The Id and Socialism

   For literally anyone who has been alive for the past few hundred years, the negative effects of capitalism are obvious. We steadily destroy our earth, impoverish entire countries, and fuel our ruthless military-industrial complex, all in the name of profit. These are the natural results of our economic system, whether you admit it or not. There are, in addition to the consequences of capitalism you can physically see, less examined consequences of the mind. Capitalism directly contradicts our basic human nature, by forcing us to participate in a system that is directly opposed to our species’ needs, both mental and physical.

    The most basic, fundamental, human desires are contained in a part of the mind called the id. This is a characteristic of our mind that is present from birth. It is the part of us that seeks our own survival, and experiences that are immediately gratifying to us. The subject of our first analysis will be the first objective of the Id; to propagate the individual's survival. The evolutionary purpose for being ingrained with a will to survive is obvious. It is something instinctual that we have all been instilled with, and what drives our most basic instincts. That inherent will to survive found in all of us is met with an immediate contradiction the day we are born. The world’s economic system.

    Capitalism encourages the ruthless exploitation of workers in the name of economic gain, and from birth we have no choice but to participate. The options are clear; participate in a system where you will be working for a capitalist whose goal is to extract as much surplus value from your labor as possible with as little compensation given to you as possible, or fall through the cracks of a society and live a life without the normal luxuries of industrialized society. I know what you are thinking, “I can just start my own business and be self-made. I surely won’t be the type of boss that seeks to underpay their overworked employees.” Wrong. Either you become the ruthless capitalist you claim you are so different from, or your business fails. Major corporations can throw almost unlimited amounts of money to prevent you from competing with them, so to survive you will either need to employ cheap labor and cut the corners of your altruistic business model, or go out of commission; either from being bought out by a company that seeks to monopolize its industry, or being put out of business by a competitor that is willing to do whatever it takes to keep the capital flowing. The fundamental structure of capitalism goes directly against the desire of the id. We are forced into a system that will bring about our own demise. The internal desire for self-preservation cannot be fulfilled under capitalism.

    When examining other economic systems, it is important to keep one thing in mind; capitalism has not always existed. You could (and should) make the argument that systems prior to capitalism, namely feudalism, have the same structures of power that capitalism does. While this is correct, the existence of the capitalist concepts of private property and laissez-faire economics are relatively contained to the past few hundred years. Turning away from capitalism seems less radical when you consider that people of other time periods have turned against the systems that oppressed them, and won. We will now begin to look at how socialism is the only economic system that does not contradict with the id, and how it complements the self-serving nature of our mind.

    Socialism is an economic system in which the workers control the means of production. Instead of a business being owned by a capitalist who has never experienced the labor they employ others to do, and being run by management loyal to the owners, enterprises are controlled by the people who actually work there. There are two models for this system. Direct and indirect ownership. Direct ownership is when the workers at an individual enterprise make decisions by a democratic vote. The executives are chosen by a popular vote, along things like what to produce, how much to charge for it, and what to do with the money you take in. One worker, one vote. The other model which is championed today in states like Cuba, is the indirect model. Citizens elect politicians, who then run the industries. In these countries politicians are tasked with deciding what to produce, and where to produce it. While the capital in these economies are technically state owned, the entities that participate in the state are democratically elected by the people. Both in direct and indirect models, workers are given control of their economy, and can use industry in a way that benefits the masses of people, instead of a few wealthy elites, like we currently have running the economy. 

    So how does socialism reconcile the selfish desire of the id, with a viable economic system? Simple, it allows you to participate in a way that your self interest, is the self interest of others. In a democratically organized society, the government inevitably ends up doing what is best for the most people. Socialism doesn't do away with all issues, but when societies are divided up by class instead of other lines, like othrodox marxists seek to do, the proletariat inevitably ends up outnumbering the bourgeois. When the tools of democracy are put in the hands of everyone, even when acting in their own self interest, life sustains and gets better. Let's look at a concrete example; the climate crisis. It is inarguably in the interest of most people to stop climate change.It is the most existential threat to humanity, and because we all seek our own self interest as dictated by the id, it is clearly best to stop something that would eradicate our entire species. Why don’t we stop climate change? Because the power of the economy is not in the hands of the people. It is in the hands of titans of industry who pollute the environment and destroy our earth in the name of personal profit. This forces the masses to live in a society that is actively working against their own interests, and instead in the interests of a few powerful business people, and their allies in the government. If power was put in the hands of the people, it would be clear we must solve the climate crisis. The id would be satisfied because we are pursuing our own survival, and we will have created a better and cleaner world.

    The contradiction between capitalism and the id is not the only psychological downside of capitalism, but if I were to begin typing about all of those right now, this would turn from an essay to a book. Keep in mind that the only way to create real change is by taking the power away from the ruling class, and putting it back into the hands of the workers. It is just basic human nature.