Quote:
Originally posted by Geoff332@09-17-2003 09:42 PM
So, if we're all good little communists, 10,000 years of history will go away. I'm afraid this is not an analysis: this is an ideology that I simply believe to be false. Give me evidence to support your claim.
The key to your position is that individuals will be able to substitute the survival of their society for their survival as an individual (to put collective interests above individual). This behaviour can be seen in some individuals, but the opposite is far, far more common. Once again, the weight of historical evidence is heavily against you and, aside from your belief, there is no reason for me to reject this evidence. Can you give me something more substantive? |
It is impossible for me to give evidence for any of this since none of it has been tried before.
I don't believe that it is ambition that drives human beings, but ambition has been up until now tied to survival. The ambitious, if succesful, survive. This would no longer be the case under communism.
Quote:
| The model of communism I see here has the same form of 'magic wand' -- by instituting as communist structure to society, people will become less self-interested and more altruistic. What I don't see is the mechanism by which this will occur |
It is not communism that will bring this about, but this that brings communism about. It is only when this, in combination or succeeding with, a revolt against alienation between labour and capital. If we only have the revolt without the mind change, we would be just building new USSR's, and nobody wants that. This isn't anything new, Che Guevara said that once the revolution was over, there must be a revolution in conscience.
I do not want communism now, because I know full well that we are not prepared for it mentally. I would argue that the only role for communists today is to teach what they know, rather than try and bring about revolution now. In this way, we at least can bring people onto a more socially aware, and considerate, left leaning. Then when a revolt becomes neccesary, its success would lie with the revolutionary socialists.