From fcf142dde5718668375acbd621ca6516fe9d73ce Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Sebastian Kuzminsky Date: Thu, 12 Jun 2025 08:26:30 -0600 Subject: [PATCH 1/3] rambling thoughts about the economy of an enclave --- economic-overview-of-a-syndicalist-enclave.md | 172 ++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 172 insertions(+) create mode 100644 economic-overview-of-a-syndicalist-enclave.md diff --git a/economic-overview-of-a-syndicalist-enclave.md b/economic-overview-of-a-syndicalist-enclave.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0fb37f2 --- /dev/null +++ b/economic-overview-of-a-syndicalist-enclave.md @@ -0,0 +1,172 @@ +# Introduction + +> Nothing liberates us from a monopolist more readily than the revelation +> that we don't want his wares. +> +> -- Yanis Varoufakis + +> It is the historic mission of the working class to do away with +> capitalism. +> +> The army of production must be organized, not only for +> everyday struggle with capitalists, but also to carry on production +> when capitalism shall have been overthrown. +> +> By organizing industrially we are forming the structure of the new +> society within the shell of the old. +> +> -- From "Preamble to the IWW Constitution", by the Industrial Workers of the World + +Forget, for now, about solving all the world's problems. What does a +solution for small groups look like? + +This document proposes one answer to that question: a +co-op/startup/commune/hackspace in the model of the kibbutzim, or Amish +communities, or Twin Oaks/East Wind. Internally communist/anarchist, +interfacing with the outside world via the default capitalist framework. + +The aim is to provide an alternative to the default life of work and +consumption and rent and mortgages, that emphasizes freedom and life +and joy. + +Make material goods that are useful, or profitable, or ideally both. +Make things to sell, to make money, to buy the things we can't make +ourselves yet. + +The work we do should either reduce our dependence on the external +capitalist economy (how much we need to buy from them), or increase our +value to them (how much they buy from us). + +Those are opposite sides of the scale of the economic interaction. +But the goal is not to successfully trade with the external capitalist +economy - the goal is to secede from it. + + +# Goals + +* Self sufficiency/independence + +* Egalitarian + - radical transparency + - decentralization of authority + +* Healthy + +* Ecologically sound + +* Inter-generational + +* Peaceful + +* Prosperous + +* Free as in freedom + +* Be well positioned, socially and economically, for coming adversities + and opportunities (climate change, political upheaval, AI, nanotech, + etc) + +* Nurture connections to a network of like-minded individuals, + communities, and organizations both for social contact and for economic + strength + + +# Physiological Needs + +--- + +![](images/Maslow's_Hierarchy_of_Needs_Diagram.png) +By Hamish.croker - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=164544166 + +--- + +* 1 gallon/person/day water +* 2,500 calories/person/day food + * 4% carbs, 25g + * 16% protein, 107g + * 80% fat, 242g +* Shelter/real estate: + * ~150 sqft bedroom/person + * ~100 sqft bathroom/family + * ~100 sqft kitchen/family + * ~400 sqft living room/family + * ~200 sqft garage-shop/family +* Energy (electricity, fuels) +* Clothes + +Higher needs: +* furniture +* tools +* weapons +* bandwidth +* health care +* education + + +# Independence + +Independence means independence from capitalist coersion, not independence +from society or ecology. + +Independence is a sliding scale, quantified by the measurement of +Vitamins. Anything you have to pay money for is a Vitamin. + +Independence doesn't apply just to fabrication, but to all of humanity's +material conditions: from the basics of survival and procreation; air, +water, food, shelter, to higher needs like education, health care, etc. + +Track your fucking budget. Count your vitamins. The revolution needs +accountants. See where you're tied to capitalism. Focus on strengthening +your independence by cutting those bonds: + +* Find ways to produce what you need + +* Acquire what you need by trading with your network instead of with the capitalist + superstructure + +* Do without + + +# Bootstrap + +Minimize up-front capital outlay! + +This means: + +* Make do with the space/infrastructure/tools I have available right now. + This includes my house & garage, and the hackspace. + +* Bootstrap while making money at a dayjob? I sure don't want to burn + through my retirement savings while trying to start