QUORA: ‘Can a communist society include capitalists?’

 QUORA: ‘Can a communist society include capitalists?’

I posted this answer:

Strictly speaking, no. Communism is collectivism, and Capitalism is individualism. Collectivism and individualism are moral antipodes. But we must distinguish between a Communism society as a system of laws and communism as a form of association.

A Communist Society—that is, a social system imposed by law and government—cannot include capitalists (private enterprise) because the collective, through the state, owns the “means of production.” Capitalism (upper case “C”, i.e., as a social system) happens in a fully free society. A fully free society is one in which universal individual rights are secured and protected equally and at all times through a government of objective law. In a free society, the government does not impose anyone’s private agenda on society or any sub-group of society. In a free society, the government ensures political freedom by maintaining neutrality on economic, intellectual, and social matters, stepping in only when someone violates another's individual rights. In a fully free society, the law protects both communists and capitalists to live peacefully according to their personal convictions.

So while a Communist society can not include capitalists, communism can coexist with capitalists in a fully free, Capitalist society--that is, a social system based on individual rights in which the government protects and secures these rights, but is otherwise neutral (non-interfering) in regard to voluntary rights-respecting human social and economic interaction. **

For proof, I would point to early American history, which outside of the abomination of the Confederate slavocracy (a form of coercive socialism), was the freest society in history. America’s proper, rights-protecting government* guaranteed the freedom that allowed dozens of socialist communes to be established and maintained, even as capitalism dominated social relationships and free enterprise flourished around them. As The Communistic Societies of the United States by Charles Nordhoff and History of American Socialisms by John Humphrey Noyes document through extensive first-person accounts, countless varieties of socialism arose across America in the 19th Century, thanks to this country’s free, rights-securing government that guaranteed the unalienable individual rights to life, liberty, and property. 

A proper government is one that separates economics and state in the same way and for the same reasons as the separation of church and state. It does not favor any particular form of social organization so long as force is not used and rights are respected. When socialists get together and privately arrange their social organization by the voluntary consent of all individual participants, without employing law (government force) or criminality (private force), there is nothing about socialism that is incompatible with a free society. While a subject of intense philosophical debate, the practice of socialism was consistent with the U.S. Constitution because these early American socialisms were voluntary arrangements respectful of the individual rights of all. 

To this day, if anyone wants to join a socialist commune, turn over all of his wealth and personal choice to the central planner, it is his right, and no one can stop him. As long as no one is forced to join, forbidden to leave, or whose rights are otherwise violated, no one can stop private socialists.*** The voluntary socialisms of Nordhoff and Noyes were made up of people who were exercising their rights to life and liberty in pursuit of their own happiness, albeit in a collective manner.

But when socialists, whether of the communist or national socialist (fascist) variety, turn to government force to impose their social theories on every individual across society whether they consent or not—as they did in Russia, China, Cuba, North Korea, and countless other nations—socialism ceases to be civil and becomes a criminal enterprise. 

* [The fact that so many people didn’t live up to the ideals of American governance, and despite ambiguities and inconsistencies, the U.S. Constitution in principle guaranteed proper government. The leading Abolitionist Frederick Douglass referred to the U.S. Constitution as “a glorious liberty document.” ]

** [One must distinguish between capitalist as a business owner and Capitalism as a social system. Capitalists can exist even statism, including some forms of socialism, such as fascism. Capitalism is the antipode of statism. See my We Need a Deeper Understanding of Socialism.]

*** [Consistent with prior contractual obligations. Inhabitants were bound by prior agreements. These communes involved contractual arrangements, enforceable in the courts, which defined the terms for joining or leaving.]

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