Perhaps the most used argument against communism is that such a system would go against human nature. However, just as all defenses of capitalism do, it lacks both theoretical and practical coherency.
Firstly, the entire conception of there being a universal “human nature” is metaphysics, which has been proven wrong.
According to the scientific theory of evolution, humans evolve according to their material needs (more specifically their ability to reproduce). It’s human nature to kill your rapist, though it isn’t normal human nature to kill your own spouse. That’s because most of the time we depend on our spouses for survival while being raped is a direct threat to our survival. Likewise, it’s human nature to steal food when you have none, but few if any billionaires are caught robbing liquor stores. Through this, we can conclude that there isn’t a single “human nature” that prevents the realization of a fairer society.
Quite to the contrary human nature has evolved under a communal system for the vast majority of history.
The highly developed sense of equality in hunter-gatherer society meant that each person was equally entitled to food, regardless of his or her ability to find or capture it; so food was shared. It meant that nobody had more wealth than anyone else; so all material goods were shared. It meant that nobody had the right to tell others what to do; so each person made his or her own decisions. It meant that even parents didn’t have the right to order their children around; hence there were non-directive childrearing methods. It meant that group decisions had to be made by consensus; hence no boss, “big man,” or chief.
Human Nature and Communism
People used to depend on each other for food, clothing, shelter, and other basic survival needs. The genes that create who we are have gone through the vast majority of their evolution during that time. If there are any biological qualities commonly shared by humanity as a whole, they must have come from a time when exploitation didn’t exist. As such, that would mean that humans are in fact more inclined to pursue a communist society.
For the limited validity that this argument has, it has helped communists to stop believing in utopias. We have learned over the development of Marxism that because of human nature, we can’t trust the ruling class to put our interests first. Our study of human nature, and the concrete conditions of the world more broadly, is the basis for the general line of any socialist party. Jordan Peterson is 100% right that an unscientific approach to struggle and society is not going to get us anywhere, and that’s why Marxism is scientific both in theory and in practice.
Marx said that philosophy, which includes the study of human nature, is meaningless without a practical application. Jordan Peterson seems to recognize this too in his critique of critique of The Communist Manifesto. In the latter part of this argument, he connects his fringe theories on human nature to economics and society.
It’s actually not nearly a pessimistic enough description of the actual problem. The idea that the driving force of history is a hierarchical struggle is absolutely true. But it goes deeper than history, it’s biology itself, because organisms of all sorts organize themselves into hierarchies.
He is correct that hierarchies are actually an efficient way of distributing resources and developing productive forces. If it weren’t for the existence of slave labor, neither the Pyramids nor the Coliseum nor the Great Wall of China would have been built. Without feudalism we Europe wouldn’t have had a single castle. While the class structures imposed on these societies may not have been desirable per se, they were in a sense necessary for society to keep progressing.
But Marxist theory also explains that productive relations correspond with productive forces. It is metaphysics to think that a certain set of hierarchical structures, is to carry on forever. Every one of these social systems has its internal contradictions that are slowly but surely tearing it apart. Denial of this universal truth is nothing but metaphysics. With all the problems it creates throughout the world, capitalism isn’t anymore in the best interest of humanity. Adhering to the principles of historical materialism, we know that society will one day be able to achieve full communism. Marxism-Leninism-Maoism isn’t fundamentally opposed to belief in human nature, but rather it works within human nature to transform our world into a better one.
Maoism For The Masses 