The need for socialism
Marx states: “No social order ever perishes before all the productive
forces for which there is room in it have developed; and new, higher
relations of production never appear before the material conditions of
their existence have matured in the womb of the old society itself”
(Preface to A Critique of Political Economy).
It is difficult to show that this claim is correct, but that does not
make it irrelevant. It provides us with a starting point to consider
whether the material conditions for a socialist society exist today. It
also suggests we look at whether capitalism has outlived its role as a
progressive economic force in history. For if there is a solution to
the problems we face today, certainly it is desirable to implement that
solution. And if capitalism is not that solution, and has outlived its
usefulness, then surely we are obliged, for our own sakes, to abandon
the only economic system any of us has ever known. That is obviously a
serious undertaking, and perhaps a frightening one, but one which has
been successfully undertaken before, for example, to establish
capitalism.
Does the current mode of production Ä capitalism Ä act as a fetter upon
production? Are the material conditions which currently exist,
sufficiently mature to support new, higher relations of production:
socialism?
In 1992, Professor Vulimiri Ramalingaswami, Chair of the World Health
Organization medical research committee, told the world that we have
the ability to produce enough food for everyone. The ability and
technology currently exists to feed, clothe, and house every human
being on the planet. However, that ability and technology cannot be
used to feed, clothe, and house billions of human beings. Even in
supposedly wealthy countries such as Canada, about eight percent of the
population had difficulty putting food on the table at least once in
1998-99, according to Statistics Canada. Yet Canada is a net exporter
of food. And people freeze to death in the streets because they have no
home. Yet Canada is a net exporter of lumber. Something is wrong with
this picture: capitalism.
According to the World Health Organization, one child dies, and another
is disabled, every twelve seconds, day and night, because they cannot
afford vaccines costing about $10 (œ5.25). The World Health
Organization also tells us that in the United States, tuberculosis, an
easily-cured disease of the poor, is increasing. Something is wrong
with this picture: capitalism.
Although capitalism cannot provide necessary food and medication for
our children, it spends more than $350,000 (œ184,000) every
twelve seconds on arms (guns, bombs, jet fighters, aircraft carriers,
landmines, etcetera). Socialists do not suggest that the arms budget
should be used to feed and care for children and the rest of us. As
desirable as such diversion may sound, we know that capitalism must
spend that money to protect capitalists from other capitalists, and
from the working class. Military spending under capitalism is not
optional, it is an absolute necessity. Redirecting the money from war,
to help the starving, the homeless, and the sick, is impossible.
Something is wrong with this picture: capitalism.
The current material productive forces are in conflict with the
relations of production. We should clarify these terms. “Material
productive forces” refers to the things actually involved in
production, such as workers, land, factories, mines, and
transportation. The “relations of production” is somewhat more
difficult to explain. It involves such things as whether production
occurs, who owns the material productive forces, and who owns the
results of production. Currently, the relationship between people and
land, factories, mines, and transportation, divides people into two
groups. One group owns those things. The other group must use its
physical and mental labour to turn raw materials into finished
products. Workers produce everything from food to education, from
automobiles to hammers, from houses to hospitals, and from shopping
malls to factories. We even produce the weapons used to kill each other
in capital’s wars.
Those who own the means of production (basically the material
productive forces excluding workers), control when, where, and how
production takes place. If a factory owner decides to shut down a
factory, the workers have no say in the matter. If the owners of an
automobile manufacturing company decide to move their factories to
Canada, or Mexico, or the United States, or Japan, or Taiwan, it is
their choice. They own the means of production. If the owners of a food
processing plant believe that they cannot sell their product for a
profit, they have the right to shut down the plant. That right is
theirs even if the processing plant produced all of the food in the
world.
The products of the factories are owned by those who own the factories.
The owners may have never been on the same continent as the factory,
but they nonetheless own everything produced in the factory. Those who
do the actual work have no legal right to the products they have
produced. Those who own the means and the products of production, and
who control production, are capitalists. The rest of us are the working
class. With that understanding of material productive forces and
relations of production, we can continue our examination.
