working in communism? or under socialism

[R_P_A_S]

I just though of this out of the air. so im not claiming is right! anyways
a co worker and I were talking about buying all this equipment for music production, but we also argue that we didn't make have money!!! music and recording equipment can be very pricey!!!

so i was thinking. Lets say there's this company like Nuemann who makes Microphones... the one I like cost $2000 dollars. what if I needed a microphone and i lived in a communist society?

would I just go to the place where they make them. tell them I want that particular model. work a couple of hours for them for like a week or two and then i can have the microphone?

What if I want some other equipment? would i go to the manufacture and work some hours a week to get the equipment I need?

how would i get my tools and gear as a producer?

[Rawthentic]

I don't think that you would have to work to get one. If you want one, I suppose you would just request it and get it. But I'm speculative, there isn't much more at this point.

[apathy maybe]

Theoretically, you would get what you need.

For things that are resource intensive (often expensive items in a capitalist system), you mostly don't actually need your own individual one.

Take a car for example. Most of the time you can take public transport, ride a bike or walk. On the odd occasions that you need to go somewhere where the public transport doesn't go and it is too far to ride or walk, you can get a car. But because it is only everynow and again, there doesn't need to be a car for every person.

Or take washing machines. You don't need one washing machine per person, you share them.


On your specific example, they might already have a microphone made up, or if that sort of thing is used often in the community you live, there would definitely be some around that you could use. If there isn't, you could of course ask them. However, in any sort of society that I would like to live in, if the workers wanted to be real arseholes and not make a microphone for you, you wouldn't be able to do much with them.

[R_P_A_S]

Originally posted by apathy [email protected] 17, 2007 11:28 pm
Theoretically, you would get what you need.

For things that are resource intensive (often expensive items in a capitalist system), you mostly don't actually need your own individual one.

Take a car for example. Most of the time you can take public transport, ride a bike or walk. On the odd occasions that you need to go somewhere where the public transport doesn't go and it is too far to ride or walk, you can get a car. But because it is only everynow and again, there doesn't need to be a car for every person.

Or take washing machines. You don't need one washing machine per person, you share them.


On your specific example, they might already have a microphone made up, or if that sort of thing is used often in the community you live, there would definitely be some around that you could use. If there isn't, you could of course ask them. However, in any sort of society that I would like to live in, if the workers wanted to be real arseholes and not make a microphone for you, you wouldn't be able to do much with them.
i just dont get how this equipment would exist or be made... if the companies can't make profit. I gotta have my gear in order to work right. everything is essential.. microphone to mixing board.

is like a carpenter needs nail! and a hammer!

[RGacky3]

People how know how to make it will make it, people who need it might also make it, or request it be made.

[Janus]

i just dont get how this equipment would exist or be made... if the companies can't make profit.
It's a gift economy. You put in your share of work for your job(s) and you are free to extract the amount of supplies needed for yourself. As far as musical instruments production goes, I don't know how it would work specifically but it should operate on this general guideline but I assume that there should still be factories where such materials would still be made unlike what happened in the old socialist economies where such seemingly unnecessary things were ditched.

[BobKKKindle$]

i just dont get how this equipment would exist or be made... if the companies can't make profit. I gotta have my gear in order to work right. everything is essential.. microphone to mixing board.

Profit is only a concern in economic systems that are based on commodity production; the production of goods and services for the purpose of being exchanged so as to yield a profit for the owner of Capital. As a reflection of this, under systems of commodity production, one only has access to a good or service if one commands sufficient financial resources to pay for it, Socialism (and communism) would be based on the production of goods on the basis of need.

The means of production would be under the conscious control of the community, and so you would most likely express your desire for this item when an economic plan is being drawn up. Of course, this is quite a specalist item, and scarce economic resources would be used to meet the needs of the community as a whole before being used in the production of goods demandd by a few, but I don't see why you would be unable to have this item - especially when one considers that Socialism and Communism will be characterised by artistic self expression.

[phoenixoftime]

...unlike what happened in the old socialist economies where such seemingly unnecessary things were ditched.

That's an interesting point which I've often wondered about. In a socialist command economy, would you say there is a tendency to reduce the diversity of products produced in order to produce more? For example, rather than building many designs of houses you would build just one to accelerate production? Or would an efficient system of planning & gathering of statistics mean that such shortcuts wouldn't be required?

[OneBrickOneVoice]

In a COMMUNIST society, you may just be able to request it as hastalavictoria said.
Either that it would be rationed, or most likely (most efficiently,) there would be public recording studios where you could make music and etc...

I guess it all depends on the material conditions of society and the priority as well as cost in resources, no?

[KC]

This thread is completely pointless. It's pure speculation and because of that has no theoretical value. It should be moved to Chit-Chat.

[KickMcCann]

Zampanò: ALL theory is speculation until proven as fact, so anyway...

I think its easier to imagine what an immediate post-capitalist society would look like as opposed to a full-blown socialist or communist society. Working with what is available at hand, let's imagine that the current distribution system stays the same, shops either sell what they produce or buy the products they sell from another shop or factory, and money is still used as the medium for transfer. The biggest change is that all shops are democratically-owned and operated by their workers. The whole supply-demand concept would still be in force except workplace-democracy would eliminate surplus production through better management and no one would get screwed by getting paid less than the value they actually produced. Seeing that, an audio cooperative would produce microphones and other equipment, selling them directly to the consumer or to a distribution cooperative selling an assortment of goods as determined by the cooperative. In the end you get your equipment, possibly cheaper because a) you'll be making more as a cooperative worker free of a profit-stealing boss, and b) the absence of profit in the cost of a good will make it cheaper.
Beyond that, later developments might lead competing production cooperatives to join forces and form a unified production force. Distribution cooperatives may do the same thing, pooling their resources together for a greater good, which in all honesty might create a big-box cooperative.
Money is also an interesting question. If you think about how wages, banks, credit, and credit cards work, all the pieces for a socialist/communist monetary system are there waiting to be assembled. In capitalism you get a paycheck, put it in the bank and most likely you use a atm/bank card in the check-out aisle to pay for your acquired goods.
In socialism/communism your labor is calculated at a certain amount, that information is then sent to a central bank which gives you credit or funds to make a purchase with a card. You use the card at a cooperative to buy something, your labor credits are transferred to the cooperative to be divided among its workers, creating a big, direct trading system of your labor for other labor or goods. The biggest difference is that as a member of a democratically-ran firm, your labor provides you with more wealth than that which you recieve in a capitalist version of your job, thus you'll be able to get that microphone alot easier. But enough for distant speculation.
Personally I always liked the old Soviet community centers in which expensive technology, equipment and resources were available communally. Imagine a public library, but for cars, bicycles, even boats and airplanes; or for recording/broadcasting and printing press equipment, or for microscopes, maintenence/construction tools. Not only did access to such equipment easily provide for leisure, accomplishment, and satisfaction by enabling one to pursue their interests, but the communal aspect fulfilled a communal/society need sadly absent from the lonely individualism of capitalism.

[KC]

Zampanò: ALL theory is speculation until proven as fact, so anyway...


And it's impossible to even provide a single shred of evidence to support any claim regarding this question.