EDITOR’S NOTE: This article is based on, and a logical follow-up of, the author’s two major critiques of traditional socialism from traditional Chinese philosophical perspective: Productive-force-centrism: The Fatal Flaw in Socialist Political Economy and Balance-Oriented vs. Confrontational Thinking: Daoist-Legalist Socialism vs. the Right & the Left. Hope it will arouse public interest and lead to warm discussion.
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I. Themes of the Times:
Human Crises and Transformation of Civilization
The major characteristics of our times are: Capitalistic civilization and the human society under its domination are confronted with a general crisis, and the human civilization pattern has to be transformed to be able to survive.
The Sep. 11 terrorist act at the turn of the century marked the beginning of decline of the capitalistic superpower, the USA, from the height of global hegemony, and also the beginning of a general crisis, or decline, of world capitalism.
To fight an institutional foe by terrorist means only brings harm to innocent civilians and plays into the foe’s hands and, thus, is totally inadvisable. The fact that more and more people have been attracted to this kind of act, forming a global extremist anti-capitalism trend, demonstrates that the conflicts with a class nature between the global South and North have reached an unprecedented degree of acuteness. And this confrontational situation is being intermingled with the general crisis of capitalism in its global core area, echoing and aggravating each other. This signifies the approaching of a turning point in the development of the general world situation.
The general crisis of capitalism shows itself in many ways, not only in the ever more frequent and more severe economic crises of the traditional type, but also in the natural resources crisis, and the environment/climate crisis, which is threatening the survival of the human race; and all these crises are in turn aggravating the life-and-death conflicts within the global capitalist system and the threat of a massively destructive nuclear war…It is not accidental that all these crises have come together to the brink of a general breakout. The last century’s cold war between the capitalist-imperialist and social-imperialist camps ended in the collapse of the latter and victory of the former. But this was both the climax of the former’s success and the beginning of the end of its evil history as well. The rapid completion of the globalization of capitalist economy has turned the “external” conflicts between the capitalist and the non-capitalist world into internal ones within the global capitalist system. Before that, it had been the all-time practice, the life line, of the capitalist world, and also the tradition of all Western privileged ruling classes, to try to smooth over internal social conflicts and maintain hegemony both inside and outside by “exporting” such conflicts to the outside world. (see ”The Way towards Future: Chinese & Western social evolution patterns compared” by this author.) This strategy, however, is no longer applicable now, as with globalization there is no longer demarcation between “inside” and ”outside”. And no wonder flames of terrorist war have spread near to the Wall Street.
On the other hand, capitalism does not only mean exploitation of all working people but also that of nature. All those crises mentioned above have been awakening people to the fact that this general crisis is just the result of the two kinds of exploitations in the long past, i.e., the result of capitalist mode of production and way of life, or the result of the accumulation of capitalistic civilization’s negative effects in its extreme form. ((See Li Cai: “A General Crisis of Capitalism will Soon Break Out”.) Obviously, capitalism has come near to its grave, bringing the mankind under its control to the brink of a survival crisis. Humanity will not be able to escape the fate of being buried alive with it, so to speak, unless the current capitalist mode of production and way of life should be changed and its ideology and pattern of civilization abandoned.
Therefore, the themes of our times are not “peace and development” as alleged by some Chinese ideologists, but should be “human crisis and transformation of civilization”
II. Historic Mission of the Proletariat
The historic mission of the contemporary proletariat lies in the following five tasks:
Task 1. To resist, cripple and finally put an end to the hegemonic control of the world by global monopoly capital, and gradually remove the social basis for the unchecked growth of capital into new monopoly forces.
The current conflicts between global monopoly capital and the world’s peoples and between mankind under the former’s control and nature, both threatening the survival of the human race, have originated in the domination by the former. Mankind will never have a peaceful life or will even be wiped out from the earth unless that evil force should be rooted out. This latter force, being currently very powerful economically, politically, militarily and ideologically and at the same time most cold-blooded and relentless, is even far more destructive and harmful than the fascists in history. To root out this cancerous growth on human society, it is necessary to mobilize and unite all those who can be united with and isolate the most stubborn and dangerous of that evil force so as to gradually eliminate it.
