the possibility of "communism"

On Mon, 3 May 1999, Pat Gunning wrote:

> UPF wrote:
> 
> > The issue of sovereignty is only an issue if it is not legitimate sovereignty.
> > Fundamental sovereignty resides with the individual. Democracy is the answer in as
> > much as it is tempered with other aspects. It must be used to establish a Republic
> > that is governed by a Federated system. Any application of communism is only
> > theoretical. When it is applied, we run the risk of it turning into Fascism.
> > Socialism is the only acceptable evolution of communism. Bottom line, if the
> > governmental structure works for the most locally governed entity, then it is the
> > answer for that culture/community. The only problem is when we try to combine those
> > diverse approaches into a global system. I don't know the final answer, but I do
> > know that the more opinions we gather, the closer we get to finding the answer.
> 
> Glen, you can add this opinion to your stock. The problem with communism
> globally or even at the level of a culturally diverse city is that the
> incentives to produce for others are too low to enable a large
> population to survive. Unless it is accompanied by the brute force of a
> fascist dictator to punish the shirkers and the lazy bones, the people
> will remain poor. If there are too many people, they will starve. To
> enable a large population to survive and flourish, a private property
> system is necessary to provide people with incentives to produce and
> trade. Local communism is possible, but world communism is a recipe for
> misery. 
> 
> 
> -- 
> Pat Gunning, Sultan Qaboos University, Oman
> Web pages on Subjectivism, Democracy, Taiwan, Ludwig von Mises,
> Austrian Economics, and my University Classes
> http://www2.cybercities.com/g/gunning/welcome.htm
> http://www.fortunecity.com/meltingpot/barclay/212/welcome.htm
> 

Anyone interested in the question of "is communism possible" should
investigate the recent work by the analytical marxists van Parijs and
Levine:

Levine, Andrew (1998) Rethinking Liberal Equality (Cornell)

van Parijs, Phillipe (1996) Real Freedom For All? (Blackwell).

They use some of the same framework as the "liberal" economists and
philosophers, and come to radically different conclusions about what is
possible.


Richard Hutchinson