- Capitalism and Alternatives -

On human nature (the eternal question)

Posted by: andy ( resistance, australia ) on December 05, 1997 at 18:17:01:

In Reply to: You really think IT can work?????????? posted by Comrad Zeus on December 05, 1997 at 10:26:44:

> I strongly believe in Communism but do not believe that it will work... I
> really wish it did but as I was discussing it with my freinds today... well,
> it is IMPOSSIBLE to change human nature and one needs to understand that
> people are born evil...

A marxist anaylsis of where human nature comes from, points to understanding how people fit in with their life activity - ie their work practices - ie how people relate to production.

In only just over a year of activism, I've discovered that the concept of human nature is the last big obstacle. When you've done the hard bit of illuminating how capitalism truly works and also the socialist alternative, people just stumble on "it can't be done, human nature, and so on".

It comes down to how people perceive events around them. Most of us have been behaviourially trained to conform and that we can still break out in the ways that humans do is certainly to be applauded. (not insulted)

The human nature question has 2 answers. 1st, society shapes human nature, not the other way round. 2nd, all we are asking you to do is THINK!

The basic contradiction of "the system" is that our labour has become increasingly more commodified.

A commodity. Your labour. Buy it low, sell it high.

The forces of money control your lifes work and not the other way round,ie you don't get much of a say with what you do with your life.
You can choose! Choose different porducts & jobs, just different versions of the same work relationship. A democratic workplace would co-operate with all the humans on the earth, not compete (the American ruling class calls it healthy competition)

The working class is so because they are alienated from their means of production. The constant struggle for life's material comfort produces tensions within a society. This heavily influences human nature. To be dialetic, human nature then starts impacting on society and huge historical events occur.

You can't dig your head in the sand over human nature because we are stuffed within 50 years unless production for human need replaces (not reforms) production for profit.

all we are asking you to do is think. think how you would like to see society operate and see what everybody thinks? if you do it any other way, if you leave it up to someone else, then you lose the way.

don't insult human nature - it is historical (the past), changing (the present), and certainly not doomed (the future). Capitalism certainly is, and currently so are we.

On the streets in protest now!

andy, activist.
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