10 laws in a communist society

[Blackbird123]

I am doing a project for class and it is to think of 10 laws or rights for your society.I thought of a communist society from the very get go and I would very much like your contribution towards this cause.....

[piet11111]

1 the right to a well paid job and fair share of the fruits of your labour
2 the right to free quality health care
3 the right to a free quality education
4 the right to a good retirement
5 the right to elect and recall the people representing you

[Blackbird123]

I'll add my own

1 everyone has a right to insurance, a house,euducation, right to a fair trial, their fair share of the fruits of labor, freedom of speech and expression, and the right to vote.

2 nothing shall be passed down, when a person dies all will be given to the local township council and divided according to need.

3 economic resources, means of production, all shall be governed by workers councils and will be distributed based on production/comsumption levels.

4 All privately owned means of production are here by abolished and will be transferee to workers councils.

5 all townships and workers councils shall govern democratically and shall not destroy any of these laws

[Peoples' War]

Are we talking dictatorship of the proletariat, socialism or communism?

[TheRedAnarchist23]

One right:

The right to well-being.

[Prometeo liberado]

One right:

The right to well-being.
Yes, by all means let's have Blackbird123 stand in front of a class spout something about "well being".:rolleyes: This thread is about helping.
Try this:

The right to collective ownership of all property
The right to never pay rent, or if so only as a percentage to one's income
Free universal education. From Pre-K to Grad school.
Free Health Care. And Daycare accessible at one's work place.
A dignified environment for those who can no longer look after themselves.
The right of the people to form defense committees.
Abortion on demand. Birth control on demand. No parental consent.
The right to a education that is totaly free of religious influence.

[ind_com]

I am confused. Are people talking about socialism or communism? Things like 'paid jobs' and 'rent' would have no meaning in communism.

[Prometeo liberado]

I am confused. Are people talking about socialism or communism? Things like 'paid jobs' and 'rent' would have no meaning in communism.

If the OP wants to be taken seriously in class then I think he/she stick with what y'all term as socialism. I understand the difference your talking about though.

[L.A.P.]

laws should be flexible under communism

and legal absolutism is just an ideological extension of the existing system, fuck constitutionalism

[ed miliband]

1 the right to a well paid job and fair share of the fruits of your labour
2 the right to free quality health care
3 the right to a free quality education
4 the right to a good retirement
5 the right to elect and recall the people representing you

oh, hi post-ww2 social democracy.

[Blackbird123]

laws should be flexible under communism

and legal absolutism is just an ideological extension of the existing system, fuck constitutionalism
i agree,
let me rephrase the question what would be ten laws be that wouldn't usually change in a socialistic society? better?

[Tim Cornelis]

Here is twelve codes of conduct (somewhat reformist, since they assume 'employment' and money--optional--and such), perhaps you could use some of them--or merge some.

1. Each person of or above the age of 16—irrespective of ethnicity, race, sexual preference, gender, or culture—is entitled (but will face no coercive or social obligation) to participate in the local decision-making structure of the popular assembly. This participation is limited to the smallest subsystem of the residence of each person.

a) Exception: a person is allowed to participate in decision-making bodies beyond the smallest subsystem if the person in question is elected as delegate to a higher decision-making body.

b) Exception: decision-making bodies are allowed to exclude mentally ill people from participation. An independent board of mental health experts (whom thus are from a different municipality with no social/personal relation to the person in question) will assess the mental health of the person in question at the request of any decision-making body.

c) Exception: see #11

2. Each person of or above the age of 16 has the right to be elected to a higher level decision-making body under the absolute condition that the elected delegate will not diverge from the democratically established mandate provided by the lower level decision-making bodies.

3. Each lower level decision-making body has the right to freely elect any person above the age of 16 to represent them in a higher decision-making body in accordance with a mandate established by said decision-making body, as well as the right to recall the elected delegate at any moment for any reason.

