CIVILISED CRUELITY

Dr. Mukhdeo Sharma

1. ZEPHYR

I. The essence of human society has been change. About eight millions years ago cooperation necessary for hunting made homo-habilis the first social creature. The Neanderthal progressed beyond homo-habilis by fashioning their own tools. Only after the development of agriculture and herding over millions years later, did human being start warring with each other for the possession of territories. By the time homo- habilis has changed into homo sapiens which originated in Sub-Saharan Africa. In the “German Ideology” it had been assumed by Marx and Engels that appearance of human kind, the formation of society, and the division of labour were all inseparable and simultaneous events. The development of Agriculture, one of the most important of all transactions in human history promoted a settled existence and made possible an increase in population. After the invention of Agriculture Neolithic peoples spread over every habitable part of earth’s surface from Arctic wastes to the jungles of the tropics. The traveled enormous distances by water as well as by land and eventually occupied every major island of the oceans, no matter how remote.

Il. The most important consequences of Neolithic settled life was the development of lasting institutions.

One of the most ancient of human institution is the family. There were Matrilineal Primitive Families in Paleolithic times, but they were not very stable and moreover practically nothing is known about them. Matrilineal Families lasted for a very long time and gradually changed into Patriarchal families.

A second institution having more complex form by Neolithic peoples is religion. Early religion was not so much as matter of belief as a matter of rites. Primitive people were universally dependent upon nature — on the regular succession of the seasons, on rainfall on the growth of plants and on the production of animals. Unless they perform sacrifices and rites these natural phenomena according to the notions would not occur.

Another human institution to be developed by the Neolithic people was State. The major explanation for the development of States in the Neolithic period lies in the Agriculture. The essence of the State is the power to make and administer laws and to preserve social order by punishing people for infractions of those laws.

Ill. Development of society is a historical process. It is governed by objective laws and succession of social forms. The objective laws are laws of Historical Materialism. Socio-economic, political and cultural composition of the society has been always changing. As we look into the history, we have series of different socio-economic formation — namely — Primitive Communal Society, Slave Society, Feudal Society, Capitalist Society and Socialist Society. Our Neolithic ancestors created the marvelous instruments of language laid the foundation of civilization, its economic, political and social life and its artistic, ethical and religious traditions.

IV. Capitalism has existed for about 500 years ~ Mercantile Capitalism for 250 years followed by Industrial Capitalism for the last 260 years- nearly 0.006 percent of the entire period of human existence. In many parts of the world, capitalism came late and has existed for much smaller period of time. During these short span of history the human feeling, cooperation and sharing and caring the nature has been pushed back while the aggressive competitiveness has been brought in prominence for the purpose of fostering and living within a system based on accumulation of capital. A culture has developed along capitalism epitomized by greed and exploitation of human being by others. The basic working of capitalism creates great wealth and acute poverty simultaneously at national and international Level.

V. Anthropologists who studied primitive society found very different human relations and human nature than the highly competitive dog-eat-dog selfish characteristics that have dominated the capitalist society. The economics of these early pre-capitalist society often took the form of reciprocity and redistribution.

As Karl Polanyi explained in 1949 “The outstanding discovery of recent historical and anthropolical research is that man’s economy as a rule is submerged in his social relationship”. The variety of structure and organization of past civilizations was amazing. Before European invasions and conquest the peoples of North America and South America had altogether different consciousness.

2. DAWN

I. Bottom-up approach of evolution of human society lies in class concept. Classes and class struggles originated in the later stage of the time-span of human existence when human was able to produce and, therefore, forced to produce a “surplus”. In the primitive communistic society due to low level of production and collective organization classes did not exist.

Prior to the emergence of Capitalism during feudal system, the production was conducted by small farmers and artisans. Agriculture was the principal occupation and the land the basic means of production. Peasants were exploited by the landlords.

The accumulation of wealth in the hands of a few was the first condition for capitalism to emerge. The second condition was the creation of a man of destitute (people) who were free (not dependant on land owner), but have neither means of production (land) nor means of subsistence and were compelled to sell themselves into the bondage of capitalist.

II. At the time, when the feudalism was disintegrating, feudal laws were abolished in one country after another. With the freedom of the peasants from feudal dependence there were another development, no less important- the peasants were liberated from the land on which they lived and they tilled. The peasants were left only with part of the land for which only a few hands were needed to till. “Surplus” hands left the village and joined the army of “workers” placed on the disposal of capital. Thus, free working hands were created for emergence of capitalism.

III. Capital is a definite social relation. It is social relation between the class owning the means of production and the workers. Things — machinery, raw material finished articles and buildings are not capital. But, a definite social system — capitalism — turns these things into means of exploitation i.e. Capital.

