Upon seeing this essay is about Marxism some might be inclined to ask why we discuss Marxism. After all, they say, surely it is a backwards ideology no more relevant to today’s world than the horse and buggy. This argument is a way to suppress debate rather than address the actual theory. That said, it is simple enough to refute it, we live in a capitalist economy and the form it takes is quite similar to those of a century ago when Marx was alive; therefore his work remains relevant despite some anachronistic wording.
A major staple of communist theory is that goods, in a communist economy, will be distributed according to need, from each according to his ability, to each according to his need. The method by which needs were to be met was central planning. A centrally planned economy is a system where a small elite group decides where resources are allocated, what is produced, and how people are remunerated for their work. It was according to this structure that all the self-proclaimed communist countries ran their economy. But what exactly is a need? Some distinguish between needs and wants; I consider this to be a poor definition. After all if the only things we could get out of an economy were those necessary for survival, life would be pretty grim and unfulfilling. I reject that approach in favor of a better measure of need. A measure which includes our desire for self-fulfillment namely, Maslow’s Hierarchy of Need. (See picture) Obviously it is not perfect; for example some of the needs on the chart cannot be met in an economy. But it does take the need for self-actualization into account. The question we must ask ourselves is “Who is the greatest expert in my needs?” The answer is simple, you are. You are the greatest expert in what your needs are. Therefore an economy that was really based on need would take your desires into account when resources were allocated. It follows that a centrally planned economy is not and cannot be a need-based economy, and that none of the existing Communist countries actually had a need economy. They couldn’t function this way because of the way they were structured, the centralized nature of the state (whether democratic or totalitarian) does not allow for significant input by the average citizen. For a country to truly have a need economy it would have to take your requests into account. I believe that this contradiction was the root cause of the collapse of the Soviet Union. To date there have been no lasting experiments in the creation of a need economy. Many have been destroyed by force, others have been brought down by the Communists themselves. Modern state communist theory is fatally flawed; the methods used undermine the goals, and a serious rethinking of theory is necessary. But take heart gentle reader for there is no need to write such a theory from scratch one already exists: it is called anarchism.
8.4.08
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