439 lines
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439 lines
20 KiB
Plaintext
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non serviam #4
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**************
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Contents: Ken Knudson: A Critique of Communism and
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The Individualist Alternative (serial: 4)
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***********************************************************************
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Ken Knudson:
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A Critique of Communism
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and
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The Individualist Alternative
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(continued)
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* * * * *
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Peter Kropotkin opens his chapter on "Consumption and
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Production" in "The Conquest of Bread" with the following
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words:
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"If you open the works of any economist you will find that
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he begins with PRODUCTION, the analysis of means employed
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nowadays for the creation of wealth; division of labour,
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manufacture, machinery, accumulation of capital. From Adam
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Smith to Marx, all have proceeded along these lines. Only
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in the latter parts of their books do they treat of
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CONSUMPTION, that is to say, of the means necessary to
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satisfy the needs of individuals....Perhaps you will say
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this is logical. Before satisfying needs you must create the
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wherewithal to satisfy them. But before producing anything,
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must you not feel the need of it? Is it not necessity that
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first drove man to hunt, to raise cattle, to cultivate land,
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to make implements, and later on to invent machinery? Is it
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not the study of needs that should govern production?"[28]
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When I first came upon these words, I must admit I was
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rather surprised. "What have we here," I thought, "is the
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prince of anarchist-communism actually going to come out in
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favour of the consumer?" It didn't take long to find out
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that he wasn't. Most communists try very hard to ignore the
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fact that the sole purpose of production is consumption. But
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not Kropotkin; he first recognises the fact - and THEN he
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ignores it. It's only a matter of three pages before he gets
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his head back into the sand and talks of "how to reorganise
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PRODUCTION so as to really satisfy all needs." [My emphasis]
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Under communism it is not the consumer that counts; it
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is the producer. The consumer is looked upon with scorn - a
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loathsome, if necessary, evil. The worker, on the other
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hand, is depicted as all that is good and heroic. It is not
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by accident that the hammer and sickle find themselves as
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the symbols of the Russian "workers' paradise." Can you
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honestly imagine a communist society raising the banner of
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bread and butter and declaring the advent of the "consumers'
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paradise"? If you can, your imagination is much more vivid
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than mine.
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But that's exactly what individualist-anarchists would
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do. Instead of the communist's "workers' control" (i.e. a
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producers' democracy), we advocate a consumers' democracy.
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Both democracies - like all democracies - would in fact be
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- 15 -
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dictatorships. The question for anarchists is which
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dictatorship is the least oppressive? The answer should be
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obvious. But, judging from the ratio of communists to
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individualists in the anarchist movement, apparently it's
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not. So perhaps I'd better explain.
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The workers in some given industry decide that item A
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should no longer be produced and decide instead to
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manufacture item B. Now consumer X, who never liked item A
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anyway, couldn't care less; but poor Y feels his life will
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never be the same without A. What can Y do? He's just a lone
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consumer and consumers have no rights in this society. But
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maybe other Y's agree with him. A survey is taken and it is
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shown that only 3% of all consumers regret the passing of A.
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But can't some compromise be arrived at? How about letting
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just one tiny factory make A's? Perhaps the workers agree to
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this accommodation. Perhaps not. In any case the workers'
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decision is final. There is no appeal. The Y's are totally
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at the mercy of the workers and if the decision is adverse,
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they'll just have to swallow hard and hope that next week
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item C isn't taken away as well. So much for the producers'
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dictatorship.
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Let's now take a look at the consumers' dictatorship.
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Consumers are finicky people - they want the best possible
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product at the lowest possible price. To achieve this end
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they will use ruthless means. The fact that producer X asks
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more for his product than Y asks for his similar product is
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all that the consumer needs to know. He will mercilessly buy
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Y's over X's. The extenuating circumstances matter little to
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him. X may have ten children and a mother-in-law to feed.
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The consumer still buys from Y. Such is the nature of the
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consumers' dictatorship over the producer.
