The capitalist age..(2)
The Acquisition of Wealth Neither the intellectuals nor the capitalists directly produce the wealth of society; instead they accumulate the wealth produced by others. To say that there is a heaven-and-hell difference between their methods of acquiring wealth is to say little. The intellectuals use their intellect and acquire the hard-earned wealth of others in order to meet their material needs, maintain their reputation in society and protect their prestige. But the capitalist outlook is different. They are content to simply accumulate wealth, and derive pleasure from thinking about their accumulated riches. Hence even millionaire capitalist sometimes neglect the bare necessities of life. They forget their hunger when they are counting their money; they forget their personal needs -- their minds get absorbed -- when they see the wealth they have accumulated. And as for prestige, they sell it for money without any hesitation. If a certain commodity is easily obtainable in the open market, a capitalist will welcome a customer with folded hands, saying, "Please come in, sir, have some betel." But when the same commodity is only available in the black market, the same capitalist will not even recognize that customer. In other words, to capitalists money is the only thing that matters. Where money is concerned, their own prestige or the prestige of others is of no consequence. When people use their intellects over a long period of time solely to accumulate material wealth, their intellects, because they have inculcated this sort of thought in their mental bodies, gradually develop in that direction. In other words, "How can I accumulate more?" ultimately becomes their only thought. Their social spirit and sense of humanity gradually disappear until eventually they become total blood-sucking leeches. They do not retain even the tiniest scrap of humanity. At the beginning of the Capitalist Age some social spirit still exists in them alongside the desire to make money. Whatever their motive may be, the capitalists do sometimes spend generously on social service and charitable activities, but by the end of the Capitalist Age they lose even the last vestiges of social consciousness, and as a result of their foolhardiness workers revolution occurs. At the beginning of the Capitalist Age the capitalists use their money-making intellect both for social service and for accumulating money, and in these matters they take advice from other members of society. But by the end of the Capitalist Age they become so irresponsible due to the intoxication of accumulation that they are not prepared to take advice from anyone. They use their money-making intellect solely to exploit society. How the Capitalists Evolve In the Intellectual Age those who were defeated due to their lack of physical strength, courage or intellectual ability tried to discover an alternative way to live and gain social recognition. The particular type of psychic clash which arose in their minds due to their constant efforts to establish themselves developed in them their money-making intellect. This skill helped them to utilize the strength of the strong, the courage of the brave and the intellect of the intellectuals. Pseudo-Capitalists Some intellectuals' economic intellect is awakened while under the patronage of the economic intellect of the capitalists. Such people become pseudo-capitalists, and towards the end of the Capitalist Age their dominance of society becomes evident. The intellectuals' crooked thinking blends with the capitalist-like economic intellect of these pseudo-capitalists, but the pseudo-capitalists do not possess any of the good qualities of either the capitalists or the intellectuals. So although they carry on the capitalist legacy up to the very end of the Capitalist Age, they finally fall into utter disgrace and disrepute. In their efforts to perpetuate their exploitation without hindrance, the pseudo-capitalists make use not only of their economic intellect but also of whatever other intellectual capacities they possess. By hook or by crook they even seize governmental power. They then use that power as an instrument of exploitation, a cruel machine to ruthlessly pulverize the whole of society. Out of fear that their descendants may face financial difficulties in the future due to their lack of competence, they not only continue to exploit the whole of society, but also set aside for those descendants huge sums of money which remain wholly or partially unutilized. The non-utilization of capital is the worst consequence of economic exploitation. Exploited and downtrodden people who do not want to be exploited to death, revolt. Thus worker revolution occurs during the period of the Capitalist Age which is dominated by dishonest capitalists. The vitality of the Warrior Age gives way to the intellectuality of the Intellectual Age, and the intellectuality of the intellectuals is bought for money in the Capitalist Age. The capitalists buy the intellectuals' intellect with money, and with the help of that intellect they build up their state, society and economic structure, putting them to work as they choose. Generating Collective Wealth Nothing in the world is exclusively good or exclusively bad. Is the Capitalist Age only