this post was submitted on 03 Jan 2024
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[–] [email protected] 23 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Capitalism always exploits someone whether the bulk of the exploitation is within your country’s borders or not. Being perfectly comfortable within capitalism comes at the expense of someone else regardless of regulation.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 11 months ago (1 children)

One, I don't believe it has to be that way. With enough taxes on the wealthy, regulation on commerce, and social programs for the poor, I think a system of fairness can be achieved.

Two, I don't believe that communism of any form result in a sense of fairness for anyone. I believe most humans have an innate desire to work to improve their lives, and I don't believe communism offers the same freedom and opportunities for self improvement through honest work that can be offered by tightly regulated capitalism in combination with strong social programs.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 11 months ago (2 children)

The fact that the poor still exist in your ideal "fair" society indicates that a capitalist system still relies on exploitation. How do you make "work or starve" disappear while still being capitalist?

Communism is a stateless, moneyless society. It's a utopian marker for people in the present day. It's not a fixed ideology in and of itself. The Spanish Anarchists of the CNT-FAI and the USSR have very little in common but both aspired to implement communism, at least on paper. I have my criticisms but they're not relevant.

You would be correct in saying that people have an innate desire to labor and improve their lives. Capitalism forces you to (attempt to) improve your life and shape the world through competition with your peers. If you're disadvantaged in some way, fuck you. Work harder or die in the streets. Social programs and welfare are antithetical to capitalism. It doesn't independently generate profit and thus is often ignored or slowly eroded over time when it does manage to manifest. Socialism/ socialist ideologies (worker ownership of the means of production) enables people to improve their life and shape the world through cooperation. It seeks to ensure everyone is able to live a dignified life and contribute according to their ability. Humans are capable of both competiton and cooperation and capitalism builds a very one sided society that demands competition. It's a terrible way to live and alienates people from each other.

Socialism (in my perspective as an anarchist) seeks to allow people to live their lives with the maximal amount of freedom, self determination, and autonomy possible. Whether that includes markets (which I'm assuming is what you mean by capitalism, since that's what most people who defend capitalism think it is), planned economies, gift economies, library economies or something completely different, is a better system than capitalism on a foundational level

[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 months ago

Ancom here and I fully agree with everything you said. Hopefully we’ll get to where we’re going one day, whatever methodology ends up working.