This thought came to me in the shower today. Open source checks most of the boxes. It is a collaborative, worker owned (develloper-owned) project, that tries to flatten hierarchy. Especially if you look at something like Debian ), which really tries to have a bottom-up structure.
Of course, there are exceptions, considering there are a lot of corporate open-source projects, that are not democratically maintained and clearly only serve the interest of the company, who created it (like chromium for example).
So I am mainly talking about community-oriented FOSS projects here.
And if you were to agree with my statement, would you say that developing FOSS software is advancing the goals of the anarchist / communist project, because it is laying the groundwork infrastructure needed for a new kind of economy and society?
Thought this could be an interesting discussion!
No there are clear rules
Anarchism doesn’t mean, there are no rules. Read the wikipedia article on it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anarchism
Yes, as an anarchist I regularly point to FOSS as a plausible example of it working
likewise as a socialist. it’s a good example the profit motive rule is bullshit.
Only problem with communism is that humans are unable to practice it without turning to fascistic practices. As an idea it is beautiful. “To each according to their needs.”
Free software works though?? Also if you want some real world examples of anarchist-like principles being applied in praxis, without fascism, look up Rojava or the Zapatista-Movement.
Are the developers needs met really though?
In some cases yes, in others no. I mean it would satisfy some needs of creativity, community and obviously specific software needs. Sometimes, people can also earn money from donations. But, mostly there’s not enough monetary gain to satisfy the needs of food and housing.
A lot of value in capitalism comes from uncompensated work. I don’t consider it communism as much as protecting work from exploitation.
Isn’t protecting workers from exploration on of the core goals of communism?
maybe but its not the sum totality of it. So I assume communists would like the gpl but view it as unnecessary. I mean judging from what I have heard and read for stallman. I think he would like the gpl to be unnecessary. That all knowledge be free. Its ip law that requires it because of monotenazation of it. So it uses ip law against itself.
I was introduced to communism/socialism through Linux.
There are some people who are in it for what you’ve listed (flattened hierarchy, worker owned, etc) but there are others who are in it for personal ownership and control, which may align better w/ a libertarian set of values, but you’re not wrong about the ancom aspects
It’s a non-market way of doing things, so sure it fits the definition, but labels are dumb, and the people who really like labels are worse.
You’ll also notice that you still have to pay for whatever device Linux goes on, which is a strong hint about the economics at play.
Yeah I agree about the labels. The worst part of communism is the people who like communism. I am a simple man, I just want to be technically a communist without liking it or even being remotely interested in it, thankyouverymuch. Open source is great for that.
In Soviet Russia, code programs you!
Open source is not literally communism, but I do think it’s one of the best examples to demonstrate that anarcho-communism is plausible.
Are they programming on a Mac?
Most of the systems that enslave us run on linux.
Most systems that enslave us runs on electricity, and cruelty, and malice, and the will to dominate all life.
- galadriel or something
Cory Doctorow has a novel “Walkaway” which is basically “what if society but FOSS”. It’s really good!
To answer your question, while it has a lot in common with anarchism I don’t think anyone benefits from trying to fit it into a predefined political box. It’s something new.
It’s a great book, and very relevant.
Wow, I didn’t think, I would get such an interesting book recommendation out of this. Thank you so much!
Cory Doctorow is prolific and has written a ton of other great and highly interesting stuff as well. He’s a very intelligent fellow.
My pleasure! It kind of reminds me of Snow Crash in that it’s really fun and adventurous but also made me think deep thoughts.
I think it’s more of a socialist mindset that is spreading with FOSS, because it focuses it’s workings on the common good, Most FOSS projects can be named socialist by nature; they encourage working together to create something bigger, something that doesn’t let the small guy fall through the created network. I believe a lot of anarchistic workings are socialist at their core, and FOSS is an embodiment of these workings.
It can definitely be a form of praxis.
Sorry for being a bit of an idiot, but what is praxis?
The textbook definition would be the application of theory to action. It’s basically leftist slang for putting the theories of socialism/communism/humanism into practice in a real way.
Alright, thanks ;)
Anarcho Communism
Well who lives in that castle over there?
No one lives there.
On second thought, lets not go to Camelot, 'tis a silly place
