Spartan Communism

A school of utopian egalitarian communism that arose in France in the 18th century that advocated ascetism and prohibited all pleasures of life. Its representative figures were Morelly and Mably. Their doctrine was called Spartan communism because they held up as a model the “community of equals” of the Spartans in ancient Greece based upon communal property in the land. This school was the product of the low-level development of the productive forces, the narrow scope of production and the insufficient development of class relations in France at that time, but irreconcilable contradictions had already appeared, reflecting the interests and demands of the toiling masses, especially the urban and rural proletarians. Its philosophical basis was rationalism and the doctrine of natural law based on the capitalist theory of human nature, which holds that an understanding of the true meaning of human nature is the true guarantee of the restoration of the natural order, that there was natural equality among men, and that the system compatible with this principle of natural law was communism. They held that private property was the source of all evils, and that economic and political inequality, moral corruption and extravagance were all brought about by private property. Therefore, in the future society, they advocated handling things in strict accordance with the law, especially the “Sumptuary Laws” championed by them, introduction of public property, opposition to inheritance and concentration of private property, labor for all, elimination of the division of labor, abolition of differences, equality for all, egalitarian distribution, consumption in common, being pure of heart and free from desire, moderation and self-sufficiency. They even advocated that highly civilized nations should be artificially impoverished in terms of clothing, food, shelter and transportation, like backward nations, who suffer from their own misery and take pleasure in suffering, and lead a primitive egalitarian life. This doctrine, which preached absolute egalitarianism and asceticism, pointed the finger at the privileges of the feudal aristocracy and high-ranking monks, and attempted to eliminate the social phenomenon of extreme uneven distribution of wealth brought about by the development of capitalism, had a certain positive significance at that time in inspiring and mobilizing the working people to rise up in struggle. But it did not get rid of the influence of the ideology of small producers and had some pessimistic tint. They interpreted equality as levelling and egalitarianism as communism, did not understand the objective laws of historical development, and fantasized about transcending capitalism and realizing communism under the conditions of the dominance of the petty mode of production, which is contrary to the course of historical development and simply unattainable.