[lbo-talk] The State and Capitalism

[John Thornton]

Miles Jackson wrote:
> John Thornton wrote:
>   
>> With the exception of the anarcho-primitivists who would have everyone 
>> subsistence farm or some such nonsense I've yet to see any serious 
>> proposal about how such a society would function. I'm being generous 
>> including anarcho-primitivists ideas as serious but while undesirable it 
>> is possible so feel I should I include it.
>>
>> John Thornton
>> ___________________________________
>>   
>>     
> It's important to keep in mind that money is a relatively recent 
> innovation in human societies.  For the vast majority of our existence 
> on this planet, humans have done quite nicely without currency, so 
> there's certainly nothing natural or inevitable about currency-based 
> economies.  And just as many people in slave-owning societies couldn't 
> imagine what life would be like without slaves, many people in our 
> currency-based society cannot imagine life without money. 
>
> Note that this is not an argument in favor of "anarcho-primitivism" 
> (whatever that is).  It's a reiteration of the fact that many social 
> conditions that are considered inevitable at time A turn out to be 
> socially malleable at time B.
>
> Miles

There was no time when people could not theorize about how life would be 
without slaves. they simply chose not to theorize about such a society 
and to maintain the status quo.
How would one theorize a moneyless society that was not in the mold of 
anarcho-primitivism and would not be more exploitative than capitalism?
If no one can propose any seriously plausible theory about how such a 
society would be structured then imaging oneself working towards that 
goal is literally insane.

John Thornton