Egoist Communism in the 21st Century
Throughout my time as an Anarchist I have evolved and altered my beliefs. I once despised Stirner and Egoism, that was of course until I talked to his followers and engaged properly with Stirner's literature and found him to be perfectly compatible with Communism and Anarchism. It took me years to understand the nuances of the societal structures. I would like to take this time to discuss my perspective on Egoist Communist and why I feel it is relevant more than ever.
The first aspect of Egoism Communism is of course Egoism. To understand Egoism we must first understand Stirner. (One thing that should be understood is that "Egoism" was translated into English and not accurate to the original German text. It can better be rendered as "Uniqueism" in Engilsh)
Stirner was beyond his time in many aspects. He crashed with all of the thinkers of his day and did so with a sardonic grin. He pissed off Marx so much that he wrote a book entitled The German Ideology which was an hilariously feeble attempt to dispute Stirner with Ad Hominem attacks. In "The Ego And Its Own" Stirner analyses every aspect of life. In the intro it reads: All Things Are Nothing To Me.
Here, I will provide a brief summation. The passage starts off with Stirner critiquing the concept of cause. "Cause" here refers to the reasons people do things. Stirner's general criticism here is of "Spooks." "Spooks" are man made ideas that tell us to think in terms of a higher cause. Be that family, religion, the nation, or a king. The central idea here is that is renders you "spooked" and unable to embrace your self-interest.
(More to follow when I feel like it.)