The key to understanding society lies in how humans feel about free will and determinism.  One aspect of that issue is that we want to feel free, but we are constantly frustrated that we are under the control of external forces.  Parents, spouses, "society" all keep us from doing the things we feel we want to do.

     Another aspect is that the prospect of real freedom is a threatening one, as Erich Fromm (1941) noted.  I think the main threat is the possibility of failure--which we would have to be accountable for if we had freedom.

     As a consequence, the recent history of humankind has been one of creating social control mechanisms that we can struggle against.  This is seen most clearly in the case of government, but it is more generally the case for all organizations.

     It is in this context that I say communism is the ideal form of social structure--but not for humans.  Human beings simply aren't up to the challenge of making communism work.  Given our propensity to establish governmental systems that limit our freedoms and against which we have to struggle and from which we must shirk, communism was tailor-made for this human perversity.  It took away all individual responsibility and offered total control.  The control was so total, however, that struggle was effectively eradicated and shirking became the only protest.  So people didn't come to work, came late, and/or came drunk.  It's amazing it lasted 70 years.

ID: 20420 -- Saturday, February 12, 1994 at 6:38

(c) Earl Babbie 2000