We have developed our ability to produce to a level which easily
enables us to meet everyone’s needs. But the relations of
production-capitalism-disable us. Capitalism cannot accommodate that
necessary production. By and large people do not go hungry because
there is no food, but because they are, from the unalterable
perspective of capitalism, unworthy: they cannot afford to eat. They
cannot afford to eat because from capitalism’s perspective there is no
reason to employ them and pay them. We have developed the material
productive forces to such an extent that fewer and fewer workers can
produce more and more of the things we need to live. But still, people
cannot get the necessities of life.
Those of us who haven’t been hungry, who’ve always managed to scrape
together enough money to purchase clothing and housing and medical
care, may think that they are somehow excluded from these negative
effects of capitalism. Don’t be so sure. Some of those people in Canada
who had difficulty putting food on the table where members of what
Statistics Canada euphemistically calls the “middle-class.” Canadian
workers used to wonder why Japanese workers would not take all of their
holidays. Now Canadian workers are doing the same thing, for the same
reason. They are afraid for their jobs. More and more, workers are
working an extra half-hour or an hour or more, before they leave work
for the day, or they take work home. They are producing extra profit
for the capitalists, but no extra pay for themselves. Even though fewer
workers produce more, it isn’t enough for the capitalists.
For years we have been told that improvements in production should mean
reduced working hours. Instead it means that many of us work longer
hours for the same pay. Many others are not permitted to work because
capital does not require their labour. This is more evidence that our
productive ability has outstripped the ability of capitalism to
accommodate our ability to produce.
The apologists for capital would have us believe that Karl Marx was
wrong about (almost?) everything he said and wrote. But it is clear
that “the material productive forces of society come in conflict with
the existing relations of production.” Marx was right.
Most workers do not believe that capitalism itself is the problem. The
media, which is a propaganda outlet owned and controlled by
capitalists, encourages us to blame anything but capitalism. Most of us
do not see through the propaganda, but most of us complain of
capitalism’s effects. We attempt to subvert its actions for our own
good, and we direct our dissatisfaction in a million directions. We
grumble and complain about our lot in life. We busy ourselves with
hobbies so that we don’t have time to think about our problems, or
solve them. We try to change the laws; we see beauty in things which
are not; and we philosophize that humanity is incapable of solving the
problems of production. We invent religions which denigrate our
humanity, and which offer a solution in the mythical, never-never land
of the future. And sometimes we change religions, hoping for better.
We are encouraged to do all of these things because it blinds us to the
source of our problems. But even with all the diversions, there are
strikes and riots in the streets. As Marx wrote, all of these things
are how we “fight it out.” Even the riots are used by capitalism.
People are so frustrated by capitalism’s obvious failure that they lash
out blindly with riots and terrorism. Rioting workers and terrorist
workers make it easy to justify further repression of dissent. The
rioters and terrorists are easy to attack, because they really have no
solution, only rage.
Workers have good reason to be angry. Workers have no good reason to
destroy useful things produced by other workers, or to hurt other
workers. But in desperate anger, can one be surprised that some
occasionally do? However, rage and desperation rarely clarify the
facts. To solve the problems we need to understand why society does not
work for us. We need to understand the structure of society, and the
real enemy. Workers are boxing with shadows, and paying for the
“privilege.”
Socialists are accused of ignoring the obvious improvements capitalism
has wrought since it defeated feudalism. Our accusers are wrong.
Socialists have clearly stated that capitalism was a necessary stage in
human development. At its outset capitalism was progressive: it freed
the burgeoning productive forces from the restraints of feudalism, and
forced workers to produce wealth which would have been unimaginable
before capitalism. Capitalism has evolved from an agent for development
of the productive forces, into a roadblock. It is time to remove the
roadblock.
The material conditions for new, higher relations of production have
been carried in the womb of capitalism for too long. It is time for a
birthing. It is time to release our ability to produce and to solve our
problems, by providing the appropriate relations of production:
socialism.
Steve Szalai
Socialist
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