Capitalism is not a required step in the transformation towards a Socialist society. Listen up. ::posted Fri, 14 Feb 2014 21:42:14 +0000:: ift.tt/1cFN3PG Alright, this will be controversial. A month or so ago I asked the opinion of the community on: Do you believe the industrial revolution could have occurred without capitalism? The resounding answer was no. I was actually quite shocked by this. Most believed that capitalism was necessary to force rapid economic progress. It forced people to innovate and move to manufactory hubs. I won’t go into huge detail with their opinions on the matter, I will just represent an alternative history and also how it applies to today’s world. What is required to expand an economy rapidly? I argue it boils down to two simple attributes: There is labour outside of absolute essential-to-life industries; mainly agriculture. There is at least a small amount of decently educated people. Step 1: Recognize this ‘surplus or non-essential labour’. During reality, this was noticed and then came the industrial revolution; however, the people that noticed it used it to exploit others. Arguably, you need the people that notice this extra labour to be ‘good’ people, ones that will not exploit others. This is where the capitalism – socialism course was set in history. Let’s explore the alternative path. Step 2: For fastest growth you need to convince the populous to work towards the greater good, and abandon non-essential activities for the time being. This can be done by force, as was done in the capitalist transition, or by convincing through educating. The first option is obviously much quicker, the second slower; regardless, either path leads to the same outcome. Step 3: After forcing or convincing, divert all non-essential labour towards education and research, the research being mainly in labour-saving technologies. Step 4: Begin to divert labour away from research/education towards production of labour saving equipment/processes. Step 5: Newly freed labour reinvested into either non-essential ‘luxury’ producing activities, education/research, or production of equipment/processes. The more labour that is put into non-essential activities the slower the growth. Step 3 is important when determining the pace of growth. The more people are educated/convinced that short term sacrifice leads to long term gains, the faster growth will be. This is also why one of the key ingredients for an economic revolution is an educated group of people. As long as this value is firstly recognized and forced/convinced into the general populace’s minds, a revolution is bound to occur. In reality, this was never shared with the general population and was instead used to further exploit the uneducated. We assumed that the first educated where good and not exploitive, wanting to increase everyone’s, including their own, welfare. So we see that it is in Step 1 where the capitalist-socialist path is decided. How does this apply to today? We need to change the key factor that affected step 1. Either by convincing/force. Socialism can rise anywhere that there is non-essential labour on Earth. From the U.S. to Bangladesh. If we do this, we can use progress (technology/knowledge) made during capitalisms enslavement to bring rapid equalization around the globe through some sacrifice. So, are you willing to make some sacrifices? submitted by youre_a_repost[link] [8 comments] [Forwarded by the MyLeftBlogosphere news engine. Link to original post below:]
Posted on: Sat, 15 Feb 2014 00:25:03 +0000
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