Therefore, although capitalistic private ownership of means of production has been the hotbed for that cancerous growth, the most urgent task at present is not yet to remove the hotbed altogether at once but to remove the cancer. For this purIose, it is necessary --
(a) In countries or areas where conditions are ripe, to first eliminate native bureaucratic-comprador capital, to expel world monopoly capital from the local markets, retrieve whatever political and economical power they have usurped into the local people’s hands, establish or re-establish and strengthen national economic foundation with socialist common ownership playing the leading role, guaranteed by constitutional democracy, all-citizen supervision and worker participation in business management, while adopting a policy of support, regulation and co-operation towards small- and medium-sized native capital;
(b) to develop economy in an appropriate degree so as to improve the majority of people’s livelihood and build up adequate national defense against possible military attacks from hegemonic capitalist powers in order for reformed socialism to stand invincible in those parts of the world; and
(c) at the same time, in solidarity with all developing nations and peoples victimized by the hegemonic powers, to fight a “protracted war”, so to speak, with the latter on the political, economic and ideological fronts; and, through the process of gradually weakening and finally rooting out world monopoly capital, to educate, guide and unite with all those who are infected with capitalistic ideas but willing to change and accept new ones, thus laying the foundation for ultimate all-round elimination of private ownership of means of production in the future.
Task 2. To change the current mode of production and way of life, give up anthropocentric, materialistic, productive-force-centrist, unlimited-economic-growth-oriented, and consumerist ideas, policies and practices, stop plundering and damaging the natural environment, try every way to restore man-nature balance, develop economy in a balanced way to meet all people’s basic material and spiritual needs. (See Productive-force-centrism: The Fatal Flaw in Socialist Political Economy by this author.)
Task 3. To change production relations step by step (not all at once) from almost universal private ownership of means of production to common ownership (not so-called “public ownership” under bureaucratic dictatorship) in all practicable forms, i.e., ownership by communities on all levels (enterprises, townships, districts, nations, and all humanity) based on “democratic alliance between equal entities (shop floor laborers, “just capital” investors and business and social management workers)”, give priority to production and distribution of basic necessities of all humanity, gradually narrow down the gap between the rich and the poor on all levels of the global community (between nations, regions, and classes), properly improve people’s living conditions as allowed by natural and social conditions (i.e., not to upset balances in social relations on all levels and man-nature relations), reward all workers (in the broad sense – those who work menially and/or mentally, in production, service, management, etc.) who have made outstanding contributions to people’s welfare in line with the principle of “from each according to his ability, to each according to his contribution”, stop the evil practices of unlimited accumulation of private wealth by means of exploitation, corruption and speculation (in financial and housing markets) -- so as to have the economic institution facilitate and guarantee the gradual realization of transformation of people’s way of thinking, of production and living and of the total mode of civilization.
Task 4. In order to secure the gradual establishment of multi-level community common ownership, to institute at a steady pace and/or improve constitutional or charter-guaranteed political democracy on all social levels, with labor-capital co-management in commonly-owned community enterprises on the grassroots level as the broadest primary foundation for social democracy, so as to have the political institution facilitate and guarantee the gradual realization of transformation of production relations, of the mode of production, of people’s way of thinking and living and of the total pattern of civilization.
Task 5. To encourage and support personal mentality reformation on a social scale and, especially, call for vanguards of the proletariat and other social elites to take the lead as models for others in such self-reformation and restrain themselves from undue desires for personal wealth and power, with a view to have the general public increasingly accept the working towards a balanced harmony in social and man-nature relations as the highest social and personal ideal. Only by taking the lead in self-reformation, can any social vanguard forces lead the whole mankind towards emancipation.For this purpose, it is also necessary to ban decadent and corruptive media culture and promote morally healthy popular art and entertainment; to denounce capitalistic ideology while studying and developing what is good from the traditions of all civilizations; to encourage creative thinking and free discussion and competition between all schools of thought to promote the flourishing of academic culture that is really beneficial to the wellbeing of humanity – all this in order to have social thought and culture facilitate and guarantee the gradual realization of transformation of the political and economic institutions, of people’s way of living and of the total pattern of civilization.
