Since Marx is famous as an author of The Communist Manifesto, it is often assumed that ‘communism’ was his preferred term for a post-capitalist society. But in the scattered sketches that can be found in his writings it is more common to find his image of a future society described as an ‘association’.
Socialism, communism, social democracy, revolution... The divergent and shifting meanings attached to words such as these cause endless confusion and misunderstanding. Why is it so difficult for people to agree on what they mean? How did all the muddle arise?
In this article I try to clarify the matter by tracing the history of these terms and how and why their meanings have changed over time.
Socialism will never work. It goes against human nature.
So we are often told.
But where do we get our ideas of human nature? Partly by observing ourselves and those around us. Partly also from the books we read and the films and TV programs we watch.
Few books can have had as big an impact on people’s ideas of human nature as William Golding’s Lord of the Flies. First published in 1954, this novel has been bought by tens of millions of people, translated into over 30 languages, turned into two films (1963 and 1990), and adapted for radio and the stage. As the many study guides devoted to it show, it has been a set book for innumerable students of English literature. And it was the inspiration for Reality Television!
Flora Tristan1 (1803—1844) was one of the earliest socialist-feminists. She was born in Paris, the ‘illegitimate’ daughter of a Spanish nobleman and a returned French refugee. She developed as a thinker, writer, and organizer in response to her experiences and travels.
We have described a World-in-which-we’d-love-to-live… The way we see it, this is a world where creative labour is the ultimate satisfaction and the source of happiness for people. Everything else is built on the foundation of this principle. People are happy there when they manage to actualise this main principle. Friendship, love and work are the three main pillars that support the happiness of such humankind. We could not imagine anything better than that, and why would we want to?
Boris Strugatsky
