As Gandhi described himself as a philosophical anarchist, the first similarity is with his view on the concept of the nation state, which he saw as being inherently oppressive. The more layers of hierarchy there are, the less the interests of the people are served, and the more that bureaucratic hierarchy comes to serve its own interests. Gandhi therefore thought society should be organized as a stateless, decentralized network of autonomous and self-reliant communities where the people are to manage their own affairs at the local level. And today’s intentional communities and ecovillages are the best embodiment of that approach in action.
The second similarity is with Gandhi’s opposition to capital intensive, large scale, industrialized production. Such production invariably fosters centralization, hierarchy, and the disempowerment of local communities. Instead, wherever possible, Gandhi advocated a dispersed system of small scale, localized producers that employed appropriate technology. This would be a level of technological sophistication that can be operated and managed at the local level, without the need for distant hierarchies. In the modern day, the Open Source Ecology program that is being tested and developed by Marcin Jakubowski and his team, is a perfect example of the Gandhian approach to technology.
A third similarity is with the desire to lead a simple life. Gandhi was very critical of the western materialist culture and its multiplication of human wants. The Utopian Socialists likewise see it as wasteful and wholly unsustainable. Humanity continues to exceed the carrying capacity of the Earth to ever greater degrees. Economic inequality skyrockets to outrageous levels. As a result, the sense that things are getting worse continues to spread to wider segments of society. It should be apparent that western consumerism is both morally bankrupt and unsustainable. The need to start treading more lightly on the earth becomes more urgent with each passing day. The most effective means for doing so is by living in community. Not only have studies shown that per capita use of resources for those in community is a fraction of those living in mainstream society, but the benefits derived from stronger, more vibrant community life is another tangible benefit. And a 21st century Utopian Socialism is the best mechanism for getting us there.
The last similarity that I want to cover is Gandhi’s view that production should be for use-value instead of exchange value. Ideally, this is the position that Utopian Socialist eventually aspires to. As intentional communities are currently situated within the larger capitalist economy, the ones that are economically self-sufficient have little choice but to produce commodities for exchange in order to remain financially viable. Externally at least, this binds them in to the the workings of the market economy to a certain degree and serves to compromise their autonomy. Utopian Socialist communities would therefore strive to withdraw from the production of commodities for exchange-value within a market economy as much as possible, and instead produce as for use-value, either for their own use, or for the use of communities within their local federation. The more communities can minimize their interaction with the economy, the less of an influence the rules of that economy will have on communal life. This is an important point. State power can never fully wither away as long as the economy remains the primary medium through which society satisfies its needs. State power will always try to reconstitute itself in one form or another as a mechanism for managing that economy. If communities strive for local self-reliance, with production for use-value, with the role of the economy being kept to the minimum necessary, the impetus for state power to reconstitute itself will be likewise be minimized. Aspiring toward statelessness while maintaining an economic system that induces the formation of state power is counterproductive. The system of economic production one engages in should harmonize with the aspiration toward statelessness. If it does, then the state will wither away peacefully. If not, then state power will always be a mere step or two away from reconstituting itself.
In the final analysis, many aspects of Gandhian economics in perfect alignment with Utopian Socialism. Small scale. Decentralized. Self-reliant. Sustainable. These are all concepts that are integral to both. As a prescription for how to organize and manage society, I think Gandhi has more to say that is applicable to the present day than does Karl Marx’s emphases on productionism and seizing state power. I think it’s time for those on the left to give Gandhi’s ideas a second look.
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