11-18-2011, 04:56 AM
(This post was last modified: 11-18-2011, 05:04 AM by FireIceTalon.)
In terms of being greedy, selfish, altruistic, and so forth, no....there is no such thing as human nature. These are things we pick up as a result of the material conditions around us, we are not born with them. We ARE born with a will to survive and reproduce, and that is pretty much it. Everything else, we are a product of our environment. Which is why the whole "Communism can't work because of human nature" argument doesn't wash with me. The only reason I said human nature is because people seem to think you would have to change human nature for Communism to work, which is false. How can u change what does not exist? We are born into Capitalism, thus we learn to be selfish, greedy, and individualistic. If society were socialist, we'd be a lot more altruistic and have more of a collectivist culture rather than individual.
Im not an idealist by any stretch of the imagination, I'm a materialist. I guess a better way is to say good and evil are a matter of perspective. From the perspective of the ruling class, capitalism is not evil and is in fact quite desirable, thus the incredible measures they take to preserve the status quo. For the working class, it varies, because those who are manipulated by Idealism and Bourgeois talking points in mass media, may know something is wrong, but do not realize the material conditions around them to understand if it is capitalism. Thus some ignore the problem as they feel powerless, and they even resort to being reactionary in some cases (the Tea Party). Some, however, do know, and those are the ones who want revolution.
As far as the revolution taking place without authoritarianism, why not? In fact, this is the ONLY way it CAN take place (though Marxist-Leninsts will swear otherwise). Socialism can only work if it comes from the bottom up, by a dictatorship of the proletariat. A vanguard or centralized party will only result in a huge state bureaucracy (as seen in the USSR) which will then turn into state capitalism and create a new Bourgeois. Communism is for Marx, after all, the highest form of democracy. Authoritarianism undermines the very principles of socialism.
Im not an idealist by any stretch of the imagination, I'm a materialist. I guess a better way is to say good and evil are a matter of perspective. From the perspective of the ruling class, capitalism is not evil and is in fact quite desirable, thus the incredible measures they take to preserve the status quo. For the working class, it varies, because those who are manipulated by Idealism and Bourgeois talking points in mass media, may know something is wrong, but do not realize the material conditions around them to understand if it is capitalism. Thus some ignore the problem as they feel powerless, and they even resort to being reactionary in some cases (the Tea Party). Some, however, do know, and those are the ones who want revolution.
As far as the revolution taking place without authoritarianism, why not? In fact, this is the ONLY way it CAN take place (though Marxist-Leninsts will swear otherwise). Socialism can only work if it comes from the bottom up, by a dictatorship of the proletariat. A vanguard or centralized party will only result in a huge state bureaucracy (as seen in the USSR) which will then turn into state capitalism and create a new Bourgeois. Communism is for Marx, after all, the highest form of democracy. Authoritarianism undermines the very principles of socialism.
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"Your very ideas are but the outgrowth of conditions of your bourgeois production and bourgeois property, just as your jurisprudence is but the will of your class, made into law for all, a will whose essential character and direction are determined by the economic conditions of the existence of your class." - Marx (addressing the bourgeois)
"Your very ideas are but the outgrowth of conditions of your bourgeois production and bourgeois property, just as your jurisprudence is but the will of your class, made into law for all, a will whose essential character and direction are determined by the economic conditions of the existence of your class." - Marx (addressing the bourgeois)