Friday, August 25, 2023

On Communism:Page49

in Esperanto

Chapter 8: NEW REVOLUTIONARY MOVEMENT

3. Do it differently from the Communist Party.

3.1. Commons' Convention as a revolutionary movement

As the name suggests, the communist revolution was conventionally thought to be carried out centered on the Communist Party, but that is no longer the case. The communist revolution by the people presented here is a direct revolution by the nonpartisan people, not by the Communist Party, but by any political party organization.

However, I am not so simple as to claim that the revolutionary business can be completed without any kind of organization. Organizing a revolutionary movement is also inevitable. What is that organization? It is the Commons' Convention.

 This concept has already been mentioned. While it appeared as a new governing organization in a communist society where the state was abolished, the Commons' Convention also had the consistency of being formed and developed as a revolutionary movement organization before the revolution.

This "pre-revolutionary Commons' Convention" is an organization that is planned to become an official governing body after the revolution - a sort of chrysalis - so to speak. We have already discussed the structure of the Commons' Convention after the revolution in Chapter 4, so here we will look at the Commons' Convention before the revolution.


3.2. Outline of the pre-revolutionary Commons' Convention Convention (1): World Commons' Convention

A communist revolution that abolishes the monetary economy and state system cannot be practiced by a single country alone; it must go through successive revolutions in each country and ultimately reach the creation of a transnational and global World Commonwealth.

To that end, the Commons' Convention needs to advance from its first step toward a globalist organization that transcends existing nations. That is, the formation of the World Commons' Convention.

The World Commons' Convention is the world center of the Commons' Convention movement, which is scheduled to function as the General Assembly of the World Commonwealth when it is established in the future.  

However, even though it is called the world center, the relationship between the World Commons' Convention and each country's Commons' Convention is not a hierarchical relationship between headquarters and branch offices. It will be positioned as a forum with the pillars of information exchange and situation analysis. 

At the same time, it is also important to create a Commons' Convention at the grand-zonal level, which was touched on in Chapter 4. This will be formed for each of the five grand zones, which will be described again in the final chapter, and in the future it will be a representative body that will elect five representatives to constitute the Grand-zonal Representatives' Conference that will function as the executive body of the World Commonwealth. However, until then, it will serve as a temporary general council for the Commons' Convention of each country belonging to the large region that will constitute the grand zone in the future.  

Supporting exiled Commons' Conventions in countries where domestic activities are particularly difficult because organizations such as the Commons' Convention are targets of repression and persecution domestically is an important mission of the grand-zonal Commons' Convention. As such, the  grand-zonal Commons' Convention will have a temporary base in a country where Commons' Convention activities are relatively free, if not entirely risk-free.


3.3. Outline of the pre-revolutionary Commons' Convention (2): Commons' Convention in each country

 When the World Commonwealth is established through successive revolutions, sovereign nations will be abandoned, but before the revolution, a Commons' Convention linked to the World Commons' Convention must be organized for each existing country for the time being.  

At that time, in light of the nature of the consistency system mentioned above, each country's Commons' Convention organization was established at each level of communes, regional areas, and provincial areas (quasi-zones in the case of federal states) in accordance with the development after the revolution. If governing bodies corresponding to regional areas or provincial areas were not established before the revolution, provisional divisions will be applied.  

However, even here, there is no hierarchical relationship between the Commons' Convention of zones and the Commons' Convention of each local area, and no centralized leadership body such as a central committee is placed in the Commons' Convention of zones.

Instead, a Central Liaison Committee(Federal Liaison Committee in the case of federal states) will be established as an organization that connects local networks. To avoid capital centered operations, the commission will be located in a city other than the capital.  

In addition to holding regular meetings of its own, the Central Liaison Committee plans and hosts an annual general meeting. The general meeting is a forum for exchanging information and analyzing the situation, and unlike political party conventions, it does not pass binding resolutions.  

On the other hand, the Commons' Convention of provincial areas (or quasi-zones) and regional areas will also have a Liaison Committee to act as a liaison body for each Commons' Convention. In addition, a small Liaison Committee will be set up in the Commons' Convention of communes and serves as a conduit to the Commons' Convention of regional areas.  

