Communism (en)

The hammer and sickle, communists symbols

The term communism refers to both a political current and the societal form it aims to establish.

The word "communism" and "socialism" share the same ethymologic signification and come from the latin "socius", meaning "common". Their different connotations appeared with their utilisation by current leading different politics, particularly since the 20th century.

Early 20th century communism has been profoundly marked by the works of Karl Marx (marxism) and the attempt at a communist revolution in Russia in 1917, which spiked huge hope and led to the creation of a communist International bringing together millions throughout the world. But this communist movement degenerated into a stalinian bureaucracy in the 1920's. The numerous "communists States" that emerged in the following decades didn't have anything to see with communism but were rather petty totalitarisms.

Most marxists distinguish two phases after a socialist revolution:

• The socialist phase, in which the society is still marked by the the heritage of class separation and its mentality, that still requires an allocation of goods depending on work and a State.
• The communist phase, in which most goods are abundant and distributed for free and where the States, as a tool for constraint, disapears.

1 Caracteristics of a communist society

The capitalist system creates, structurally, crisis, wars, ecological disasters, etc. It contains itself the seeds of its own destruction. But if we can almost be sure that capitalism will one day disapear, we cannot know what will follow it. The devastation caused by capitalism could very well, for example, lead humanity to its extinction. But humanity could also build, by overthrowing this system, a communist society, whithout classes and exploitation. History shows us that such classless societies have already existed in the past: this is what we call primitive communism, which preceded the Neolithic revolution. Societies of these times were forced to adopt a "communist" functioning, since we did not produce enough for some to be able to monopolize the wealth produced by others. But these were societies where humans being were constantly under threat of natural events, illnesses, etc. It is oviously not such a society that modern communists want. Communism, in its marxist sense, assumes, to be realised, a minimal development of the productive force, that capitalism makes possible.

cannot know in detail how such a society would look: it is men and women of tomorrow who will invent it. But we can still bring out a few caracteristics that would be ones of a free, egalitarian and emancipated society, such as how the communist want it.

1.1 Collective property of the means of production and exchange

Under capitalism, the means of production and of exchange are monopolized by an exploiting class. The majority of individuals do not own anything other than their working strengh, that they are forced to sell to capitalists exploiters in order to survive. This means that the private property of the means of production is indissociable, in society, from the existence of antagonists classes in perpetual struggle.

a communist society, the means of production are socialized. It is the society, meaning the whole of the individuals that take part in it, that would own the means of production and exchange: factories, farms, supermarkets, planes, trains, etc. This means that in each business, the bosses would be replaced by workers general assemblies to decide the organization of work, these assemblies coordinating between them, by sending delegates, to make big decisions democratically.

1.2 Rational organisation of production and distribution

Under capitalism, it is short-term individual profit that is the driving force of the economy. Each capitalist needs to generate more profits than its competitors. This situation creates crisis, wars, destructions, ecological disasters, etc. On the other hand, a communist society must organize production and distribution of goods and services in a rational way. The decision to produce a certain type of commodity rather than another, for example, would not rely on the immediate economic interest but rather on the current social needs.

There is no competition in a communist society, the different factories, farms, etc. would only be « les différentes sections d'un grand atelier populaire embrassant toute l'économie générale » (trouver citation exacte en anglais). The society as a whole needs to do what administrative councils do today at the scale of their businesses: organize in advance the production and distribution, at least in the broad terms. This way, it is possible to assure the complementarity of businesses rather than competition. This what we call plannification.

There are still debates, amongst revolutionary marxists, about the lesser or greater role that market mecanisms will play or not in a communist society. But no one contests the necessity of a plannification more or less precise.