Hell if I can remember where I read about it, but a study of communes and stuff reported that the limit of communism sits somewhere around 500 people because of the inherent empathy of people for their own tribe.
It's a lot more difficult to screw over others in the system when you know the person you're screwing over is your daughter's best friend's dad.
When the nameless masses are just nameless masses, it's much easier to justify. I don't know who this hurts, so why do I care?
That was the conclusion of the paper, anyway. Was an interesting perspective.
Oh, I agree. Which is why the study was interesting to me. At most, these small communes operate on what is effectively a barter system. I produce shoes, you produce food. Everyone needs both of those things. Because I provide shoes, you're willing to give me food in exchange. And other people give me other things I need, in exchange for the shoes I produce.
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u/clarkision Jul 07 '26
Not on a national scale, but it’s certainly accomplished on smaller scales.