Many a rebellion of slaves or peasants against slavery and feudalism resulted in a reconstitution of the very system they opposed – of course, against their former oppressors. That is, until such time that a new social mode of production (as enabled by technological development, such as in the agricultural and industrial revolutions) reared its head. Is it not true that the Soviet Union (and fellow states) were not embodiments of this phenomenon – where workers, desirous of toppling capitalism, could conceive only of ways to reinvent it?

The most radical manifestation of proletarian rebellion appears to be worker-ownership, but even here the operation of the law of value and the continued existence of waged-labor by “democratic” means (the slaves determine their own conditions of slavery) indicates that capitalism is not only yet to be overcome, but operating in full force.

I wish well the efforts of comrades in The Commune to debate, study, and reveal to their satisfaction the historical nature of class society generally and capitalism particularly… but I warn against the theological-idealist notion that communism is possible so long as we “want” it hard enough, or if enough people do.

The ripening of conditions for social revolution depends on time – not willpower. Social change depends on development of the means of production, not on the dissemination of new ideas.

Communism is not possible yet; though it is important to understand why.