Primitive Communism: A mutual exchange of gifts

[coberst]

Primitive Communism: A mutual exchange of gifts

The mutual exchange of gifts between individuals and groups represents the heart of archaic economic activity. When food was available everybody had food; the hunter, who returned with food, distributed it among the rest of the community. If someone had something someone else wanted, it was given to them. This represents the core of primitive communism.

The common attitude in modern sapiens regarding income might well be expressed as “I’ve upped my income, now up yours. Such was not the case in early times. The process of freely giving and freely receiving of gifts was embedded in an important cosmological perception.

Primitive human life had a perception that wo/man owed a great debt to invisible powers. These early humans were conscious of the need for a vigorously maintained balance sheet. Primitives recognized man’s essential relation to nature. Nature gives freely of her bounty to humans and humans were beholden and grateful. They demonstrated this essential truth with fellow human creatures, with nature, and with the invisible world of the dead and the gods.

“In the archaic consciousness the sense of indebtedness exists together with the illusion that the debt is payable; the gods exist to make the debt payable. Hence the archaic economy is embedded in religion, limited by the framework, and mitigated by the consolation of religion—above all, removal of indebtedness and guilt.—Van der Leeuw

Why can humans neither now nor long ago, be comfortable and satisfied with a bountiful nature, which can easily supply all our needs? We cannot because both primitive and modern men and women require an economic surplus; the surplus is necessary so that s/he can have something to give to the gods.

The ceremonial destruction of mountains of food was a religious act. It was an attempt to keep “the cycle of power moving between the invisible to the visible world. Could this same motive explain our modern inclination for war?

Quotes from “Escape from Evil—Ernest Becker

Questions for discussion

Why can humans neither now nor long ago, be comfortable and satisfied with a bountiful nature, which can easily supply all our needs?

The ceremonial destruction of mountains of food was a religious act. It was an attempt to keep “the cycle of power moving between the invisible to the visible world. Could this same motive explain our modern inclination for war?