Communism and Capitalism, Authoritarianism and Egalitarianism in the Pacific: An Indigenous Perspective to the Classical State.

The State and the idea of statehood as we know them today, are sometimes understood as modern inventions. Some of the first “countries” as they exist today were France and the United States. But of course before this there were regions with autonomous governance around the world

What existed before the modern country, was still a state in a sense. As ere mentioned, any autonomous region of self governance and borders is a state, but where do the regions without borders fit in to this description? And what of groups of ppl w land but no central gov?

Statehood in its bare bones revolves around a conglomeration of people with a common direction, linked in some way or another, who are distinguished from the people around them either by land borders or by leaders.

In this way, many groups of indigenous peoples made at least some of these requirements to bare statehood, whether the world recognized this or not. In the context of Oceania, there was constant creation and destruction of statehood churning in a constant cycle

Even within interconnected somewhat smaller regions, like Western Polynesia, there was great diversity in thought and action when it came to governance and statehood. The people of Niuatao in what is now Tuvalu could be argued to have had a state just the same as Tu’i Tonga

Tu’i Tonga and Niuatao sit on opposite ends of the Polynesian political spectrum. Niutao existed autonomous from other islands nearby liked Vaitapu, Nui, Nanumea, Nanumaga, as well as from the encroaching Tu’i Tonga empire. The people of Niutao lived an egalitarian lifestyle

Niutao was governed by a council of chiefs, either male or female, under the law of alofa where any and all food and product was to be shared amongst The People. The ritual of inati, which is still practiced today, meant that all food was evenly divided between all families

Niutao, and other islands of Tuvalu, in this sense can be seen as indigenous examples of communism that predated Marx or any socialist state in the West or East, but this is less a victorious example for the communist state than it is for anarchocommunism

In that Niutao and Nanumaga and Anuta and Pukapuka were able to defend themselves from foreign encroachment and countermovements, whilst still maintaining egalitarian and benevolent anarchy, they served and continue to serve as examples against the idea that anarchocommunism is-

-Infeasible and impractical. Of course on a global scale and outside of tight knit island communities, it is hard to imagine the same thing working, but they show that this is possible. On the opposite end of the spectrum, is the Tu’i Tonga empire.

Tu’i Tonga empire was governed by a God King said to have descended from the Sky God Tangaloa’eiki himself. The Tongan warriors were feared throughout the Pacific for their ferocity and ravenous search for new lands to conquer.

Tongan rulers such as Momo and Tu’itātui spread the Tongan reign over the Pacific from as far as Palau to Rarotonga. It is not fair to call them capitalist, but they were as close as ancient Polynesian kingdoms could get. The main goal of this expansion was to force trade/tribute

The inasi ceremony, which is the Tongan counterpart to the Niutao inati, was the exact opposite. In Tonga, this ritual meant that all of the kings subjects were required to present gifts to the king, in the form of mats, tools, food, slaves etc

This act in of itself is almost a caricature of capitalism in its purest form: all of your fruits of labour go directly to the state and its rulers. This hypercentralist governance is what caused the collapse of the Tu’i Tonga empire in the end, but the state that followed-

Passed on the capitalist legacy. The newly created Kingdom of Tonga, along with Cakobau’s Fiji, the Kingdom of Hawai’i, and Samoa all helped European capitalism to grow in the region by trading copra, beche d’mere, sandalwood, cocoa, sugar, vanilla, and even slaves

All the while, places like Anuta, Takū, Niutao, Pukapuka all maintained their egalitarian lifestyles while the world around them continued to change. Even to this day, as part of larger states, these islands maintain not only their autonomy but their egalitarian attitude

Which is why I feel their societies are ones to emulate. Oceania isn’t the only example of successful indigenous-centered anarchocommunism either. Many examples can be found around the world, from North American indigenous to Africa and Asia. Wherever The People are put first

@SikotiHamiltonR is where these ideas came from for me. Sikoti has written a lot about this and his work is always a good read

What is the impetus of Marxist ideologies? If benevolence and humanitarianism is what we claim to support when supporting communist revolutions, then why should we settle for supporting authoritarian states that abuse the people just as capitalist ones