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.
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.