Miscellaneous Articles

In socialism there are many creeds the most famous of which is the socialist creed, which is based on the Marxist theory, and the argumentative materi alism, which is a certain philosophy of life and a materialistic comprehension of it according to the dialectical method. Dialectical materialists have applied this dialectical materialism to history, sociol- ogy and economy. So, it has become a philosophical creed in world affairs, a method to study history and sociology, a creed in economy and a plan in politics... ! In other words, it formulates all of mankind into a particular structure as regarding his way of thinking, his attitude towards life and his practical method therein.

There is no doubt that the materialistic phil- osophy and the dialectical method have never been innovations or creations of the Marxist creed. The materialistic trend has lived within the philosophical field for thousands of years, once in the open and once hidden behind sophistication and absolute denial. Also, the dialectical method of reasoning is deeply rooted in the lines of human thinking. Its lines were perfected at the hands of Hagel, the well- known idealistic philosopher. Carl Marx only adopted such "reasoning" and philosophy. He tried to apply it in all fields of life; so, he made two researches:

One of them is his purely materialistic, in a dialectical method, interpretation of history.

The other is his claim therein that he found out the contradictions within the capital and surplus value which the capitalist steals in his creed from the labourer.'

Upon these "achievements" has he erected his belief in the necessity of abolishing the communist and socialist societies which he considered to be a step for mankind to completely apply communism.

The social field in this philosophy is one of battling contradictions, and every social situation which prevails upon such field is but a purely materi alistic phenomenon which harmonizes with the other phenomena and materialistic climes and is affected thereby. But he spontaneously carries his own self- contradiction in the essence, and a battle of contra- dictions will then be waged within its content until all contradictions assemble to cause a change in that situation and prepare for another one. Thus does the battle linger until all mankind form one single class, and the interests of every individual will be repre- sented in the interests of that unified class. At that moment will harmony prevail and peace become a reality, and all bad effects of the democratic capitalist system will be completely removed, for they resulted only from the existence of many classes within one society, and such numerousness resulted from di- viding the society to a producer and a labourer. Therefore, such division has to be stopped by abol- ishing (private) ownership. Here, communism differs from socialism in the main economic outlines, for the communist economy hinges upon:

First: Abolishing private ownership and its complete eradication from the society, giving wealth to the public and placing it in the hands of the State since the latter is the legal representative of the so- ciety in managing and utilizing it for the common welfare. The communist belief in the necessity of this absolute nationalization is due to the natural reaction of the consequences of private ownership in the democratic capitalist system. This nationaliz- ation has thus been justified: It is meant to abolish the capitalist class and unite the society into one class in order to put an end to that struggle and in order to forbid the individual from utilizing differ- ent - means and methods to accumulate his wealth in order to satisfy his greed, motivated by his own selfish interest.

Second: Distribution of products according to the consuming need of individuals. It can be summed up thus: From everyone according to his capacity, and for everyone according to his need. This is so because every individual has natural needs without which he cannot live. So, he gives the so- ciety all of his endeavour so that the society provides him with his living necessities and takes care of his livelihood ...

Third: An economic procedure planned by the State, wherein it combines the society's need with production in its volume, diversity and limitation, so that the society will not be inflicted with the same line in the communist economy, that is, the abolish- ment of private ownership, has been substituted with a moderate solution: nationalization of heavy indus- tries, foreign trade and domestic trades, putting all of them under government monopoly; in other words, abolishing large mass capital by setting free the simple industries and trades, leaving them to the individuals, for the wide line of communist economy collapsed with the reality of the human nature, to which we referred above, for the individuals started neglecting the performance of their duties and of being active in their jobs, running away from their social obliga- tions, for the system is supposed to guarantee their livelihood and the fulfillment of their needs. Also, it is supposed not to exert any further effort; there- fore, why should the individual exert himself and sweat as long as the result is already in his calculation, the result of both states of laziness and activity?! Why should he rush to provide happiness for others, trading the convenience of others for his own sweat, tears, life and energy, since he does not believe in any principle in life except that a purely materialistic nature?! Therefore, the advocates of such creed were forced to freeze absolute nationalization! They were also forced to adjust the other line in the communist line in the communist economy, that is, the abolish- ment of private ownership, has been substituted with a moderate solution:

