Communicity

The idea of communism, as Alain Badiou (2008: 98) explains, is an historical anchoring point 'of everything elusive, slippery and evanescent', a becoming-truth that negates capitalism, the institutions which support it and the ideology of 'there is no alternative'. A communistic impulse is arguably present in all of people, an impulse for equality, self-determination and justice: an impulse that business and politicians capture in claims about fairness, inclusivity and now sensitivity to the environment. This short piece is on the uncanny communism of three left-liberal archetypes: Richard Branson (the liberal communist), Wal-Mart (the communistic firm) and Colin -- 'No Impact Man' -- Beavan (the communistic consumer). They each reproduce visual and linguistic signifiers of communism, described here as an image-communism or communicity -- a term adapted from Roland Barthes' analysis of an advertisement for the pasta brand Panzani. Images, according to Barthes, carry a range of different meanings or connotations acquiring a common sense or denotive power by registering with a preformed cultural knowledge.