>And what's so "simple" about "disagreements and misunderstandings"? That's why I said the anarchist utopia is a fantasy of perfect transparency and harmony - there are no competing interests, no cultural or temperamental gulfs in ideology or preferences - none, that is, beyond minor ones that can be cleared up with conversation. It dispenses with coercion and conflict by imagining a world where all important differences disappear. Call me stunted and brutalized by the world we live in, but that seems impossible and undesirable even. It would require a pretty static world too, since change would have to inspire conflict. Don't you see anything productive about conflict, Gordon?
You're stunted and and brutalised by the world we live in Doug.
If you accept that existing society is a class society, then you ought to understand what that means. It means, as the preamble to the constitution of the IWW puts it, "There can be no peace so long as hunger and want are found among millions of the working people and the few, who make up the employing class, have all the good things of life. Between these two classes a struggle must go on..."
The simple truth expressed here is that class distinction creates an irreconcilable conflict of interest. And yes, along the way it also brutalises and stunts members of the working class, both physically and mentally.
Socialists aren't merely "imagining" this away. But I do say that class, along with insecurity and want, is the root of all *irreconcilable* conflict. That is to say, conflict where the interests of either sides can only be met at the cost of diminishing the other side. If you have another explanation, or you think there are flaws in the socialist explanation, then please explain.
But to simply reject the explanation by saying that someone is "imagining" the problems away, when in fact a detailed solution to the root cause of this conflict is being proposed, seems somewhat flippant. In fact I could say that you are merely imagining the *solution* away.
Bill Bartlett Bracknell Tas.