If libertarian socialism eliminates the profit motive, won creativity and performance suffer?
Firstly, just to be totally clear, by the profit motive we mean money profit. As anarchists consider co-operation to be in our self-interest — i.e. we will “profit” from it in the widest sense possible — we are not dismissing the fact people usually act to improve their situation. However, money profit is a very narrow form of “self-interest,” indeed so narrow as to be positively harmful to the individual in many ways (in terms of personal development, interpersonal relationships, economic and social well-being, and so on). In other words, do not take our discussion in this section of the FAQ on the “profit motive” to imply a denial of self-interest, quite the reverse. Anarchists simply reject the “narrow concept of life which consist[s] in thinking that profits are the only leading motive of human society.” [Peter Kropotkin, Fields, Factories and Workshops Tomorrow, p. 25] Secondly, we cannot hope to deal fully with the harmful effects of competition and the profit motive. For more
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- If libertarian socialism eliminates the profit motive, won creativity and performance suffer?
- If libertarian socialism eliminates the profit motive, won creativity suffer?"
