Marx and The Monk : A fresh look.
When I think of Marx, Marxism or Communism, I remember the famous book, The God That Failed, by six ex-communists ( Andre Gide,Arthur Koestler,Ignazio Silone,Richard Wright and Stephen Spender). All were intellectuals - writers, poets, journalists - who had great hope of ushering in a just and equal society but were disillusioned by communism in action in the Soviet Union and the East European countries.The book was published in 1949.
There were other books too. Darkness at Noon by Arthur Koestler(a novel on the fate of the children of the revolution); 1984 ( a novel on the totalitarian state - Big Brother, Thought-police etc.) and The Animal Farm ( a satire on communist state and its famous line, ' All are equal but some are more equal than the others) both by George Orwell and The New Class ( a factual account how the top leaders and the bureaucracy can constitute the new ruling class ) by Milovan Djilas,one of the top leaders in Communist Yugoslavia. Of course, there are many more books which highlight the fault-lines of the communist project.
Marx : Is he a humanist ?
One reflects on these books when there are many articles published recently on Karl Marx's 200th birth anniversary on May 5. The first article was by the Nobel Laureate, Amartya Sen, on that date, in the Indian Express, entitled,Karl Marx 2.00. And it states ' His philosophy has been narrowly defined as ideas being determined by economic conditions….it is important to recognise his focus on the two-way nature of that relationship.' Sen highlights Marx's relatively unexplored ideas such as " objective illusion" and "false consciousness" ignoring the havoc that communism perpetrated on almost half of the world.
Then there was an article,200 years on, Karl Marx is relevant, in the Chinese daily, Xinhua ( May 16,2018). It quotes many writers in the West who have praised Marx on his anniversary. It states that the BBC poll in September 1999 won by Marx as the greatest thinker of the millenium. It cites an article, " Happy Birthday, Karl Marx" in New York Times by Jason Barker of the Kyung Hee University of South Korea, and author of the novel, "Marx Returns". Chinese President Xi Jinping observes that the name of Karl Marx is still respected all over the world and his theory still shines with the brilliant light of truth.
Another article, Karl Marx,200 years later, by Ramin Jahanbegloo, director of Mahatma Gandhi Centre for Peace,Jindal Global University,Sonipat,( The Hindu,May 5) absolves Marx of all crimes made by communists in his name. He states Marx, the philosopher, believes in the autonomy of human beings, and affirms that human beings make their own history. However, Marx, the theorist of historical materialism, was elevated by Engels,Lenin,Stalin and many others as a prophet of a secular religion called socialism.
Marx - judge the tree by its fruit
We should judge Karl Marx not by his intentions but by the outcomes, writes Manish Sabharwal, an entrepreneur and a thinker, in an article, Evaluating the long shadow, (Indian Express, May 9)." Marx cast a long shadow on human lives. Lenin, Stalin,Pol Pot and Mao and many other followers left their finger prints directly or indirectly on the death of about 75 million people. Forty percent of the world's population that lived under Marxist regimes endured dictatorships, secret police, famines, exhaustion in labour camps, murder, and much more." Sabharwal squarely blames Marx's teachings and the example of the Soviet Union which inspired the planned economy of India and its under performance after Independence by curbing the initiative and enterprise of Indian people.
Another piece on Marx, published by USA Today on May 5 with the headline, Don't Celebrate Marx. His Communism has a death count in the millions, by James Bevard, Opinion columnist. He states, " Communist regimes produced the greatest ideological carnage in world history, killing more than a hundred million people." Marx did not reveal how the state would wither away after the dictatorship of the proletariat, and Marx's humanitarian piffle did nothing to deter Lenin from decreeing that liberty is so precious that it must be rationed, he observes.
The Communist worldview
The Communist Manifesto of Marx and Engels issued in 1848 sums up the world view of the Marxists. It is full of moral outrage and moral courage. Marx was a witness to the plight of the workers with long hours of work living in dilapidated houses without proper food and sanitation. The Manifesto threatens the bourgeoisie, the rich." A spectre is haunting Europe - the spectre of communism. All the powers of old Europe have entered into a holy alliance to exorcise this spectre.." And it ends with the exhortation : " Let the ruling classes tremble at a Communist revolution. The proletarians have nothing to lose but their chains. They have a world to win. Workingmen of all countries, Unite!" Communism challenged every institution evolved over the centuries - state, religion, morals, family etc.
The Manifesto is a strange mixture of humanist goals and inhuman means to achieve it. There is a conflict between the ends and means. Mahatma Gandhi shunned violence as inhuman. For him, ends do not justify means. For Marx and Engels, 'violence is the midwife of every old society pregnant with a new one'. The Communist Revolutions in Russia and in China are drenched in the blood of millions of innocent people. And both of them failed - one collapsed with its inherent contradictions, and the other became a state capitalism.
