All societies are based on a sort of minimum level of communism. Otherwise, you couldn't have any social relations at all. David Graeber More Quotes by David Graeber More Quotes From David Graeber Even in the most market-obsessed society, we're still spending half of our time on something other than just getting cash. David Graeber cash obsessed half States created markets. Markets require states. Neither could continue without the other, at least, in anything like the forms we would recognize today. David Graeber form states today Meanwhile, the U.S. debt remains, as it has been since 1790, a war debt; the United States continues to spend more on its military than do all other nations on earth put together, and military expenditures are not only the basis of the government's industrial policy; they also take up such a huge proportion of the budget that by many estimations, were it not for them, the United States would not run a deficit at all. David Graeber military running war It is assumed in many parts of the world that democracy is a group of people facing a certain problem, who come together to solve it in a way where everyone has an equal say. David Graeber democracy together people People don't have an ongoing relation unless it's a form of debt because everything is an exchange, so ongoing relationships are incomplete exchanges, and therefore one party is probably to blame - more likely than not, both are. Sociality itself seems to become like a matter of sin, and inherently wrong. David Graeber ongoing party people It's true that most American citizens think of themselves as living in a democratic country. But when was the last time that any Americans actually sat down and came to a collective decision? Maybe if they are ordering pizzas, but basically never. David Graeber decision country thinking What is debt anyway? A debt is just the perversion of a promise. It is a promise corrupted by both math and violence. David Graeber violence math promise In the largest scheme of things, just as no one has the right to tell us our true value, no one has the right to tell us what we truly owe. David Graeber true-value schemes values Consensus isn't just about agreement. It's about changing things around: You get a proposal, you work something out, people foresee problems, you do creative synthesis. At the end of it, you come up with something that everyone thinks is okay. Most people like it, and nobody hates it. David Graeber hate agreement thinking Aristotle [would] probably conclude most Americans, for all intents and purposes, are slaves. David Graeber slave purpose I think if the general exodus that seems to be going on occurs it's going to be a disaster,. David Graeber exodus disaster thinking Debt - like sin - implies that one party in the transaction didn't live up to expectations, at least in the moment, and has done something wrong. David Graeber party done expectations One of the fairly interesting things about money is that it makes certain things possible that wouldn't be possible otherwise - it doesn't make them inevitable. Hence the strange blindness of economists to what would actually happen when one does exchange things if there isn't money in such contexts. David Graeber strange doe interesting The difference between capitalism and feudalism is that under capitalism, they make money directly through wages, manufacturing, and commerce and under feudalism, it's directly through juro-political means. David Graeber differences political mean The example of Russia reminds us that keeping up that enormous dead weight of the security apparatus required to enforce the ideological conformity to preempt anything that looks like an alternative or a social movement is destroying capitalism. David Graeber russia movement weight What about precarious labor? It's actually not the most efficient form of labor at all. They were much more efficient when they had loyalty to their workers and people were allowed to be creative and contribute - you know that what precarious labor does is that it's the best weapon ever made to depoliticize labor. They're always putting the political in front of the economic. David Graeber political loyalty people What we're already doing is communism. The first step we have to make is to realize that we're already closer to it than we think. David Graeber steps firsts thinking I think we need to think of capitalism as a very bad way of organizing communism. Much of what we do is already communism, so just expand it. David Graeber way needs thinking Within a capitalist corporation, someone says, "Lend me a wrench," and someone asks, "Yeah, what do I get?" You assume that the idea of each according to his or her abilities, each according to his or her needs - in solving a problem - is actually the only thing that works. And in situations of disaster, there are often communistic notions of improvisation, where you basically exchange hierarchies and all of a sudden all those things that are luxuries that you can't afford, you have them in an emergency. David Graeber luxury ideas needs Communism is the basis of all sociality and it's the basis of cooperation. David Graeber cooperation bases communism
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