- Capitalism and Alternatives -

A note on Morris

Posted by: Stoller on December 17, 1999 at 20:01:44:

In Reply to: Well...II(sorry) posted by Red Deathy on December 16, 1999 at 11:30:01:


: Actually Some people would hold that socialism is a society without money, where labour is entirely voluntary - in the tradition of William Morris' "News From Nowhere" (Check it out).

Let us not forget that News From Nowhere is a FICTIONAL work, not an examination of social relations as they exist in the real world.

Let us recall that the protagonist of News From Nowhere DOES NOT ACTUALLY DO ANY WORK---itself a comforting 'selling point' to the bourgeois readers the book was written for.

Indeed, a lot of work gets done (mainly off-stage) in News From Nowhere, but the protagonist gets a lovely tour instead of being asked to CONTRIBUTE.

Upon such assuaging---and silly---assumptions rests the WSM?

How easy to 'sell' a socialism where labor is 'ad hoc' and 'voluntary' (hey, if ya don't wanna work, fuck it, William Morris will simply fill his fictional pages with a few more assidious drones). VERY EASY.

But disingenuous!

All production requires labor.

Socialists must start off with that in mind.


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