4. Decision-making bodies of various localities and regions will form a democratic confederacy stretching beyond and in place of nation-states.

5. Each decision-making body will operate on the basis of consensus democracy and is only allowed to make decisions regarding collective affairs. This effectively means that no decision-making body shall limit migration, personal consumption of any substance, or any other ruling that would violate individual sovereignty and private affairs.

6. Each party in conflict with another party is allowed to bring this to a council court which consists of an independent, voluntary jury and judge whom will mediate between the two parties until a consensus has been reached. Those people that are deemed a (violent) threat to others, may be isolated from society, in humanised minimum-security prisons akin to Bastøy Prison, Norway. Those whom are able to return to society will be rehabilitated.

7. The world and its fruits will be held in common and administered by a network of workers' councils. Land, means of production, natural resources, and workplaces will be commonly owned while workplaces will be governed by an equal distribution of decision-making power by the workers and will utilise a workers' council as their decision-making body.

8. A network of workers' councils will facilitate economic conduct and coordinate activities across workplaces thereby limiting economic competition. Higher workers' councils will be based on mandated and recallable delegates.

9. Every member of a syndicate (workplace governed by a workers' council) has a right to a share of the total product (that is, consumption), either in the form of money, labour credits, or according to needs.

a) Exception: Additional syndicates will be created for those unable to work or pensioners.

b) Exception: Students of higher education will be exempt from this rule for four years, and in exceptional cases five years.

10. Consumers' cooperatives will facilitate distribution and will form the basis of decentralised (that is, bottom-up) economic planning. Consumers' cooperatives will consist of mandated and recallable delegates.

11. Law enforcement will be obliged to participate in the lowest decision-making bodies, to be familiar with the local residents, and to listen to their complaints regarding their conduct. Each member of law enforcement will have a large and clearly identifiable unique number which makes it easier to identify misdoings by individual members. Any member of law enforcement can be fired by any decision-making body over brutality or misconduct democratically without having to prove their guilt.

12. Everyone will have access to employment, basic hygiene, sanitary facilities, free healthcare, free education, housing, and transportation.


laws should be flexible under communism

and legal absolutism is just an ideological extension of the existing system, fuck constitutionalism

Evidently, but this is for a school project. The rules and code of collective conduct in a communist society will be subject to custom, not law.

[piet11111]

oh, hi post-ww2 social democracy.

For sake of the OP i decided to post demands for society that nobody in their right mind can object to (and something the capitalists deny us right now)

I also find it very telling that what you consider post-ww2 social democracy would be considered revolutionary today.

[James Connolly]

Laws should be relative to society. We aren't Liberals, so why would we have Universal laws?

[leftistman]

1. Each person will be given free and full access to education, food, housing, health care, and clothing.

2. All people are equal.

3. No person shall harm or refuse to help another person.

4. All people have freedom of speech, religion, and expression, so long as these are not used in ways that harass others or infringe upon the rights of others.

5. The means of production are to be owned collectively by society and controlled by workers' councils.

6. No person will have more power over another person in decision making.

7. He who will not work until the age of retirement will not reap the benefits of society.

8. People who work more difficult jobs will receive more compensation and time for leisure.

9. Anyone who breaks any laws will receive a trial.

10. No person shall take profit from the work of others.

[Q]

It strikes me how many of these proposed "laws" are set within the bourgeois mindset. It is an indication that we can't really predetermine the future society. Or otherwise how much lack of creativity there exists among the left, not being aware how much capitalist society influences us.


Are we talking dictatorship of the proletariat, socialism or communism?
Just to nitpick here: socialism is not a separate mode of production, merely a transition and the dictatorship of the proletariat is a political expression, not a mode of production either.

