Re: [tlug] Introduction to (Tech) Worker Cooperatives, 09:00AM on Sunday, July 12th JST

[Josh Glover <jmglov@example.com>]

On Tue, 14 Jul 2020 at 07:04, Benjamin Kowarsch <trijezdci@example.com> wrote:

If we wish to see the cooperative model spread, the very first thing we have to do is get our terminology right.

Agreed, but the question of what the "right" definitions of these terms is becomes a very thorny issue indeed. Case in point:

 

By contrast, socialism involves the socialisation of means of production BUT NOT consumption.

This is not a definition of the term "socialism", it's simply a description of how it works. To a communist, "socialism" is defined as the process of transitioning from capitalism to communism, the latter being a classless, stateless society. In practise, this often means starting by socialising the means of production but not the means of consumption, as doing the second is very difficult to accomplish on a national level all at once.

As you noted, the world has never seen large-scale communism, and to call the Soviet Union "communist" is a result of willfully propagated ignorance of what communism actually is.

 

For as long as our propaganda muddies the waters and continues to successfully make us believe that communism, socialism, collectives and cooperatives are all the same thing, mankind will not make any substantial progress towards sustainability.

On this, we are firmly in agreement.

 

Look up terminology and use appropriately, thanks.

Look it up where? What do you do in the case of wildly different definitions of terminology? 

Cheers,
Josh