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Communism? When did communism enter the picture? This is in Illinois; the public library district is primarily funded by local taxes within its service area, a

Communism? When did communism enter the picture? This is in Illinois; the public library district is primarily funded by local taxes within its service area, and referenda on such were passed on multiple occasions. Some state and federal grants have also funded tech improvements. Its current land was purchased from the local school district in the 1970s. Overall, regardless of today's bullshit political climate on the national level, there's a great deal of local civic pride here. The local government (which is separate from the library district) runs a balanced budget, the municipally-owned water system charges significantly lower rates than a neighboring town's privately-owned water system even though both of them get their water from Chicago, and the village has (when it made sense to do so) entered into electrical power purchase agreements that have resulted in lower electrical rates for residents. There's also a long tradition of reusing civic buildings; the village hall is a former school building, and the original fire station became the police station when the fire district expanded to three stations to deal with the town's growth.

pbhjpbhj 8y ago
Libraries are inherently anti-capitalist; they make knowledge available to all regardless of ability to pay. A system of community ownership of resources in order to benefit all members is the definition of "communist": that's where it enters the picture. >the municipally-owned water system charges significantly lower rates than a neighboring town's privately-owned water system // Which, as far as stereotypes goes at least, is "un-American, are you some sort of commie?" because it's a cooperative governmental system in which state ownership reduces costs and prevents a private enterprise from profiting from it. Some interesting answers, including yours, thanks.
- int_19h 8y ago
  > A system of community ownership of resources in order to benefit all members is the definition of "communist" The definition of socialism is shared ownership of the means of production. A public park isn't socialism. A nationalized industry is. The definition of communism is socialism + post-scarcity, ostensibly making economic classes redundant.
  - pbhjpbhj 8y ago
    I wasn't talking figuratively, that's literally the definition.
    - int_19h 8y ago
      I wasn't talking figuratively either. The literal definition of communism is not as you gave it, at least not according to the people who devised the ideology and came up with the name for it. It's all about the means of production - for Marxists, the entire human history, and especially the structure of society, revolves around "modes of production", which are ultimately defined by the relative positions of productive members of society wrt means of production and each other, creating economic classes. To some extent, I guess, a library (or rather the knowledge contained in it) could also be claimed to be the means of production. But I don't think that's the consensus among the adherents.
      - pbhjpbhj 8y ago
        communism ˈkɒmjʊnɪz(ə)m/ noun noun: communism .... a theory or system of social organization in which all property is owned by the community and each person contributes and receives according to their ability and needs. .... synonyms: collectivism, state ownership, socialism, radical socialism; (Oxford Pocket English Dictionary, via Google)
        int_19h 8y ago
        That's a vast oversimplification, as is the case with most dictionary definitions. You need to go to primary sources - starting with "The Capital" - to discover the nuances. The notion that communism equals state ownership is particularly funny, given that Marx (and all his followers) defined communism as a stateless society.
- jazzyjackson 8y ago
  The capitalists are keenly interested in having an educated, well-rounded talent pool to draw labor from. The libraries make no attempt to abolish the bourgeoisie, which I think was more to the point of communists than providing free literature.

pbhjpbhj 8y ago

Libraries are inherently anti-capitalist; they make knowledge available to all regardless of ability to pay. A system of community ownership of resources in order to benefit all members is the definition of "communist": that's where it enters the picture. >the municipally-owned water system charges significantly lower rates than a neighboring town's privately-owned water system // Which, as far as stereotypes goes at least, is "un-American, are you some sort of commie?" because it's a cooperative governmental system in which state ownership reduces costs and prevents a private enterprise from profiting from it. Some interesting answers, including yours, thanks.

int_19h 8y ago
> A system of community ownership of resources in order to benefit all members is the definition of "communist" The definition of socialism is shared ownership of the means of production. A public park isn't socialism. A nationalized industry is. The definition of communism is socialism + post-scarcity, ostensibly making economic classes redundant.
- pbhjpbhj 8y ago
  I wasn't talking figuratively, that's literally the definition.
  - int_19h 8y ago
    I wasn't talking figuratively either. The literal definition of communism is not as you gave it, at least not according to the people who devised the ideology and came up with the name for it. It's all about the means of production - for Marxists, the entire human history, and especially the structure of society, revolves around "modes of production", which are ultimately defined by the relative positions of productive members of society wrt means of production and each other, creating economic classes. To some extent, I guess, a library (or rather the knowledge contained in it) could also be claimed to be the means of production. But I don't think that's the consensus among the adherents.
    - pbhjpbhj 8y ago
      communism ˈkɒmjʊnɪz(ə)m/ noun noun: communism .... a theory or system of social organization in which all property is owned by the community and each person contributes and receives according to their ability and needs. .... synonyms: collectivism, state ownership, socialism, radical socialism; (Oxford Pocket English Dictionary, via Google)
      - int_19h 8y ago
        That's a vast oversimplification, as is the case with most dictionary definitions. You need to go to primary sources - starting with "The Capital" - to discover the nuances. The notion that communism equals state ownership is particularly funny, given that Marx (and all his followers) defined communism as a stateless society.
jazzyjackson 8y ago
The capitalists are keenly interested in having an educated, well-rounded talent pool to draw labor from. The libraries make no attempt to abolish the bourgeoisie, which I think was more to the point of communists than providing free literature.