III. Improvement on Traditional Socialist Program
The above re-formulation of the historical mission and tasks confronting the world proletariat contains some new thinking in the following aspects:
1. The dual goal
The ultimate goal of traditional socialism is to realize communism, that is, to finally put an end to exploitation so as to develop productive forces to such a degree that people’s daily necessities will be fully provided and the material foundation for the all-round development of all individuals secured. During the past two centuries, when the confrontation between man and nature was not yet so apparent and devastating, it is understandable and excusable for pioneer socialists to focus their concern and attention on the major conflicts within human society. Today, however, as the accelerating deterioration of the ecological conditions on and around the Earth caused by the capitalistic mode of production and living is seriously threatening the survival of mankind, it is absolutely imperative to put the restoration of harmony between man and nature as a parallel goal on the “maximum program”, which can be summarized today as follows:
Regulate capital and eliminate monopoly and exploitation to achieve balances in world social relations;
Restrain human desires and develop production in a balanced way to maintain harmony between man and nature.
As the capitalist system is the one major hindrance to the realization of the above dual goal, and the transformation of human civilization should be the fundamental prerequisite, the two goals are actually complementary to each other.
2. Basing oneself on the nation-state one belongs to while cherishing the interests of all humanity -- Uplift patriotism and internationalism to the height of All-under-Heavenism (all-under-heaven including the natural ecological environment)
The reason why the human community has been divided into politically independent sovereign states each with its own historical and cultural tradition is because they are each located in different geographical positions and, so, also different natural and human social environments. Therefore, the proletariat of each country may not take the same steps or adopt the same approaches in trying to accomplish its historical mission; they have to base themselves on the concrete conditions of each nation-state to contribute what they can to the general interests of the world proletarian cause as a whole.
At the meantime, although the proletariat of one specific country may be able to win a preliminary victory in its socialist cause, it is not possible for them to secure a final success within the limit of one country, especially today when world monopoly capital’s universal hegemonic power over the “Earth village” has rendered the interests of the proletariat and laboring peoples of all countries even more closely related and mutually dependent and made it all the more obvious that the proletariat cannot emancipate itself unless the whole mankind is emancipated. Hence, while basing themselves on their own country, the proletariats of all countries have to cherish the interests of the whole human community and do their work as part of the whole world proletarian revolution. That is why it is necessary to combine patriotism with “all-under-Heavenism”, otherwise patriotism will degenerate into national chauvinism or even social- or capital-imperialism.
“All-under-Heavenism” is different from the traditional concept of “internationalism” in that the former is even more inclusive, i.e., including all existence that is within the reach of human cognition and activities, not only all living things but the whole inorganic world as well; and covering not only relations between nations as between parts but also, more emphatically, relations between individual nations and the whole human community as between parts and the whole. In a word, All-under-Heavenism does not merely refer to the diplomatic maneuvering or game playing between parallel nations but views all under heaven as a multidimensional inseparable organic whole.
There are two sides to the relation between domestic administration and foreign affairs management: While on the one hand there is need for foreign policies to meet domestic needs of a nation-state as a relatively independent entity, on the other hand all nation-states as parts of the human community are obliged to conscientiously subordinate their national interests to the general interests of the mankind as a whole. But at the present historical stage when there is not yet a legal supreme authority for world affairs, each nation-state has to formulate its own understanding and position, based on extensive inter-nation communications and integration of opinions from all concerned parties, with regard to the general interests of the human community as a whole, while at the same time making efforts to facilitate the establishment of the highest administrative authority for all human affairs based on constitutional democratic principles.
Patriotism and all-under-heavenism are mutually complementary. Those who betray national interests in seeking benefits for special interest groups, and those who do not pay due respect to one’s parents, ancestors, and national heroes and despise one’s own nation’s cultural tradition are certainly not the kind of persons who would be concerned about the world’s future but ones seeking self-interest in the name of national or all-human interests. Those who really cherish all-under heaven would naturally respect their parents, ancestors and national heroes, defend their own nation’s justifiable interests, value their own nation’s tradition but are not ultra-familists or ultranationalists who seek to lord it over all others and seek their own interests at the expense of others.
