How does Communism differ from Collectivist Anarchism?

[cowslayer]

I am a little hazy on how pure Communism and Collectivist Anarchism differ.

Both ideologies seem to hold the same beliefs.

What is the difference?

[Zanthorus]

In anarcho-collectivism people would be payed wages by the collective which would be determined through a democratic process and their would be a communal market which people would use their wages to buy goods from.

Pure communism would abolish the wages system.

[JazzRemington]

Another thing of interest, is that a lot of collectivist anarchists believed their system would eventually evolve into full communism.

Ideas on Social Organization (http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/guillaume/works/ideas.htm), by James Guillaume, provides an outline of what a collectivist society might look like.

[revolution inaction]

I am a little hazy on how pure Communism and Collectivist Anarchism differ.

Both ideologies seem to hold the same beliefs.

What is the difference?

by collectivist anarchism do you mean the specific kind of anarchism called collectivist anarchism or all non individualist anarchists?

i've never been sure what is meant by 'pure communism' but Anarchist-communism is identical to what some people mean by communism.

[Misanthrope]

by collectivist anarchism do you mean the specific kind of anarchism called collectivist anarchism or all non individualist anarchists?

i've never been sure what is meant by 'pure communism' but Anarchist-communism is identical to what some people mean by communism.

I'm pretty sure he is asking about Kropotkin's anarcho-communism and Bakunin's anarcho-collectivism.

OP:

Bakunin basically had a grudge against anything that would be considered 'communist' as he did not want to be associated with Marx. Zanthorus hit the nail on the head, the two ideologies differ mainly on the issue of currency.

Bakunin makes a good point, how will currency be eliminated completely?

[ZeroNowhere]

Generally, anarcho-collectivists seem to advocate what Marx called the 'lower phase of communist society', in which labour credits are used, but wages do not exist, as labour power is not a commodity, and labour is, rather, directly social. If that is the case (I believe so, though I may be wrong, but if collectivists were advocating retaining wage labour and capitalism, wouldn't they be more or less Proudhonists?), there is no difference from communism, necessarily, rather 'anarcho-communism' simply refers to a type of communist anarchism, rather than all forms of communist anarchism. That is, 'anarcho-communist' is not synonymous with 'anarchist and communist'.


Within the co-operative society based on common ownership of the means of production, the producers do not exchange their products; just as little does the labor employed on the products appear here as the value of these products, as a material quality possessed by them, since now, in contrast to capitalist society, individual labor no longer exists in an indirect fashion but directly as a component part of total labor.

[bricolage]

Bakunin makes a good point, how will currency be eliminated completely?

Currency will be eliminated when it ceases to have any value assigned to it and when people do not have the need for it anymore, it's not something that you can decree or pass down via edict. With this in mind I can't see how you could achieve (anarcho)communism without first going through a period of (anarcho)collectivism or something similar.

I would agree though that a lot of this stems from Bakunins dislike of the word communism due to its associations with Marx. In this respect the terminology he uses it perhaps dated when comparing it to the way the same words are used by the left today, for example:


It is at this point that a fundamental division arises between the socialists and revolutionary collectivists on the one hand and the authoritarian communists who support the absolute power of the State on the other... The communists believe it necessary to organize the workerspi forces in order to seize the political power of the State. The revolutionary socialists organize for the purpose of destroying - or, to put it more politely - liquidating the State. The communists advocate the principle and the practices of authority; the revolutionary socialists put all their faith in liberty