The Communists in India too have indulged in violence and continue to do so. They tried to carve a communist enclave in Telangana immediately after Independence which was put down by the Union Home Minister Sardar Patel.They gave up violence for democracy, and won in Kerala. When the Communist Party tried to change the educational system, they had to face an agitation spearheaded the Catholic Church and the Nair Society, and the Communist government was dismissed by the Prime Minister Nehru. It's splinter group, Naxalites, continue the violence even now. They would not allow development - roads, schools and hospitals, factories - as misery of the people is the basis of their revolution. It has been well-said that when there is a general election,there is no need to for a general strike or violence. If you can change society through reforms, there is no need for a revolution. In the Naxalite-dominated areas, many lives have been lost and these communists continue with their class war where innocents are killed for the edification of their creed. The violence has become an end in itself.
Democracy - power to the people
Giving sanction to violence is to going back the law of the jungle where might is right. Democracy evolved during the last two centuries ensured that everybody counts and every interest counts. Democracy believes counting of heads is better than breaking them. Compromise and consensus are the essence of democracy, and this has improved the wellbeing of the proletariat and the poor in all democracies. Welfare society that UK,USA and the Europe built after the second world war is the result of the democracy in these countries. Some decades ago an US labour leader had observed that while workers of USSR own the car factories, US workers own cars. Mass production and mass consumption go together. Henry Ford is the first industrialist who realised workers are also consumers.
The materialistic interpretation of history and the class war are the other two articles of faith of the communists. Mode of production of material life is the foundation of society and all other aspects of life are based on it - social, political,religious etc. The recognition of private property has divided society into two hostile economic classes, and this has led to class war - slave-owner and slave, feudal lord and serf, and capitalist and worker. Abolition of private property and the common ownership is expected to usher in a classless society. This has been disproved in the Soviet Union as well as in the Communist China. Here a new class of owners/rulers has emerged.
Free thought - power of ideas
Freedom of thought and expression are the life-blood of progress, and curbing them in these two countries have harmed themselves and their citizens. Ant-hill and bee-hive cannot be an ideals for a human society. A rebel like Karl Marx would not have survived in the Soviet Union and the Communist China. There is human dignity and human progress in the chaos of democracy than in a regimented state and society. And man cannot live by bread alone. Man has many more dimensions than just instincts - man has imagination, intuition, and inspiration, and these come into play when the mind is free. Caged mind cannot soar high.
The Manifesto proclaims that the new society will be organised on the principle, ' from each according to his capacity,to each according to his needs' and ' the free development of each is the condition for the free development of all.' This ideal is to be achieved through the establishment of 'the dictatorship of the proletariat' There has been no evidence in history where the ruler/ king/ dictator has given up power willingly.It has not happened in the Soviet Union or in the Communist China. Marx underestimated the psychology of power. Power corrupts, and absolute power power corrupts, absolutely, as Lord Acton noted.
Marx's prediction of communist revolution in the most advanced industrial state has not happened. The revolution happened in the pre-industrial Russia, and not because workers revolted but because the defeated Czar of Russia could not hold his empire together.
The theory of economic determination flies in the face of human ideas, human effort, human ingenuity and human determination displayed in the long history of human life. The Malthusian theory of population had predicted catastrophe to the world if population growth outstrips foodstuff growth - human ingenuity increased the production of foodstuffs. Many had predicted the end of capitalism after depression of 1932-34 - economic cycle was kick-started with the creation of demand through public works. Death of democracy and death of human ideas are highly exaggerated !
Marxism is a pessimistic creed
Marx has a highly pessimistic view of life. He looks at every relationship from the prism of exploitation including the family life. The family as an institution stabilised the civilised life of the mankind from a nomadic and chaotic life. It gave a purpose to life and it created a happy environment for children to grow up. Love and romance have cemented the family life.
Marx characterised religion as the opium of the masses.( Accumulation of wealth or power can also be an opium.) He did not appreciate how religious codes laid down the foundational values of a civilised life. The concept of Dharma (what is right & what is right), the idea karma (duty is its own reward ) and many other ideals in the Bhagavad Gita, the Ten Commandments, the Sermon on the Mount have promoted human brotherhood and guided the life of millions of people. It is true that men have not lived up to these ideals. However, if we dismiss these ideals we will be throwing away the baby with the bathwater.
One may not agree with Marx but one has to appreciate his new perspective on society. Modes of production have profound impact on society and on the relations between various classes of society. Dignity of the man and a classless society are great ideals to be pursued by every state.
