Commonism

Commonism is an alternative to market economy and real socialism because it goes beyond their common basis of wage labour, money and private or state property. Products are not produced in the form of commodities that are sold for money, but as commons for the direct satisfaction of needs. The chapter discusses common questions such as “Who cares about waste disposal?” and focuses on the question of coordination and mediation through commoning. Stigmergy, a signal-based coordination mechanism that communicates needs, can be used to create ex-ante planning of re/production. Conflicts are an important part of a free society and are not resolved by a central institution as envisioned by the followers of council theory, but in many places in a polycentric coordination mechanism. This polycentric coordination allows for planning and aggregation as long as the needs of the (care-) workers involved and their (commons-) enterprises are included. It builds on meta-structures providing information such as CO2 emissions or expected shortages or helps negotiate conflicts. It creates a society that can overcome ethics as the basis of solidarity and create a logic of inclusion that makes the inclusion of others the best selfish option.