On Tue, Nov 8, 2011 at 1:30 AM, Michel Bauwens <[email protected]> wrote:
having lived in 3 (failed) communes myself, I would question any interpretation that only blames outside pressures ..
Michel: The problem is that communes are voluntarist efforts, lifestyle choices, that operate against the economic and material currents of outside society. Corporations have just as many dickheads and narcissists in them as communes. So why don't they go belly-up as a result of normal human foibles? The answer, I think, is that structural conditions tip the balance in a particular direction. Human society was organized primarily into localized economies, demographically stable communities, extended families, etc. -- basically the kind of stuff the commune movement tries to replicate, against the spirit of the age -- and that pattern survived despite the dickheadedness and narcissism of its human raw membership because the state didn't have its thumb on the scale in favor of centralism and hierarchy. -- Kevin Carson Research Associate, Center for a Stateless Society http://c4ss.org Homebrew Industrial Revolution: A Low-Overhead Manifesto http://homebrewindustrialrevolution.wordpress.com Desktop Regulatory State: The Countervailing Power of Super-Empowered Individuals http://desktopregulatorystate.wordpress.com Organization Theory: A Libertarian Perspective http://mutualist.blogspot.com/2005/12/studies-in-anarchist-theory-of.html