Human being posses labour power under any social system. But, it is only under capitalism that labour power turns into a commodity i.e. into an object of purchase and sale. The value created by surplus labour of the workers is the surplus value. The surplus value is created by the unpaid labour of workers. The capitalism has invented a multitude of artful methods and systems from “participation in profit” to “social partnership” and ail sort of “people's capitalism” theory which simultaneously camouflage and intensity the threat of starvation. Uncertainly of the future, insecurity of existence, constantly worsening living conditions — such is the lot of billions of working force under capitalism. Capitalism dooms the bulk of working humanity in poverty, hunger, privation and suffering.

Capitalism cannot exist without an army of unemployed. The army supplies the ‘capitalist with free working hands whenever market condition warrants an expansion of production. Under the capitalism production is carried on not for the purpose of satisfying the requirements of the people, but to make profit.

3 ADVANCE

1. According to Elien Meiksins wood, the seeds of capitalism seems always to be contained in the primitive acts of exchange in any form of trade or market activity. In a developed capitalism dominant monopoly capital and the state machinery became closely inter-linked. The State becomes a Committee for the Management of the business of the corporate. It administers the dictatorship in the garb of democracy of a handful of corporate houses who use the State power and its apparatus, to perpetuate the capitalist system for their domination of market and profit. The reformist lackeys of the capitalism depict State monopoly capitalism as a new social system devoid of the sores and ills of capitalism.

II. Marx and Engls envisaged with brilliant clarity the “Globlised Capitalism” existing in the late twentieth century. The analysis of capitalism was not complete in the Communist Manifesto. Their idea of capitalism assume mature form in their subsequent publication the famous “DAS CAPITAL”. In 1916, Lenin stated that Imperialism is the monopoly stage of capitalism in his famous work “Imperialism the highest stage of capitalism”. I would like to mention the brave declaration by the then Secretary General of U.S.S.R. Nikita Khrushchev about capitalists in 1956 — “Whether you like it or not, history is on our side, we will bury you”. That was a time when many young people all over world were thinking like Niketa Khrushchev. Has the march of the history retarded?

Ill. The development within the imperialist structure, since then particularly, the growth of

International Finance Capital during last three decades, is spectacular. The role of the nation — state in the globalized capitalist system has direct implication on the lives of the vast majority of the world population. In the era of imperialism, the last century witnesses two world wars originating in imperialist — driven national rivalries and host of relevant conflicts leading to mass slaughter. Host of ethnic, nationality and religious problems in the developing countries has added to the capitalist exploitation and made lives of vast masses miserable.

Capitalism throughout its history drives towards polarization between capitalists and working class besides middle class and strata present between capitalist and working class. Poverty is punctual feature of this class relation.

Permanent feature of capitalism is the class nature of State. No Capitalist Society can exist within State i.e. the State of bourgeoisie as a whole.-Globalization is the specific nature of capital mode of production. Globalization is the on going process in capitalist system.

Complete Colonization of India, the mass enslavements of Africans, and Colonization of Americans were results of brutal Globalization in which the extermination at bulk of American populations, shipments of thirty millions Africans slaves out of Africa with half of them of dying before reaching the American Shores.

IV. Marx wrote “Modern Industry has established the world market. The bourgeoisie must nestle every where, settle everywhere establish connections everywhere.” Marx achievement was that he could see this process as a “universal war of devastation”. He connected it with the inherent nature of capitalism. However, colonialism of his days was nothing like the imperialism about which Lenin wrote some seventy years later. And during the last ninety four years, since Lenin wrote his famous book, “Imperialism the highest stage of Capitalism” many basic feature of the imperialism have changed radically.

In his preface to a “A critique of political economy”, Marx wrote in 1859.

“A distinction should be made between the material transformation of the economic conditions of

production which can be determined with the precision of natural science, and the legal, political, religious, aesthetic or philosophic — in short, ideological forms in which men became conscious of their conflict and fight it- outs.” At the present stage of Capitalism, Corporation is the unit of capital. De-regularisation of financial industry along with development of IT have created the globally integrated financial system.

V. The emergence of international finance capital in the new form is the important feature of the contemporary world. The form differs from what Lenin had written about it. Globalized Finance Capital has undermined the possibility, not only of Keynesian demand management, but any form of significant intervention. Globalized Finance Capital is major cause of crisis and stagnation in world capitalism. The implication of Globalized Finance Capital is the acute all round crisis in the developing countries.

The general crises of capitalism passed through a number of stages in its development. American Capitalism continue to be the principal economic, financial and military force. U.S. economic potential is much higher than that of any capitalist country. A maze of acute imperialist contradictions have arisen out of this. The deepening of the general crisis of capitalism intensifies the exploitation and insecurity of the working class. Ours is an age of rocketing productive forces and unprecedented development of Science and Technology. We have reached at the S.T.R. — LC.R. age and capitalism has become a monstrous obstacle to human development.

