[Marxism] Communism and socialism

[Daniel Read]

I think the problem is that when the media talks about a shortage –
for instance the "global food crisis" – they rarely let on that often
this shortage is something brought on my the system itself, not an
actual literal state of privation. The UN itself has admitted before
that with our current level of technology it would be possible to
cater for everyone on the planet in terms of foodstuffs, yet as you
pointed out this simply does not happen due to the inherent nature of
capitalism. There is no food crisis, but there is a crisis of those
able to pay for food. A lack of a market does not necessarily imply a
lack of need.

In regards to oil, well I think that is more clear cut, although it
must be said that fossil fuels are – at least when compared to
potential technology – largely becoming redundant.

With water; again I doubt anyone would claim that there is a literal
shortage of water on a planet covered in two thirds of the stuff, it
is more the case that capitalism isn't about to build mass
desalination plants to provide for all six billion of us.

Cheers

Dan


2008/10/2 Eli Stephens <elishastephens at hotmail.com>:
>
> I'm going to throw out a question for discussion on which I definitely don't
> have the answer: As I understand it, "communism" is only possible under
> conditions of material abundance. It used to be axiomatic that there were enough
> resources, the problem was one of distribution (the rich having too much, the
> poor too little, e.g., grain stored in the U.S. while people elsewhere go
> hungry). But with increasing resource shortages, not just oil but water, and the
> current and future world populations, perhaps the possibility of material
> abundance (at least for a significant portion of humanity) is precluded. Would
> that mean the old definition of "communism" has to be thrown out, or re-thought?
>
> Again, no answers, just questions.
>
>
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