nationalization of heavy indus- tries, foreign trade and domestic trades, putting all of them under government monopoly; in other words, abolishing large mass capital by setting free the simple industries and trades, leaving them to the individuals, for the wide line of communist economy collapsed with the reality of the human nature, to which we referred above, for the individuals started neglecting the performance of their duties and of being active in their jobs, running away from their social obliga- tions, for the system is supposed to guarantee their livelihood and the fulfillment of their needs. Also, it is supposed not to exert any further effort; there- fore, why should the individual exert himself and sweat as long as the result is already in his calculation, the result of both states of laziness and activity?! Why should he rush to provide happiness for others, trading the convenience of others for his own sweat, tears, life and energy, since he does not believe in any principle in life except that a purely materialistic nature?! Therefore, the advocates of such creed were forced to freeze absolute nationalization! They were also forced to adjust the other line in the communist economy by allowing wages to vary in order to push the labourers to be active and perfect in their jobs, making the excuse that these variations are only temporary, and that they will disappear once the capitalist mentality is crushed and man created anew! For this purpose, they continuously make changes in their economic methods and socialist modes in order to follow the failure of an old method by trying a new one! They have not yet succeeded in getting rid of all basic corner-stones of the capitalist econ- omy. For example, the interest loans have not been totally abolished, although they are, in fact, the basis of social corruption in the capitalist economy ... !

All of this, however, does not mean that those advocates have had shortcomings, or that they have not been serious in their creed or faithful to their doctrine ... ; rather, it means that they have clashed with reality while trying to put them to practise, finding their path full of obstacles and contradictions put forth by the human nature before the revol- utionary method of the "social reform" they have been promising. Reality, then, forced them to go back on their word in the hope that a miracle would sooner or later take place!

As regarding the political aspect, communism, in its long run, aims in the end at erasing the "state" from the society when the miracle takes place and the "social mentality" prevails upon all humans..., so much so that all people will be thinking of nothing but the materialistic social welfare. Prior to that, as long as the miracle has not taken place yet and people are not unified into one "class", when the society is still divided to capitalist and proletariat forces ..., it is necessary that the government should be purely proletariat; so, it is a demorcratic rule within the circle of labour and also a dictatorship regarding the masses ... ! They have reasoned thus: Proletariat dictatorship of government is necessary in all stages passed by mankind, using the individual mentality for the protection of the interests of the working class, strangling capitalism and forbidding it from coming to the field again.

In fact, this creed, represented by Marxist social- ism then Marxist communism, is distinguished from the democratic capitalist system in its reliance on a particular materialistic philosophy which adopts a particular concept of life to which all idealistic prin- ciples and values are not ascribed and which is ana- lysed in a certain sort of analysis which does not leave room for a Creator above the natural limits, nor to an anticipated compensation beyond the borders of this limited materialistic life. This con- trasts democratic capitalism, for although it is a ma- terialistic system, it has never been based upon a precise philosophical foundation. Accurate linkage between the realistic understanding of life and the social issue as accepted by materialistic communism, whereas democratic capitalism has neither believed in it, nor has it tried to explain it!

Hence, the communist creed is worthy of a philosophical study and of a test through tackling the philosophy upon which it has hinged and from which it has been derived, for judging any system is dependent upon the extent of the success of its philosophical concept in portraying and compre- hending life... !

It is easy to comprehend, when we cast the first glance at the simplified or "accomplished" communist system, that its general nature is the dissolution of the individual into the society, making him a tool for the achievement of the general criteria it enforces. It completely contradicts the free capital- ist system which puts the society in the service of the individual for the achievement of the latter's interests. It seems that it has been predestined for the individual and social personalities, according to the precepts of both systems, to clash and combat with each other! The individual personality has be- come victorious in one of them, the one based upon the individual and his own personal benefits, inflict- ing the society thereby with economic catastrophes which have shaken its existence and mutilated life in all its sectors. The social personality has won in the other, which has come to correct the mistakes of the previous one, assisting the society and reducing the individual personality to dissolution and annihi- lation, inflicting the individuals with severe dilemmas which ruined their freedom, personal existence and natural rights of selecting and reasoning.

Adopted from the book: "Contemporary Man and The Social Problem" by: "Ayatollah Muhammad Baqir Al-Sadr"