Why Seize the Means of Production, When You Can Build It Yourself, Better!?
Published on HivePostify by @builderofcastles · Mon Sep 07 2026
Communists of the Marxist type, say "Seize the means of production". But why?
Is it a big difference if a corporation owns it or the govern-cement owns it?
A corporation is profit driven, but that means that they will be efficient with the money. The govern-cement will have graft and corruption everywhere. It's other people's money.
Neither one is good, except by accident. And, even then it will be turned corrupt and money focussed.
The structure is, what the structure does. If made by capitalist pigs or communist dogs, the structure is the same, and the results will be the same.
So, why seize the means of production? Will simply slapping "under new ownership" sign on the building, make it all better? When nothing structurally has been changed?
You can own the means of production!
Everything that is made for sale at Wallymart is VERY EASY to produce yourself.
Well, i say easy, from the perspective of someone who builds things. Others probably think it is hard. And the ones who i would want to "seize the means of production", probably think it is impossible for any one person to do anything close.
We made production lines because it is all we can reliably teach a person to perform over and over. Most people cannot comprehend the entire car, and put it all together themselves. However, back in the 60s, there were lots of guys who did just that. The big automakers did not like that, so they made the car more and more complex. Needlessly complicated.
Did you know that there is a group of guys who are building cars that can be assembled by anyone? And they do not upgrade the car once a year, they have the 'time to improvement' down to two weeks.
With robots, 3D printers, CNC milling machines, a person can truly turn their garage into a manufacturing facility. Well, i can/have.
But, can the average person who wants "communism" do so?
The weak person wishes others weren't so strong
When they cannot compete, most people do not strive to get better/stronger. They focus on how to make the other person weaker, or to change/break the rules to give them an unfair advantage.
So, if you cannot build a manufacturing company of your own, then have the govern-cement TAKE IT! "How dare those people who know how to build things get all the fame and money."
In Russia it was, "how dare those skilled farmers get all the crops! and leave us to starve!" And they killed all the skilled farmers, and then everyone starved. Farming is quit simple to learn, but that wasn't what the weak wanted. They wanted those skilled farmers to be punished for being better than them.
This is playing out again in South Africa right now. "How dare those white farmers keep all the food that they grow!"
And, this is why they want to "seize the means of production". Because they can't build it themselves. Even though it has become a hundred times easier. (This is why most factory owners are shifting to robots. It is really hard to deal with humans who want to take what you've built. "How dare the boss get rich off of our labor!")
It is very sad that the labor and the factory owner do not comprehend each other. The labor usually ends up blaming the owner for what they, themselves, caused. (another reason i suggest we move to distributed manufacturing)
Distributed manufacturing
I will use the example of a refrigerator. To me, its operation is really simple. Really, really simple.
But, most people i talk to are baffled by how a refrigerator works. They are completely lost when i talk about machining a snail compressor.
So, i have worked on breaking down the refrigerator into parts, each part being built and tested in a garage.
Like that snail compressor. It is one thing that is easily machined on a CNC mill. (computer-numerical-control milling machine). You basically plop a rectangle of brass into the vise, press go, and you get a neat spiral cut in metal. Put two spirals together on a shaft, put in the bearings and the seals, and then test if it holds pressure/creates pressure.
Now you have a refrigerant compressor. Suitable for building a refrigerator or as a replacement part.
I can teach most men how to do this.
Repeat with all the other parts of the refrigerator, and then teach a guy to assemble all the parts into a working, finished refrigerator, and you have now done in a dozen garages, what is currently only done in giant factories in China and Korea.
If we can replicate this, we could have dozens of dozens of garages making refrigerators, or replacement parts, on demand, local to the demand.
If we build these independent manufacturing system, then we can truly have the means of production in the hands of the people.
Would the Marxists be happy with this?
You would think that they would be, but we are unintentionally building a two class system. Those who can build/repair refrigerators and those who can't. There are people that are SOOO NOT technically savy, that there is no way to train them to be a part of this. And so, the blank-slate-ist, Marxist, would be truly upset by this. Not happy that the large corporation factory is now in the hands of MANY people in many garages, but furious that people are being left out.
Are the Marxists upset that not everyone can paint like Picasso? Well, Chairman Mao had all the artists killed after he turned China communists. So, we will probably never know.
Anyway, Distributed Manufacturing solves a lot of problems we have with manufacturers going the way of planned obsolescence and gathering all the profits to a few spots on the planet. I will continue to champion it and doing my best to enact it.
All images in this post are my own original creations.
Tags: #production#communism#marxism#manufacturing#local-manufacturing#leofinance