- Capitalism and Alternatives -

Yes, I do. And it will.

Posted by: Simon Kongshoj ( United Threats to Democracy, Denmark ) on December 05, 1997 at 16:41:57:

In Reply to: You really think IT can work?????????? posted by Comrad Zeus on December 05, 1997 at 10:26:44:

> I strongly believe in Communism but do not believe that it will work... I
> really wish it did but as I was discussing it with my freinds today... well,
> it is IMPOSSIBLE to change human nature and one needs to understand that
> people are born evil...

Man is not born evil, nor is he born good. As human beings, we have what may be called a free will and therefore the will to choose between acting good and evil. You might say that we are born POTENTIALLY evil, but therefore also potentially good. In a society based on the premises of the free market values, we are often more inclined to do 'evil', for the most common motivator for evil in this society is personal gain. We are not inherently evil, the evil you mention is the evil we are taught by society. Of course, evil would also exist in a society run on socialist principles - but it does not make socialism impossible. We can hope that in a society where personal gain in terms of money takes a second role, we might be a little more inclined to do good than to do evil.

> So as I was saying the "bad" will come out in some way.. now in a Socialist
> governemnt there is not governemtn! How in hell can evil people be contained
> then if there is no courts.. no nothing.. who will carry out the sentence of
> braking the "common sense" which so many of us seeses to understnd...

You are assuming that we here are talking anarchistic and not archistic socialism. In a society without a ruler, 'laws' must be created by the commune of people - so even in anarchy, laws would exist in some form. Anarchism means 'no ruler', not 'no laws'.

> Now that was the thing on Socialism.. here why communism will not work!: 80%
> of the people do not agree and/or do not care about communism! They do NOT
> WANT TO BE equal.. all wanna get rich and live a nice life... everyone is like
> that.. greed is one of the simplest form of evilness that comes out in almost
> all of us! I would love to work for all of you and I am sure a lot of comrads
> would say the same but you see us comrads are out numbered (WAY outnmbered
> actually) and that is the fact!!! Sad but true... now do not get me wrong I am
> not giving up but I just realised that there be something to what these
> capitalists are trying to tell us! Please consider this wisely with an open
> mind.. and I remind you this don't mean I give up if there is a revolution
> (non violent of course) please do tell me I am with you guys 100%!!! Thanks
> for your time and have a great day.

A good point, but again, the greed is something that capitalism is condoning, even helping. We are taught that the way ahead for us as human beings is ambition, no matter what happens to our fellow man. The majority of people swallow what they are taught (man is a basically social creature, so we seek to exist in communities and groups), ie. we are taught greed and private initiative, because that is what current society condones and believes in. In the Middle Ages, ambition and the like would be viewed as evil (because ambitious individuals could undermine the King's authority), unlike today. As I hope to outline with this statement, values and norms change with the society that creates them but still, a change is possible. We have advanced to better social forms before (capitalism, for all its evils, is a more free system than monarchies and despotism), why shouldn't it happen again?


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