[Ant!Fa]

1.Abolition of private property.
2.Destroying the nigro,woman,gay problems this aren't individual problems this are human problems!
3.Bigger and stronger Education system,only with education we can progress further,abolishing private schools.
4. Educating people on renewable energy,recycling,...
5. Bigger education on drug use and sex
6. Pure freedom of speech,say something stand by it!
7. Open the archives,no more secret files.
8. Freedom and neutrality of the internet
9. Introducing force work for the criminals,no more prisons who are made for profit
10. abolishing the army

[Yuppie Grinder]

For sake of the OP i decided to post demands for society that nobody in their right mind can object to (and something the capitalists deny us right now)

I also find it very telling that what you consider post-ww2 social democracy would be considered revolutionary today.

what you described is not the least bit revolutionary
having a well-paid job has nothing to do with communism
communism cannot exist without the abolition of mercantile economy

[hatzel]

1. Each person will be given free and full access to education, food, housing, health care, and clothing.

...and yet...


7. He who will not work until the age of retirement will not reap the benefits of society.Or, alternatively:


3. No person shall harm or refuse to help another person....and yet...


7. He who will not work until the age of retirement will not reap the benefits of society. [i.e. will not be 'helped' should they request 'the benefits of society']Take your pick which angle you want me to come at this little inconsistency from...

What I really love about these kinds of hypothetical game-thingies is that everybody makes either really wishy-washy statements with no substance whatever or (even better!) goes into extreme detail on the intricate workings of the precise laws of some really obscure and unimportant economic practice that probably won't even survive capitalism, without suggesting a simple law like 'no killing, raping and/or cutting other people's faces off.'

[The Jay]

1. The right to self-determination at the workplace.
2. The right to self-determination in the public sphere.
3. The right to be free from violence so long as you do not violate the other rights.
4. The right to food, clothing, shelter, and life so long as you do not violate other rights.
5. The right to freedom of speech so long as it does not endanger the other rights.
6. The right to the freedom of religion so long as it does not interfere with the other rights.
7. The right to privacy unless under suspicion of violating others' rights or the laws made by the government.
8. The right to amend the structure of the government.
9. The government must never violate rights.
10. The right to amend the list of rights through a process not yet established.

[Trap Queen Voxxy]

My top one would be free and unlimited supply of booze, weed, tobacco and food. Also a free house, clothes and shoes. Past that, I'll take care of everything else.


Laws should be relative to society. We aren't Liberals, so why would we have Universal laws?

Word.

[campesino]

1. no usurpation of social property
after that i can't think of any besides
2. right to as many portraits of the dear leader as desired
3. right to praise the dear leader
4. right to copies of the dear leader's writings
5. right to emulate the dear leader

to me socialism is about maintaining and asserting social control over social production.

capitalism is private ownership of social labor and it's products.

in my view everything is socially produced, does that mean the man in the metropolis has the right to own what the bantu tribe has created? no.

it does mean, that no individual bantu man has the right to own what the tribe has created.

in capitalism ownership was determined by connection created through exchanges.

in socialism ownership is determined by by connectivity/ social relations.

we will have very connected metropolises managing its property with the needs of other metropolises, and rural areas.

and we will have very rural areas, which have material connection with only other rural areas.

[Lowtech]

Laws requiring work aren't necissary,

People don't require incentive or punishment to motivate work as we understand on our own the merit of our deeds.

what instead is required is teaching altruism and requiring basic skill sets like permaculture, basic medical diagnosis/care, construction, etc.

It's about changing our value system and how certain kinds of work are precieved culturally.

Today our value system is completely broken, we're told what to value through commercialism and that is always some shit product that has a low production cost either for being a shit product to beginwith or being produced using cheap labor. In either case, we still pay above production cost, so all commodities benefit the few while making resources more expensive for everyone else.

Capitalism makes everything less useful, more expensive and negates productivity.

[ed miliband]

Laws requiring work aren't necissary,

People don't require incentive or punishment to motivate work as we understand on our own the merit of our deeds.

what instead is required is teaching altruism and requiring basic skill sets like permaculture, basic medical diagnosis/care, construction, etc.

It's about changing our value system and how certain kinds of work are precieved culturally.