In this way, unlike the Communist Party, the Commons' Convention does not have a central leadership—therefore, the Central Liaison Committee does not have a chairperson or equivalent general secretary. It will be operated as a decentralized network-type organization in which the Commons' Convention of zone and the Commons' Convention of each local area within it organically cooperate.

Sunday, August 20, 2023

On Communism:Page48

in Esperanto

Chapter 8: NEW REVOLUTIONARY MOVEMENT

2. There is another way of revolution.

2.1. Methodology of revolution

Speaking of revolution, the proletarian theory of revolution in the past assumed that the armed working class would stand armed. But Marx, who was basically an armed revolutionist, also suggested that revolution could be done by peaceful means. However, he never specified a specific methodology for a "peaceful revolution."  

No matter how much you call a revolution, if you can't find a concrete way to put it into practice, it will end up as empty words. However, in the past, there was little tendency to think about revolutions in a methodological way, and even in an era when people could still feel a great deal of reality in revolutions, they tended to end up with vague images of armed revolutions.  

However, precisely because the revolution is losing its reality today, it is necessary to thoroughly question the method of revolution - especially the method suitable for the plebian revolution shown in the previous section. Through that, the reality of the revolution will be regained again.


2.2. Popular uprising

The popular uprising is the most symbolic image of the revolution due to its dramatic nature. The Russian Revolution (1917) is a representative example of a successful popular revolution since the 20th century, but the Cuban Revolution (1959), in which young people raised armed uprisings through guerrilla activities, can also be included in this category.  

In this method, the people who participate in the revolution usually stand armed, but there are also unarmed popular uprisings. The large-scale demonstrations (1989) that dismantled the "Berlin Wall" and forced the extinguishment of the former East Germany, a loyal satellite of the former Soviet Union, symbolic of the Soviet-style collectivist system and Cold War. It can also be seen as an example of an unarmed popular uprising.

In any case, the opponent of a revolution caused by a popular uprising is always determined to be an autocratic repressive regime. This is because a large-scale popular uprising can only be realized when the people's antipathy and hatred toward the regime are used as energy.  

In that sense, a revolution caused by a popular uprising would create a fierce confrontation with the regime. In addition to the inevitability of full-scale confrontation with the police and military mobilized by the regime to suppress it, as was the case with the Russian Revolution, counter-revolutionary maneuvers by the old regime may develop into civil war even after the revolution is completed.  

On the other hand, in some cases, the regime itself may become as oppressive as the old regime. The oppression by the Communist Party after the Russian Revolution should be remembered as the most bitter example.

In general, revolutions caused by popular uprisings are often triggered by accidental demonstrations by the people, and it is difficult to predict the direction of their outbreak and development.  

In any case, it can be said that the chances of witnessing a revolution by this method are also decreasing today, as blatant forms of tyrannical rule are gradually decreasing. A plebian revolution in the form of such a popular uprising is still possible under repressive totalitarian regimes, but it will be relatively limited.


2.3. Collective non-voting 

In recent years, many countries have increasingly implemented "democratic" elections. There is something to be happy about in this trend, but on the other hand, In many countries, indirect representative politics through elections has become dysfunctional due to the alienation between professional politicians and the public, corrupted influence-peddling, etc., and is exposed to its ultimate limits.

However, it is practically difficult to overthrow a regime established through elections that satisfies "democratic" criteria with a popular uprising. Therefore, the method of collective non-voting is assumed. This is a method by which voters do not vote collectively in all public elections, both central and local, to prevent election candidates from being elected, and to establish neither parliaments nor governments (including those at the local government level).

In this way, after creating a "state of anarchy" by legally invalidating elections based on the provisions of the election law, the steps will be taken to peacefully transfer power through negotiations with the remaining former government. Therefore, this method is basically an unarmed, peaceful revolution, and also has the unique character of a "stay-at-home revolution," in which citizens do not have to go out into the streets to implement non-voting.  

However, as far as I know, there have been no historical examples of revolutions using this method. The reason for this is the technical difficulty of the very means of collective non-voting.  

In fact, in the electoral law, the minimum number of votes required for election is almost intentionally set low in preparation for situations such as mass non-voting, and in some countries, voting itself is mandated with penalties. Because of this, the establishment can also force the masses to vote with the threat of punishment.

