As I look out across the field while preparing a couple of beds, my mind wanders to a conversation I had recently with someone who was questioning my Marxist ideology with questions like, “does it not bother you that all communist countries have been dictatorships?” or, “you know that communism killed millions of people”, and, “you have to vote for the lesser of evils, a vote for a third party will only lead Biden to lose.” Questions like these are common when people find out about your leftist leanings, and are valid, but are also fueled by a lifetime of passively absorbing anti-communist propaganda. I knew I had some unlearning to do once I started getting more into leftist ideologies. I also want to start by saying that I don’t claim to be an expert on this subject and do not have all the answers, I’ve still got a lot of learning and unlearning to do. I do believe that capitalism will continue to lead to great suffering and ultimately the destruction of the planet. Capitalism requires exponential growth with zero returns to people or planet and as such is an incompatible system for the sustainability of the earth.
First, I think I would like to address the dictatorship claim. A single party government does not inevitably lead to a dictatorship, this is a thought error. I would argue that a single party government truly rooted in the masses, i.e. the cares, concerns and goals of the people, is much more democratic than a “two party” capitalist system. A single party socialist government would be much more in tune with the desires of the poor and working classes because it is made of people that came from those classes i.e. the nurses, teachers, construction workers, restaurant workers, farmers to name a few. They spent the time on the picket lines, doing the real work of mutual aid, feeding the homeless, and representing tenants against landlords etc. These candidates would be chosen and lifted up by their cadre. I don’t think that choosing between a lesser of two evils is democratic at all. The presidential candidates as everyone seems to already know, but just accept, are merely puppets for the corporations and ruling class whose interests they represent. As Robin Williams once said, “Politicians should have to wear NASCAR jackets with their sponsors on them so we can see who they’re working for.” They are completely isolated from the masses and make decisions solely with capital in mind. Further, capitalism is inherently anti-democratic. Under capitalism, the ruling class and corporations hold all the money and power and make the decisions for the rest of us.
Take Palestine for example. The people clearly want a ceasefire, but Biden ignores us and even bypasses congress to send more weapons and money to Israel, but when it came to forgiving student loan debt or universal healthcare, he “just couldn’t get it done”. To uplift a line from Tupac Shakur, “we’ve got money for war, but can’t feed the poor.” We are defunding our communities and social services and funding the police and military. That is something else I would like to dive into in a future essay.
…Time to broadfork the next bed, these 100-foot beds at the new farm are large, being 4 feet wide, they require two passes with the broadfork going up one side and back down the other, so really one bed you’re broadforking 200 linear feet. Each strike of the broadfork must be thrust into the ground, you then step on it to push it further, then pull the fork back and down to lightly pop the soil to de-compact and aerate it. Repeat every 8-10 inches. It’s tough work, but it’s quiet and doesn’t require fossil fuels. Back to the essay…
The death count of communism is certainly exaggerated. ‘The Black Book of Communism’ tries to claim one hundred million. The amount of time, money, and energy put into all the anti-communist propaganda would make us believe that. That said, mistakes were made, people unnecessarily died, and there has been no perfect system or example. These are open ended social experiments, so to speak. In China for example, certainly lives were lost during China's industrialization process building new factories, hospitals, medical schools and agricultural People’s Communes with the great leap forward. Industrialization certainly can claim a lot of lives when you think of people getting sucked into machines etc., we had that happen here. In Russia, a lot of those casualties came from Soviets fighting against Nazis in WWII. But let's turn this same question onto capitalism, let's look at the casualties from that. Between slavery and the genocide of indigenous people you already far exceed the one hundred million number. That doesn’t even include the people that die every day from homelessness, folks not having access to health insurance and getting the care they need, not being able to feed themselves, ever increasing police killings, the list could go on. We have more than enough resources to house and feed everybody but choose not because it's not profitable enough. There are almost 600,000 homeless people in the US, and 16 million vacant homes/units. Our landfills are filled with food and clothing. We would rather throw it away to create the false need for more production than meet people's needs. In many socialist countries, homelessness went down, there was universal health care, thus life expectancies went up, literacy rates went up because of a focus on schools and childcare. There were land reforms redistributing land to the peasants who worked them, thus increasing food production and becoming more self-sufficient. When you focus on people over profits, amazing things can happen. And that's really what it comes down to.
