A Rational Critique of Marxism
and Communism - VII
(Selected Passages from the book:
'New Orientation' by M. N. Roy.) - 3
1. "Emotion is one of the forms of biological activities which cannot yet be measured mathematically. Therefore, it is so very difficult to lay down very rigid laws of political practice. But, on the other hand, unless we have some guide, practice will be groping in the dark; it may even be like madmen running amock. And as a matter of fact, politics has degenerated to such a state, not only in India, but in other parts of the world also. Therefore, in order to practice politics with a minimum measure of guarantee of its leading to positive results, it is necessary to have some guiding principles which may claim the validity of scientific propositions.
In the first Dehradun Camp, we tried to arrive at some such principles. We had a long discussion on the relation of classes in Indian Society. By examining things as they are in India, we came to the conclusion that our previous notions of class relation, acquired from text books written on the basis of experience in other countries, did not quite fit in with the realities in our country. Now, politics is a form of human activity; having for its object the administration of public affairs so as to guarantee the greatest good to the greatest number. Therefore, the interrelation of the various groups constituting a particular community necessarily determines the form of political practice. When we discovered that the relation of classes in our country was very much different from the relation of classes in other countries, and when we further discovered that the relation of classes in our country did not fit in with that pattern which was the basis of certain political practices, until then believed by us to be revolutionary, not only had we to formulate new principles of political theory; we also adjusted our political activity to those theories." (Pages - 11, 12)
2. "The principles of political theories and practice as well as the ideals of revolution, which emerged from the discussions of the first Dehradun Camp were generically called by us scientific politics. The term scientific politics was not new. It is generally admitted that, being a branch of social science, politics is also a science. Political theories are considered to be scientific theories.
Nevertheless, political practice is very largely a matter of emotion, and that is particularly so in our country. Political theories are also very largely determined by emotion, by our wishes, by our desires. In any case, we should admit in the very beginning that political practice is really a matter of emotion. Politics as a branch of social science is a science, but at the same time, political science is practiced by human beings. Human beings can be the object of scientific examination in more than one way. Yet, the basic urge of all human activity is emotional. Therefore, it is quite correct to say that political practice is very largely emotional, and it is very difficult to practice politics scientifically." (Pages - 11)
3. "Once a dictatorship is established, it does not wither away. Experience compels us to discard another dogma of Marxism which contradicts Marxism itself. The State is the political organization of society. Will a communist society cease to be politically organized? A highly complicated industrialized society must have a highly complicated political organization. Therefore, a State must be there. If we hold on to yet another dogma of Marxism, that the State is an engine of coercion, then, we must admit that even a communist society will require an instrument of coercion. A class dictatorship may disappear, but it will be replaced by the dictatorship of a party; proletarian dictatorship will be replaced by a bureaucratic dictatorship." (Pages - 100, 101)
4. "Once a State is established, it becomes a vested interest. Power is not voluntarily transferred. The pattern of Marxist theory does not provide for any transfer of power; it visualizes withering away of the State; in other words, political power will cease to be a factor in social organization. Here is something worse than a fallacy; it is an absurdity. The State is the political organization of society. It can never disappear unless human society will revert to the state of savagery. The Russian experience calls for a revision also of the fundamental political principles of Marxism. If dogmatism prevents us from facing the issue, then as orthodox Marxists we must accuse the Russian Communist Party of having betrayed the revolution. I would rather follow Lenin, who echoing Goethe said: "Theory is grey, but ever green is the tree of life." (Pages - 99, 100)
5. "The contention that collectively men can have a very high degree of freedom at the cost of individual freedom, is logically fallacious; it is a sophistry. Freedom of society must be the totality of the freedom of the individuals. If you reduce freedom of the individual, the totality of freedom is also reduced. Therefore, the doctrine that the individual should sacrifice for the benefit, welfare and progress of society, is fallacious. That is not a liberating, but an enslaving doctrine, and that doctrine is not to be found in Marxism. One can trace that doctrine in Marxism only by isolating Marxism from its antecedents. All these false, mistaken, opportunist, vulgarized ideas result from the inability to see Marxism in its historical perspective. I want to save Marxist philosophy by dissociating it from decadent Communism. Only then it can be placed in the proper historical perspective and fully appreciated. With that purpose, I attach supreme importance to the individual, and desire to save the positive values of Liberalism. Marxism will still supply us the faith if we can amplify it as the philosophy not of a class, but of a free humanity. By its own nature, Marxism admits of such amplification. Orthodox Marxists think that the entire history of the past was obliterated by a new history on the day KarI Marx was born. The Marxist theory of history has been traced to Hegel, to Hegelian dialectics. That is not quite true. Indeed, it is wrong. The fundamental principle of historical determinism was conceived two hundred years before Karl Marx. Orthodox Marxists are ignorant, illiterate and uneducated. Otherwise, they should know that in the middle of the seventeenth century, the Italian historian Vico, who originally laid down the fundamental principle of the philosophy of history, formulated it in two words which can still be our guide, namely: "History is humanity creating itself." Has Marx said anything more than that? History is humanity creating itself. Discard the un-Marxist belief that Marxism is the final truth revealed to Karl Marx by God Almighty, and you will be able to trace the roots of Marxism throughout the entire process of the evolution of ideas since the dawn of civilization. Marxism has a rich past; therefore it can be the philosophy of a bright future. Human ideas have always been liberating. Ideas are never reactionary. Ideas become reactionary when a stage of human development heralded by certain ideas comes to an end. Immediately, a new system of ideas develops. But it develops from the old ideas. That is how Marxism developed. Socialism grows in the womb of capitalism; the corollary to that doctrine obviously is that the roots of the ideology of Socialism can be traced in the bourgeois philosophy. Marx's ideas were heralded by thinkers who are branded as the ideologists of the bourgeoisie. Indeed, no philosophy belongs to a particular class. Successive philosophical systems represent stages of the entire process of human development. Man is the maker of the social world; therefore it belongs to him. That is the moral sanction of Socialism. Similarly, man is also the maker of the ideal world. Philosophy as a whole is a human heritage.
