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Creating a Socialism that Meets Needs
Friedman, Sam
http://www.solidarity-us.org/site/node/4866Date Written: 2017-01-01 Publisher: Against the Current Year Published: 2017 Resource Type: Article Cx Number: CX21520 There is widespread and growing understanding that the current social order cannot continue without catastrophe occurring - yet we lack a vision of what might replace it. Abstract: - Excerpt: I posit that when and if the broadly-defined working class comes to have dominant power in a large section, or all, of the world - regardless of the means by which we get there - we will need to end commodity-based production, commodity-based exchange, commodity-based belief systems and commodity-based culture as quickly as possible. Instead, we will need to create a world in which socially-validated needs form the basis of production and distribution, and in which belief systems and culture change from a focus on "more" to a focus on sustainability and sociability. I say this for two overarching reasons: First, continuing to have a world in which production is conducted and driven on a commodity basis - which means that workers sell their labor power to producers (who then trade with each other and with "consumers" to get exchange value back with which to buy more labor power and more physical inputs) - tends to recreate capitalism either in its state capitalist form (which some called Communism) or its corporate capitalist form. Subject Headings |