Therefore, collective non-voting may not be successful in its purest form, unless it is implemented in combination with the popular uprising methods described above. Despite such technical difficulties, this method can be said to be suitable for the plebian revolution as another method of revolution through a kind of civil disobedience.

Wednesday, August 16, 2023

On Communism:Page47

in Esperanto

Chapter 8: NEW REVOLUTIONARY MOVEMENT

1. The leading actors of the revolution is the people.

1.4. Deconstruction of the "proletarian revolution"

Marxists, who once vigorously called the "proletarian revolution," now seem to abandon the difficult "proletarian revolution" and adapt to capitalism in a situation where the working class has almost has made capitalism part of itself. In fact, many of the remaining marxist parties in the world today (the marxist parties of various countries that have survived the dissolution of the Soviet Union) have either explicitly or implicitly tried to turn this line in the name of "pragmatism."

However, here I would like to avoid such self-abandoned "pragmatism" and explore the path to communism as far as possible. To that end, the "proletarian revolution" must be deconstructed using a different terminology and methodology.


1.5. Common sign "exploitation"

The first thing to confirm here is the iron rule that the latent central subject of the communist revolution is the working class. However, as mentioned above, today's working class is deeply divided. But there are signs that allow this to be reunified. This is the “exploitation” discussed in Chapter 3.

In this regard, capitalist terminology tries to minimize the meaning of "exploitation" and limit it to cases of extremely low-wage labor. But, in fact, people are forced into unpaid labor under various pretexts and are "exploited."

In terms of being exploited, there is no essential difference between the general worker class and the senior worker class, the stable class and the unstable class in the general worker class, and even the private sector workers and the public service workers. If there is a difference, it is in the way exploitation is manifested. In other words, it is only the difference between low-wage exploitation and falling into poverty, or high-wage exploitation making a living but suffering from exhaustion and dying from overwork.

In addition, the difference between the stable and unstable classes will also become relative at once due to the relaxation of dismissal regulations for regular workers and the suppression of wages for regular workers - this has been the case for small and medium-sized enterprises with weak management foundations.

On the other hand, it is quite difficult to subdue the generational conflict between the incumbent workers and the retired workers. However, it seems that this can also be solved to a certain extent from the viewpoint of "deferred exploitation."

In other words, the amount of pension benefits for retired workers is calculated based on the wage level at the time of their current employment, along with the premiums paid, so if they are exploited at low wages during their current employment, their future pension benefits will remain at a low level. In this way, an old-age pension is nothing but a “deferred exploitation” that continues until old age. This will become even clearer if a self-responsible, income-proportioned pension system is introduced in which the relationship between benefits and contributions perfectly corresponds.

Therefore, the image of retirees living carelessly on pension income supported by pension premiums steadily paid by incumbent workers is not accurate. In reality, pensions alone are not enough, and many elderly people find themselves in financial difficulties. It could be you or me in the future.


1.6. Possibility of  "plebian revolution"

Even so, we are living in an age where it is difficult for the conception of the "working class" to have a sense of reality. Therefore, I would like to propose plebs as a new term for exploitation that should be unified into a common label. The plebs are the actors of the communist revolution.

By the way, a synonym for "plebs" is "masses", which may be more popular. But here we make a clear distinction between plebs and masses. Masses are politically unawakened, free-floating, and therefore opportunistic and at the same time easily provoked into a mob of disjointed individuals who, at worst, are lured into fascism.

In contrast, the plebs referred to here are agglomeration of individuals associated and united as a politically awakened revolutionary class. Wage laborers are at the core of this, but there are also poor farmers, small farmers, marginalised intellectuals, petty capitalists, and others who are suffering from the laws of capitalsm and who are trying to find a way out for the realization of a communist society. Plebs encompasses the whole mentioned above.

And in each country, these plebs make up the majority of the population. Therefore, it is the communist revolution that is carried out in the name of the true majority of the people - including the minority. In short, it can be summed up in the conception "plebeian revolution, by the people, for the people."

