this post was submitted on 29 Jun 2025
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[โ€“] Carl@hexbear.net 46 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Should be noted that Europe had commons for hundreds and hundreds of years before they all got enclosured and they managed them just fine with local-level spontaneous democracy.

Also the "tragedy of the commons" as we know it today was invented by a malthusian in the 1960s and everybody who invokes it as an argument against socialism ignores the part of the essay where the author advocates for central planning

[โ€“] Dialectical_Idealist@lemmygrad.ml 6 points 21 hours ago* (last edited 21 hours ago)

Well said. To give some more examples of communal societies:

  • The Mbuti hunter-gatherers of the Ituri Forest in central Africa.

  • The gift-giving economy of the Semai in Malaya.

  • Numerous indigenous societies in NA that practice communal land ownership (Lakota/Dakota/the Cherokee, etc.).

  • Millions who shared resources in the villages of Europe:

    • Arable land was often divided into plots for local families to farm (e.g., the English open field system, - Scandinavian Solskifte ["Sun Division"] system, the Irish "Rundale" system, etc.).
    • Grazing lands and forests were often shared by the community (e.g., in Scandinavia, Spain, France).

People who argue that we need capitalism to save us from ourselves don't understand human nature.