"The commune already has a poet" - One of the worst anti-communist "arguments"

So frequently in leftist spaces you'll hear some liberal interject and tell you "the commune already has a poet" when you speak of a possible communist future. While it's presented as a "gotcha," it only shows that you truly don't understand communist labor.

The largest difference between capitalist and communist labor relations is the class that reaps the benefits from it. Under capitalist enterprise, the motivating factor is an ever-increasing pursuit of profits, often to the detriment of society around it. Unless the tensions between the capitalist class and working class becomes unbearable to the point of strike or threatened revolution, there is no incentive to reduce the working day, pay higher wages, or provide benefits to those who actually produce the value behind these corporations. Capitalism is an anti-social system that only gives concessions to the masses when it is threatened. The goods produced under capitalism aren't for the greater benefit of the people, but are simply deemed deemed profitable. A key example of this was a panel hosted by Goldman Sachs, the third largest multinational investment firm, asking if "curing patients [is] a sustainable business model." [1] The market moves with the money, and if curing patients instead of keeping them on medication and other procedures that "delay" their illnesses is deemed to not rack up money, then it will not happen.

When speaking of socialist labor relations, the pursuit of is not of profits, but rather human fulfilment and societal benefit for the working class. Even if monotonous tasks such as mining and factory work needs to be performed by humans, the goal of socialist enterprise is to produce what is needed, not in excess, but in equilibrium in society. The process of mechanizing and automation in socialist labor entails a reduction in the workday if there is not the demand for an increased quantity of goods. So if you theoretically worked in a factory that produced 1500 cars a day, and there was an increase of productivity through new machinery that was now able to produce 3000 cars per day, the workday could be cut in half if there was no significant increase in demand for that car. This would not happen in a capitalist enterprise, you would either be given menial or "useless" tasks or the amount of workers would be cut (in a way that is harmful to the working class). Socialist innovation comes at the benefit of society, if there was a cure to a disease, then it would be found; if there was a way to cut down on undesirable labor, it would be found. As a real historical example, by 1936, most worker's days in the USSR were brought down to 7 hours, and even less for those jobs considered "arduous." [2]

The "argument" presented above makes no sense whatsoever in the perspective of a modern socialism. Communism isn't running out to the woods and farming as a group of hippies and everything is perfect in our little bubbles, it is an adaptable ideological framework that develops with its times. We are in an age of industry and technological advancement. The jobs we have today, though they will be fundamentally changed with new social relations, will remain in a lot of places. So while everybody can't be a poet or an artist full-time, the reduction in the work day will give you the time you need to pursue your passions, the GDR was a shining example of this in many cases [3]. So while the "commune" (as in a socialist society as a whole) won't be full of dedicated poets and artists, you will see millions of workers that are able to practice poetry and the arts in their own time. Ask yourself, as a worker, do you truly have time to pursue your creative passions on top of your job? Socialism is the only system that will encourage the development of society into one that maximizes human potential for the greater benefit of society, culture, and the artistic expression of the above mentioned.

1. https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/11/goldman-asks-is-curing-patients-a-sustainable-business-model.html

2. (article 119) https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1936/12/05.htm

3. https://ia800109.us.archive.org/4/items/StasiStateOrSocialistParadise/StasiStateOrSocialistParadi-JohnGreen.pdf