If Marxism justified a pattern of social reconstruction advancing the absurd claim of being the final stage of human progress, to revolt against that vulgarization of the philosophy of revolution would be a revolutionary virtue - the duty of revolutionaries. Every revolution in history ultimately established a new status quo, and human progress demands that every status quo must be subverted. Otherwise, history would have come to a stop. There is no reason to believe that it will be different with the Russian Revolution. It is now a matter of experience that Communism in practice creates a new status quo, under which the human individual has precious little freedom. Therefore, if freedom is the ideal of human life, we must look beyond communism. Revolution, that is, subversion of the status quo, and reorganization of society on the basis of more equitable and equalitarian relations, remains a necessity. But it must find a new way. The Marxist scheme of revolution postulates dictatorship that is, abolition of liberty, as a condition for success. Experience has exposed the danger inherent in the facile belief in the scheme; at the same time, experience has also proved that there are alternative ways of revolution. Professed Communists are actually travelling that way. But being still wedded to a false philosophy, which disparages humanism and denies freedom to the individual, they cannot harmonise their practice with their theory; the result is moral depravity, intellectual dishonesty and deceitfulness in political behavior and international relations." (Pages – 102, 103, 104)
6. "There is only one philosophy which has evolved continuously since the dawn of civilization, heralding, from time to time, successive stages of social development and enriching itself by the experiences thereof. What is necessary to-day is to draw inspiration from the store of the civilized man's spiritual heritage. That alone can guide the steps of mankind out of the present impasse and towards a still unexplored future believed to be full of promise. Marxism tried to do that; therefore, for nearly a century, it served as the incentive for revolutionary action. But once its votaries accomplished the revolution in one country, they naturally became defenders of the new status quo. Marxism ceased to be the philosophy of the future; its function became to explain the status quo, to provide it with a theoretical justification. A new orthodoxy has thus grown out of the philosophy of revolution." (Pages – 104, 105)
7. "We may be only ten; our ideas may be unpopular; and therefore it may be very difficult for us to become twenty soon enough. But nothing can prevent the ten from becoming more clear about their ideas, and develop a greater degree of fervor, initiative, zeal, fanaticism. Yes, fanaticism, to propagate them." (Page – 108)
8. "Revolution is not inevitable. Only objective conditions and even historical necessity do not make a revolution successful. Fundamental changes in the structure of society take place only when there is a group of individuals who feel the necessity, who see the possibility of fulfilling it, and who can develop an adequate amount of will to bring about the changes which are both necessary and possible. In absence of such a group of people revolution is not only inevitable, but even when it is necessary, it does not take place. The history of the world is littered with unsuccessful revolutions. Revolutions fail as a rule. Successful ones are exceptions to the rule. There have been very few such exceptions in entire history.
