Question. If I correctly understand what I’ve read of yours so far, you reject any constructive criticism of society because it seeks to improve a system that needs to be abolished. In your articles, you offer evidence that society’s evils are due to the system and that the state, Keynesianism, the World Bank, the UN, etc. cannot remedy them.
Since you obviously confine yourself to criticizing capitalism, you must frequently be confronted in your public discussions with comments like: “Can’t you do more than just criticize!” or “What’s your alternative, then!” My question is aimed at this kind of objection:
Answer We don’t do what you think is missing because attempting to dispel doubts about the feasibility of an alternative to capitalist exploitation by painting the beauties or opportunities of a liberated society in bright colors is not just pointless but downright nonsensical. People who would measure the “power of persuasion of the most accurate critique of capitalism” according to whether we are able to offer something in the way of an alternative that pleases and seems realistic to them, these people reject our critique — in fact in a way that is just as fundamental as it is disingenuous, whether they are aware of it or not.
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Those of our contemporaries who demand a proof that the “inherently humane idea of communism” is also “possible” have apparently understood the critique of the capitalist order as something like the fairy tale of the land of milk and honey; one may well wonder whether roast pigeons fly into the idle glutton’s mouth there without a finger being lifted. Like clever children questioning the fairy tale, they question the critique, asking whether the abolition of exploitation is really consistent with “reality.” Under this only seemingly naive examination, the lovely idea of a better society is bound to fail since the “reality” against which it has to prove itself is none other than the capitalist reality we criticize, a reality so familiar and obvious to the examiners.
snippy workers of the world unite snip
In other words: those who inquire about the attractiveness of what communists have to “offer” confuse the critique of capitalism with election slogans of an alternative elite who promise to run things better for their valued citizens than those currently holding power. They misunderstand themselves as courted voters allowed to choose in a department store for politico-economic systems which one they’d like to place an order for — from others who then are responsible for the delivery. They think as subjects of ruling authorities who decide for them, and they have resolved to remain just that: democratic underlings, who have no choice but between two sorts of rule — but this choice is theirs for sure. What we can tell these people is simply the following: nobody will offer them this free choice. Either they fight for the freedom to organize the politico-economic conditions of their lives in a sensible way, or they will continue to have no say at all in the matter.
- just as most Uk stereotypes about Americans come from Hollywood movies, most US stereotypes about the UK seem to come from US servicemen's experience of eth UK during WWII (and just after) when due to rationing (and the British "sense of fair play") queuing was practically the national sport.