first of all, labor seems to be the constant in your worldview that everything revolves around. do you believe (or think that it’s possible / desirable) that we will eventually have a fully automated luxury society?
if yes, how would you call such a system?
secondly, it seems to me that the point that “bourgeoisie” doesn’t work is a big problem to you. mind explaining why? is it because society desperately needs that 1% extra labor output? is it because of some “work is a moral must” mindset (quasi-religious)? is it for some other reason?
thirdly, it seems to me that you’re defining communism socialism as essentially our current society, just that CEOs don’t get huge bonuses and shareholders don’t skim company profit. so, in other words, our current world minus the stock market: every company has to emit zero profit (such that no shareholders gain from it) and all the money must instead be spent on the business itself: wages to workers and resource acquirements.
did i understand that correctly? would you add anything? do you think that this setup is already feasible in today’s legal framework through worker-owned businesses? (“co-ops” and what they’re called)
I didn’t mean to be curt with my other reply I hope it didn’t come across that way, I just don’t know what you mean by most of your questions. So I will answer as best as I understand them
first of all, labor seems to be the constant in your worldview that everything revolves around. do you believe (or think that it’s possible / desirable) that we will eventually have a fully automated luxury society?
The process by which we produce the things that keep us alive, how we work, define how we relate to one another and how society is structured. The relation between slave and slavemaster, serf and lord, employee and employer are fundamentally different and shape all of society. Society at it’s core is defined by it’s mode of production. In that sense “labor” is indeed what my worldview revolves around, but I wouldn’t say it’s a constant. How we labor and what we do constantly changes. Whether we will eventually have a “fully automated luxury society”, I don’t know. Luxury is having a very comfortable life (relative to others) and what we consider comfortable and how we enjoy things is again defined by society around us so I’d say no, or it depends on what you compare luxury with since it’s a relative term.
We already live in a luxury society compared to even 100 years ago. Even once we are able to do it without oppressing the global south I don’t think our quality of life would significantly diminish. The reason we don’t consider having comfortable transportation, (theoretically) good healthcare, the sheer wealth of information we can access in instant with a rectangle we carry around or our multi-roomed homes with running hot water, a fridge, washing machine and dishwasher a luxury is because everyone has them. To the average laborer from 100 years ago however these things would surely look like a “fully automated luxury society”. Imagine being able to access a whole library from a single portable device and just print whatever you want?? 🤯
Fully automated is also too nebulous a term for me, presumably we will still cook our own food, raise our own kids what I would consider inevitable is how we relate to our labor and how we perceive it. For instance people might do gardening where they raise crops as a fun neighborhood activity, where everyone is welcome to pluck the crop as they need or wish. This is for instance very common in Viet Nam. Farming communes were already wide-spread before sanctions and capital reimposing itself on society forced them to introduce companies again.
secondly, it seems to me that the point that “bourgeoisie” doesn’t work is a big problem to you.
It’s not so much that the bourgeoisie doesn’t work. It’s that they are parasitic on others labor. They take without consent. That’s my main issue. “From each according to their ability…” is not a call to make everyone work as much as possible but rather a call to share what we can.
thirdly, it seems to me that you’re defining communism socialism as essentially our current society, just that CEOs don’t get huge bonuses and shareholders don’t skim company profit. so, in other words, our current world minus the stock market: every company has to emit zero profit (such that no shareholders gain from it) and all the money must instead be spent on the business itself: wages to workers and resource acquirements.
Absolutely not, communism is a classless society, socialism is the intermittent period. Shareholders or other forms of passive income are antithetical to that.
ok so what you’re describing here is that …
secondly, it seems to me that the point that “bourgeoisie” doesn’t work is a big problem to you. mind explaining why? is it because society desperately needs that 1% extra labor output? is it because of some “work is a moral must” mindset (quasi-religious)? is it for some other reason?
thirdly, it seems to me that you’re defining
communismsocialism as essentially our current society, just that CEOs don’t get huge bonuses and shareholders don’t skim company profit. so, in other words, our current world minus the stock market: every company has to emit zero profit (such that no shareholders gain from it) and all the money must instead be spent on the business itself: wages to workers and resource acquirements.did i understand that correctly? would you add anything? do you think that this setup is already feasible in today’s legal framework through worker-owned businesses? (“co-ops” and what they’re called)
I didn’t mean to be curt with my other reply I hope it didn’t come across that way, I just don’t know what you mean by most of your questions. So I will answer as best as I understand them
The process by which we produce the things that keep us alive, how we work, define how we relate to one another and how society is structured. The relation between slave and slavemaster, serf and lord, employee and employer are fundamentally different and shape all of society. Society at it’s core is defined by it’s mode of production. In that sense “labor” is indeed what my worldview revolves around, but I wouldn’t say it’s a constant. How we labor and what we do constantly changes. Whether we will eventually have a “fully automated luxury society”, I don’t know. Luxury is having a very comfortable life (relative to others) and what we consider comfortable and how we enjoy things is again defined by society around us so I’d say no, or it depends on what you compare luxury with since it’s a relative term.
We already live in a luxury society compared to even 100 years ago. Even once we are able to do it without oppressing the global south I don’t think our quality of life would significantly diminish. The reason we don’t consider having comfortable transportation, (theoretically) good healthcare, the sheer wealth of information we can access in instant with a rectangle we carry around or our multi-roomed homes with running hot water, a fridge, washing machine and dishwasher a luxury is because everyone has them. To the average laborer from 100 years ago however these things would surely look like a “fully automated luxury society”. Imagine being able to access a whole library from a single portable device and just print whatever you want?? 🤯
Fully automated is also too nebulous a term for me, presumably we will still cook our own food, raise our own kids what I would consider inevitable is how we relate to our labor and how we perceive it. For instance people might do gardening where they raise crops as a fun neighborhood activity, where everyone is welcome to pluck the crop as they need or wish. This is for instance very common in Viet Nam. Farming communes were already wide-spread before sanctions and capital reimposing itself on society forced them to introduce companies again.
It’s not so much that the bourgeoisie doesn’t work. It’s that they are parasitic on others labor. They take without consent. That’s my main issue. “From each according to their ability…” is not a call to make everyone work as much as possible but rather a call to share what we can.
Absolutely not, communism is a classless society, socialism is the intermittent period. Shareholders or other forms of passive income are antithetical to that.
no, I’m a marxist and leninist, not a social democrat