Communism is as much an acquisitive society as capitalism.Can accumulation or possession of more and more goods satisfy the soul of the man ? Where will the rat race end ? Already scientists have warned about the warming of the earth. Forests are being denuded. Overfishing is rampant. Air and water pollution have taken gigantic proportions. Is man killing the goose that gives him the eggs ? Is he cutting the branch where he is perched ? Has the time come for man to re-think his place on the earth ? Has the time come for him to understand that he is not the master of the earth but a part of it and that what affects it also affects him. Mahatma Gandhi had drawn the attention of the people to the 'design flaws' in the acquisitive society in his book, Hind Swaraj, when he was in South Africa. It is a 'must read' for those who want to save this world. All ancient civilisations have revered Nature as Mother Earth as it nourishes the mankind.
Hindu worldview
The Hindu view of the world, or the Hindu Manifesto, was announced by Swami Vivekananda in his address to the World's Parliament of Religions in Chicago on September 11,1893, 45 years after the Communist Manifesto. He was applauded when he began his speech with the words, " Sisters and brothers of America" as he invoked universal brotherhood when all others were extolling their own creed. His call for universal peace and harmony for all faiths was greeted with thunderous applause. He declared : " I am proud to belong to a religion which has taught the world both tolerance and universal acceptance. We believe not only in universal tolerance, but we also accept all religions as true. I am proud to belong to a nation which has sheltered the persecuted and the refugees of all religions and all nations of the earth." His speech brought a healing touch to the world torn by artificial barriers - race, religion, creed and class.
The Hindu vision of an ideal state and an ideal society is based on love, duty,obligation and cooperation, not conflict and violence. Man made progress whenever he cooperated with others, not when he fought with others. Bhishma, the statesman of the Mahabharata, while expounding the Rajadharma to Yudhistira in the Shanti Parva mentions a society governed by Dharma : " Where there is no king, nor any kingdom; where there is no crime, nor any punishment; People act according to Dharma, and protect each other." Such an ideal state is possible if all people are imbued with the concept of Dharma - that conduct which sustains society and also understanding what is right and what is wrong..
The first socialist of india
The first socialist of modern India was Swami Vivekananda. He had coined word, Daridra Narayana - Divine manifesting as the poor. They are poor due to the circumstances in society, and it is not their fault. And the society has to care of their welfare. He said, " So long as that millions live in hunger and ignorance, I hold educated man a traitor who, having been educated at their expense, pays not the least heed to them." This concern for the poor and the downtrodden flows from the vision of Hinduism that God pervades everybody and everything. We are all brothers, and we are all brother's keepers. " Isha vyasya midham sarvam..tena tyaktena bhunjitha" ( God pervades everything - animate or inanimate- and share your food with everybody). This is from Isavasyopanishad.
Mahatma Gandhi always talked about Ram Rajya where even the lowly dhobi's (washerman's) doubt is responded to by the mighty King. Ram sends his pregnant wife to the ashram of Sage Vasishta in exile. It is unfair on the part of the King to send his queen into exile. However, welfare of his people is more important than the welfare of his family for the king. That is his Rajadharma.
The Mahatma had proposed an ideal for india - Sarvodaya, welfare of all. Pt. Deendayal Upadhyaya had drawn attention to ' antoyodaya' - reaching the last man in the queue. Gandhiji also advocated the idea of Trusteeship for the rich and the powerful. The rich have to understand that the wealth they have accumulated is not their own, the society and the state have a role in it. They provide an environment of peace, and the rule of law for the enterprises to flourish.They have to share it with society. They are just trustees of the wealth, not the owners. Even the rich in the world like Bill Gates and others agree with this view and have donated substantial portion of their wealth for public welfare.
A good society
If a free society allows inequality, a regimented society kills initiative and enterprise. Class conflict and the mode of production cannot be a foundation of a good society. Conflict exists in society but it is not natural for any society. Similarly greed is there in every society but overcoming it makes it a good society. Greed has not made anybody happy. Good society requires character, education, health, brotherhood, and good governance. This can be provided only by the age-old values of truth, non-violence, honesty, and reverence for life.
There is no blueprint or a five-year plan for a good society. Attitude makes all the difference.The Hindu ideal has been 'vasudhaiva kutumbakam' - the world as a family. The international commerce, travel, transport, institutions have brought the world together. Only one thing is missing - fraternity which creates 'samanvaya' - harmony. Harmony between an individual and the society. Harmony between various nations, communities, and states. Harmony between the human beings and the nature - flora and fauna, air, water,and land. Living in harmony with everyone and everything brings in peace and happiness.
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