Rusty Shackleford
23rd September 2009, 01:08
So i picked up "Mutual Aid" by Peter Kropotkin yesterday from my school library and have read about 100 pages. The section "Mutual Aid Among Savages" covers lesser developed groups of humans and explains how they live in a society of primitive communism. now, i have not finished the book yet, but i have come to a conclusion that i will try to explain.
My conclusion is: If primitive communism existed amongst under-developed groups of humans which was dropped in favor of the innovation or advents of feudalism, then capitalism, and any other progressice change in society; and the ultimate culmination of humanity is communism. Therefore communism is the human state of nature. Over the course of time, humanity has developed new ways to live but ultimately lead to a modernized form of primitive communism due to trial and error.
If you do read this, please give any feed back. Tell me if you think it is ridiculous, not well thought out, or needs elaboration. of if its on the right track then please help make it clearer. i will admit this is not well organized as i only spent less than a half hour writing this. (editing and so on)
According to Marxist theory (as much as i know) communism is the inevitable form of socio-economic relations in humankind.
Primitive communism was dropped as human intelligence progressed and new social systems came to be. In reaction to the loss of old practices (how they managed the dead, and society in general functioned) the old practices were then followed religiously. no doubt superstition existed before then but the application of religious practice was a new achievement for them. Implements of hunting, construction, and agriculture made production of food and shelter easier and less of a communal effort. Families began to develop as they are today where they are more independent from other families and are self sustainable. a continuing trend of anti-communal activity.
in the times of primitive communism there was nearly an absence of hierarchy. with the birth of civilization, hierarchy came along. feudalism further developed hierarchy and capitalism changed it. There are class hierarchies (bourgeoisie>proletariat). what these hierarchies do is create conflict. and as Kropotkin pointed out, during the time of primitive communism there was little internal conflict and tribes co-operated in general.
Now, individualism has reached its peak in the twentieth century and this century. Human beings are able to completely rely on themselves for living. But there is an aspect that is not taken to account. it is a vast human co-operation that made this possible. people can do any 'wage' job with little skill but there must always be many times the number of people in a certain industry to support it. Farming, food processing, transportation, mining, energy, construction, education, lumber processing, various forms of smelting/metalworks all to make a single McDonalds. 'collective-individualism' (a purposeful oxymoron) is what i think of this as. Greed and the idea that the individual is more important than the collective is almost completely accepted by modern society. What happens is now this system (capitalims) does is enrich individuals at the expense of the collective and now it is failing to feed the collective properly, or shelter the collective properly. it is not sustainable.
Since this from of society is not sustainable it is time for a reversion in relations. but it is not towards primitivism. it is towards communism. Modern communism. a new form, after all of the practices have come and gone, (religion, feudalism, the practice of hierarchy and so on) and failed, but the by-products of these stages (industry, infrastructure, knowledge, technology in general) that communism is now more than capable of being sustainable.
My conclusion is: If primitive communism existed amongst under-developed groups of humans which was dropped in favor of the innovation or advents of feudalism, then capitalism, and any other progressice change in society; and the ultimate culmination of humanity is communism. Therefore communism is the human state of nature. Over the course of time, humanity has developed new ways to live but ultimately lead to a modernized form of primitive communism due to trial and error.
If you do read this, please give any feed back. Tell me if you think it is ridiculous, not well thought out, or needs elaboration. of if its on the right track then please help make it clearer. i will admit this is not well organized as i only spent less than a half hour writing this. (editing and so on)
According to Marxist theory (as much as i know) communism is the inevitable form of socio-economic relations in humankind.
Primitive communism was dropped as human intelligence progressed and new social systems came to be. In reaction to the loss of old practices (how they managed the dead, and society in general functioned) the old practices were then followed religiously. no doubt superstition existed before then but the application of religious practice was a new achievement for them. Implements of hunting, construction, and agriculture made production of food and shelter easier and less of a communal effort. Families began to develop as they are today where they are more independent from other families and are self sustainable. a continuing trend of anti-communal activity.
in the times of primitive communism there was nearly an absence of hierarchy. with the birth of civilization, hierarchy came along. feudalism further developed hierarchy and capitalism changed it. There are class hierarchies (bourgeoisie>proletariat). what these hierarchies do is create conflict. and as Kropotkin pointed out, during the time of primitive communism there was little internal conflict and tribes co-operated in general.
Now, individualism has reached its peak in the twentieth century and this century. Human beings are able to completely rely on themselves for living. But there is an aspect that is not taken to account. it is a vast human co-operation that made this possible. people can do any 'wage' job with little skill but there must always be many times the number of people in a certain industry to support it. Farming, food processing, transportation, mining, energy, construction, education, lumber processing, various forms of smelting/metalworks all to make a single McDonalds. 'collective-individualism' (a purposeful oxymoron) is what i think of this as. Greed and the idea that the individual is more important than the collective is almost completely accepted by modern society. What happens is now this system (capitalims) does is enrich individuals at the expense of the collective and now it is failing to feed the collective properly, or shelter the collective properly. it is not sustainable.
Since this from of society is not sustainable it is time for a reversion in relations. but it is not towards primitivism. it is towards communism. Modern communism. a new form, after all of the practices have come and gone, (religion, feudalism, the practice of hierarchy and so on) and failed, but the by-products of these stages (industry, infrastructure, knowledge, technology in general) that communism is now more than capable of being sustainable.