4. GALAXY

I. In 2007 on the occasion of Christmas a London Night Club had began selling the most expensive cocktail of the world at £ 3500 a glass. The cocktail costs more than three quarters of what a British Workforce earns in a year. In U.S. from every dollar of growth income between 1976 and 2007, 58 cents went to the top one percent of households. The other 99 percent of Americans families had to scrap over the 42 percent of loose change.

The light are going out all over U.S. Colarado Springs has made headlines with its desperate attempt to save money by turning off a third of its street light. Similar things are happening across the U.S. from Philadelphia to Fresno. The street and bridges, the sewage and water systems, the basic infrastructure are neglected and decaying. Roads are being abandoned and closed to avoid the maintenance cost. U.S. is now on the unlit unpaved road to nowhere. The Dollar is collapsing- getting weaker and weaker day by day. About the strength of the dollar, David A Rosenberg the economist and strategist had said “In the land of the blind the one-eyed mad is King. The U.S. dollar is that one eyed man.” The slowing down overall rate of growth, the worldwide growth of multinational corporation, financialization of the capital accumulation. process and globalization are the most important trends in the present history of Capitalism(The shift in the centre of gravity of capitalist economy, from production to finance is known as financialization).

IL. Financialization of American Capitalism began in 1960 and became prominent in 1970 The main characteristic of the change was the increasing role of finance in the operations of capitalism. Financial activities, remote from production of goods and services, generate high private rewards disproportionate to their social productivity, thanks to the computer power, the “paper economy” of financial exchange ballooned in quantity and variety. As a result “speculative bubbles” and stock market crisis have become a recurrent and growing problem.

American Capitalism and its ideology have received a big blow. No longer would the arrogant claims of Francis Fukuyom that American Capitalism marks the “end of history” carry conviction. The capitalism has no magical qualities to correct itself and State intervention is not a taboo.

The Washington census based globalization is not for equitable distribution of gains, but advocates only the “trickle-down strategy”. The U.S. economy is still grappling with the consequences of the worst financial crisis, since the Great Depression of 1929, trillions of dollars of potential income have been lost, the lives of millions have been damaged, in some cases irreparably, by mass unemployment; millions more have seen their saving wiped out, millions, will lose essential health care.

IIL. The national debt of U.S. stands at more than $ 12.trillion. If You take that amount of money in $ 10 billions and lay them end to end, it would reach the sun more than 130 million kilometers away. This year, the American Government has borrowed over £ 15 trillions dollar. Annual deficit is the rate by which the over all national debt is going up every year. So cutting the deficit means slowing down the rate at which the problem owing not solving. This deficit has forced the U.S. Government to cut the aid to space agency NASA and NASA is unable to Commission a successor to the space shuttle for putting astronauts into orbit. Americans now live below poverty line. The U.S. Department of Agriculture revealed recently that 49 million Americans. lack consistent access to food

Policymakers in the United States and some other developed countries are running out of opinion to deal with their economic situation characterised by weak growth and high levels of unemployment. The U.S. Federal Reserve is thinking to buy up treasury bonds. The Federal Reserve will not be only Central Bank to do so. The Bank of Japan announced in October last (2010) that it had purchased a small amount of long term government paper. All this is going to result into many undesirable consequences all over the world. Already emerging market is flooded with cheap dollars.

The great recession shows no clear indications of ending. A number of perceptive economists are visualizing a “Double Dip” a second sharp fall in output in the industrially advance countries of OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation & Development).

IV. A mighty U.S. led Military Coalition possessing some of the most advanced weapons in history launched its forces against Afghanistan one of the world weakest countries. The invasion was based on carefully edited evidence. Claims that invades would bring freedom democracy and women’s right to Afghanistan has proved nonsense. The invasion on Iraq, was allegedly justified by gross lies of the gigantic U.S. Propaganda machine.

Tens of billions of dollars have been poured into physical reconstruction with almost all the money going to U.S. Companies like Halli Burton. The contracts were awarded after what official called unprecedented violations of the tendering process.

Racial and religious hatred the invading forces showed towards Afghanistan and Iraqis reflects the ugly face of Capitalism today.

V. Austerity, which hits the poor and the middle classes is the new mantra of Government, in Europe even as private capital corners stimulus packages. European countries like France, Spain, Italy and Greece, have already been hit hard by a wave of strikes. In Britain, the fuse has been let by the Government’s decision to cut £ 81 billion of public spending over the next four years to tide over the unprecedented debt crisis cause by the recession. Loss of 5, 00,000 jobs in public sector has sent waves of resentment through nook and corner of the United Kingdom.