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Now there is a fundamental difference between these two
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dictatorships. In the one the worker says to the consumer,
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"I will produce what I want and if you don't like it you can
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lump it." In the other the consumer says to the worker, "You
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will produce what I want and if you don't I will take my
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business elsewhere." It doesn't take the sensitive antennae
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of an anarchist to see which of these two statements is the
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more authoritarian. The first leaves no room for argument;
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there are no exceptions, no loopholes for the dissident
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consumer to crawl through. The second, on the other hand,
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leaves a loophole so big that it is limited only by the
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worker's imagination and abilities. If a producer is not
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doing as well as his competitor, there's a reason for it. He
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may not be suited for that particular work, in which case he
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will change jobs. He may be charging too much for his goods
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or services, in which case he will have to lower his costs,
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profits, and/or overhead to meet the competition. But one
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- 16 -
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thing should be made clear: each worker is also a consumer
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and what the individual looses in his role as producer by
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having to cut his costs down to the competitive market
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level, he makes up in his role as consumer by being able to
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buy at the lowest possible prices.*
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* * * * *
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Let us turn our attention now to the various
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philosophies used by communists to justify their social
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system. The exponents of any social change invariably claim
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that people will be "happier" under their system than they
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now are under the status quo. The big metaphysical question
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then becomes, "What is happiness?" Up until recently the
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communists - materialists par excellence - used to say it
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was material well-being. The main gripe they had against
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capitalism was that the workers were NECESSARILY in a state
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of increasing poverty. Bakunin, echoing Marx, said that "the
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situation of the proletariat...by virtue of inevitable
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economic law, must and will become worse every year." [29]
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But since World War II this pillar of communist thought has
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become increasingly shaky - particularly in the United
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States where "hard hats" are now pulling in salaries upwards
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of four quid an hour. This fact has created such acute
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embarrassment among the faithful that many communists are
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now seeking a new definition of happiness which has nothing
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to do with material comfort.
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Very often what they do in discarding the Marxist
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happiness albatross is to saddle themselves with a Freudian
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one.** The new definition of happiness our neo-Freudian
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communists arrive at is usually derived from what Otto
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Fenichel called the "Nirvana
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--------------------
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* The usual objection raised to a "consumers'
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democracy" is that capitalists have used similar catch
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phrases in order to justify capitalism and keep the workers
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in a subjugated position. Individualists sustain this
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objection but point out that capitalists are being
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inconsistent by not practicing what they preach. If they
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did, they would no longer be in a position of privilege,
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living off the labour of others. This point is made clear in
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the section on capitalism later in this article.
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** Wilhelm Reich and R. D. Laing are among the latest
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gurus of the libertarian left. And it's not uncommon in
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anarchist circles to hear a few sympathetic words about
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Herbert Marcuse's "Eros and Civilisation," despite the
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author's totalitarian tendencies.
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- 17 -
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principle." The essence of this theory is that both life-
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enhancing behaviour (e.g. sexual intercourse, eating) and
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life-inhibiting behaviour (e.g. war, suicide) are
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alternative ways of escaping from tension. Thus Freud's life
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instinct and death instinct find their common ground in
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Nirvana where happiness means a secure and carefree
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existence. This sounds to me very much like the Christian
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conception of heaven. But with communism, unlike heaven, you
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don't have to give up your life to get in - just your
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humanity.
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Homer Lane used to have a little anecdote which
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illustrates the point I'm trying to make about the communist
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idea of happiness:
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"A dog and a rabbit are running down a field. Both
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apparently are doing the same thing, running and using their
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capacity to the full. Really there is a great difference
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between them. Their motives are different. One is happy, the
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other unhappy. The dog is happy because he is trying to do
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something with the hope of achieving it. The rabbit is
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unhappy because he is afraid. A few minutes later the
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position is reversed; the rabbit has reached his burrow and
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is inside panting, whilst the dog is sitting outside
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panting. The rabbit is now happy because it is safe, and
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therefore no longer afraid. The dog is unhappy because his
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hope has not been realised. Here we have the two kinds of
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happiness of which each one of us is capable - happiness
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based on the escape from danger, and happiness based on the
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fulfillment of a hope, which is the only true happiness."
