Dispelling the myth: Innate Human Selfishness

Humans have for years claimed that for reasons of ‘selfishness’, Communism could never work. It seems to be at the core of any argument against Marx’s work. However, if you were to trace back the origins of this argument you will find that in fact this idea is nothing but western propaganda. It is true that humans have a survivalist instinct, but this survivalist instinct does not overt the means of greed and selfishness. Surviving has forever been intertwined within a community or a family. For instance: primitive man would forage and hunt in groups, fish work in shoals, apes live and work in collections, lions live in prides etc. In fact Marx argued that in the Ancient stage of society reflected a ‘primitive type of communism’ where there was shared division of labour and the modes of production were shared.

So where did this ‘selfish’ and ‘individualistic’ thought process come from? During the feudal system humans began to see land as a way of delineating wealth, class system introduced, the allowance of rent and the creation of parliament. The conception of hierarchy and greater monetary value induced an unnatural lifestyle, individualism. Not the individualism that makes us different people with different ideas but rather the independence from community and groups. This process is a form of human error, a social construct, which from out of nowhere gave rise through the powerful and rich. Greed emerged through observation of servitude of the proletariat to the kings, queens, barons and knights.

Today you can see that this individualism breeds all kinds of sociological problems: children performing below educational targets, disease and health problems more prolific, lesser sense of moral ambition, high levels of stress etc. While collectivist cultures see a high level of education, with lower rates of health issues and ambition driven primarily by moral instinct. Only western propaganda pedals the idea of innate greed, over the rest of the world people live in harmony in collectivist cultures with few problems. Unfortunately the western influence has rubbed off onto many, who without the suffering of capitalist brainwashing would see that Communism could not only succeed but would create a much greater society.