[P2P-F] Fwd: The False Defences Of Utopian Thought

[Kevin Carson]

On Tue, Nov 8, 2011 at 1:30 AM, Michel Bauwens <michel at p2pfoundation.net> 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