Individuals, Society and Nature

By Leonard Mortensen - IWW Environmental Union Caucus, April 12, 2023

Anarchist, social ecological and ecomarxist theories and analyzes have always been interested in explaining the nexus between humans, society and nature and how it is composed to mutually strengthen and survive. The anarchist theorist Kropotkin has written in his work Mutual Aid how many animal species, including the human species, depend on helping each other to survive as a species. Many animal species have better chances of survival through mutual help, have zoological documents, which Kropotkin has just pointed out. And how is this to be understood in an ecological and social perspective for humanity? Here are some classic bids with a new twist.

Strengthened free community

When a local democracy is established with democratic joint ownership of large and medium-sized production, there is a basic prerequisite for further strengthening society and nature. Three commandments apply as a few examples:

The first suggestion is that in the tribal societies of primeval times, people did not just mate with one but all of the opposite sex in the tribe, and the nuclear family did not exist. There weren't any outsiders, so everyone in the tribe actually hung together like it was basically one family, just with different branches. This has very likely been something that kept the tribe close and warm. Converted to future standards, one could imagine that polygamy, i.e. marriage with multiple people was not only a matter of course, but for those who want a nuclear family to a certain extent, it would be good if nuclear families became more social, which means in practice that they could, for example, locally, rotate children around among nuclear families occasionally in a local democracy, so that nuclear families become more fluid, organic and socially cohesive.

Another proposal is to establish welfare programs, not only of economic art with classic things like free health care and basic income, which are most often focused on under capitalism, where everything is about money, but also more radical proposals that cover, for example, people's linguistic, social , sexual, technological and generally psychological and physical needs in every conceivable way. Individuals who are well make themselves, their environment and society flourish in general. What else should we do other than build a good society when the time of capital is over?

A third proposal is inspired by one initiative from the Soviet Union. In the Soviet Union, many homes were built that functioned as a kind of middle ground between ordinary apartments and collectives, where people had their own rooms, but in return shared the kitchen where there were several taps side by side so that people could cook for themselves at the same time. That the Soviet Union did not run so well due to poor economic planning and bureaucracy, and because it was an oppressive dictatorship, made these otherwise positive measures redundant with a mixture of ordinary apartments and collectives. Translated into a real democracy where the social economy flourishes, these measures would also strengthen the social bond.

Only the imagination is the limit

One could easily come up with more good proposals, but because we are all socially inhibited by living under the cold and gray power of capital and the state, no one will be able to reach the heights of good proposals here and now that could exist in another and much better society. You can't see through the gray clouds completely, but still occasionally see a little light, and what you do know is at least which direction you have to go in order to reach the end of the road. We as humanity must dare to take the necessary steps to get there, and not be afraid of the new, otherwise humanity and society in general will perish due to preservationist or backward tendencies, as every hierarchical society has perished in history. It is a strengthened free green community or deroute.

Leonard Mortensen (also known as Plant Guru Kosmus) is a dreamy queer author who writes anti-authoritarian books about making the world a better and greener place.

Disclaimer: The views expressed here are not the official position of the IWW (or even the IWW’s EUC) and do not necessarily represent the views of anyone but the author.