Is it advisable for one who is not an expert on economic and social issues
to express views on the subject of socialism? I believe for a number of
reasons that it is.
Let us first consider the question from the point of view of scientific
knowledge. It might appear that there are no essential methodological
differences between astronomy and economics: scientists in both fields
attempt to discover laws of general acceptability for a circumscribed group
of phenomena in order to make the interconnection of these phenomena as
clearly understandable as possible. But in reality such methodological
differences do exist. The discovery of general laws in the field of
economics is made difficult by the circumstance that observed economic
phenomena are often affected by many factors which are very hard to
evaluate separately. In addition, the experience which has accumulated
since the beginning of the so-called civilized period of human history
has—as is well known—been largely influenced and limited by causes which
are by no means exclusively economic in nature. For example, most of the
major states of history owed their existence to conquest. The conquering
peoples established themselves, legally and economically, as the privileged
class of the conquered country. They seized for themselves a monopoly of
the land ownership and appointed a priesthood from among their own ranks.
The priests, in control of education, made the class division of society
into a permanent institution and created a system of values by which the
people were thenceforth, to a large extent unconsciously, guided in their
social behavior.
But historic tradition is, so to speak, of yesterday; nowhere have we
really overcome what Thorstein Veblen called "the predatory phase" of human
development. The observable economic facts belong to that phase and even
such laws as we can derive from them are not applicable to other phases.
Since the real purpose of socialism is precisely to overcome and advance
beyond the predatory phase of human development, economic science in its
present state can throw little light on the socialist society of the future.
Second, socialism is directed towards a social-ethical end. Science,
however, cannot create ends and, even less, instill them in human beings;
science, at most, can supply the means by which to attain certain ends. But
the ends themselves are conceived by personalities with lofty ethical
ideals and—if these ends are not stillborn, but vital and vigorous—are
adopted and carried forward by those many human beings who, half
unconsciously, determine the slow evolution of society.
For these reasons, we should be on our guard not to overestimate science
and scientific methods when it is a question of human problems; and we
should not assume that experts are the only ones who have a right to
express themselves on questions affecting the organization of society.
Innumerable voices have been asserting for some time now that human society
is passing through a crisis, that its stability has been gravely shattered.
It is characteristic of such a situation that individuals feel indifferent
or even hostile toward the group, small or large, to which they belong. In
order to illustrate my meaning, let me record here a personal experience. I
recently discussed with an intelligent and well-disposed man the threat of
another war, which in my opinion would seriously endanger the existence of
mankind, and I remarked that only a supra-national organization would offer
protection from that danger. Thereupon my visitor, very calmly and coolly,
said to me: "Why are you so deeply opposed to the disappearance of the
human race?"
I am sure that as little as a century ago no one would have so lightly made
a statement of this kind. It is the statement of a man who has striven in
vain to attain an equilibrium within himself and has more or less lost hope
of succeeding. It is the expression of a painful solitude and isolation
from which so many people are suffering in these days. What is the cause?
Is there a way out?
It is easy to raise such questions, but difficult to answer them with any
degree of assurance. I must try, however, as best I can, although I am very
conscious of the fact that our feelings and strivings are often
contradictory and obscure and that they cannot be expressed in easy and
simple formulas.
Man is, at one and the same time, a solitary being and a social being. As a
solitary being, he attempts to protect his own existence and that of those
who are closest to him, to satisfy his personal desires, and to develop his
innate abilities. As a social being, he seeks to gain the recognition and
affection of his fellow human beings, to share in their pleasures, to
comfort them in their sorrows, and to improve their conditions of life.
