Surely that is utopia! There has always been money or at least currency, something to trade with. We cannot imagine a world in which no exchange – value for value – takes place and the reason is simple. We cannot imagine a world that functions in a totally different way, a world that values life in a completely different manner. However, it is not because we can’t imagine something like that, that it is not possible.
A person whom credit has been extended to is in debt. Even a simple IOU note means that I still have to give you those six eggs I promised you in return for the tomatoes I took earlier. If, by any unfortunate event, my chickens are not laying anymore I remain unable ‘to pay’ for the tomatoes. A person in debt is at the mercy of the lender. Always. Is the lender understanding? Is he insisting on immediate payment, even when payment takes a different form? Maybe he will accept my wheel burrow before tearing up the IOU note? Is he willing to keep supplying me with the tomatoes I need and accept my intention to pay him back with more eggs, once I have sorted the chicken problem? Is he willing to lent me a dozen eggs so I can repay the six I owe him, and then we settle the dozen eggs later, maybe by me working one day a week for him for the next four weeks?
Debt, any kind of debt, is the beginning of slavery. Any trade deal that is made on the basis of the value of the items exchanged is based on the idea that giving something to somebody deserves a good return. It is the foundation of a capitalist society and anyone without capital can be and will be used to achieve an even greater return. Giving in order to enrich oneself surely redefines ‘giving’!
Good intentions get us a long way but it doesn’t get us out of the quagmire on which our society has been built. We might decide we are going to be nice to our fellow men, but when our own life becomes strained – maybe someone cheated on us or we have real bad luck – then the simple answer to our problem is to demand ‘fairness’ from you fellow citizens. If someone we have helped out would now be so kind as to help us out then our own problem in life will go away. That’s fair isn’t it! It is not hard to justify what we ourselves regard as fair behaviour. It is much harder to allow others to have their own opinion about that.
And that is precisely where the switch will have to be made. In order to be able to create a society without any kind of slavery, we need to shift our belief system of what human life is like. We need to switch the basic concept of our society from competition to cooperation as the way for individuals, as well as for humanity, to survive. And humanity is, as far as the individual is concerned, a very small group of people that he or she lives with.
For a community to form and to function it is necessary to have the various aspects of life inside the community so the individuals within that community can oversee and have control over every aspect of life. This is an absolute requirement for independence, which is the opposite from slavery. Essential requirements such as housing, water, food, warmth, education of the children, care for the elderly and the sick, are all dealt with inside the group. Some tasks that serve the community are primarily taken care of within a family setting, some by specific groups of individuals with certain skills and interests, and some tasks are a responsibility of the entire community. But all tasks are evaluated by the community and when certain things no longer work, the community searches for answers, works on improving the way things are done. As all tasks are the responsibility of the entire group of individuals living in the community there is never a need for an outside authority to take over a specific task. One may decide to look at how other groups are dealing with the problem but the decision whether or not to copy their behaviour is one the group as a whole makes. They remain fully and completely in charge of their own lives.
And how do they survive? By working together. In the first place there is the recognition that one individual can only have a good life if life within the community is good. Internal, personal, conflicts need to be settled quickly as, in the long run, it splits a community which makes surviving that much more difficult for everybody. Recognising that every individual contributes something to the survival of the community means that people should listen to each other, even if one believes that a specific person is talking rubbish 90% of the time. Listening is not going to harm you, but it may benefit you. When an individual is recognised by the whole community that he or she is not contributing anything at all and is only benefitting then the community can ask itself whether they are willing to carry on supporting this person. And the answer to that question may be totally different when it concerns an elderly person who is no longer able to do anything (physically and/or mentally) or it concerns a healthy young person who always finds ‘reasons’ why it isn’t convenient or appropriate.
So that is the setup: respect for one another and accepting each others evaluation of life. Each one has his/her own truth and should be allowed to live by it. When it is not possible within this community the person involved is best to look for another community where attitudes and customs are more aligned with their own beliefs. Now then, how does it function within such a community?
Not everybody is as good and as agile to grow all their own food. Not everybody is as good and as agile to build their own house. Not everybody is as good and as skilled to teach children some academic stuff, like reading, writing and counting. However, everybody is good enough and skilled enough to pass on to their own children the values they live by and what is, according to them, acceptable behaviour towards others. In short, it never was the intention that every individual should become self-sufficient! The community should be self-sufficient, and a community is made up out of individuals, each with different skills and interests. Together they can survive. How?
There are two basic aspects to this. On the one hand we have the people with knowledge and experience about specific aspects of life that the community can benefit from. And then there is the fact that very often these people can’t do it alone. They need help. So we have chiefs and indians! However, in this type of community all ‘power’ of any chief is restricted to his or her field of expertise and the power only remains for as long as the community is willing to offer the help that is required to materialise it. The chief remains a chief for as long as the population supports him because without the help from the community he or she cannot achieve anything. We have a chief, with all power to the people! It is a cooperative system. Together it achieves something. When there is significant internal conflict, nothing gets done properly.
Requirements and conditions change, and so chiefs have to change to. In this system it automatically happens. When problems mount as a result of inefficient functioning of a particular aspect of life, a new idea will arise and somebody else will be given the go-ahead by the community. Whatever the community supports is what they are going to get. And the community remains in charge of these shifts, not a specific family who ‘owns’ a factory or the farm.
The community itself doesn’t have a chief. No individual runs the community. People express what they want by their feet, not at a negotiating table. Where they get their bread from, who they help to get the harvest in, where they send the children to to learn some specific skills, that is what gives value to the contribution these individuals make to the community and it is rewarded by the community letting these people know they are being appreciated. This way every individual has a specific place, and task, within the community.
Being validated in this way is the payment each individual within the community receives. Everything the community produces and learns is shared amongst all members. For free. It is necessary in order for the community as a whole to be able to survive. Trade is not done on the basis of value of products or services. Trade is done on the basis of respecting everybody’s freedom of choice. Respecting each other as different individuals, who together strengthen the community. There is no coercion to believe anything, to have particular values in life, to have a specific work ethic. All that is required is that one allows every other person to be who they need to be and to live their life the best way they can. And each individual within that community has the freedom to either support another individual or not. If, for a specific individual, life within the community is no longer tenable and he or she is unable to make the necessary adjustments to fit in with the way of life of that community then it may be time for that individual to look for another community. Every community will have different priorities in life as their living conditions all vary greatly. Plenty of choice for everyone. And the freedom to make such choices. Nobody is owned by any society. Nobody is indebted to any society.
Life without currency, without any kind of money or centralised evaluation system. All necessary living items are free. One takes as much as one requires, not as much as one wants. One considers the needs of others and one is well aware of the difficulties others have in their specific lives. Helping each other to have a better life will improve your own as well, and it will guarantee that if and when you require help, it will be forthcoming, packaged within a wrapping of love.
A new society begins with a change in attitude towards each other and allowing each individual personal freedom. The individual is free to make up his or her own mind, and the community, a bunch of individuals together, is free to set out how they want life to function. It is all about freedom and respecting others and life itself.
