Something to think about (2024)

From the August 2024 issue of the Socialist Standard

Private property ownership stands between us and any real meaningful freedom. The power it gives is not safe in anyone’s hands. The world society we propose does not use it. It would therefore have to abolish the concept and use of money.

In the new society, all things would be freely made and freely given. There would be nothing to pay, and no money to pay it with, since there could be no wages for work done.

Perhaps you ask: how are we supposed to get work if nobody is going to get paid for it? Why should we even get out of bed in the morning? The simple answer is: if nobody can be bothered to make the slightest effort then we’ve all had it.

But work itself, like so many other things, would change out of all recognition. Gone would be the Boss, and fear of the sack. Gone would be the drudgery of doing a job you hate just to pay the rent. Instead, great opportunities would open up for people to choose their job, to change jobs more frequently, to work far shorter hours.

It is not simply work that would change for the better. Warfare would change too – out of existence. Can you think of a war that was fought, in reality, over anything other than money, and ultimately, control of resources? We can’t. Whatever the propaganda made us all believe at the time, all the wars of history have been squabbles over money, land, trade routes and so forth. In the new society, arguments like that just couldn’t arise, because no one would own these things in the first place.

We think the new society could benefit all in an enormous number of ways.

Free travel anywhere in the world; pleasant, interesting work to choose; a sense of feeling useful, of belonging, of playing a part in things; a strength in yourself to be yourself, and not to have to take orders from anybody at all. Imagine waking up in a world where nobody in it is starving to death. Imagine being able to walk around at night without fear. Imagine having time for things, and for people. Imagine having enough at last, without having bills to make your life a misery.

One day. But it’s not going to happen without you. If any group of hot-blooded rebels tries to go it alone, without the agreement of the rest of us, it will end in bloodshed, terror and chaos, as it always has in the past. Socialists are democrats. We could never support such madness, and we would never instigate it. The proper road to a peaceful and democratic society is by peaceful and democratic means, and so members of our Party spend their time not in building bombs but in building agreement.