new Serfdom ?
I came to say something about Karl Marx that got a friend of mine turn hostile. He is Trumpeter, believe in capitalism and hates anything that smell of socialism and communism. I suppose I have had leaning toward the right, but ...Marx did study capitalism, but had nothing to do with communism most seems to think of it. Some of his thoughts was used by Lenin, Stalin, and others after he was dead and gone. A word of that first. Imagine a society that was based upon slavery and serfdom. Your body, your work, your children, was all the property of someone else. Then it is easier to understand what fueled the communist revolution.
One key aspect of Marx, was the evolution of a new class of owners, the capitalist, brought forward by the industrial revolution. Serfs working in factories. We have many examples of this today as well. ( example, correctional institution has become industries ) Marx proposed that people themselves should "own the means of production". It is easy to see why the "red scare" is the mortal enemy of capitalism. Imagine the scare of plantation owners if slaves should be free men ?
Instead of the industrial revolution, we experience an information revolution. Today, free men may be put back in chains. Facial recognition and surveillance, enslave people - you cannot buy goods at the store, not use transportation, have no means of income, except what some people decide you deserve based on a “social credit system” that will rate your human value, your freedom, your economic conditions. We will have 5G, mass surveillance, banking system, transportation, - it is already very much in place. We may soon see a toll system installed in your car for payment of road tax, insurance and maybe where you are allowed to go. Your personal data has become a commodity for large corporations.
So, what would "ownership of the production system" mean today ? Are we entering a new form of serfdom ?
Comments (7)
They're valuable as consumers, tax-payers, workers...unltil they start thinking they're more than that. It's the thinking part that worries us mostly.
Oh yeah, Reboot the Kardashians and double the price of lottery tickets.
Karl Marx prophesied the end of capitalism, his ideology is based on the premise that capitalism by its very nature was unworkable and would collapse due to its instability and powerful individual control, hence his theories regarding public ownership.
I was impressed by a company, US or Canada, which had shared ownership in the production machinery and facilities, and shared profits. But else, they worked on several of their own ideas. Perhaps somewhat like Fab-Lab - and they achieved very positive results.
Several here came with interesting inputs that got me thinking a bit about some Finnish test results with the idea of 'basic income' -
But as I wrote initially, my ideas went perhaps a bit in the direction of this new cyberspace we share, and how we may be dictated by it. And how it still may be possible to have a say in how it will evolve. I think it is worrisome how some are buying up a lot of basic infrastructure.
Please anyone, add your ideas and inputs, we may need it.
oh, btw. @OldeGuy - not sure what is going on in California, but I think I heard they have proposed some legislation ?