To sum up, All-under-Heavenism incorporates but commands an even broader vision than patriotism and internationalism.
3. Change our way of thinking:
Replace man-nature confrontation view of the cosmos and productive-force-centrist view of human history with man-nature and mind-matter dynamic balance view of all existence and history;
Replace “unlimited economic growth” fallacy with overall balance-oriented theory of economics;
Replace confrontational thinking (i.e., to aggrandize and generalize lower-level and local conflicts into overall confrontations, such as advocating “class struggle as the paramount principle”, “clash of civilizations”, and “conquering nature”) with balance-oriented thinking, that is, to look at all contradictions and conflicts and the natural tendency of their development with a serene mind, which is to be obtained by mutual and self-restraint combined, and to bring about necessary social changes in line with this natural tendency, with a view to promote an overall balance in multiple dimensions.
The view of human history as basically driven by the development of productive forces is bound to lead to the aggrandization of the historical justifiability of capitalism, to the vilification of new-born socialism and distortion of communism, to the destruction of ecological balance and, finally, of mankind, if not mended.
Capitalism, by nature, favors unlimited economic growth, because only when economy grows, at whatever cost to the human community at large, could the capitalists multiply their wealth indefinitely so as to keep meeting their insatiable greed.
Socialist economy has to develop within a limit, that is, while properly meeting the people’s basic material needs and the need to have a solid material foundation for the defense of the essential interests of the whole human community against possible attacks from hegemonic world monopoly capitalist blocs, economical development should be favorable to the restoration and maintenance of an overall balance between man and nature and balance in human relationships. In other words, the growth of socialist economy should not create or aggravate polarization between social classes and/or between nations, bringing about unrest at home and/or abroad, nor to cause a deterioration of the Earth and outer space environment, posing a threat to the survival of mankind.
4. A dual policy of support and regulation towards small- and medium-sized (non-monopoly) native capital
Under the contemporary historical conditions of globalization, world monopoly capital is trying all-pervasively to penetrate all realms of social life of all countries, to look out for and/or foster through bribery local bureaucratic and/or comprador capitalists and their agents in all circles throughout the world, and, through their agency, to maintain control of all nations’ economical, political and cultural life so as to secure an overall hegemony over the globe. Under such circumstances, those big capitalist groups in all countries are most likely of bureaucratic and/or comprador nature, while native capital not clinging to any monopoly groups, national or global, is generally small or medium in size.
All native capital has a dual character: exploiting native working people and pursuing unlimited growth of personal wealth while also suffering from unfair competition with domestic and world monopoly capital and, therefore, somewhat likely to accept the supervision and regulation by a socialist state, thus playing a positive role in national economy. Its dual character may also find expression in its wavering attitude towards monopoly capital: resenting while trying to edge up to it. Hence, a proper approach towards small- and medium-sized native capital should be dual in nature -- supervision and regulation on the one hand and unity and support on the other – so as to reduce the strength of negative forces while boosting that of alliances, making it possible to concentrate all resources on removing the major hindrance to people’s welfare.
So long as the hegemonic power of national and international monopoly capital is still there or is likely to revive after a setback, the above policy should not be abandoned, unless native capital join forces as a whole politically with monopoly capital or socialist forces have accumulated overwhelming strength physically and morally vis-à-vis global monopoly capital, so overwhelming as to be able to beat any attacks from the latter. If we lose sight of the general socialist orientation and give up proper supervision and regulation of capital, indulging its spontaneous tendency towards relentless exploitation of working people and corrupting socialism, it is deviation towards the right. And if we ignore the serious economic, political and military threat from the powerful world monopoly forces and the possibility of uniting small and medium capital against the above threat, it would be self-defeating in failing to isolate the hegemonic forces as much as possible and is deviation towards the “left”.
