Capitalist Age (3)
Perpetuating Exploitation The capitalists became established through their materialistic intellect. First they defeated the intellectuals through their materialistic intellect and financial machinations, then they turned them into sycophants so that they could harness their intellects in order to increase their wealth. Although the production, accumulation and distribution of things indispensable for the preservation of human life are carried out under the ownership or partial supervision of the capitalists, those whose labour, personal force and intellect are actually used to produce and distribute essential commodities are not capitalists. In order to meet their own needs those people mortgage their labour, personal force and intellect to the capitalists. The capitalists clearly understand that their system of exploitation will fail without the help of the workers, warriors and intellectuals. Thus behind their grandiloquence the capitalists continue their psychological manipulations in order to perpetuate their capitalistic rule. Through this process the workers and warriors readily become their slaves. Although the intellectuals understand what is happening, after a short struggle they are also compelled to surrender to the capitalists like a fly caught in a spider's web. These psychological manipulations, a part of capitalist philosophy, begin to fail only when the workers, warriors and intellectuals lose their minds due to excessive exploitation. They then become desperate, blind, mindless people who completely lack conscience, intellect or rationality. One day they mercilessly smash the capitalist structure to pieces. How or why they did it, or how the new structure will be built -- these considerations, this type of thinking -- never enter their minds. They only jump into the struggle in order to survive. They think, "Since there is no point in living, let us die sooner." While this directionless revolution is going on, the condition of the workers, warriors and intellectuals becomes almost the same. It is useless to expect from them anything worthy of human beings. Intellect controls strength; therefore the intellectuals control the workers and the warriors. But, "Wonderful are the ways of hunger" -- when even intelligent people find themselves struggling to survive, they readily sell their intelligence for money; for this reason the intellectuals sell themselves to the capitalists. They not only sell themselves, but also surrender the workers and the warriors, whom they had previously controlled, at the holy feet of their capitalist overlords. Without the help of the intellectuals, it would be virtually impossible for the capitalists to force the workers and the warriors to work. It is therefore evident that in a capitalistic structure, when the capitalists struggle to perpetuate their system of exploitation, they do not physically struggle, they merely spend money. Upon taking the money, the intellectuals then fight with their nerves, the warriors with their muscles, and the workers with their sweat and labour. Thus it is clear that in any type of communal or other reactionary-instigated conflict, there are wealthy bosses on both sides behind the riots and fracases. The bosses themselves never take up spears, lances or axes and fight. The victory of wealth over intellect, the intellectuals' surrender at the feet of the capitalists, does not come about in a single day. As mentioned earlier, the capitalists get caught like a fly in a spider's web; they do make some efforts to understand their situation, but finally they become so entangled in the web that their vitality gets exhausted in the struggle and they have no alternative but to surrender. They are then compelled to sing the victory songs of the capitalists as they beat their heads in despair. Through the power of money the capitalists take over all the constructive work accomplished by, or useful things built by, the intelligence and ideological commitment of the intellectuals, the sacrifice and personal force of innumerable warriors, and the labour of countless workers. Sometimes the intellectuals, warriors and workers seek the help of the unworthy capitalists in order to preserve some worthy institution. But for the sake of money, they are compelled to name the institution after those capitalists. However, the capitalists' cunning methods of economic exploitation do encounter set-backs according to time, place and person. Whenever they see the intellectuals, warriors and workers moving towards counter-evolution or counter-revolution, they adopt new forms of deception in order to save their position. Until an actual worker revolution occurs, they engage themselves untiringly in trying to discover newer and more artful methods of deception. It should be remembered that in countries where the dominant capitalist structure is at present extremely firm and stable, the strength of that structure was not created in a day. The capitalists laboured a long time to build it and they will try to maintain it by any means. To expect, under such circumstances, that they will be won over by humble requests, or will voluntarily put on a loincloth and renounce the world, is sheer lunacy. Actually such things are possible if they become inspired by a great spiritual ideology; however, this would require the long-term, continuous propagation of morality-based spirituality among the capitalists. Intelligent people should certainly consider whether it is really rational to allow the exploitation of the masses to go on until such a day comes. The occasional charity works that the capitalists undertake are only a trick to maintain their exploitation. Most of their charitable activities are not inspired by humanism; their sole purpose is to keep the machinery of exploitation, that is, the intellectuals and the workers, functioning. If the intellectuals and the workers die, who will there be to exploit? The cunning capitalists consider such charitable activities as investments. The help that capitalists extend to poor people in difficult times, during floods and famines, they afterwards recover with interest. They are benefited in various ways. First, their businesses continue to run and they make good money. Secondly, people who are disgruntled with the capitalists' exploitation