Communist tendencies can be seen in all individualist societies
Not only is communism desirable, but even our existing societies, which are founded on individualism, are inevitably impelled in the direction of communism. The development of individualism can be explained by the efforts of the individual to protect themsleves from the tyranny of capital and of the state. For a time they imagined, and those who expressed their thought for them declared, that they could free themselves entirely from the state and from society. “By means of money I can buy all that I need,” they said. But the individual was on a wrong track, because without the help of all, they cannot accomplish very much. In fact, along with this current of individualism, we find in all modern history a tendency, on the one hand, to retain all that remains of the partial communism of antiquity, and, on the other, to establish the communist principle in many developments of modern life.
New organizations, based on the same principle—to every man according to his needs—spring up under many different forms, and without a certain degree of communism the present societies could not exist. Despite the narrowly individualistic leaning that prevails within our capitalist commercial system, the tendency towards communism is constantly appearing, and it influences our activities in a variety of ways. Roads, for the most part, have become public property. Museums, free libraries, free schools, free meals for children; parks and gardens are open to all: streets paved and lighted, free to all; water supplied to every house—all such arrangements are founded on the principle: ‘Take what you need.’
References
- Kropotkin, Peter. (1892). The Conquest of Bread Chapter 3. Anarchist communism (p. 73).