this up. + +* Generally emphasize learning & using skills over spending money. + This dovetails with the ultimate goal of independence and resiliency. + But also note that sometimes, spending money is more efficient than DIY. + +* When learning new skills, first review the literature of those who + went before. Try to collaborate on their documentation, or start new + public documents with info & links to help the next person. + +* Fabricate open-source hardware, primarily for use by the comrades but + also for sale to the public. + +Perform wage labor in the external capitalist economy, in order to +earn currency, to fund our existance and our development towards FALC. +Remote software engineering jobs are an obvious target here, as it keeps +us together and earns good money (in 2023 when this was first written). + +The work should both make money and offset living expenses. It should +scale up as you add people and capital, to provide work and/or sustenance +for others. The work should fit into a larger picture of diversification, +building towards resilience. + + +## Traps to avoid + +* Working on stuff that makes money but doesn't further the mission. + +* Working on stuff that furthers the mission but isn't economically + sustainable. + +* Spending down my retirement savings and having to go back to a normal + day job. -- 2.47.3 From 1cedf5110ed05be77b5e7c94548bc3e1b8d4cfce Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Sebastian Kuzminsky Date: Thu, 19 Jun 2025 17:22:31 -0600 Subject: [PATCH 2/3] economic overview: expand a bit on options for cutting ties with capitalism --- economic-overview-of-a-syndicalist-enclave.md | 23 +++++++++++++++---- 1 file changed, 19 insertions(+), 4 deletions(-) diff --git a/economic-overview-of-a-syndicalist-enclave.md b/economic-overview-of-a-syndicalist-enclave.md index 0fb37f2..4efc3e6 100644 --- a/economic-overview-of-a-syndicalist-enclave.md +++ b/economic-overview-of-a-syndicalist-enclave.md @@ -119,12 +119,27 @@ Track your fucking budget. Count your vitamins. The revolution needs accountants. See where you're tied to capitalism. Focus on strengthening your independence by cutting those bonds: -* Find ways to produce what you need +1. Find ways to produce what you need. If you need an item, and the + default way of getting it is to buy it from an external supplier, try + to figure out what it would take to produce it internally. Maybe you'd + need tooling and raw materials (machine X and lower-level vitamins Y + and Z), plus the skill and time to use this new productive capacity. + While the initial capital outlay of buying the tooling might be + considerable, and climbing the learning curve might initially take + longer than just clicking "Buy Now" on JLCPCB or whatever, this + investment might make economic sense if it can be amortized over a + long productive life. The new productive capacity might serve the + enlave and aligned external sibling-enclaves. -* Acquire what you need by trading with your network instead of with the capitalist - superstructure +2. Acquire what you need by trading with your network instead of with the + capitalist superstructure. This is the flip side of option 1: maybe + some sibling-enclave has already taken on the task of internalizing + the relevant production, and now we can lean on them (while supporting + them) to satisfy our needs. -* Do without +3. Do without. This one is simple enough - but the goal is abundance, + not austerity. Material conditions will determine our actions, + and many goods are worthless. Be stingy by default. # Bootstrap -- 2.47.3 From e62b3cf5417c3dc40aa0890d6d5ec6e2fd323430 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Sebastian Kuzminsky Date: Fri, 20 Jun 2025 12:45:07 -0600 Subject: [PATCH 3/3] fixup a typo --- economic-overview-of-a-syndicalist-enclave.md | 2 +- 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-) diff --git a/economic-overview-of-a-syndicalist-enclave.md b/economic-overview-of-a-syndicalist-enclave.md index 4efc3e6..025f37a 100644 --- a/economic-overview-of-a-syndicalist-enclave.md +++ b/economic-overview-of-a-syndicalist-enclave.md @@ -129,7 +129,7 @@ your independence by cutting those bonds: longer than just clicking "Buy Now" on JLCPCB or whatever, this investment might make economic sense if it can be amortized over a long productive life. The new productive capacity might serve the - enlave and aligned external sibling-enclaves. + enclave and aligned external sibling-enclaves. 2. Acquire what you need by trading with your network instead of with the capitalist superstructure. This is the flip side of option 1: maybe -- 2.47.3