In the United States, Obama who came to power against historic odds is fast losing popularity, with his rating in the 40’s. In France, Sarkozy’s ratings have fallen sharply while supports for the movement against reform are placed around 70 percent of the population.

On October 19, 2010 the French were out in the street again, protesting government plans to rise the retirement age, undaunted by warnings. of dire consequences if the present social unrest continued.

Urban Guerrilla style battles between police and angry unemployed youth were reported from Lyon and other cities as were clashes between police and striking students.

The situation in France has deteriorated enough to resemble that of 1995, when three weeks long total strike brought the economy to its knees and forced President Chirac and his Government to abandon plans to introduce similar reform to the pension and retirement system.

Six major countrywide demonstrations with average turn outs of over three millions had occurred, with remarkably little violence.

Younger people, fear for their prospects in the short and long term under a Government noted for its arrogance, the brutality of its police and corruption. In all age groups, there is great bitterness towards the banks which caused the crisis and continue to make colossal profits after being bailed out by the public money.

European model of social project of establishing a comprehensive society of basic entitlement and social protection for all along with democratically legitimate states has cracked. The basic fabric of the model has badly eroded in Greece. Spain. Portugal. Sweden and Germany. Experts are predicting a wave of unrest all over Europe in coming days. They tear that this could lead to heighten social tensions as recession gets worse. The outlook for many of the former socialist bloc countries such as Lativia, Hungry and Ukraine which abandoned socialism to embrace capitalism looks particularly grim. “What we seen in recent past in terms of people anger is just the beginning” warned one analyst not ruling out violence.

In November last, when President Obama was here in India, he declared that 50,000 jobs to be created in the U.S. with Indian money. According to the Associated Press Report, the U.S. economy has already lost 7.5 million jobs in 35 months, since December, 2007 i.e. over 7000 jobs each day on average.

VI. The huge manufacturing plant in Shenzhen symbolized much about China’s two decade rise to become workshop of the world. Every morning 3,00,000 workers would troop in past the factory gates, all dressed in identical white overalls. Over a twelve hour work day, they would stand in silence.

China’s factory boom in the South and South East was driven by the influx of millions of migrant workers from provinces. It was essentially the abundance of cheap labour that laid the foundation for China’s export-led growth and the unmatched competitiveness of China’s price. But, China’s booming manufacturing sector played a crucial role in all, but eliminating poverty in much of the country’s South and South East. Dissatisfaction with Government — controlled unions is growing among the Chinese workers. Xia-Yelian, a Professor of Labour Economics at Peking University, says workers are now in an “extremely weak” position and “unreasonably low” wages, coupled with the absence of substantive dispute resolving mechanisms, will mean they have few other options besides marching out of the factory gates. The official — All China Federation of Trade Unions is widely seen as representing the interests of the party over the workers.

However, China has overtaken Japan to become number two economic power of the world. Although, China’s economy is still only one third of the size of the U.S’s economy, it passed the US. last year to become the world’s largest market for passenger vehicles.

But, per capital income in China is more at par with impoverished nation like Algeria, El Salvador and Albania, to the tune of $3600 where that of U.S. is about $46000. However, China is already a major driver of global growth with a lot of influence in Asia, Africa and Latin America. Half of the worlds microwave oven, one third of its television sets, seventy percent of its toys and sixty percent of its cycles are manufactured in China. China produces fifty million air- conditioners every year. Today, China is the centre of global manufacturing.

China became the U.S’s biggest creditor in September, 2008. Beijing has, since, exerted unprecedented influence over the U.S. economy and has also increasingly voice its concerns over Washington’s Fiscal Policies. Concern over the U.S’s growing budget deficit China has reduced its holdings of U.S. debt by $45 billion and is now no longer Washington’s biggest creditor.

VII. Capitalism seeks profit without limits separating human being from nature and imposing a logic of domination upon nature, transferring everything into commodities; earth, the human genome, ancestral culture, water, air, biodiversity, justice, ethics the rights of the peoples and life itself.

Capitalism has converted the planet earth into simply a source of raw materials.

Agribusiness, through its social, economic and cultural model of global capitalist production and its logic of producing food for the market and not for people is one of the principle cause of climate change.

Capitalist model imposes mega infrastructure projects and invades territories with extractive projects, water privatization and militarized territories, expelling indigenous people from their lands, inhibiting food sovereignty and deepening socio-environmental crisis.

Environmental degradation and climate changes are currently reaching critical levels and one of the main consequences of this is domestic and international migration. According to projections, 50 million, and projections suggest that between 200 million and one billion people will become displaced by situations resulting from climate change by the year 2050  Capitalism has pursued a developed path that has cast a heavy burden of depletion, pollution and contamination of planet earth.

The rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer is a recipe for planet earth to perish sooner than later. Humanity’s death kneil seems close at hand. If global warming increases by more than 2° Celsius, there is 50 percent probability that damage caused to the earth will be completely irreversible. Many islands states would be in danger of disappearing. The production of food would diminish causing catastrophic impact on the survival of the inhabitants from vast region of the earth and number of people suffering from hunger will increase many fold.

It has already impacted, worldwide things, that are as massive and elemental as rainfall patterns, sea levels, forests, storms and cyclones, snow mass on earth and agriculture which is so crucial for human needs.

Climate change is a crisis that has its roots in capitalism. It is capitalist greed and cowardice that has been killing the action on climate change. Capitalist economy will collapse if a price is put on carbon emission.

Total environment damage to India in 2007 amounted to 10 percent of G.D.P. higher than the G.D.P. growth rate.

VIII. India has recorded an impressive economic growth. Today, India is the international hub of the global service industries. India’s IT and outsourcing exports amount to over $40 billion per year. By the year 2035 India is likely to become World’s third largest economy. “We really see India as potential market for U.S. export” said Mike Froman, Deputy National Security Advisor for International Economic Affairs. Indian Companies are the second fastest growing investors in the U.S.

But the Global Hunger Index Report points a gloomy picture of the country. Among South Asian Countries, India (67) was ranked lower than Pakistan (52) among the 122 countries of the world on the basis of the child mortality rate, the prevalence of underweight children and the proportion of undernourished people in the country. The percentage of underweight children went down by six percent from 52 percent in 1992-93 to 46 percent in 2005-06. The reality in 2010 is that 54 percent of Indian children are malnourished. India spends less than five percent of the annual budget on children. While we have schemes like ICDS, these have not made a significant impact. Economic growth has failed to reduce poverty.

The State of Bihar has been in the news recently for recording an average growth rate of 11.3 percent for the period between 2004 and 2009. But, according to the third National Family Health Survey, the State has one of highest rates of child mortality in India. Out of every 1000 children born in Bihar, 85 will not live to see their fifth birthday. 58 percent children in Bihar are malnourished.

The Commission — chaired by Arjun Sengupta with only two Members — K.P. Kanan and R.S. Srivastava and two part-time Members — B.N. Yuganthar and T.S. Papola managed to produce altogether nine reports. The last one elaborates on what the Commission considers to be overarching problem which is lack of adequate and decent employment at a fair wage for the large segments of the workforce hovering around the bottom of the informal sectors economy. The urgency of such plan of action is underscored by finding that 77 percent of the population in 2004-05 had to make do with, an average, no more than Rs. 20 per day per capita. The Commission's classification of these people as poor and vulnerable stands from the observation that the official poverty line of Rs. 12 per day consumption is fixed at an in ordinarily law level and needs to be doubled in order to meet with international standards.

IX. The divergent dynamics are interconnected in the sense that the ongoing squeeze at the bottom is directly related to the accumulation of suppliers at the top. It is basically a strategy of betting on the rich and forgetting about the poor not to acknowledge the later multitude as citizens, but to reject them. 343 MPs elected to 15" Lok Sabha are worth close to Rs. 28 billion, 64 Union Cabinet Minister’s ‘Account for @ 5 billion. The link between wealth and winning election is strong. If you are worth over & 50 millions, you are 75 times more likely to win an election to the Lok Sabha, than if you are worth under & 1 million.

23 of the 64 Cabinet Ministers whose asset worth is in public domain fall into this Rs. 50 million plus category.

On the other hand, according to health experts’ one third of all Indian have Body Mass Index 18.5. This puts them at starvation levels. Poverty in eight Indian States — Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh is worse than some of the poorest countries of sub-saharan ‘Africa in terms of Multi Dimensional Poverty Index (MPI) according to Dr. Sabina Alkire, Director of the United Nations backed Oxford Poverty Human Development Initiative. Population with MPI equal or greater than 0.32 is vulnerable and lives of starvation MPI of Indian State is 0.39. The Scheduled Tribe have the highest MPI 0.482 almost same as Mozambique and the percentage of people (Scheduled Tribe) who are MPI poor are 81 percent. The Scheduled Caste have a head count of 60 percent. Fifty eight percent of OBC are MPI poor, one in three of the remaining Indian households are MPI poor and their MPI is just below that of Honduras. Above mention eight Indian states are home of 421 million multi- dimensionally poor people. More than figure of 410 million in 26 poorest African countries.

What to do with the grains now rotting in millions of tons? If policy dictates that it goes bad, rather than let hungry people eat it, that is no business of Court. Government have the money to subsidize the building of new cities, malls and multiplexes across the country by incentivising private builders and developers. But, none for building storage space for the nutritious food grains.

