in their market, you'd be a competitor to their way of life.

If you start a company, you don't have to maintain controlling ownership of it. You can also separate the proceeds from the decision making process. You can define a different manager/managee relationship where the managers aren't mini dictators that just tell others what to do and make more money than any of them. You can allow employees to have more (or full!) control over their own schedules. It's a bunch of partnerships working for mutual benefit instead of subordinates working for your benefit for the lowest you think you can pay them.