an age of economic exploitation? Is there nothing good in this present Capitalist Age, and has there never been anything good in it? Although it is a fact that the capitalists' economic exploitation has always surpassed their service, they have nevertheless done service, however small or insignificant it may have been. When the intellectuals collect something (directly or indirectly), they decide how and to what extent it can be put to use, how it can be enjoyed by the people and how it can be utilized for their welfare. But the capitalists collect things without thinking about how they can be utilized for social welfare. Instead they think about how to compel people through circumstantial pressure to buy those things so that they can earn money in exchange. Material goods have no practical value for the capitalists, except as a source of income. This type of mentality leads them to illegally hoard foodstuffs out of a greedy desire for greater profits, depriving millions of people of food and pushing them down the road towards death. We do not expect intellectuals to do such things. The intellectuals do promote their personal interests and their domination, but they do not try to deprive the workers and warriors of a chance to live. But if the capitalists think of the warriors or workers as thorns on the path of making money, they will deprive them of a chance, and often out of greed for greater profit indirectly kill them. Having said all this, I still contend that nothing in this world is exclusively good or bad. For any individual or collective endeavour, capital, either in the form of money or resources, is initially required. The opportunity to create such capital, to create capital in a massive way or in a widely-diversified way, comes in the Capitalist Age. With the help of such capital, wealth can be generated for both individual and collective needs, and this is what happens. In order to raise the general standard of living in a society, state or economy, capital is required, whether the capital comes from within a particular country or from outside. No matter where it comes from, it must be controlled partly or completely by an individual. The individual controller is, of course, the capitalist. But if, without examining how it should or should not be used, the use or control of the capital is entrusted to a government, a cooperative or a representative of the public, non-utilization or misutilization of the capital will be inevitable in all circumstances. This is one of the main reasons why capitalistic countries develop extremely rapidly in the material sphere. Furthermore, if large amounts of capital are placed under collective management, a small error on the part of the managers will lead to gross misutilization. This is the main reason why the system of collective farming, or the commune system, has failed in socialistic countries. If the ownership of wealth is taken away from individuals and placed in the hands of the state -- in other words, if the capitalist system is abolished by force -- managers will not have the same control over that wealth as individual owners would. State Capitalism One thing more needs to be said about collective capital: collective capital does not always mean the establishment of socialism. Where collective capital means the capital of the state, if the state tries to increase its national wealth without stopping exploitation in society and without trying to increase individual wealth, increasing the national wealth will mean increasing the individual wealth of only a few people in power. Thus, although there is an increase in the per capita income, the per capita income of the poor does not increase, and the per capita income of the well-to-do does not decrease. Although one cannot support this sort of state capitalism, one cannot deny that the state has to utilize capital in order to increase the wealth of the state. If state capitalism actually increases the per capita income of every person without constantly seeking to exploit, we cannot but praise it -- it can be considered exemplary socialism. After all, a state must invest capital if it wants to increase the national income. Such capital investment is clearly a capitalist system. ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Help save the life of a child. Support St. Jude Children's Research Hospital's 'Thanks & Giving.' http://us.click.yahoo.com/mGEjbB/5WnJAA/E2hLAA/BRUplB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> *************************************************************************** Berdikusi dg Santun & Elegan, dg Semangat Persahabatan. Menuju Indonesia yg Lebih Baik, in Commonality & Shared Destiny. www.ppi-india.org *************************************************************************** __________________________________________________________________________ Mohon Perhatian: 1. Harap tdk. memposting/reply yg menyinggung SARA (kecuali sbg otokritik) 2. Pesan yg akan direply harap dihapus, kecuali yg akan dikomentari. 3. Lihat arsip sebelumnya, www.ppi-india.da.ru; 4. Satu email perhari: [EMAIL PROTECTED] 5. No-email/web only: [EMAIL PROTECTED] 6. kembali menerima email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ppiindia/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
