in Esperanto
Chapter 7: SKETCH OF COMMUNIST SOCIETY -- CULTURE
Simplicity is the hallmark of communist culture. It is not a fierce "competition" but a relaxed "co-running" culture. Freedom of expression flourishes there. Why?
1. People are freed from commodity worship.
1.1. Capitalism where people are also commodities
What are the cultural values inherent in communism? Such questions may bring to mind the "Cultural Revolution," which once plunged Chinese society into terror and chaos, but historically the "Cultural Revolution" is merely synonymous with the fierce power struggles within the Chinese Communist Party. "Culture" here is literal culture apart from political struggle.
First of all, by way of comparison, if you think about what capitalist cultural values are, the greatest of them is undoubtedly product value. In a capitalist society based on the production of commodities, commodity value is not only economic value but also cultural value itself. Commodities are the main characters in society, and almost all things cannot appear in the world unless they take the form of exchange value as commodities.
Humans themselves are also considered commodities. This is not classic human trafficking. Overall evaluation criteria for human beings are more focused than before on superficial "skills" and more superficial "appearance" (human exchange value) rather than "personality" (human use value, so to speak). This is also one proof of the phenomenon of human = commodification.
This kind of commercial value as cultural value is a universal cultural value because it is deeply held by the public. The masses themselves feel as if the commodity has some special power. That is commodity worship.
The characteristic of this capitalist animism is that it exalts the superficial price tag of exchange value. The mass distribution of counterfeit brand products is a symbol of this. We resent being caught with a counterfeit, but we are dazzled by the counterfeit price tag until it turns out to be a counterfeit.
In this way, the cult of commodities lends a helping hand to the prevalence of imitations, including human "counterfeiters". Proudhon, a former opponent of Marx, exclaimed, "Possession is theft!", but he should have exclaimed, "Commerce is fraud!" However, merchants are not swindlers—literal swindlers are rampant, but they are not the main players in capitalism—and the public's admiration and demand for commodities increases the probability of being a victim of fraud.
1.2. To the world of authenticity and content game
On the other hand, in a communist society, the abolition of commodity production puts an end to the cult of commodities. Things are stripped of their product forms and come to be evaluated as "things themselves", so to speak. As I argued earlier, communism is a world centered on use values.
Communism is a world where everything, be it people or things, is genuine and content is a game, so in a sense it can be said to be a harsh world where the essence is tested.
However, even those of us who are accustomed to living in a world of merchandising appearances, are we not actually yearning for a world of realness and substance somewhere in our hearts? I don't think there are many people who want to continue living in a society where they are seized by counterfeit products, dominated by counterfeit people, and judged by their value as human commodities.
If there is a "Great Cultural Revolution" in the true sense of the word in a communist society, it will be a complete overthrow of the cultural system of commodity values. Such a "Great Cultural Revolution" would save us from the trap of commodity worship instead of leading us to fear and confusion.
