There is an alternative

The world is rich in raw materials, technology, knowledge and human "doing power", to the extent that if the world was organised in a different way everyone would enjoy a comfortable poverty-free life.

Why don't we re-organise society to reap the benefits of these scientific advances? Because governments (which people put there) all look for solutions within the framework of the money/wages/buying-and-selling system of society.

History shows us that capitalism was set up by a minority of people (the owners of capital) to run in the interests of that minority. If we all had enough capital, we'd not be compelled to become wage slaves - then who would do the work?

So, if there's no profit in it, there's no production of it and no supply of it. That's the way the system of today works! If you can't afford it, you'll have to do without it.

Some people (because they've been encouraged to think solely in terms of money, wages, buying and selling) will undoubtedly dismiss any alternative as a far-off dream. Others will claim that human nature will make it impossible.

It's essential that you understand and believe in the ability of people to change, or you give up any possibility of serious change in society.

The alternative is the world belonging to all its people, producing the things we need to live and enjoy life. Directly meeting people's needs! This means no money, wages, buying and selling.

Why should we have to buy back what we've collectively produced?

This outmoded rationing system must go. There's a world of abundance to work for. Work would be co-operatively organised on a voluntary basis. Everyone would have open access to what they need, and an equal voice and vote in decisions which would affect their lives.

The Rise and Fall of Money

Many people think that money has always existed and therefore it always will. Wrong.

Human beings have lived on this planet for hundreds of thousands of years without using money. When they were hungry, they ate. When they were thirsty, they drank. Whatever was available to anyone was available to everyone.

It wasn't paradise, because food was scarce, and growing communities were eventually forced by this scarcity into a competitive struggle for life.

First came the invention of agriculture, and the consequent need to defend the land, or property, on which crops were grown.

Although this gave communities more stability and growth, agriculture and animal husbandry could not by themselves supply everything which they needed to develop as cultures. For this they needed to associate with other communities and pool their resources. But in the new culture of property there was never again to be such freedom to take whatever was available.

And so began the exchange of products known as trade. And although some quite advanced bronze age societies managed to trade very well by using barter (e.g. the Egyptians), it was a supremely awkward way to conduct transactions. With the advent of the Iron Age, cheap metal was for the first time plentiful, and coinage was slowly introduced to facilitate the trading process.

Civilisation has since grown up on the back of this trade, whose sophistication was made possible by the invention of money. To the modern mind therefore, civilisation relies on money. This is a misunderstanding. In fact, it is only trade which relies on money. Civilisation relies on distribution of material goods certainly, but distribution is not the same thing as trade, just as give is not the same thing as sell.

Modern industrial society has given us the means to free ourselves forever from that scarcity which has always dogged our forebears. Money is no longer a necessary or logical feature of society, and only a tiny minority benefit from its presence.

In history, many things become out of date, like the steam engine or quill pens. Money is about to join them.