[LBird]

Sotionov wrote:

The core question I have for the people who hold the free-access view is: how is the principle "from each according to their ability, for each according to their need" concretely to be implemented?

Related to this 'core question' are the additional questions of "Who decides what 'ability' and 'need' consist of?" and "At what level is 'free-access' defined?'.From my previous discussions with comrades and on LibCom, it seems to be assumed by many Communists that 'ability', 'need' and 'free-access' will be determined by 'each individual'.I've argued in the past that all three have to be defined/determined at the level of the commune/community/Workers' Council. That is, 'ability', 'need' and 'free-access' are social issues, not individual issues.This definition thus begins to undermine the problems of individuals and their supposed laziness, selfishness and greed (which supposed 'innateness in humans' is always the philosophical starting point for arguments by anti-Communists), but then raises the issue of 'social authority' within Communist society.I know from past experience that many Communists, influenced by this society, still hold to a notion of 'individual sovereignty' when it comes to defining these terms, of 'ability', 'need' and 'free-access'.What do others think about this issue of the level of definition, individual or social?

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