More than 2,00,000 farmers have committed suicide due to acute agrarian distress. These farmers knew that it was the policies of the Governments and not the Law Court which drove them to take their lives.

X. Bribing in India is now considered an investment by many who seek Government job including judiciary. These investments, they assume gives them a moral right to expect a return through mere corruption. Cash is being taken in suit-cases and gunny bags in vans to be paid as bribe. Even the national honor is up for auction in hosting the Commonwealth Games. The Commonwealth Games were no show case, but a mirror of India, 2010. If they showcased anything, they showcased Indian Crony, Casino Capitalism. Corruption, tax evasion and trade mispricing have cost India hundreds of billions of dollars over the past twenty years.

While expressing her view on 2G Spectrum Scandal, the leader of opposition in India’s Lok Sabha, Ms. Sushma Swaraj told reporters “All the wings of democracy the executive, the legislature, the judiciary and the press seem to have come under the influence of corporate lobbies. They decided what columns are written and what should be written. They interfere in Cabinet Making.” The last twenty years have seen the consolidation of corporate power along with corruption on scale unknown in independent India. Nira Radia tapes are directly connected to this background.

With the report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India exposing the services irregularities in the allocation of 2G Spectrum resulting in losses to the tune of Rupees One Lac Seventy Thousand Crore, it was moral imperative of the Prime Minister — Manmohan Singh to agree to appoint a J.P.C. at least. The Supreme’ Court of India had made its observation about Prime Minister delaying prosecution of the former Telecom Minister — A. Raja. Instead of acting positively, Government and the ruling parties at Centre came to defend the dishonesty of the Honest Prime Minister. That is how the Parliamentary Democracy acts in capitalism. The Telecom Scam was in making before the UPA II Cabinet was sworn in. Corruption is the inbuilt feature of the neoliberal capitalism. 68% of India's aggregate illicit capital loss occurred after India's economic reform in 1991. Amidsts the scam and scandals, entrepreneurs and business tycoons making it to the coveted range of suits costing between ₹ 50 lakhs and <55 lakhs in Indian market(made by U.K. based company Dormeuil) on one side and nearly 85 crore of India’s population surviving on less than & 20 per day per capita on the other.

For eighty crores of Indians hunger is routine, malnutrition rife, employment insecure, social security non-existence, health care, expensive and livelihood under threat. The Shining India’s vibrant economy is restricted to upper classes, while majority of Hindustan eke out a meagre existence on the margins.

The apologists of the system continue to justify the success of Capitalism argue that recent crisis was ‘blip. Bi-directional relationship between capitalism and greed is established fact, each reinforces the other.

The trickle down effect of development, talked about in theory, has little real impact on the poor. The practice of forcibly acquiring agricultural land and forest land, displacing the poor peasants’ tribal folk with the loss of their livelihood and culture is too big a sacrifice from these people in return for commitment of a fraction of the wealth of corporate houses in order to increase the G.D.P.

“Progress and development” are high sounding clinches from capitalists and often spell the destruction of older forms of social existence.

XII. Pitched battles are being fought across India by poor farmers who fears further marginalisation, when their land is being grabbed by the Government and the corporators. The rural countryside is literally on boil. Large area of prime agricultural land are being directed for commercial and other non-agricultural purposes. Gone are the days, when worried Jawahar Lal Nehru, India’s first Prime Minister, while addressing the nation on August 15, 1955 said that “It is very humiliating for any country to import food. So every thing else can wait, but no agriculture”. Fifty-five years later in 2010, his party and its government thinks that food security needs of nation can be addressed by importing food.

XIII. The anti-people economic policy of the Manmohan Singh’s Government has resulted on the soaring of the prices on one side, while the denial of remunerative prices for the produces of farmers on the other leading towards aggravation of poverty pauperization of masses on further escalation of rural unemployment, hunger and all types of inhuman miseries associated with it. Inflation rate in India is nearly nine times higher than that of in Euro-zone. Inspite of fast economic growth of China, its inflation rate is as low as 3 percent, whereas in India as 14 percent (July, 2010). It is only in India, where inflation rate is in double digit.

It took official 11 months to decide a “recession” in the U.S. In India, it took 20 years to recognize worse. Remember the crisis that struck India in 1991. The Finance Minister — Dr. Manmohan Singh told us that our balance of payments problems and shrinking foreign reserves were truly in crisis. These, he said called for reforms on a war footing. 400 million human beings going to bed hungry every night was never thought of as a crisis, Certainly not one to be dealt with on a war footing. Within India, rural despair and break down meant little. Crisis is prominent when the sensex sinks.