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[30]
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I leave it to the reader as an exercise in triviality
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to decide which of these two types of happiness is
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emphasised by communism. While on the subject of analogies,
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I'd like to indulge in one of my own. Generally speaking
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there are two kinds of cats: the "lap cat" and the "mouser."
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The former leads a peaceful existence, leaving granny's lap
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only long enough to make a discreet trip to its sandbox and
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to lap up a saucer of milk. The latter lives by catching
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mice in the farmer's barn and never goes near the inside of
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the farm house. The former is normally fat and lazy; the
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latter skinny and alert. Despite the lap cat's easier life,
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the mouser wouldn't exchange places with him if he could,
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while the lap cat COULDN'T exchange places if he would. Here
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we have two cats - perhaps even from the same litter - with
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two completely different attitudes toward life. The one
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expects a clean sandbox and food twice a day - and he is
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rarely disappointed. The other has to work for a living, but
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generally finds the reward worth while. "Now what has this
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got to do with the subject at hand?" I hear you cry. Just
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- 18 -
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this: the communists would make "lap cats" of us all. "But
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what's so bad about that?" you may ask. To which I would
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have to reply (passing over the stinky problem of WHO will
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change the sandbox), "Have you ever tried to `domesticate' a
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mouser?"
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Communism, in its quest for a tranquil, tensionless
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world, inevitably harks back to the Middle Ages. Scratch a
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communist and chances are pretty good you'll find a
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mediaevalist underneath. Paul Goodman, for example, derives
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his ideal "community of scholars" from Bologna and Paris
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models based in the eleventh and twelfth centuries. [31]
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Erich Fromm writes longingly of "the sense of security which
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was characteristic of man in the Middle Ages....In having a
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distinct, unchangeable, and unquestionable place in the
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social world from the moment of birth, man was rooted in a
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structuralised whole, and thus life had a meaning which left
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no place, and no need, for doubt. A person was identical
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with his role in society; he was a peasant, an artisan, a
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knight, and not AN INDIVIDUAL who HAPPENED to have this or
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that occupation. The social order was conceived as a natural
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order, and being a definite part of it gave man a feeling of
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security and of belonging. There was comparatively little
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competition. One was born into a certain economic position
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which guaranteed a livelihood determined by tradition. [32]
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Kropotkin goes even further than Fromm. I'd like to examine
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his position in some detail because I think it is very
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instructive of how the communist mentality works. In perhaps
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his best-known book, "Mutual Aid," Kropotkin devotes two of
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its eight chapters to glorifying the Middle Ages, which he
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boldly claim were one of "the two greatest periods of
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[mankind's] history." [33] (The other one being ancient
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Greece. He doesn't say how he reconciles this with the fact
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that Greece was based firmly on a foundation of slavery).
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"No period of history could better illustrate the
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constructive powers of the popular masses than the tenth and
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eleventh centuries...but, unhappily, this is a period about
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which historical information is especially scarce." [34] I
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wonder why? Could it be that everyone was having such a good
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time that no one found time to record it? Kropotkin writes
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of the mediaeval cities as "centres of liberty and
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enlightenment." [35] The mediaeval guilds, he says, answered
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"a deeply inrooted want of human nature," [36] calling them
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"organisations for maintaining justice." [37] Let's see what
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Kropotkin means here by "justice":
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"If a brother's house is burned, or he has lost his ship, or
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has suffered on a pilgrim's voyage, all the brethren MUST
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come to his aid. If a brother falls dangerously ill, two
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brethren MUST keep watch by his bed till he is out of
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danger, and if he dies, the brethren must bury him - a great
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- 19 -
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affair in those times of pestilences [Kropotkin must have
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been dozing to admit this in his Utopia] - and follow him to
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the church and the grave. After his death they MUST provide
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for his children....If a brother was involved in a quarrel
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with a stranger to the guild, they agreed to support him for
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bad and for good; that is, whether he was unjustly accused
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of aggression, OR REALLY WAS THE AGGRESSOR, they HAD to
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support him....They went to court to support by oath the
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truthfulness of his statements, and if he was found guilty
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they did not let him go to full ruin and become a slave
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through not paying the due compensation; they all paid
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it....Such were the leading ideas of those brotherhoods
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which gradually covered the whole of mediaeval life." [38]
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(My emphasis)
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And such is Kropotkin's conception of "justice," which could
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better be described as a warped sense of solidarity. He goes
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on to say, "It is evident that an institution so well suited
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to serve the need of union, without depriving the individual
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of his initiative, could but spread, grow, and fortify."