Friday, August 11, 2023

On Communism:Page46

in Esperanto

Chapter 8: NEW REVOLUTIONARY MOVEMENT

In order not to end communism as a blue bird, we need a new revolutionary movement with a new term and a new methodology that breaks the old revolutionary common sense, armed proletarian revolution. What could it be like?



1. The leading actors of revolution are the common people.

1.1. Political enterprise called "revolution"

Up until the previous chapter, the reality of communist society has been described quite concretely, but the big question of how communism is actually realized in the first place still remains. If this big problem cannot be solved, communism will be nothing more than an unreachable blue bird.

So, first, I would like to review what was discussed in Chapter 1. I argued there that capitalism is strong and incapable of self-destruction, but that this 'modern' economic system reveals serious limitations.

Therefore, if we do not simply object to capitalism, but rather give up on capitalism and truly desire the realization of a communist society - for those who do not wish to do so, this chapter and the next chapter are unnecessary -, we must artificially break away from capitalism through the political enterprise of "revolution." Who will lead the revolution? This section is about the answer to this question.


1.2. Marxist model answer

According to Marxist theory, which is considered "orthodox", the working class (proletariat) is the main subject of the communist revolution. This answer is still politically correct. This is because capitalism, no matter how much it changes its superficial form, cannot, at its fundamental level, subside the class antagonism between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat.

Today, the line of labor-management cooperation has taken root in developed capitalist countries. However, this is nothing more than a remnant of the honeymoon period, when total capital increased the share of labor in an era of soaring growth, and managed to achieve relatively high wages. Therefore, when faced with an economic crisis such as the Great Recession of the World, the harsh structure of wage slavery will immediately surface.

The fact that it is the wage workers who suffer the most from the logic of capitalism is a universal law of political economy almost all over the world. Indeed, it is the wage laborers, i.e. wage serfs, who have the strongest reason for the final end of capitalism, and the proletarian revolution aiming at the realization of a communist society is the uprising of wage serfs. 


1.3. A difficult "proletarian revolution"

However, the above is just a revolutionary subject theory based on political economic theory, and from a social dynamics point of view, a "proletarian revolution" is no longer possible. why? First and foremost, today's working class is so deeply divided that it cannot be brought together by a single class interest.

First of all, this division has arisen in the form of a polarization within the incumbent workers between the general worker class (blue-collar workers) and the senior worker class (white-collar workers). The former are mostly non-career workers in the operational sector, while the latter are career workers who are candidates for future management positions.

Even though they are the same workers, they are placed in different positions. Senior workers are generally well-educated and highly paid, and although they are wage workers, they are candidates for future management positions and have the logic of capital. It is an elite who is fully educated and walks the path of management. They can be superior and sometimes even hostile to the common working class.

This division of "blue vs. white" has a long history with the development of the joint-stock company system, but in recent years, a dichotomy between relatively stable and unstable classes has become noticeable even within the general worker class. The stable class joins a labor union and manages to maintain solidarity, but the unstable class consists of many unorganized and fragmented non-regular workers, and their interests tend to conflict.

Furthermore, in modern times, public authorities such as the national and local governments also employ many wage workers. These public workers (so-called civil servants) are in a position to supervise the activities of private capital, have relatively high educational backgrounds and wage levels, and wage workers are also divided by these public and private sectors. However, even within the public sector, there is a clearer class difference between general workers and senior workers than in the private sector.

In addition to this division within incumbent workers, the generational divide between incumbent workers and retired workers is deepening with the development of the old-age pension system. If the pension income of retired workers is guaranteed by the pension insurance premiums paid by incumbent workers, whose future pension benefits may decrease, a clear intergenerational conflict will surface.

The intra-class divisions described above have also succeeded in relativizing the class differences between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat to a considerable extent. Many of the corporate executives who represent today's bourgeoisie are promoted and selected from among the upper working class (in some cases, the general working class). In this way, the proletariat and the bourgeoisie are connected by a staircase - by no means a smooth one. Furthermore, retired workers who invest part of their savings can be considered to be subsumed by the bourgeoisie as a class of petty investors.

In this way, the confrontational scheme of "bourgeoisie vs. proletariat" has, in fact, liquefied considerably without being subdued in essence.

