Expectations

[evermilion]

Anarchists and Communists alike have a wealth of theory that describe, in broad strokes, the ways in which society is expected to transform post-capitalism. We all have different understandings of what will happen to methods of distribution, political institutions, etc. But in the most general sense, we expect the quality of life for people all around the world to improve, as their political enfranchisement becomes absolute.

My interest is in how, if this transition were to be completed in your lifetime, you'd expect your life to change. Consider the hypothetical revolution in this case complete all over the world by now. You now have anarchy/communism, no question. What is different about your day-to-day life? What do you see yourself doing with regards to your living situation, getting groceries, going to school, going to work, watching television, commuting? In what ways does anarchy/communism improve the microcosm of your life that is a single day? Does anarchy/communism present any challenges?

[Jimmie Higgins]

No doubt there will be daily challenges beyond the larger challenges of just overcoming capitalism and transforming society. Even assuming that a stable stateless, classless society is established I assume there will be daily challenges though I probably could only blindly imagine what those might be at this point. A mortal existance presents a certain level of challenges which cross all forms of organized societies; the struggle to enrich oneself or get the most out of life while possible would probably remain (and in a world where everyone at least gets a shot at having a fufilling life, this might be the main goal of induviduals... at least according to Captain Piccard:grin:). Interpersonal relationships (which I guess might be much different and much more complex in certain ways - or at least larger in quantity - in a less atomized, regimented, and competative way of life) would most certaintly still present challenges to induviduals.

I think it might be easier to take a guess at what life might be like for people in a more transitionary point: getting from here towards there. For induviduals it would most likely be both exhilerating and challenging to now be in the position to actually work things out and run society. Assuming there is no sort of crisis going on, I think daily life in a so-called transition time may not be that intense in terms of increaded workloads in terms of both work done and the demands of collective decision-making (workplace meetings, community meetings, etc). Work requirements if work was spread out (which could immediately begin to happen after a revolution with full employment and now unnecissary jobs eliminated) would be drastically less than today, but people might still be busy. I'd imagine people might be part of several democratic bodies with varrying levels of formality or scope. At minimum maybe participating in periodic community-wide meetings and then meetings for their workplace. If people are involved in more collective activities then they'd probably have decision-making bodies for those too, depending on the size or complexity of the task. I think in addition to this people might organize themselves into paries based around supporting certain priorities or just interests. People would need to organize themselves for things like sports and art and entertainment. They would need to come up with decisions about how to divide up time for sports facilities, music recording, video production, performance, facilities and training. With increased free-time people could do more, and this might mean a more involved level of community where their interests need a collective effort.

I think communities would probably be organized around ease. I think people would probably want to live both in communities of people but also have access to nature as well as entertainment and services. We'd most likely want to organize our communities around our ease and interests rather than today where capitalism dictates where and when and how we live.