FOREWORD 1980-2000.
This is basically the foreword I have written at my first attempt to publish this booklet, naturally it has been updated and altered during the following years.
Partly because of inclination and partly because of circumstances, I believe that I have acquired an inquisitive mind. I am not sure whether for me this has been a gift or a curse. Often I have considered lucky those people who live by instinct, without questions, and let life to take care of itself.
Because of this inclination and because whenever I had a discussion about politics and the economy with friends, workmates or anybody else the discussion always ended up like in a vicious circle with the first questions or objections being asked all over again.
For this reason, about ten years ago (1970s) I wrote a sort of an essay with the purpose of delineating my personal opinions on the problems that were plaguing our society at the time; I tried to explain the connection that those problems had with the current economic philosophy and with the nature of Capitalist economy; I intended to stop wasting time and breath arguing each point that I was making and instead give them the booklet to read.
At the time, the Cold War was at its peak and that, more than the social and ecological problems, was the main concern.
Today, the danger of a global nuclear conflict between the capitalist West and the Soviet Union has disappeared, as the Soviet Union no longer exists. The first experiment of creating a new socio-economic organism directed by Humanistic ideals of fairness and justice has been made to fail.
This attempt probably was doomed from the start; born from a destructive war and revolution in a society still under-developed and still with a feudal mentality, opposed from within and from outside, surrounded by countries with governments determined to crush it in its cradle, it was forced to acquire a siege mentality.
In such an environment, it was bound to develop into a dictatorship. As it is the consequence of every dictatorship, it eventually produced a new privileged class and it became corrupt, therefore, the people lost their innocence and their belief in the ideals for which, in the beginning, they were prepared even to give their life.
This first failed experiment was not in vain. It produced reactions in the rest of the world that forced the insensitive Capitalist establishment to limit their exploitation of the Human resources under their power, or at least to pay lip service to the same Human ideals that the Socialist were aspiring to. I hope that the experience of this first failed attempt will show the pitfalls to be avoided, and will show us a more enlightened way to be adopted in the next attempt that, I am sure, will eventually take shape (1980s).
I am so sure for two main reasons: one is that I believe that what is good in Human nature will always manage to survive. The Human condition, those ideals of fairness, justice and kinship on this small and fragile planet Earth, cannot have completely disappeared. The second reason, and the more compelling, is that those problems that I ventured to analyse ten years ago are still present more than ever, aggravated and compounded.
Today the connection between our ecological and social problems and Capitalist economic philosophy is ten times more evident than it has been in the recent past.
The eunuchs of the Media, understandingly, are not prepared to risk their jobs by publicising what should be obvious to anybody with a bit of intelligence and common sense: that Capitalism has come to the end of the road. There are a few journalists who still have some honesty and self respect and are timidly starting to hint at the hopelessness of Capitalist economy to solve the problems that it itself is creating.
The threat of global nuclear war has receded; but, in its place, the senseless trade war that has been going on all along is intensifying. More contenders are coming into the battlefield. They are the ex socialist countries, that by adopting Capitalist philosophy, the "philosophy of the merchant" - to buy and sell as the only condition of survival - they are forced to indebt and castigate themselves to be able to compete on the saturated world's market. As all other developing and underdeveloped countries are already doing the same, the price of most commodities on the world's market is being depressed more and more; it is a senseless competition between Nations to throw each other out of work.
The more indebted Nations cannot free themselves from this stranglehold; they must sell whatever they may have that the customer wants, and at his price. They may have to sell their forests, their birthright and the future of their own children for a pittance. They must let themselves be developed in whatever form the investors choose without regard for their own real needs or the pollution of their own environment. If they have nothing to sell, then they must sell themselves: once proud self sufficient Nations are turned into Nations of servants, shoeshines and prostitutes.
So far all the answers to the problems created by the saturation of capitalist economy have been unconvincing and superficial. The solutions offered have been ineffective. The reason is that at present every investigation about the causes of our social and economic troubles has stopped short of a deep search into the essence and nature of our socio‑economic organism. This is not a coincidence. It is a conscious attempt to hide the real origins of our problems by those who are in a commanding position and, therefore, are mainly responsible for them.
It is the same as an unconscionable power had set the terms of reference to limit the scope of any inquiry into our social and economic problems only to the superficial appearances and the secondary causes. But it is evident that the real causes of our decline can only be found deep within the nature of our system.
In this discussion I will attempt to explain in general terms my notion of the essence of our economy and its relation to the present situation.
In this sort of an essay I will only deal with the main rational concepts and capitalist logic. Detailed evidence can be seen in our everyday lives; also it is readily available in books, reports and other literature that I have come across over the years, and, together with my life experiences, form the basis for my assertions. I do not claim originality, most of what I will say has already been said, and in a better form. In this analysis are the conclusions that I have reached after many years of reflection.
A person's thought is the continually changing product of a long process of experiences and of a long process of assimilation of previously accumulated knowledge. A process that starts long before one's birth. In my particular case, as I have little memory for detail, I have forgotten the origin of most that I have learnt and has found a place in my mind. I acknowledge that I am not the prime origin of my thoughts, I stress that many sentences I have used belong to the authors of the books that I have read; they are the best expressions of ideas and they cannot be improved. Moreover, I am aware of my ignorance and bias.
Before I start, I want to make a very important point: it is far from my intention to blame capitalist businessmen entirely for the problems that we are facing today. At present, they are the actors that have been cast to play the villains in the drama of Human life.
As much as they may be the main determining factor in the evolution of capitalist society, they are themselves enslaved by its economic necessities, and they also will eventually become the victims of the system.
They are Human beings and their actions and attitudes are reinforced by the natural laws of Capitalism and human imperfection. It is only when they attempt to perpetuate at all costs a system that has become obsolete and destructive that they become dangerous.
We are all potential capitalists as we live within a capitalist organism, and we are bound by its forces in our daily struggle for immediate survival. Everybody must have witnessed at some time how the poorest person or the most staunch supporter of Labour, when becoming a businessman or coming in possession of wealth, will gradually or even suddenly assume the attitudes of a capitalist and, when put to the test, will become a conservative.
It is my opinion that, as Adam Smith pointed out over two centuries ago, that ".....the evils come from the system, not from the character of the men who administer it...", but also I believe that because of the nature of capitalist business competition those who reach the top generally are not necessarily the most intelligent and honest but rather are the most selfish, cunning, ruthless and insensitive human beings. I think that, in the main, this is true. Nevertheless they must be prevented from destroying this Planet that so far has been suitable to Human life.
I hope that the reader will keep this in mind right through the discussion, no matter how vilified the capitalist "merchants and manufacturers" may seem to be.
Here I will talk about ourselves ‑ Human beings locked in a socio‑economic organism in its final dangerous stage of evolution.