Only the existence of these varied, frequently conflicting, strivings
accounts for the special character of a man, and their specific combination
determines the extent to which an individual can achieve an inner
equilibrium and can contribute to the well-being of society. It is quite
possible that the relative strength of these two drives is, in the main,
fixed by inheritance. But the personality that finally emerges is largely
formed by the environment in which a man happens to find himself during his
development, by the structure of the society in which he grows up, by the
tradition of that society, and by its appraisal of particular types of
behavior. The abstract concept "society" means to the individual human
being the sum total of his direct and indirect relations to his
contemporaries and to all the people of earlier generations. The individual
is able to think, feel, strive, and work by himself; but he depends so much
upon society—in his physical, intellectual, and emotional existence—that it
is impossible to think of him, or to understand him, outside the framework
of society. It is "society" which provides man with food, clothing, a home,
the tools of work, language, the forms of thought, and most of the content
of thought; his life is made possible through the labor and the
accomplishments of the many millions past and present who are all hidden
behind the small word "society."
It is evident, therefore, that the dependence of the individual upon
society is a fact of nature which cannot be abolished—just as in the case
of ants and bees. However, while the whole life process of ants and bees is
fixed down to the smallest detail by rigid, hereditary instincts, the
social pattern and interrelationships of human beings are very variable and
susceptible to change. Memory, the capacity to make new combinations, the
gift of oral communication have made possible developments among human
being which are not dictated by biological necessities. Such developments
manifest themselves in traditions, institutions, and organizations; in
literature; in scientific and engineering accomplishments; in works of art.
This explains how it happens that, in a certain sense, man can influence
his life through his own conduct, and that in this process conscious
thinking and wanting can play a part.
Man acquires at birth, through heredity, a biological constitution which we
must consider fixed and unalterable, including the natural urges which are
characteristic of the human species. In addition, during his lifetime, he
acquires a cultural constitution which he adopts from society through
communication and through many other types of influences. It is this
cultural constitution which, with the passage of time, is subject to change
and which determines to a very large extent the relationship between the
individual and society. Modern anthropology has taught us, through
comparative investigation of so-called primitive cultures, that the social
behavior of human beings may differ greatly, depending upon prevailing
cultural patterns and the types of organization which predominate in
society. It is on this that those who are striving to improve the lot of
man may ground their hopes: human beings are not condemned, because of
their biological constitution, to annihilate each other or to be at the
mercy of a cruel, self-inflicted fate.
If we ask ourselves how the structure of society and the cultural attitude
of man should be changed in order to make human life as satisfying as
possible, we should constantly be conscious of the fact that there are
certain conditions which we are unable to modify. As mentioned before, the
biological nature of man is, for all practical purposes, not subject to
change. Furthermore, technological and demographic developments of the last
few centuries have created conditions which are here to stay. In relatively
densely settled populations with the goods which are indispensable to their
continued existence, an extreme division of labor and a highly-centralized
productive apparatus are absolutely necessary. The time—which, looking
back, seems so idyllic—is gone forever when individuals or relatively small
groups could be completely self-sufficient. It is only a slight
exaggeration to say that mankind constitutes even now a planetary community
of production and consumption.
I have now reached the point where I may indicate briefly what to me
constitutes the essence of the crisis of our time. It concerns the
relationship of the individual to society. The individual has become more
conscious than ever of his dependence upon society. But he does not
experience this dependence as a positive asset, as an organic tie, as a
protective force, but rather as a threat to his natural rights, or even to
his economic existence. Moreover, his position in society is such that the
egotistical drives of his make-up are constantly being accentuated, while
his social drives, which are by nature weaker, progressively deteriorate.
All human beings, whatever their position in society, are suffering from
this process of deterioration. Unknowingly prisoners of their own egotism,
they feel insecure, lonely, and deprived of the naive, simple, and
unsophisticated enjoyment of life. Man can find meaning in life, short and
perilous as it is, only through devoting himself to society.
The economic anarchy of capitalist society as it exists today is, in my
opinion, the real source of the evil. We see before us a huge community of
producers the members of which are unceasingly striving to deprive each
other of the fruits of their collective labor—not by force, but on the
whole in faithful compliance with legally established rules. In this
respect, it is important to realize that the means of production—that is to
say, the entire productive capacity that is needed for producing consumer
goods as well as additional capital goods—may legally be, and for the most
part are, the private property of individuals.
