Paraguay Reductions
In a book entitled
The Magic Mountain
Thomas Mann has a character
who has become a Jesuit
after having been a Marxist.
As a Jesuit
he could understand Communism
much better
than he could understand it
as a Marxist.
In Paraguay
the Jesuits established
a Communist society.
Part of the land
was held individually.
The other part,
known as God’s land,
was cultivated in common.
The produce was used
for the maintenance
of the aged,
the infirm
and the young.
Proudhon and Marx
“Communism is a society
where each one works
according to his ability
and gets
according to his needs.”
Such a definition
does not come from Marx;
it comes from Proudhon.
Proudhon wrote two volumes
on The Philosophy of Poverty
which Karl Marx
read in two days.
Karl Marx wrote a volume
on The Poverty of Philosophy.
Karl Marx
was too much of a materialist
to understand the philosophical
and therefore social value
of voluntary poverty.