Moreover, assimilation to capitalism is progressing remarkably even within the consciousness of the working class itself. Marx once wrote in the first volume of Capital,  As capitalist production progresses, the working class who accepts the demands of this mode of production as self-evident natural lawsthrough education, tradition, and custom will appear.” Now it seems that the working class has almost has almost made capitalism part of itself.

As such, it cannot be said that a "proletarian revolution" is completely impossible, but it must be said that it has become a project with little feasibility in its literal form.

Sunday, August 6, 2023

On Communism:Page45

in Esperanto

Chapter 7: SKETCH OF COMMUNIST SOCIETY -- CULTURE

5. To be simple is the best.

5.1. Simple social culture

Even among those who accept communism favorably, many may perceive a communist society as a completely self-sufficient rural community. However, this is an image of a hypothetical primitive communist system, and the post-modern communist society that will have passed through the modern era is by no means an idyllic, self-sufficient society.

Still, as we have seen, in a communist society many existing things and institutions will be abolished, from commodities to money, the state and all things related to them, to universities, there is no doubt that it will become a simple society.

Therefore, "To be simple is the best" becomes a symbolic slogan in terms of culture as well. The word simple in this case has various connotations.


5.2. Four simplicity

First of all, the abolishment of money and the state, two values with a long history related to ownership, will decisively change society's values related to ownership.

"Having" will cease to be the most important value, and "not having" will become a symbol of smartness rather than shame. The have-nots = simple (commoner) people are culturally the leading role.

At the same time, under a communist planned economy that produces only the necessary amount of goods while taking the global environment into consideration, the consumption culture that favors mass consumption will surely disappear. Instead, it is thought that a simple (frugal) consumption culture that produces only the necessary and durable items, and does not generate waste will develop and take hold.

In addition, the disappearance of commodity production and economic competition will make machine products, which are becoming almost unnecessarily complex, multi-functional and automated year by year due to capital differentiation strategies, simpler and easier to use for people with weak mechanical skills such as the elderly and disabled. This is barrier-free in machines, and as discussed in Chapter 5, as society as a whole progresses in barrier-free, there will be a shift from a culture standardized on the strong to a culture standardized on the weak.

Also, the abolition of commercial production makes it possible to continue production for a small number of people without discontinuing production even for unsold items as long as there are a small number of consumers. In this sense as well, a communist society is a society that pays equal attention to the minority rather than the majority. In that respect, communism will foster simple cultural values in the sense that it is less prejudiced, just like a young child.


5.3. Modern times with a human face

From the above, it would be permissible to make the following predictions. Post-modern communism will not be in the direction of denying the modern era and turning it into a reaction, and will open up a new modern civilization with a human face rather than a commodity face, which deserves to be called a post-modern civilization.

Tuesday, August 1, 2023

On Communism:Page44

in Esperanto

Chapter 7: SKETCH OF COMMUNIST SOCIETY -- CULTURE

4. The culture of competition will decline.

4.1. Capitalist struggle for existence

Competition is as important as commercial value as a capitalist cultural value. This is closely related to the fact that commodities, which are the main characters of capitalist society, are competitive bets sold through the market, which is, so to speak, a playing field among producers.

This kind of competition is the principle of the market economy that is the cornerstone of capitalist society, and at the same time, it is also a cultural value that defines our lives.

In fact, in a capitalist society, in addition to economic competition between capitals, everything from exams, contests, competitions, competitions to elections is organized competitively. People born into capitalist society are exposed to the struggle for existence from the day they are born, and are screened out at each stage of the life cycle, and their lives are divided into winners and losers.

In such a competitive culture, it is a virtue not to feel guilty about knocking others down in competition. It is a triumph of my talent and hard work, and I am innocent of it.

If such a sense of values prevails, the trend of socially cooperating to accomplish a single project will disappear, and humans will become separate atoms in competitive relationships with each other. The local community is also dismantled, and the neighbors look like unknown foreigners.

People in a society with highly developed capitalism are lonely. They are further reduced to an indivisible individual-person, and in exchange for a rich consumer life, they are buried in a "huge collection of commodities." On the other hand, once they are defeated in the struggle for survival, it is difficult for them to start over, lose their place to belong, and become socially excluded and marginalized.

