tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687347459208158501.post8228435932868996677..comments2024-03-28T06:07:03.667-04:00Comments on The Philosopher's Stone: A COMMENT ON A COMMENTRobert Paul Wolffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11970360952872431856noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687347459208158501.post-37613988414022986102012-10-17T23:13:07.404-04:002012-10-17T23:13:07.404-04:00Kropotkin, a favourite of mine, wrote a pamphlet w...Kropotkin, a favourite of mine, wrote a pamphlet which may be relevant to this discussion, about the value and prospects of projects where people 'drop out' of society and try to live outside of the capitalist system. He was discussing utopian communities, but the point is more general, I believe.<br />http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/kropotkin-peter/1895/settlement.htm<br /><br />Kropotkin thought such projects had the cards so heavily stacked against them (working not only to create a different form of societal organisation, but having to build the trappings of society from the ground up, and in relative isolation from everyone else) that they were almost always doomed to fail. And even if they did succeed, they would leave such strange communities, cut off from the wider world in a very real way, that their relevance to the real world would be limited. His suggestion is that if you were to 'drop out' of the mainstream, the best place would be in the middle of a major city (he names London), and to be a part of wider society, having what influence you can.Marinushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13492009758043047531noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687347459208158501.post-49736107656328031652012-10-17T14:12:12.302-04:002012-10-17T14:12:12.302-04:00Absolutely. At least they are not making things w...Absolutely. At least they are not making things worse, unlike too many people in the world!<br /><br />By the way, along these lines, I strongly recommend an early book by David Schweickart called CAPITALISM OR WORKER CONTROL. Robert Paul Wolffhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11970360952872431856noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687347459208158501.post-20963591262414349072012-10-17T14:01:13.849-04:002012-10-17T14:01:13.849-04:00I think you are right.
It's just that I hear ...I think you are right.<br /><br />It's just that I hear so many bad news, all the time, one after the other, that anything that sounds moderately positive makes for a big contrast.Magpiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07528637318288802178noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687347459208158501.post-83330394705968109742012-10-17T08:30:01.784-04:002012-10-17T08:30:01.784-04:00"Scientific socialism' can do with a '..."Scientific socialism' can do with a 'socialist theory of science'. Aside from a relatively obscure work by Engels, on 'natural' science, I'm not sure if I've ever seen such a thing.Don Schneierhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12751277350617015241noreply@blogger.com