5. REVOLUTION IS NOT MADE WITH ROSES

I. Growth of speculative international finance capital during last three decades is to be analyzed and understood dialectically in the proper perspective. Gone are the days, when the bourgeois in the developing countries used to follow the path of relatively autonomous development of capitalism within their own countries. Now. they have fallen in line with U.S’s capitalism and accepted the free-market prescription. The integration with global order of international finance capital is the best path for their unbridled development.

The quantum and rate of change under capitalism is greater than any other previous social / political system. The world has now changed very much, since the time of Marx and Engels, Lenin or even Gramsci. Enormous theoretical work is needed to understand the contemporary world.

II. Convergence of biotechnology, information  science, theoretical science and nanotechnology is going to result into another big revolution in science. Already, science has made staggering progress during last 150 years. Yet capitalism is incapable of using these progress to reduce or end the poverty, hunger, disease which afflicts the overwhelming majority of mankind. The confidence and vigour of scientists is connected to the regeneration of a progressive political movement fighting for re-organizing the society, so that benefit of modern technological and scientific achievements are available to the for humanity (whole mankind) as a whole, rather than being the monopolies of a few.

Philosophy cannot renounce addressing itself to comprehensive issues — all embracing essential subjects of dispute. Ruling capitalist order has taken itself for granted, admitting only the possibility of marginal corrections, but never the viability of comprehensive alternative. Will the philosophy agree to this situation?

Ill. Throughout its history, the capitalism drive towards greater and greater class polarization. There is increasing globalization of the capital mode of production. Today when some of the experts are talking of “Late Capitalism” post-imperialist capitalism, post modern capitalism and “cybernetic capitalism” in which production is said to have been replaced by information technologies, according to the World Bank, the number of workers in the modern sector had doubled during the period 1965 to 1995.

No Capitalist Society can exist and reproduce itself without a State that is the State of the Corporates as a whole. The State that guarantee the right to private property, hence the system of exploitation cannot represent the people’s Will. Such a State has to be a class state and the class society could not be abolished without simultaneously abolishing the class state.

The process of the expansion of capital embracing the globe have been more or less accomplished. What we have been witnessing during last three decades is crises of capitalism. There is difference from the time, when the Marx talked about the crisis in terms of the crisis that discharged itself in thunderstorms. The characteristics of the crisis of capitalism today is precipitation of varying intensity, tending towards a depressed continuum, where one recession follows another. Economist are talking about double-dip recession. Structural crisis of capital is much more serious problem than the crisis of capitalism.

IV. Capitalist economy is an open market economy which operates as Carl Marx said, essentially on even more concentration of capital in fewer and fewer hands. There is need in market economy to reduce the real wages to withstand competition which leads to the more and more marginalisation of labour.

So far growth is concerned, it is not taking place in manufacturing, but in service sector. As a result, participation of manufacturing and agricultural sector is marginal. The market economy operates by excluding the vast majority of the people, as they are neither factory workers nor part of organized sector. In service sectors, the process of socialization of workers coming together, acquiring the consciousness of being workers and forming association based on their identity is yet to take place. Corporate work culture in service sectors do not encourage or equip the workers with the consciousness of being part of a common work force.

Reacting on the financial crisis of Asia in the late 1990s —- Lawrence Summers the then U.S. Treasure Secretary declared that the keys to avoiding financial crisis were “Well capitalized and supervised banks, effective governance and bankruptcy codes and credible means of contract enforcement.” Presently U.S. does not lack these things. Then where from this acute financial crisis has come? The real cause of the financial crisis is the main contradiction of capitalism, the contradiction between social character of production and the capitalism appropriation of its result due to the fact the means of production are under capitalist ownership.

V. The recession is only one component of the multiple crises that haunt the Global Capitalism. The multiple crises are:

1. Climate crisis - Ecological contradiction is at the heart of capitalism which destroy the delicate balance in the global climate system leading to threat at the very existence of the earth.

2. An energy crisis — As fossil fuels are rapidly depleting the growth of alternate non-fossil fuel is very slow, the world is in the grip of acute energy crisis affecting even the U.S. - White House.

3. A crisis of political legitimacy — Barring a few cases, most of the governments are losing their stability and indulging in all sorts of undesirable tricks for their survival, as it is happening in India.

4. A crisis of social production — The gap between the rich and poor is widening and access to resources, livelihood opportunities and basic service remains grossly unequal.

5. A crisis of civilization — Capitalism is in a civilizational crisis. It has nothing to offer the majority of people except, marginalisation, disempowerment and social and economic disenfranchisement.

