The merits of anarcho-syndicalism over capitalism. Excerpt from the book "Blue Mars"
OutOfBreath
Posts: 1,804
I am completing the trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson: "Red Mars", "Green Mars" and "Blue Mars" these days which thoroughly relates the tale of the terraforming and inhabitation of Mars. Mars were for a long time controlled by the metanationals, which were the mammoth organizations developed out of international corporations, each of them in the end larger than most countries. The Martian underground operated in a fashion resemblant of a sort af anarcho-syndicalism using "eco-economics" to stay outside the economy of the metanationals on Mars, who had struck down the first uprising there. Now, the second uprising succeeded, and this excerpt is from the constitutional debates that followed. Antar is a defendant of capitalism, while Vlad is the developer of the new economics and one of the first settlers. Here goes:
’This new economy that’s being proposed,’ Antar declared one day at the table of tables, repeating his theme, ’is a radical and unprecedented intrusion of government into business.’ Suddenly Vlad Taneev stood up. ... He was looking around in a fiercely intent, slow glare, capturing them all before he turned his eye again on Antar.
‘What you say about government and business is absurd,’ he stated coldly. It was a tone of voice that had not been heard much at the congress so far, contemptuous and dismissive. ‘Governments always regulate the kinds of business they allow. Economics is a legal matter, a system of laws. So far, we have been saying in the Martian underground that as a matter of law, democracy and self-government are the innate rights of every person, and that these rights are not to be suspended when a person goes to work. You – ‘ he waved a hand to indicate he did not know Antar’s name ‘ – do you believe in democracy and self-rule?’
‘Yes!’ Antar said defensively.
‘Do you believe in democracy and self-rule as the fundamental values that government ought to encourage?’
‘Yes!’ Antar repeated, looking more and more annoyed.
‘Very well. If democracy and self-rule are the fundamentals, then why should people give up these rights when they enter the work place? In politics we fight like tigers for freedom, for the right to elect our leaders, for freedom of movement, choice of residence, choice of what work to pursue – control of our lives, in short. And then we wake up in the morning and go to work, and all those rights disappear. We no longer insist on them. And so for the most of the day we return to feudalism. That is what capitalism is – a version of feudalism in which capital replaces land, and business leaders replace kings. But the hierarchy remains. And so we will hand over our lives’ labour, under duress, to feed rulers who do no real work.’
‘Business leaders work,’ Antar said sharply. ‘And they take the financial risks – ‘
‘The so-called risk of the capitalist is merely one of the privileges of capital.’
‘Management – ‘
‘Yes yes. Don’t interrupt me. Management is a real thing, a technical matter. But it can be controlled by labour just as well as capital. Capital itself is simply the useful residue of the work of past labourers, and it could belong to everyone as well as to a few. There is no reason why a tiny nobility should own the capital, and everyone else therefore be in service to them. There is no reason they should give us a living wage and take all the rest that we produce. No! The system called capitalist democracy was never really democratic at all. That’s why it was able to turn so quickly into the metanational system, in which democracy grew ever weaker and capitalism ever stronger. In which one percent of the population owned half of the wealth, and five percent of the population owned 95 percent of the wealth. History has shown which values were real in the first place. And the sad thing is that the injustice and suffering caused by it were not at all necessary, in that the technical means have existed since the eighteenth century to provide the basics of life to all.
‘So. We must change. It is time. If self-rule is a value, if simple justice is a value, then they are values everywhere, including in the work place.
And I'm posting it, as I am very much in line with Vlads views here. Any thoughts? This is also a huge recommendation of the series by the way. Science fiction with the full spectre of social consequences.
Peace
Dan
’This new economy that’s being proposed,’ Antar declared one day at the table of tables, repeating his theme, ’is a radical and unprecedented intrusion of government into business.’ Suddenly Vlad Taneev stood up. ... He was looking around in a fiercely intent, slow glare, capturing them all before he turned his eye again on Antar.
‘What you say about government and business is absurd,’ he stated coldly. It was a tone of voice that had not been heard much at the congress so far, contemptuous and dismissive. ‘Governments always regulate the kinds of business they allow. Economics is a legal matter, a system of laws. So far, we have been saying in the Martian underground that as a matter of law, democracy and self-government are the innate rights of every person, and that these rights are not to be suspended when a person goes to work. You – ‘ he waved a hand to indicate he did not know Antar’s name ‘ – do you believe in democracy and self-rule?’
‘Yes!’ Antar said defensively.
‘Do you believe in democracy and self-rule as the fundamental values that government ought to encourage?’
‘Yes!’ Antar repeated, looking more and more annoyed.
‘Very well. If democracy and self-rule are the fundamentals, then why should people give up these rights when they enter the work place? In politics we fight like tigers for freedom, for the right to elect our leaders, for freedom of movement, choice of residence, choice of what work to pursue – control of our lives, in short. And then we wake up in the morning and go to work, and all those rights disappear. We no longer insist on them. And so for the most of the day we return to feudalism. That is what capitalism is – a version of feudalism in which capital replaces land, and business leaders replace kings. But the hierarchy remains. And so we will hand over our lives’ labour, under duress, to feed rulers who do no real work.’
‘Business leaders work,’ Antar said sharply. ‘And they take the financial risks – ‘
‘The so-called risk of the capitalist is merely one of the privileges of capital.’
‘Management – ‘
‘Yes yes. Don’t interrupt me. Management is a real thing, a technical matter. But it can be controlled by labour just as well as capital. Capital itself is simply the useful residue of the work of past labourers, and it could belong to everyone as well as to a few. There is no reason why a tiny nobility should own the capital, and everyone else therefore be in service to them. There is no reason they should give us a living wage and take all the rest that we produce. No! The system called capitalist democracy was never really democratic at all. That’s why it was able to turn so quickly into the metanational system, in which democracy grew ever weaker and capitalism ever stronger. In which one percent of the population owned half of the wealth, and five percent of the population owned 95 percent of the wealth. History has shown which values were real in the first place. And the sad thing is that the injustice and suffering caused by it were not at all necessary, in that the technical means have existed since the eighteenth century to provide the basics of life to all.
‘So. We must change. It is time. If self-rule is a value, if simple justice is a value, then they are values everywhere, including in the work place.
And I'm posting it, as I am very much in line with Vlads views here. Any thoughts? This is also a huge recommendation of the series by the way. Science fiction with the full spectre of social consequences.
Peace
Dan
"YOU [humans] NEED TO BELIEVE IN THINGS THAT AREN'T TRUE. HOW ELSE CAN THEY BECOME?" - Death
"Every judgment teeters on the brink of error. To claim absolute knowledge is to become monstrous. Knowledge is an unending adventure at the edge of uncertainty." - Frank Herbert, Dune, 1965
"Every judgment teeters on the brink of error. To claim absolute knowledge is to become monstrous. Knowledge is an unending adventure at the edge of uncertainty." - Frank Herbert, Dune, 1965
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Comments
thanks, seems like an interesting series
he had a voice that was strong and loud and
i swallowed his facade cos i'm so
eager to identify with
someone above the crowd
someone who seemed to feel the same
someone prepared to lead the way
ah.
i'd like to hear an "amen" if i could?
Does anyone have a anarcho-syndicalist primer or manifesto?
Someone posted on once on here, and i downloaded it, but i appear to have lost it.
It looked REALLY interesting.
:(
If I opened it now would you not understand?
Peace
Dan
"Every judgment teeters on the brink of error. To claim absolute knowledge is to become monstrous. Knowledge is an unending adventure at the edge of uncertainty." - Frank Herbert, Dune, 1965