are to some extent pacified and their wounded minds are temporarily soothed. Of course these comments do not apply to those capitalists who do social service out of humanitarian or spiritual inspiration. No doubt there are some honest capitalists who are worthy of veneration by everyone. Whatever dignity a person possesses as a human being in either the Warrior Age or the Intellectual Age is dealt its heaviest blow in the Capitalist Age. In the Capitalist Age a person's dignity is measured in terms of money. The repercussions of this defective evaluation of human beings are not confined only to the realm of dignity; they have far-reaching effects in all spheres of society. No matter how many other qualities they may possess, capitalists and warriors who think independently, possess a sense of dignity or are self-reliant, cannot establish themselves unless they learn to flatter the capitalists in a psychological way. Even the unworthy son or relative of a wealthy person has the opportunity to sit at the head of society, and through the power of money an unattractive daughter is properly married to a good bridegroom. A good marriage cannot be arranged even for the sons of the poor, intelligent and educated though they may be, let alone the daughters of the poor. In fact in the Capitalist Age people cannot hope to be respected unless they are rich. Those who hope for respect or have gained it, depend or have depended on the mercy of the capitalists. Yasya'sti vittam'sah narah kuliinah; Sa pan'd'itah sah shrutava'na gun'ajinah Sa eva vkta'sa ca darshaniiyah; Sarve gun'a'h ka'incan'ama'shrayanti "Those who have wealth, are high-caste, Are well-educated, possess many abilities, Are good orators and are good-looking, They have all these qualities because they have money." The methods of social exploitation used in the Intellectuals and Capitalist Ages are somewhat similar. Certain aspects of society in the Intellectual Age therefore remain unchanged in the Capitalist Age, such as the social system, the law, the status of men and women and the right of inheritance. Breaking the Capitalist Structure The difficulties faced by those who have tried and are trying to break apart the structure of the Capitalist Age in order to rebuild society on a humanistic foundation, are not less, but are in fact a little more, than the indescribable social tortures that great people suffered in the past when they tried to reform the social structure of the Intellectual Age. This is because those who wanted to break apart the intellectuals' structure had to fight the intellectuals and also the warriors and workers under their protection, but those who want to strike at the capitalists' structure have to fight against all the intellectuals, warriors and workers who are obedient to the capitalists. But there are similarities between the two. The common people misunderstand great people who act on their behalf and for their welfare, or even if they understand them, they do not give them their support. Their nerves, courage and labour are bought with the capitalists' money. The intellectuals exploit the masses in the Intellectual Age under the pretence of religion, which cannot be challenged. The same thing occurs in the Capitalist Age, but capitalist exploitation is more dangerous. In the Intellectuals Age the intellectuals exploit others through religion in order to promote their personal interests, but in the Capitalist Age the intellectuals exploit others through religion in order to promote both their own and the capitalists' interests. In the Capitalist Age this religious exploitation is more psychic than physical, because the capitalists use the intellectuals to try to spread intellectual propaganda among the masses to prevent them from finding any philosophical justification for their suppressed grievances against the capitalist structure. This intellectual propaganda aims to convince people that they are the victims of circumstance. It argues, "Everything is destiny. Everything is preordained." Such doctrines help the capitalist to perpetuate their structure. They destroy the personal force of people and make them the playthings of fate. People accept the idea that everything is preordained, and support the status quo. Those who try to break the structure of the Capitalist Age and show the downtrodden the path of liberation, will have to advise the people to free themselves from the intoxicating effect of the opium of religion; otherwise how will they be able to serve the downtrodden people? A group of exploiters loudly object to a remark that was made by the great Karl Marx concerning religion. It should be remembered that Karl Marx never opposed spirituality, morality and proper conduct. What he said was directed against the religion of his time, because he perceived, understood and realized that religion had psychologically paralysed the people and reduced them to impotence by persuading them to surrender to a group of sinners. _ In the winter of the Bengali year 1368 [end of 1961 or beginning of 1962 BCE], some opportunistic astrologers/religious priests declared that the world would soon come to an end following the conjunction of several planets in a particular house of the zodiac. Perhaps they thought that the public would be frightened by such a declaration, and just prior to the cataclysm might renounce everything and donate a large part of their wealth to the astrologers in an effort to ensure that they would go to heaven. This plan of the Indian astrologers met with some success; out of fear many sinners undertook charitable activities. The frightened capitalists arranged sacrificial fires presided over by the astrologer-priests. They thought that perhaps the smoke from the sacrificial fires would change the course of the planets concerned, moving them out of the zodiacal house they were in and thereby preventing the destruction. The commercial mentality of the capitalists was glaringly evident in their temporary religious fervour. Along with this there was another amusing thing I noticed. For use in the sacrificial fires the capitalists sold ghee that was unfit for human consumption, at exorbitant prices. ------------------------ 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. 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