VI. _ Recently, the world “inclusiveness” has become popular. Many Universities have come up with the centres aimed at study of social inclusion and inclusive policy and inclusive growth. In October 9, 2010 issue of Main Stream Veteran Leftist Leader Chaturanan Mishra had written an article on “Inclusive growth — new stage before socialism”. Indian society has not become socially inclusive even after so many reform movements. Have the cast rules changed into intermarriage, inter mingling, dining and anti-untouchability? Not only in rural area, but also in urban area including metropolitan cities broadly cast rule the roost. Political enfranchisement is gaining its ground in India without economic enfranchisement. Limitation of Capitalism — Whatever matured and advanced it may be ~ is that it cannot be humane. And unless a system is human, it can not be “Inclusive”.

VII. Capital is a controlling force. You can not control the capital. You can do away with only through the transformation of the whole complex of metabolic relationship of society. Metabolism consists of process necessary for maintenance of the system. Was the Soviet system dominated by the power of capital? Division of Labour remained intact, and the hierarchical Command structure of capital remained. Capital is a socio-economic metabolic system of control. You can overthrow capitalism, but the factory system remains. You find the need for reassigning forms of control to personalities, and that is how the bureaucracy comes into existence. You will not get rid of bureaucracy unless you attack the socio-economic foundation of capital and devise an alternative way of regulating metabolic process of society in such a way that the power of capital at first is curtailed and is of course in the end done away with. Capitalism destroys the metabolism of human society debilitating all relationship through loot for maximum profit.

VIII. For how much longer can people be told that if they wait long enough, then through social democratic process of reforms and evolutionary socialism one day their problems will be solved?

When parliamentary expectations are bitterly disappointing, people may move in taking direct  action. In India, if you are worth over %50 millions, you are 75 times more likely to win an  election (to the Lok Sabha) than you are worth under & 1 million. Left used to send 35 MLA’s to  Bihar Assembly. In the election held recently (October — November, 2010) in Bihar left fielded its  candidates in nearly 200 constituencies under left alliance including CPI ML (Liberation) and  could win only one seat and about 4.36%of total votes polled[CPI-1.79; CPI(M)-0.68; CPI(ML)-  1.89]. Money has become most important factor in the election. Average votes polled by a leftist  candidate was less than 7500, whereas that of a winning candidate was to the tune of 50,000  Landslide victory of JD (U) — BJP Alliance has nearly crushed the leftist forces in Bihar. It must  be remembered that Bihar is the only State in “Hindi-Speaking” India wt leftist forces are most strong.

IX. The French Revolution of 1789, retain its historical relevance on account of demands it raised. which still remain unrealized. The slogans of liberty, fraternity and equality has been  completely eliminated from public consciousness, of reduced to a formalistic ritual just like workers of the world unit.

Moving from one social formation — i.e. Capitalism to its radical alternative i.e. Socialism is an immensely complicated and difficult social process. The process may suffer from relapses. But, no relapses, no matter how big and tragic, can extinguish the human aspiration and forces pressing for a revolutionary transformation. .

X. In India as well as almost all over the world, various kind of social movements, including social disobedience are taking place. Leftist parties all over the world including developing countries are pretty old. For years, they have been talking about the virtues of the evolutionary socialism. Instead of organizing the vast masses who are fighting for their mere survival, who are being uprooted from their traditional land and water, whose livelihood and culture are being destroyed in the name of development by corporates, they have fallen victim of parliamentary deviation. Strength of leftist parties in parliament is coming down. In Europe, Africa and Asia barring a few exception, anti-capitalist forces are incapable of intervening the political and social process because the political system operates under the ever narrowing constraints of capital.

Is not the high time that leftist thought in general should redefine itself in the light of new developments?

Many State parties of the left had replaced the democratic centralism by bureaucratic centralism. There is hardly any democracy in State Organizations. State Executives and Councils are full of yes men and women. Central parties are unable to get rid of new Gorbachovs. 

XI. Let it be clear that economic crisis of capitalism alone, do not prepare the soil of revolutionary change. The soil for revolutionary change is prepared via the cumulative impact of a series of crises — political, economic, social, cultural, eroding the people confidence in capitalism — as well as a strong organization encompassing all section of toiling masses well equipped with new thought of scientific socialist vision.

Engles wrote “To my mind the so-called socialist society is not anything immutable. Like all social formations, it should be conceived in a state of flux and change”.

‘As Sain Webb put it “our socialist vision should have a contemporary and dynamic feel, it should be rooted in today’s conditions and experience, it should be brought in line with current realities, trends and sensibilities. It should reflect our values, traditions and culture. It should be multi- racial. multi-national and multi-lingual. It should welcome immigrants”.

Never before has the conflict between private appropriation and the survival needs of humanity been sc stark. So, need for REVOLUTION is paramount. We must create a new society directed at sustainable and equitable human development.

--Dr. Mukhdeo Sharma

834002, Jharkhand.

403, Sree Laxmi Tower, Magistrate Colony. Doranda, Ranchi