For the sake of simplicity, in the discussion that follows I shall call
"workers" all those who do not share in the ownership of the means of
production—although this does not quite correspond to the customary use of
the term. The owner of the means of production is in a position to purchase
the labor power of the worker. By using the means of production, the worker
produces new goods which become the property of the capitalist. The
essential point about this process is the relation between what the worker
produces and what he is paid, both measured in terms of real value. Insofar
as the labor contract is "free," what the worker receives is determined not
by the real value of the goods he produces, but by his minimum needs and by
the capitalists' requirements for labor power in relation to the number of
workers competing for jobs. It is important to understand that even in
theory the payment of the worker is not determined by the value of his
product.
Private capital tends to become concentrated in few hands, partly because
of competition among the capitalists, and partly because technological
development and the increasing division of labor encourage the formation of
larger units of production at the expense of smaller ones. The result of
these developments is an oligarchy of private capital the enormous power of
which cannot be effectively checked even by a democratically organized
political society. This is true since the members of legislative bodies are
selected by political parties, largely financed or otherwise influenced by
private capitalists who, for all practical purposes, separate the
electorate from the legislature. The consequence is that the
representatives of the people do not in fact sufficiently protect the
interests of the underprivileged sections of the population. Moreover,
under existing conditions, private capitalists inevitably control, directly
or indirectly, the main sources of information (press, radio, education).
It is thus extremely difficult, and indeed in most cases quite impossible,
for the individual citizen to come to objective conclusions and to make
intelligent use of his political rights.
The situation prevailing in an economy based on the private ownership of
capital is thus characterized by two main principles: first, means of
production (capital) are privately owned and the owners dispose of them as
they see fit; second, the labor contract is free. Of course, there is no
such thing as a pure capitalist society in this sense. In particular, it
should be noted that the workers, through long and bitter political
struggles, have succeeded in securing a somewhat improved form of the "free
labor contract" for certain categories of workers. But taken as a whole,
the present day economy does not differ much from "pure" capitalism.
Production is carried on for profit, not for use. There is no provision
that all those able and willing to work will always be in a position to
find employment; an "army of unemployed" almost always exists. The worker
is constantly in fear of losing his job. Since unemployed and poorly paid
workers do not provide a profitable market, the production of consumers'
goods is restricted, and great hardship is the consequence. Technological
progress frequently results in more unemployment rather than in an easing
of the burden of work for all. The profit motive, in conjunction with
competition among capitalists, is responsible for an instability in the
accumulation and utilization of capital which leads to increasingly severe
depressions. Unlimited competition leads to a huge waste of labor, and to
that crippling of the social consciousness of individuals which I mentioned
before.
This crippling of individuals I consider the worst evil of capitalism. Our
whole educational system suffers from this evil. An exaggerated competitive
attitude is inculcated into the student, who is trained to worship
acquisitive success as a preparation for his future career.
I am convinced there is only one way to eliminate these grave evils, namely
through the establishment of a socialist economy, accompanied by an
educational system which would be oriented toward social goals. In such an
economy, the means of production are owned by society itself and are
utilized in a planned fashion. A planned economy, which adjusts production
to the needs of the community, would distribute the work to be done among
all those able to work and would guarantee a livelihood to every man,
woman, and child. The education of the individual, in addition to promoting
his own innate abilities, would attempt to develop in him a sense of
responsibility for his fellow men in place of the glorification of power
and success in our present society.
Nevertheless, it is necessary to remember that a planned economy is not yet
socialism. A planned economy as such may be accompanied by the complete
enslavement of the individual. The achievement of socialism requires the
solution of some extremely difficult socio-political problems: how is it
possible, in view of the far-reaching centralization of political and
economic power, to prevent bureaucracy from becoming all-powerful and
overweening? How can the rights of the individual be protected and
therewith a democratic counterweight to the power of bureaucracy be assured?
Clarity about the aims and problems of socialism is of greatest
significance in our age of transition. Since, under present circumstances,
free and unhindered discussion of these problems has come under a powerful
taboo, I consider the foundation of this magazine to be an important public
service.