What could be more socialist -- even communist -- than home exchange? Bypassing the travel industry by trading homes and vehicles is the ultimate in empowerment for the proletariat. Well, maybe not the proletariat, exactly. They probably don't have the money or union power to take much vacation time off from work. But hey, the bourgeoisie needs empowerment too.
Don't believe me? Here are some ways home exchange shares communist principles:
* The original home exchangers were teachers who had a lot of vacation time but little money to enjoy it. These low-paid workers banded together, as in a union, to increase their power.
* True to its roots, home exchange is communist in its emphasis that all participants are inherently equal, as long as both parties are interested in each others' homes.
* No money changes hands in home exchange. No corporation need reap profits from your vacation lodging or meals. That's anti-capitalist!
* Participants in home exchange receive benefits according to their needs. A family of five may get the use of a 6-bedroom home while the couple with whom they swap uses that family's three bedroom apartment (I speak from experience here).
* It is very common for exchangers to provide their guests with free food, guide books and passes to local attractions.
* Citizens of all cultures and countries are honored for their uniqueness and cultural richness, not their belongings. The average home swapper values the enriching opportunity to meet real people in their travel destination and "live like a local". I would guess that most swappers would rather stay in a creaky cottage with a thatched roof than a sterile chain hotel room.
Not surprisingly, home exchange is most popular in socialist Western Europe. In the United States, where corporate greed runs unchecked, the heads of corporations routinely earn hundreds of times as much as the average worker and the tax system of the past eight years was set up to reward the rich, only a tiny fraction of people have even heard of swapping homes.
Part of the reason for this is that wealth in America is disproportionately owned by just a few ultra-rich families. The average person here seems not to have the financial resources or freedom to travel or create a home that would attract many offer. The very wealthy, by contrast, tend not to have a need or desire for home exchange, often preferring "see and be seen" destinations and accommodations.
In fact, newly rich people often talk themselves out of a swap by demanding exchange homes that are "equivalent" to their own. I frequently hear from such individuals that their home is worth X amount and mine should be too if I wish to exchange with them. That is not the socialistic home exchange mindset and it is a sure path to offending a potential home swap partner and ending up without any exchange.
Here in the US, for most people, "socialist" and "communism" are scary words, and home exchange is a bizarre European concept. Home exchange appeals to people who are not frightened by ideas. You could be one of them.
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