However, even those who survived the competition never seem to be truly satisfied, and it seems that there is a gaping empty hole in their hearts.

There are strong voices complaining about the "hardness of life", but this is a sociopathological symptom that the culture of competition produces on the side of the "losers" of the competition. On the other hand, the culture of competition causes pathological symptoms such as emptiness on the side of the  "winners'' of the competition.


4.2. Possibility of coexistence instinct

Contrary to the beliefs of competition supremacists, there is also evidence to speculate that humans are not necessarily competitive animals by nature. For example, the etymology of the word competition is "com: together" and "petit: pursue".

This original meaning does not have the nuance of kicking down other rivals, but rather it has the implication of encouraging and improving each other. When this competition falls into the hands of capitalism, it becomes a meaningless struggle for survival.

Another example is the cartel. Cartels are cracked down as illegal conspiracies between capitalists that impede capitalist competition, but they are cracked down with penalties because they will continue to exist if left unchecked.

Why does capital, which glorifies competition on the surface, tries to avoid it behind the scenes? The end result of purely pursuing capitalist competition, in which rivals are kicked and crushed, is that the winner of the competition takes everything, in other words, a monopoly without competition.

Competition results in non-competition. Here lies the self-contradiction of capitalist competition. The only way to avoid this contradiction is to form a cartel and coexist with competing capitals. This is also one of the coexistence instincts inherent in capital.

Such examples seem to suggest that humans, who appear to be competitive animals, have a nature that can be called an instinct for coexistence. In fact, recent behavioral economics has revealed that humans are endowed with not only selfishness but also altruism.


4.3. Competition as friendly rivalry

Some people criticize the communist society as a lukewarm society with no competition, but even in a communist society, competition = friendly rivalry in the sense just mentioned is not denied. Social cooperation, which is emphasized in communist society, is by no means lukewarm, but rather teaches people the value of friendly rivalry.

If that happens, the meaning of exams and competitions will surely change. Exams will not be a means of sifting out, but a measure for discovering each person's aptitude, and a means for teachers themselves to verify the results of their own teaching methods. It will change from a place of envy where rivals secretly anticipate each other's missteps, to a place like a festival where they show off and evaluate each other's skills.

The meaning of competitions such as the Olympics may also change. It will no longer be a competition for medals between countries sending athletes, or a competition for profit and advertising between sponsor companies, but a sport where the athletes and teams participating in the competition will be purely immersed in the competition and the spectators will genuinely enjoy watching the competition. I wonder if it will go back to the origin as a festival.

In the realm of production, as we saw in Chapter 2, the free production system will be adopted in fields where the planned economy is not applied, and in the communist economy, the concept of exchange value will disappear, and a world centered on use value will arrive. As a result, there remains a kind of competitive relationship over the true value of products, namely how to produce high-quality, easy-to-use, and long-lasting products.

In a communist society, competition will generally change into a "co-running."


4.4. Ultimate suicide prevention measures

With the decline of the culture of competition, it is predicted that there will be some important changes in terms of spiritual culture.

First of all, the number of people who lose the competition and choose death because they are unable to start over in life will decrease significantly. Of course, even in a communist society, the number of suicides will not be zero, but many of the causes of suicide will be limited to purely existential causes (such as illness and bereavement). In this respect, communism should be more effective in preventing suicide than any psychiatrist.

The other is that the number of people seeking salvation in religion may decrease. Since "relying on God when in trouble" is a common phenomenon throughout the world, people pray to God in societies with more problems.

Exhausted by capitalist competition, even if they do not commit suicide, there are many people who are attracted to spiritual things in search of "healing". So long as it actually heals the capitalist trauma--although here too there is always the danger of being caught by a counterfeit--religion is more than opium, despite Marx's famous proverb. The religious fervor of the Muslim world is the most bitter yet powerful illustration of this.

However, the culture of friendly rivalry and communist "co-running" will reduce social problems and limit the role of religion to that played by philosophy. It is in this sense that communism is said to be atheistic, and it cannot imply religious oppression that deprives people of freedom of religion.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Esperanto PREFACE     page1   Chapter 1: LIMITATIONS OF CAPITALISM 1. Capitalism has not won the game.  1.1. Meaning of the dissolution of t...