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[39] "We see not only merchants, craftsmen, hunters, and
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peasants united in guilds; we also see guilds of priests,
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painters, teachers of primary schools and universities,
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guilds for performing the passion play, for building a
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church, for developing the `mystery' of a given school of
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art or craft, or for a special recreation - even guilds
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among beggars, executioners, and lost women, all organised
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on the same double principle of self-jurisdiction and mutual
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support." [40] It was such "unity of thought" which
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Kropotkin thinks "can but excite our admiration." [41]
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-----
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REFERENCES
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14. Kropotkin, op. cit., p. 209.
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15. Ibid., p. 206.
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16. Henry David Thoreau, "Journal," March 11, 1856.
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17. Kropotkin, op. cit., p. 206.
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18. Ibid., p. 205.
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19. Errico Malatesta, "Anarchy" (London: Freedom Press,
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1949), p. 33. Originally published in 1907.
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20. Alexander Berkman, "A.B.C. of Anarchism" (London:
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Freedom Press, 1964), p. 27. This is the abbreviated version
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of the Vanguard Press "ABC of Communist Anarchism" which
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appeared in 1929.
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21. Ibid., p. 28.
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22. Ibid., p. 29.
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23. Ibid., p. 25.
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24. "Italy: An Illness of Convenience," "Newsweek," January
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4, 1971, p. 44.
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25. "Un Forum Legislatif de la Classe Ouvriere?", "Granma"
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(French edition), January 31, 1971, p. 3.
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26. "Cuba Announces Labor Penalties For Loafers," "The
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International Herald Tribune," March 19, 1971, p. 4.
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27. Theodore Roszak, "The Making of a Counter Culture"
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(Garden City, New York: Anchor Books, 1969), p. 29.
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28. Kropotkin, op. cit., pp. 236-7.
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29. Mikhail Bakunin, "The Political Philosophy of Bakunin:
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Scientific Anarchism," ed. G. P. Maximoff (New York: The
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Free Press, 1953), p. 285.
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30. Homer Lane, "Talks to Parents and Teachers" (London:
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George Allen & Unwin, Ltd., 1928), p. 121.
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31. Paul Goodman, "Compulsory Mis-education" and "The
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Community of Scholars" (New York: Vintage Books, 1962,
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1964), p. 174.
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32. Erich Fromm, "Fear of Freedom" (London: Routledge &
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Kegan Paul, Ltd., 1960), p. 34. First published in the
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United States in 1942 under the title "Escape from Freedom."
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33. Petr Kropotkin, "Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution"
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(Boston: Extending Horizons Books, 1955), p. 297. This book
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first appeared in London in 1902.
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34. Ibid., p. 166.
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35. Ibid., p. 169.
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36. Ibid., p. 176.
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37. Ibid., p. 176.
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38. Ibid., pp. 172-3.
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39. Ibid., p. 176.
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40. Ibid., p. 174.
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41. Ibid., p. 177.
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____________________________________________________________________
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***********************************************************************
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* "I am I" *
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* - Schelling *
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***********************************************************************
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