5. A distribution principle based on input of all kinds, not only to “each” individuals, nor “according to [one’s] work (in the narrow sense)” only
The traditional socialist distribution principle “to each according to his work” is based on the “labor value theory”, that views individual labor as the exclusive source of commodity value. But this author discovered years ago that the utility value of commodities come from three sources: the potential value hidden in natural resources used as means of production, the value of collective wisdom accumulated through all generations of all peoples that is hidden in production and management equipment and skills, and then individual labor, including, besides manual labor, mental work done by scientists, technicians, managers and other working people. The value coming from the first two sources should in principle be duly allotted to the whole human community, not any sub-community or any individuals. In view of the present historical conditions under which the human community remains divided into a multiple of sovereign nation-states, this author has proposed a “three-tier joint community ownership system” based on democratic management on all levels (English version not available yet). This should be the institutional basis for distribution.
According to the above multi-level joint community ownership principle, the nation-state entrusted by the whole citizenship through a democratic procedure has the authority to supervise and co-ordinate all business enterprises in the overall interest of all the people under its administration and collect proper amounts of taxes to be used for maintenance of natural resources and environment, including obligations due to the world community, for macro-level public projects in maintaining and improving transportation, education, other cultural enterprises, national defense, and government operations, for rewarding working people directly or indirectly contributing to social production but not paid by any specific business entities, and for other social purposes – this is theoretically different from the so-called “second-time distribution” by a capitalist welfare state. The after-tax profits should be further distributed to individuals according to democratically formulated principles and/or state law.
The distribution among labor providers (including managing personnel) should be based on their work input. It is necessary to prevent two extremes: either too wide gaps between individuals, especially between managers and shop floor workers, or absolute equalitarianism in that all work input is uniformly calculated according to working hours only. There are definite differences between unskilled labor, skilled labor, managing work and technically or academically related mental labor in the intensity of their work, in the time and energy they invest before or after their working hours in preparation for their work, and in the actual contributions they make. If all of them are paid according to working hours only, it is against the socialist principle. Since small capital ownership should still be tolerated in the transition period towards mature socialism, it is not fair not to allow different rewards between people with different capabilities or so-called “bourgeois rights”. While it is necessary to encourage and commend the communist attitude towards work, i.e., to contribute to common good whatever one is capable of with no regard to reward, it is not time yet to abolish the institutional principle of distribution according to one’s contributions.
As to distribution to capital providers, there should be a distinction between the principle and expedient flexibility.
a) Principled distribution: if the capital comes from a justifiable source, i.e., primarily from labor-earned savings with (or without) justifiable profits added afterwards, according to a labor-capital ratio agreed upon by both providers in line with the state’s instruction, if there is one. The profits gained this way are again “justifiable profits”.
b) Expedient distribution: During the comparatively long period of transition towards the overall abolition of private ownership, the distribution of after-tax profits in privately-owned businesses should also go by the instructions from state administrative agencies, A certain degree of capital-labor inequality should, however, be allowed within a limit set by law and protected by law. So long as the related law is in effect, any attacks on such businesses are against the law and should also be punished.
Besides, in commonly owned businesses, capital from not totally justifiable, but not illegal, sources may be counted as justifiable capital, if necessary, for the purpose of profit distribution. This is another instance of expediency.
But the principle for individual distribution according to one’s work (including labor-originated capital) should always be the Number One principle within the whole national economic system. It is wrong and dangerous to ignore the distinction between justifiable and unjustifiable capital and the distinction between principled and expedient distribution, as is, for instance, the “factors” theory prevalent in present-day China, which labels as “factors”, besides labor, all kinds of capital, whether it originates from labor or exploitation, or from misappropriation of state property, or from bribery or other illegal activities, all supposed to deserve a share in profit distribution. This kind of theory is no longer socialist in nature in the Marxian sense.
All the above discussions about distribution, except for the expedient, combine to constitute the whole contribution-based principle, which corporates but is not limited to the traditional socialist principle of “From each according to his ability and to each according to his work”.
The proposed three-tier joint community ownership plus the above distribution principle embodies an ideal production relations system for mankind’s future. This system, together with a political institution based on multi-level constitutional democracy, will better fit the human society into the way of Nature as a multi-dimensional dynamically-balanced whole. As is different from both welfare capitalism and traditional socialism, it will overcome the defects of either systems and pave the way for mankind to the realization of Great Harmony under heaven or what is called Communism.
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