For me communism at its base level means to stand with the oppressed, to care for your fellow person, the most vulnerable, making sure everyone has their basic needs met. In the “richest most powerful country in the world” there is no reason that everyone shouldn’t have a roof over their head, food in the pantry, access to clean water, access to childcare and health insurance. The ruling class use people of color, LGBTQ, ‘illegal’ immigrants all as scapegoats for there not being enough resources, or to redirect our anger. They do everything in their power to hide the truth that they’re the ones hoarding all the resources, because they know that if we really knew the truth, we would fight back. I also ponder the question, if communism really is such a failed system and will never work, then why do we fight so hard to keep it from happening?
…Now that the beds have been broadforked it's time to spread amendments and compost. This requires several five-gallon buckets. One filled with worm castings, alfalfa meal, fish meal and maybe some azomite or kelp for trace minerals, then 10 filled with compost spread every 10 feet…
To touch on voting for a lesser of two evils, I don’t know that I would consider that democratic. Certainly, voting on the local level I believe you can actually make change, but on the federal level I don’t think it does. We’ve seen that even when a president wins the popular vote, the electoral college can still elect the other way. Also, that simply allows imperialism to continue to grow and get worse. The working class needs to be able to bring their own candidate to the table, even if they don’t have a chance of winning, it is an opportunity to do political education and get a count on your numbers. And this takes real work and is something that I struggle with personally. As a farmer and father of two, I really don’t have the time available to organize as I’d like to. Which is another way that capitalism isolates us, they want us to feel busy and spread thin. It’s also a reason I would like to start this writing project, I think it could be a way for me to contribute. Further, the real work happens in the streets, not at the ballot box. It is because of protests and riots that we have the 40-hour work week, it is why black people and women have the right to vote. The ruling class will never give us what we want peacefully and by playing by their rules. They certainly didn’t acquire their wealth and power peacefully and by playing by the rules.
…Once you’ve spread compost and amendments, it's time to rake the bed until it's all spread evenly. I’ll run the irrigation lines back over the bed. Retrieve the transplants from the propagation house and bring them to the head of the bed. I always like to give them a good microbial root soak of either a compost tea or extract to give them a good boost of biology right at the root zone before planting…
I realize that a lot of this will seem radical to most folks, but let’s consider for a moment what radical is. To me, denying people their basic needs is radical, destroying our landscapes and local ecology for suburban sprawl, more shopping centers of chain stores, chain restaurants, gas stations, and car washes, depleting the earth of all its resources is radical, sending billions and weapons to Israel so they may continue their settler colonial project and genocide against Palestine is radical, and that’s just the latest in a long line of atrocities that the US has supported abroad. Defunding our communities and pouring money to further militarize our police is radical. On the left it can be easy to get stuck in saying what it is we’re against, but I want to give some examples of what I’m for. I’m for universal healthcare, affordable housing, defunding the police and funding our communities to have more schools and libraries, more small-scale, local agriculture and support for farmers, to name a few. It can be difficult to stay positive in this late stage of capitalism, but we need to organize and keep pushing for the change we want to see. To quote Gramsci, “I am a pessimist because of intelligence, but an optimist because of will.” Or to put it another way, pessimism of the mind but optimism of the heart. Let's look out for each other.
…I always love planting. As a farmer, you should always be planting and harvesting, though it doesn’t always work out that way. As a farmer you are also an ecologist, biologist, plumber, electrician, carpenter, salesman, delivery driver, customer service rep, accountant, the list could go on. But the planting is what I love. It’s so optimistic and hopeful. With each scoop of soil
, you place a young plant in the opening, then press the soil back around it, connecting you to the earth, holding honor and respect for the indigenous stewards who worked and walked the land before you for time immemorial. A small green glimmer of hope for the future. Its roots descend down and reach out through the soil while simultaneously ascending and stretching its leaves out and up towards the sun and sky, striving to soak up all the energy from the sun that it can, ever hopeful… ever hopeful…
In solidarity,
Farmer Killian