I am an anarchist: recently, I’ve come under the influence of the anarcho-communist ideas of Peter Kropotkin. I consider the State and capitalism to be the two great evils of society, and greed is the worst of the deadly sins.
A truly good society, and a good world, would be made up of federations of freely associating communities that rule themselves. Thus no one would have power over others. No hierarchies or power systems would exist: in other words, there would be no boss/employee, royalty/peasant, bourgeois/proletarian, or leader/follower relationships. Businesses would be collectively owned. As far as religion is concerned, though all religions would be tolerated, there would be no coerced belief in a monotheistic God who would rule over us or judge us. No gods, no masters.
With the end of capitalism would also come the end of the wage system and of money: a gift economy would replace it. With the end of private property would also come the end of a need to pay rent to landlords. A society of competition would be replaced by one of cooperation and mutual aid.
By eliminating money and its seductive power over mankind, there’d be little incentive to start wars, since war is essentially a racket anyway (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_is_a_Racket), a plundering of foreign lands for oil, etc., to fill the pockets of the rich with money. With the end of hostilities against foreigners would come the end of racism, or at least a drastic reduction of xenophobic feeling. Indeed, with the end of all hierarchies, fully realized in every conceivable way, one could quite possibly see the gradual withering away of patriarchy, since the political and monetary basis of male domination (the State and capitalism) would be annihilated. But even if some inequalities were to linger, I’m confident that eliminating them would become much easier without the divisive propaganda of the media, which is controlled by the State and the corporations.
Instead of monotheistic religion, perhaps people might find pantheistic mysticism more appealing, its monism more catering to an egalitarian mindset. Still, conventional religions would be tolerated, as long as they don’t try to impose themselves on those who don’t share their beliefs. Atheism and agnosticism would also be fully respected. People’s beliefs would be no one’s business but their own.
The evils of capitalism and government continue to exist because their minions have learned clever techniques to keep the people in line. Unhealthy food and time-wasting online nonsense saps the people of their energy and sense of purpose in life. Charismatic leaders lull the masses into submission, making them love and hate whomever Big Brother wants them to love or hate. The media selectively presents world events in a way to make the people believe what it is required of them to believe. Heroes are vilified, and scoundrels are celebrated.
And when the people rebel? Militarized police, those bullies with their bullets and batons, thrash the masses. Innocent people are incarcerated for the smallest of misdemeanours, or for habits, such as the recreational use of marijuana, that shouldn’t even be deemed crimes. It’s all a depressing spectacle to see on the news.
For these reasons, I see no hope in any future government or in any reform of capitalism. Those two villains have been lovers throughout history: they’ll never be separated. State socialism is no answer–the failure of the Soviet Union, as well as that of the European State-generated social programs, many of which have crumbled in the present economic crisis, proves that Bolshevism, in whatever guise it comes, moderate or extreme, is a fool’s idol. But neither is so-called ‘anarchist capitalism’ an acceptable alternative. Its supporters imagine a cleaning up of corruption in the free market, but under such a contradictory way of doing things, I predict the speedy build-up of a plutocracy, a government to protect the nouveaux riches and their coveted privileges.
No, one can’t have the one power structure without the other: capitalism and the State are like conjoined twins, sharing one avaricious heart. If one wants the one to stay alive, the other must live, too. If one truly wants one of them to die, one must accept the death of the other.
These beliefs of mine come from years and years of watching one corrupt government after another, on both the Left and the Right, as well as everywhere in between on the ideological continuum. I’ve never seen a government, or a corporation, or a church, sufficiently without fault that I could wholeheartedly stand behind it.
Anarchist communism, brought about by the trade unions seizing control of the means of production, is the only answer. May a repeat of the 1936 Spanish Revolution come, and soon; and may it not be crushed by the forces of Fascism, as it so tragically was in the Spanish Civil War. Let us unite, comrades, and free ourselves. As Marx and Engels said years ago, ‘You have nothing to lose but your chains. You have a world to win. WORKERS OF THE WORLD, UNITE!’
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