Jim:
> Getting rid of the class contradiction would mean that people
> could actually deal more democratically and "liberally" with
> issues of inter-ethnic, gender, international, religious,
> etc., conflicts.
I am reasonably sure that if it were possible to get rid of class contradictions, it would be accomplished somewhere. If we somehow managed to get rid of class divisions defined by capitalist property relations, new ones would emerge.
The fact that there are no human societies without internal class divisions (however defined) speaks volumes. If getting rid of such divisions were possible, such society would exist. AFIK, however, the only economically viable entity that evokes the socialist ideal of no-distinction society is .... Disneyworld. Yes, Disneyworld. I realized that when I went there with the kids. All "capitalist" transactions - reservations, tickets, special deals, credit cards etc. are conducted outside Disney property by their business agents. Once you land on their Orlando property you encounter:
- excellent and efficient public transit system (not available in real-life US cities;) - total equality: everyone (with a ticket, of course) is equal to everyone else, everyone stands in line regardless of sex, age, gender or skin color, no one is privileged; - everything is open to everyone "free" of charge - no need to have money, invitation or other conditionality of access; - it is a very "international" and "peaceful" - nations, peoples, humans and animals peacefully coexist side by side - there is no drudgery of work; everyone is having a good time and can "be" anything he/she wants - just like Karl Marx said; the actual work on Disney property is carefully concealed under the masks of the characters that cannot be taken off under the penalty of immediate dismissal.
Ironically, the dream of socialism has been brought you by one of the most greedy capitalist corporations - as a dream and never never land carefully separated from the US reality.
But otherwise, every real-life human society is internally divided into groups having unequal status and access to resources. As Orwell aptly observed, even in societies where everyone is supposed to be equal, some people are more equal than other. So getting rid of class contradictions and inequalities strike me like an unattainable utopia, a pipe dream, possible only in a Disneyland or heaven for those religiously inclined.
Wojtek