System of Self-Rule

[space_ice_cream]

Ok, they say three times is the charm. In previous posts of mine I have tried without success to bring up a discussion of the type of government which would work with communism. The argument moved into one about wording, which I don't really give a crap about. So I will try my BEST to use language we can all agree upon:

The idea of communism, to the best of my knowledge, lacks a clear outline for a system of self-rule (note: I AM NOT USING THE WORD GOVERNMENT), does anybody know of any books which have any clear outlines for systems which would work to support communism. Or does anybody have personal ideas for a system of self-rule they would like to share.

Thank you, I am sorry if I insulted anyone in my previous posts. I also apologize that I can no longer respond to those posts since there are way too many for me to continue responding to.

[LSD]

Let's start simple.

Anarchism FAQ (http://www.diy-punk.org/anarchy/secIcon.html)

[Mujer Libre]

Originally posted by Lysergic Acid [email protected] 31 2005, 07:09 AM
Let's start simple.

Anarchism FAQ (http://www.diy-punk.org/anarchy/secIcon.html)
:lol: I love the irony of that, considering his/her other posts.
Reminds me, I should continue reading the FAQ.

[Donnie]

This is a good Anarchist FAQ, it's really big and will answer every question you can think of. Infoshop's Anarchist FAQ (http://www.infoshop.org/faq/index.html)

Also this is a really good book that explains everything in simple terms about Anarchist Communism Its called "The ABC of Anarchism" by Alexander Berkman. You can order it from Freedom Press (http://websell.pipex.com/beta-cgi/abooks/205.html?id=ewiE3MQL). I have the book at home.

[space_ice_cream]

Anybody have any other ideas aside from anarchy?

[Hiero]

Here is a section from Engels' Principles of Communism (http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1847/11/prin-com.htm)


— 14 —
What will this new social order have to be like?
Above all, it will have to take the control of industry and of all branches of production out of the hands of mutually competing individuals, and instead institute a system in which all these branches of production are operated by society as a whole – that is, for the common account, according to a common plan, and with the participation of all members of society.

It will, in other words, abolish competition and replace it with association.

Moreover, since the management of industry by individuals necessarily implies private property, and since competition is in reality merely the manner and form in which the control of industry by private property owners expresses itself, it follows that private property cannot be separated from competition and the individual management of industry. Private property must, therefore, be abolished and in its place must come the common utilization of all instruments of production and the distribution of all products according to common agreement – in a word, what is called the communal ownership of goods.

In fact, the abolition of private property is, doubtless, the shortest and most significant way to characterize the revolution in the whole social order which has been made necessary by the development of industry – and for this reason it is rightly advanced by communists as their main demand.




— 18 —
What will be the course of this revolution?
Above all, it will establish a democratic constitution, and through this, the direct or indirect dominance of the proletariat. Direct in England, where the proletarians are already a majority of the people. Indirect in France and Germany, where the majority of the people consists not only of proletarians, but also of small peasants and petty bourgeois who are in the process of falling into the proletariat, who are more and more dependent in all their political interests on the proletariat, and who must, therefore, soon adapt to the demands of the proletariat. Perhaps this will cost a second struggle, but the outcome can only be the victory of the proletariat.

Democracy would be wholly valueless to the proletariat if it were not immediately used as a means for putting through measures directed against private property and ensuring the livelihood of the proletariat. The main measures, emerging as the necessary result of existing relations, are the following:

(i) Limitation of private property through progressive taxation, heavy inheritance taxes, abolition of inheritance through collateral lines (brothers, nephews, etc.) forced loans, etc.

(ii) Gradual expropriation of landowners, industrialists, railroad magnates and shipowners, partly through competition by state industry, partly directly through compensation in the form of bonds.

(iii) Confiscation of the possessions of all emigrants and rebels against the majority of the people.

(iv) Organization of labor or employment of proletarians on publicly owned land, in factories and workshops, with competition among the workers being abolished and with the factory owners, in so far as they still exist, being obliged to pay the same high wages as those paid by the state.

(v) An equal obligation on all members of society to work until such time as private property has been completely abolished. Formation of industrial armies, especially for agriculture.

(vi) Centralization of money and credit in the hands of the state through a national bank with state capital, and the suppression of all private banks and bankers.

(vii) Increase in the number of national factories, workshops, railroads, ships; bringing new lands into cultivation and improvement of land already under cultivation – all in proportion to the growth of the capital and labor force at the disposal of the nation.

(viii) Education of all children, from the moment they can leave their mother’s care, in national establishments at national cost. Education and production together.

(ix) Construction, on public lands, of great palaces as communal dwellings for associated groups of citizens engaged in both industry and agriculture and combining in their way of life the advantages of urban and rural conditions while avoiding the one-sidedness and drawbacks of each.

(x) Destruction of all unhealthy and jerry-built dwellings in urban districts.

(xi) Equal inheritance rights for children born in and out of wedlock.

(xii) Concentration of all means of transportation in the hands of the nation.

It is impossible, of course, to carry out all these measures at once. But one will always bring others in its wake. Once the first radical attack on private property has been launched, the proletariat will find itself forced to go ever further, to concentrate increasingly in the hands of the state all capital, all agriculture, all transport, all trade. All the foregoing measures are directed to this end; and they will become practicable and feasible, capable of producing their centralizing effects to precisely the degree that the proletariat, through its labor, multiplies the country’s productive forces.

Finally, when all capital, all production, all exchange have been brought together in the hands of the nation, private property will disappear of its own accord, money will become superfluous, and production will so expand and man so change that society will be able to slough off whatever of its old economic habits may remain.

You should also check out Lenin's State and Revolution (http://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1917/staterev/index.htm). It gives a sketchy idea of what a system of governing would be like in the Socialist and Communist stage.

The works of Mao would be a good idea to look at about governering styles. I also think Marx's Gotha Program critics may be worth a look.

I can't think of anything else that can answer your question, im not excactly sure what you are looking for.