Today our value system is completely broken, we're told what to value through commercialism and that is always some shit product that has a low production cost either for being a shit product to beginwith or being produced using cheap labor. In either case, we still pay above production cost, so all commodities benefit the few while making resources more expensive for everyone else.

Capitalism makes everything less useful, more expensive and negates productivity.

can i still be greedy under communism please?

[Lowtech]

can i still be greedy under communism please?

You can think in any way you wish, however socially acceptable behaviour will be enforced through law in the most humane way possible.

Socially acceptable participation in economics means not consuming more than you produce, however that sort of greed, consuming more than you produce, "being rich" won't get you very far, as the capitalist mode of production requires a populace conditioned to dependence upon a market based economy. Without this, no one in a communist society would experience the artificial scarcity required to force "consent" to paying above production cost for commodities, eliminating the plutocratic class's ability to retain value.


In contrast to our current society, a communist society would treat ardent "capitalists" as being mentally ill, rather than allowing rampant unemployed parasites (the rich) to exist as we do now.

[Blackbird123]

We took 3rd place.......in the society building law making contest........yay

[Geiseric]

No private ownership is the only fundamental "law," that will have to be changed. Other than that full rights will be maintained for every living human being. Capitalism sees rights as privilege, which can be taken or given by the state.

We need to focus on the present day though, and see where to go from here to get to the end goal of communism, not theoretical "What if's," about what communism might be like.

[Lowtech]

No private ownership is the only fundamental "law," that will have to be changed. Other than that full rights will be maintained for every living human being. Capitalism sees rights as privilege, which can be taken or given by the state.

We need to focus on the present day though, and see where to go from here to get to the end goal of communism, not theoretical "What if's," about what communism might be like.

I agree. However, market and the monetary system as the primary means of resource exchange will also be abolished.

Where we "need to go from here" is permaculture, "selling" at production cost and teaching altruism.

[skitty]

Several mentioned speech/press/expression(very important); but I was surprised by little mention of privacy. I'll call it the right to be left alone.

[piet11111]

what you described is not the least bit revolutionary
having a well-paid job has nothing to do with communism
communism cannot exist without the abolition of mercantile economy

I was not arguing from the viewpoint of communism.

I wanted to put up some very basic demands that even under capitalism would easily be something that the vast majority of people would support.

A minimum program of sorts that we all know the capitalists would not ever allow forcing a radicalisation of the people.

I really should have put more effort in my post but since the OP asked for demands for a fairer society i just half assed it from the viewpoint of what would easily find mass support today.

also the definition of revolution is "a sudden,radical,complete change" now if those demands i posted are not considered a complete change compared to our current state of living then you must be on mars.

[officer nugz]

none of the above.

I don't think that it makes much sense at all to have ten laws of a society.

[MarxSchmarx]

1. There shall be no laws under communism
2. If there be laws under communism, refer to law number one.

In fairness, even socialism/dotp must rapidly abstain from the promulgation of laws, and begin dismantling the enforcement apparatus ASAP and replace them with viable alternatives only which are necessary to defeat the reaction. The construction of socialism is to some degree a zero sum game, requiring destroying the old order.

And frankly, the sooner, the better. Otherwise, the scum of the past proves very fertile ground for the emergence of a new, restorative class as happened with the state bureaucracy in Bolshevist regimes.

Finally, to some extent I guess it also depends on what is meant by "law". Custom, for instance, or grammer, are rules we follow, but fit many criteria of law. There is little reason to believe these will vanish under communism.

[ComradeOfJoplin]

1) Every one has the right to life, food, political voice, shelter, clothing and retirement in proportion of need. As long as, a citizen does not brake the following rules.

2) Provide to the general need by work or labor for the majority of adult life.

3) Do not abuse the 1st right of another citizen by hording, killing, etc.

These will be the top rules all other rules. All other rules would be on how to enforce them and how to best interpret them in accordance of time and location.