True Monopoly: Political Ideologies & Class Interests — on a Dessert Island
Three men survive a shipwreck and wash up on a small island, with no land in sight nor any means of long-range communication. One happens to be a Capitalist, the next a Communist, and the last one an Anarchist. The three set off to explore the island together. It is a small island with only one plot of note, a grove of coconut trees with fruit-bearing bushes scattered between them. Upon seeing this, the first confirmed food source, the Capitalist rushes ahead of the other two — right up to the grove — and whirls back to his two acquaintances to say, “I am the first to claim this bounty, so it is subject to my private ownership. You two have no right to these fruits unless you agree to terms I find suitable.”
The other two men ask, “Well it seems that you may as well just dictate your terms, as we require the food you control, while you don’t really require anything from us. It is clear that you have the upper hand.”
“Good”, says the Capitalist. “You will harvest all the fruits and prepare them so that they are ready for me to eat. Every day where you satisfy my needs, you may have a single coconut each.”
Annoyed, the Communist turns to the Anarchist and says, “We together are stronger than him! And we can both agree that his claim to privately own and control this resource, which is vital for the public, cannot be legitimate. So lets make a threat of force on behalf of the public to deliver the food to the public. As he too is a member of public, we will not let him starve, but we cannot abide this monopoly.” The Anarchist was already searching for a suitable bludgeoning stick, and so the two revolutionaries chase down the Capitalist and secure his submission.
“Good”, says the Communist. “Now that we, the public, have control of the grove, we will need a central authority to manage the labor and compensation. And naturally, it should be the organizer of our original struggle against Capitalism who should organize this next phase: Me.” He continues to explain, that “Management is the most demanding job of all, and therefore I shall receive more food than you two to compensate me for hours I will spend optimizing our efforts.”
“Not good”, says the Anarchist. “What if I don’t want you to optimize or otherwise exert control over my daily work, nor my enjoyment of its fruits?”
“This is precisely why you should have accepted private ownership of the grove!”, chimes in the Capitalist, seeing a reactionary opportunity. “The public is a misnomer, because the organizations which supposedly represent the public always come to fight for the interests of the politicians who hold direct power. And see how you were manipulated! The politicians use the masses to accomplish even greater evils than they supposedly rally against.”
“But your proposition was equally unacceptable, on the very same grounds!” retorts the Anarchist, as a little chill creeps up his spine. “Neither Public Representatives nor Private Owners should be vested with the power to tyrannize individuals. Don’t you see: the problem isn’t who controls the work and rewards of the individuals — the problem is that the work and rewards of the individuals are controlled.”
The Capitalist and the Communist, grinning wider and wider, share a quick glance. “The problem, you say…”, says the Communist.
“Fundamentally, we two believe that things should be divided among people according to their ability to take those things, by whatever means”, adds the Capitalist, “including an unholy alliance.”
“You are unwilling to form or join a coalition to exploit others, so it will always be your destiny to be exploited yourself — so long as people like us are around”, say the Communist. “You could have claimed a managerial role after helping me overthrow the Capitalist, but instead you decided to oppose my claim to power, placing principle over self-interest. Watch, how even after we beat him, the Capitalist will accept my offer, in spite of the nobility you have shown, simply because I promise material advantages.”
Ready for the moment, the Capitalist blurts out, “Yes and I’ll even lock the door to my own cage for you, great leader! If you grant me the right to own this grove and leave me to treat my labor as I please — coming to my defense should he become indignant — I will pay you a generous tax. All I need from you is the veil of legitimacy and the threat of force, and I will pay you handsomely! So collect all the clubs and spears, and make violence your monopoly.”
At this very moment, a fourth survivor from the shipwreck washes up on the beach. The Capitalist and the Communist rush to greet him: “Welcome to America!”, they cry out in unison. “You are free to work for a living here”, adds the Capitalist. “You will be protected by the mighty force, which your taxes will help to maintain”, concludes the Communist.
The Capitalist turns to the Anarchist and says, “You will have to share your pay with this newcomer, as he is another mouth to feed.”
Perhaps, some would be struck with anger at this newcomer, who it seems will cause a reduction of our Anarchist’s living standard. But our Anarchist, for the sake of our story, is wiser than that. He sees that they are the Capitalist and the Communist who conspire together to sow seeds of jealousy as a means of dividing and thus weakening the working people. They could easily give up a fraction of their massive take to ensure a wonderful island lifestyle for all — but they have no choice to squander their wealth, if they are to keep the working people under the crushing pressure of imminent necessity and at each others throats.
Exhausted, the Anarchist thinks a moment to himself: “The Capitalist is probably not giving half my pay to the newcomer; probably, the newcomer is getting half of that, and the Capitalist is hoarding the difference, as he will whenever the opportunity arises; today, the Communist hoards the weapons and threatens to use them to preserve this corrupt order, so myself and the newcomer will be defeated if we challenge the powerful unarmed; but just as this newcomer has joined us, perhaps more will follow, eventually to constitute a threat to the two great powers; I must make sure to connect with these people, those who share my same interests, and we must organize communication to have the best knowledge of our enemies and organize the most effective resistance.
Separately, the Capitalist and Communist conspire together on another part of the island: “If more survivors arrive, we will need to distribute a little power and extra reward to key individuals including charismatic opinion leaders, likeable success models, and aggressive physical types; key individuals must have a stake in our order, so that they will defend it; even if that stake is miniscule next to ours, they will see clearly that their stake is larger than that of the most retched; when the laborers cry out that they want every one to be equal, the middle class will think that the laborers propose to drag them down to the slums and abject poverty; it will not be easy to imagine that the true purpose is to move the lowest and middle classes up, to enjoy the freedom which is, at present, our true monopoly.”
