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Single Idea 23807
[filed under theme 24. Political Theory / D. Ideologies / 9. Communism
]
Full Idea
The Great Beast is the great object of idolatry, the only ersatz of God. …Only one thing can be taken as an end, for in relation to the human person it possesses a kind of transcendence: this is the collective.
Clarification
'ersatz' means an artificial version
Gist of Idea
The collective is the one and only object of false idolatry
Source
Simone Weil (Gravity and Grace (9 extracts) [1943], p.140)
Book Ref
Weil,Simone: 'An Anthology' [Penguin 1986], p.140
A Reaction
[Society as the Great Beast is in Republic Bk 6] She is referring to both fascist and communist states. Weil seems to be a left-wing liberal, with a tendency towards anarchism, because her priority is the individual, not the group.
The
36 ideas
with the same theme
[strong control to achieve equality and good lives]:
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22536
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There could be private land and public crops, or public land and private crops, or both public
[Aristotle]
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22538
|
Owning and sharing property communally increases disagreements
[Aristotle]
|
|
19745
|
The nature of people is decided by the government and politics of their society
[Rousseau]
|
|
5273
|
Young Hegelians think consciousness is chains for men, where old Hegelians think it the bond of society
[Marx/Engels]
|
|
5283
|
In communist society we are not trapped in one activity, but can act freely
[Marx/Engels]
|
|
5282
|
If the common interest imposes on the individual, his actions become alienated and enslaving
[Marx/Engels]
|
|
5288
|
The class controlling material production also controls mental production
[Marx/Engels]
|
|
5290
|
The revolutionary class is opposed to 'class', and represents all of society
[Marx/Engels]
|
|
5294
|
To assert themselves as individuals, the proletarians must overthrow the State
[Marx/Engels]
|
|
5302
|
Modern governments are just bourgeois management committees
[Marx/Engels]
|
|
5304
|
Communism aims to abolish not all property, but bourgeois property
[Marx/Engels]
|
|
5307
|
Many of the bourgeois rights grievances are a form of self-defence
[Marx/Engels]
|
|
21995
|
Must production determine superstructure, or could it be the other way round?
[Singer on Marx]
|
|
20577
|
Even decently paid workers still have their produce bought with money stolen from them
[Marx]
|
|
21996
|
Freedom only comes when labour is no longer necessary
[Marx]
|
|
22000
|
From each according to his ability, to each according to his need
[Marx]
|
|
22969
|
People who only have their labour power are the slaves of those permitting them to work
[Marx]
|
|
22970
|
Freedom is making the state subordinate to its society
[Marx]
|
|
21989
|
Man is dominated by money, which is the essence of his alienation
[Marx]
|
|
23862
|
By saying the material dialectic of history aspires to the best, Marx agreed with capitalism
[Weil on Marx]
|
|
21999
|
False consciousness results from concealment by the superstructure
[Marx, by Singer]
|
|
23875
|
Marx says force is everything, and that the weak will become strong, while remaining the weak
[Weil on Marx]
|
|
18653
|
Marx rejected equal rights because they never actually treat people as equals
[Marx, by Kymlicka]
|
|
23054
|
Communism is wrong because it restricts the freedom of individuals to contribute to the community
[Green,TH, by Muirhead]
|
|
23047
|
Original common ownership is securing private property, not denying it
[Green,TH, by Muirhead]
|
|
23807
|
The collective is the one and only object of false idolatry
[Weil]
|
|
23749
|
The problem of the collective is not suppression of persons, but persons erasing themselves
[Weil]
|
|
21240
|
The truth about events always comes from the oppressed and disadvantaged
[Sartre, by Bakewell]
|
|
20445
|
Levinas says Marxism is the replacement of individualist ethics, by solidarity and sociality
[Levinas, by Critchley]
|
|
21993
|
Materialist history says we are subject to incomprehensible forces
[Singer]
|
|
21831
|
Alienation is not finding what one wants, or being unable to achieve it
[Flanagan]
|
|
9303
|
The concept of 'alienation' seems no longer applicable
[Svendsen]
|
|
20099
|
For communists history is driven by the proletariat
[Micklethwait/Wooldridge]
|
|
22830
|
Give by ability and receive by need, rather than a free labour market
[Charvet]
|
|
23534
|
Communism failed to unite western workers with the oppressed of the south
[Berardi]
|
|
23135
|
Classic Marxists see liberalism as the ideology of the bourgeoisie
[Gopnik]
|