. @MarkRPellegrino — a big fan of capitalism — says “Marxism does not understand human nature”. The “human nature” argument is misleading because human nature refers to eating when you’re hungry, drinking when you’re thirsty, sleeping when you’re tired etc. https://twitter.com/MarkRPellegrino/status/1336529146608959489

When anti-socialists like Pellegrino trot out “human nature” as a supposed failing, insisting that humans are innately greedy, selfish, lazy, hierarchical etc, what they are actually referring to is human BEHAVIOUR — another thing entirely! The roots of human behaviour are to be

found principally in the environment and economic conditions which influences a person’s physiological make-up. No one is genetically programmed to mature into a ruthless selfish being. We are a cooperative species. The type of economy we live with shapes thoughts and behaviour.

A Bishop would not normally purloin food, but in a changed environment where there was no choice but to steal food or starve to death, they would then break the 8th Commandment, and excuse or justify their actions because of the unfortunate conditions in which they were then in.

Humans are quite capable of cooperating as free and equal men and women to produce wealth they need and run a social system in which satisfying these needs is central. We aren’t naturally lazy. Even under capitalism, hundreds of millions of people work voluntarily worldwide.

Nor are humans naturally greedy. Grabbing and hoarding are signs of scarcity and insecurity — features of capitalism, not a future socialist society of abundance. When people have free access to what they need to live and enjoy life, there’s no reason to take more than you need.

So behaviour like greed and laziness can’t be inherited. Such behaviour has no meaning except in society. A man can have black or white skin independently of society; but he cannot be greedy or lazy except in a social context. The human nature objection is baseless. It’s a myth.