Anarchist Communism, a common "flavour" of Anarchism, as well as of Communism, is a collection of ideas related to the Commune. They are generally in favour of possession, a gift economy, the total abolishment of wage labour, the State and Capitalism, as well as replacing these institutions with a Commune. The main anarchist communist authors are Pitr Kropotkin, Mikhael Bakunin and Errico Malatesta.
Anarchist Communist theory
Commune theory
The Commune is a social institution, relaying the interests of the citizenry. It is not a State, as in a representative democracy, but more like a Federation with limits. While the Commune is considered to be volunteer, some Anarchist Communists promote the use of force against people harmful to it, using the example of a polluting Capitalist.
Therefore, Anarchist Communism has a theory of property: there should be no ownership, but whoever uses the property, possesses it. Ownership is more "holy," as it is tied to contract and the item itself, while the possession is just temporarily.
With this theory, comes the conclusion of the Commune: its proper role is to secure social property, letting individual property to the whims of ordinary people. A social property is for example, a hospital, or a cure for cancer. The last item brings up the issue of need, where Anarchist Communism says: «From each according to his ability to each according to his [self-determined] needs» (Critique of the Gotha Programme, Karl Marx). The idea is that of a Communal warehouse, where people can walk in and take what they need. The buzzword gadget gift economy stems from this idea, meaning that one can loan for example a plow, for plowing the fields. One demand, however, is that one is a producer of goods or provider of services oneself. This system relies on the logic, that people will not contribute at all if parasites occur. Thus, parasites are indirectly forced to vanish or start producing themselves, creating a money-less gift economy.
Rejection of waged labour
As this is a flavour of Communism as well, worker's struggle is essential to Anarchist Communism. They advocate the total abolishment of wage labour, citing it as the source of poverty, as "riches require poverty" (paraphrased from The Wage System, Pitr Kropotkin). By this logic, wage labourers create their own doom, as the Capitalists get richer, and the industry gets more and more demanding, even as demand grows due to wage labourers buying goods from Capitalists. Kropotkin argues that the collection of production cannot be split into parts, as production is a non-redundant process, relying on all parts involved.
Distinction from other flavours of anarchism
Anarchist Communism completely clashes with Individualist Anarchism. As the latter promotes labour notes, which is money based on labour input, they still retain the wage system. Also, it clashes with Mutualism, a flavour promoting worker's owned factories, cooperating with consumers. Consumers are privilegied by buying goods, which goes against the idea of the Commune, as a safeguard for all social property (and need).
Anarchist Morality
Main article: Anarchist Morality
The source of all so-called moral ideas are primitive superstitions, argue anarchist communists. They stress that humans will always act according to their natural instinct, based on sympathy and unity (Mutual Aid). People will «Do to others as [they] would have others do to [them] under the same circumstances».
An anarchist communist would argue that our instincts are being perverted by the superstitions surrounding law, religion and authority in general for their leaders' benefit. Moral is just one of the elite's instruments of ruling and thus a non-existing abstraction that we must rid ourselves of.([1]/[2])
|
