donathos said:
War has been part of every society throughout all of human history. This is why the idea of a socialist society being free of military (and police) seems... well, let's be charitable and call it "idealistic." If the Roman Republic's campaigns in Gaul, et al., were attributable to the republican nature of its government, then it might well be the case that republicanism ought not be emulated. But so far, we've not found a solution for war, under republicanism (or democracy), monarchy, or any other system. |
War and conflict are driven by resources. To maintain our lives in the West, we need more resources then we can find at home, often these resources come from third world countries. We need those countries to remain favourable to us and our companies and if they say no then we have a problem. You could say that's an extreme example but it's just how our world works today, the minerals in our computers and phones come from the Congo, one of the poorest countries on Earth.
In socialism (lower stage of communism) you would still have "police and the military", now under the jurisdiction of the proletariat. There would still be crime and you would need police for other non-criminal duties like for example directing traffic. Now of course you would not need the police for such things like protecting private property because such a thing would no longer exist. In early socialism, you would still see the marks left from capitalism. Once these forces are no longer necessary such as in a state of post-scarcity then the role of force such as police and military would no longer be necessary assuming that these entities were created by material conditions.
The world does not run on ideology, it runs on state of affairs. You cannot emulate the Roman Republic today because it was a republican state based on a slave driven economy (ancient slavery functioned different than slavery of the late 1600-1800 empires), whereas today our economy is driven by capital.
