Howdy! I’m new here and was hoping someone might have some insight to a question I’ve been thinking about for a while:
If I saved up my money and bought a tractor, would it be permissible/ethical to charge others to use it when I didn’t need it?
This seems awfully similar to owning the means of production. What if I instead offered to plow their fields for them instead, driving the tractor myself and negotiating fair compensation in exchange?
Sorry if this is basic stuff I’m still learning. 🙏
There are alternatives to owning a tractor yourself. Finding a group of people who would use the tractor is feasible. Setup a democratic system to control the use of the tractor and a system of dues to ensure it is well maintained. Basically treat the tractor as a commons that people can exploit in an ethical manner.
This kind of system can be expanded to all means of production in theory. All capital treated as commons for workers to use.
This has the added benefit of being feasible within the current system, makes it easier for workers to survive, and acting as material evidence for alternative economic systems.
Thanks for the response! I guess what I’m wondering is if owning the tractor and leasing it out could still exist alongside collective ownership?
If I already have the means of purchasing the tractor for myself, I might not want to enter into a cooperative agreement with others and deal with the overhead that comes with it - especially if it were a scenario where I originally purchased it solely as a tool for myself. Let’s say it were a simple tool like a scythe, collective ownership might seem like too much hassle when it would be more convenient if everyone just had their own.
Naturally there is a breaking point where collective ownership becomes too cumbersome in relation to what is shared, for example imagine your lightbulbs go to your neighbor when you are asleep or at work. That’s just not worth the bother, same for basic tools like a spade or hammer. Communal ownership makes sense for everything an average person cannot purchase or fully utilize on their own, like machinery that sits in a barn 2/3 of the time.