3 ms·
Very interesting that you bring up Marx! However if I recall correctly Marx was mostly worried about the complete commoditization of work (which we see to some
by jcfrei 11y ago
Very interesting that you bring up Marx! However if I recall correctly Marx was mostly worried about the complete commoditization of work (which we see to some extent with service companies like Uber). I don't think he considered the possibility that there simply might not be any work for anyone. It'd be interesting to hear his views on these contemporary developments: Because the co-ownership of a factory by it's employees (which communism envisions) is a mentally reasonable concept that a lot of people love. However how would you go about a company that only requires three people to service millions of customers? Does communism have an answer to that? Would Marx suggest to just turn every company into a state owned company? Could the free software movement by Richard Stallman be a clandestine communist movement to socialize the ownership of the modern means of production (ie. software)?
- sologoub 11y agoBecause theoretical communism has no use for money, the notion of ownership of that factory also goes away. The theory (at least the way I understand it) is that in a communist utopia, the society is not constrained as much by consumption and therefore everyone has enough. Ironically, we might be approaching that point from the basic needs level - food and shelter for everyone is not such an outlandish idea anymore. However, I do not believe that people will be magically able to distribute that shared wealth evenly, so the more dystopian future is more likely where for the majority of manufacturing-related needs, capital completely replaces rank and file labor. Personally, I think the idea of basic income or some other redistribution of wealth that keeps the demand alive is a more reasonable solution to the shrinking labor pool, as the need for labor will not evaporate completely, but instead individuals will be displaced from the labor pool in ways that will prevent them from effectively competing again.
- ThomPete 11y agoEveryone white a 401K is a capitalist today and so in that respects it's a solved issue. The problem of course is how those money are invested.