Communication Society as Society of the Commons

Marxism is not just a critique, but also has a vision of a good society – a society of the commons. This chapter argues that a true communication society is a society of the commons. First, it introduces the idea of communication as societal communing. Second, it discusses the foundations of Marxist ethics. Then it outlines some aspects of the ethics of the commons and the communication commons. It concludes that a true communication society is a society in which the original meaning of communication as making something common should be the organising principle. A society of the commons is an important foundation of democratic communications based on co-operative rationality. The societal essence of the human being includes co-operation. It is an essential characteristic of human beings that they have a quest for human flourishing and leading a good life. Socialist politics should engage with communication politics. The politics of informational socialism and communicative socialism should be based on ten principles of informational and communicative socialism that here are outlined leading to the last principle of full self-managed, democratic governance. The ethics of the commons must needs be political because the commons requires praxis and the struggle for alternatives to capitalism in order for humans and society to flourish and realise their potentials. The society of the commons transcends capitalism because it goes beyond the latter. Love is the principle of the society of the commons.