So, let us not count on the maturity of objective conditions or rely on the fatalistic view of class relations: Capitalist exploitation will sharpen the class antagonism; gradually, the oppressed classes will come in the camp of revolution; all the reactionaries will go to the other side; and suddenly God will beat the drums of revolution, there will be a clash, power will be captured by the revolutionary, there will be a clash, power will be captured by the revolutionary class, who will usher in a new order. History never falls in that neat pattern of the text – book of revolution. In reality, movements of history are much more complicated. Those accustomed to think (rather believe) and talk in terms of the masses, ignore the human factor which is the basic factor of history, and it can be properly appreciated only in individual behavior. Man must be man, individually conscious of his dignity and creativeness, before he can make history. Man makes history, not the masses. Man's ability to make history depends on his skill to forge the instrument." (Pages – 113, 114)
9. "It is a mistake to say that revolution is all masses, and counter-revolution is supported only by the upper classes and perverted individuals. Whenever counter-revolution succeeds, it commands the support of the masses. Fascism succeeded as a mass movement in Italy and Germany. Fascism did not succeed in England because the masses could not be attracted by it. Why? Because of the tradition of Liberalism and democracy which made the British working class and the masses in general immune against the danger of Fascism." (Page – 117)
10. "When Hitler captured power, he said: Now we have made only the first revolution – the national part of it; we shall have to wait some time for the second revolution - the socialist phase. But the second revolution never took place in Germany; nor will it take place in India. Perhaps the left wing of Indian Fascism will eventually get impatient and demand the second revolution, and meet the fate of their kind in the ranks of German Fascism. You remember Hitler's blood bath of 1934, which drowned the dream of the second - the Socialist – revolution. The orthodox Marxists in this country may suffer that fate, and that will only be the penalty for their stupidity." (Pages – 117, 118)
11. "There is the middle class, a small class of people who have enough education to come out of the atmosphere of medieval backwardness which breeds the belief that all this misery is made by God and therefore we must submit to it. The very fact that nearly fifty years ago, there were perhaps only a dozen men who conceived the idea that things might be changed, proves that to-day there must be many more ready to revolt against this cultural tradition of ours. The tradition is the foundation of Indian Fascism. It is neither any symbiosis nor anybody's cartel. In Germany, it might have been the cartels, in Italy something else, but the foundation of Indian Fascism is God, the belief in God: that everything is created by God and the only thing that we can do is to sing Ramdhun, spin and wear khaddar. The Indian masses are going to be regimented in this uniform of khaddar. The proletariat may not put on the physical uniform, but will be readily regimented spiritually. Don't ignore the fact that Holi is a greater holiday for the God of the Indian Marxists than the First of May or Ninth of November. If Hitler could hypnotize the German proletariat, how much more easily will the still feudal-minded Indian "proletariat" be swayed by the Mahatma of Indian Fascism! Therefore, success of revolution in this country depends upon the type of people who fifty years ago showed signs of revolt, if it is ever to take place in our time. What are you after all? Why cannot you have confidence in yourselves? You are revolutionaries, not as worshippers of the Marxist God, but on your intrinsic merit. And why should you think that we are the privileged few? We come from the middleclass. If we can be what we are to-day, there is no reason why others of our class cannot be like us. Search yourselves for the reasons of your being de-classed. It is because your class is doomed to degradation and slavery. Why not try to find a revolutionary elite in a class which has really been proletarianised and which has the intellectual equipment to be conscious of the urge of freedom?" (Pages – 122, 123)
12. "Any why do you think that only slaves can be revolutionaries? Why can you not imagine that free men can be greater revolutionaries? I mean, spiritually free men, men who can think for themselves, who do not need any authority to rely upon, nor any dogma to dictate their behavior." (Page – 121)
13. "Propaganda must precede the political offensive. And our propaganda will be addressed mainly to the educated men and women who are destined to lead the revolution in India in the given situation. Both in Germany and Italy, the Communist Parties failed to realize that, and therefore, they could not stop the rise of Fascism. Belief in a one class party persuaded them to neglect the middle class, which even in capitalist countries plays a decisive role. So it provided the storm-troopers of Fascism, and when Fascism in power threw some crumbs to the proletariat, they also followed Fascism.
We must appeal to that class of people which is capable of appreciating some human values, which can be moved by ideals greater that bread and butter, whose politics is not entirely determined by the selfishness of one particular class which is hungry. We must get over the idea that we are the chosen people of God. If we can appreciate high ideas, there are others who can also do so. We shall place before them not the ideal of proletarian dictatorship and classless society, but the ideal of human freedom. We shall tell them that, if you allow yourselves to be hypnotized by Ramdhun you will have to send your wife to the kitchen and not allow your daughters to go to college. I have no doubt that there are many who will appreciate your ideas." (Page – 134)
14. "As far as I am concerned, the programme of the party can be stated in one word; it is, freedom; and freedom is not an abstract concept. It means the right of individuals to choose how best each can unfold his or her creativeness and thus make the greatest contribution to common welfare and social progress. The philosophical connotation of this programme is evident. It can be intelligently accepted and effectively acted upon only by men and women who can see that ethical values are greater than economic interests, and revolt against economic exploitation and inequities as immoral practices." (Page – 135)
15. "A little reflection makes it clear that the idea of the proletarian dictatorship can be accepted by honest and intelligent fighters for freedom only if it is conceived as a new version of the Platonic idea of philosopher kings. Of course, the term "kings" was determined by the prevailing political notions of the time; it has no application to-day; we are concerned with the idea. The dictatorship of the proletariat is supposed to be the political institution of the transitional period. It must be composed of thoroughly declassed individuals, if proletarian dictatorship is to serve purpose it is expected to; otherwise, it is bound to establish the rule of another class. The people composing the dictatorship, because they come from the proletarian class, may have no scruples in destroying the established bourgeois social order. But as proletarians, representing the interest of a class, which has captured power, they cannot be trusted to abolish their own class. Experience has proved that the revolutionary State, the proletarian dictatorship, does not wither away. Whatever may be the nature of economic reconstruction, a class mentality is fostered as moral sanction for the dictatorial regime. Hypothetically, the dictatorship may usher in a higher type of democracy, if only it is wielded by individuals who are completely differentiated from all classes. Only such men can establish a classless society. Of course, in that case it would not be a dictatorship. It is absurd to expect that one particular class can ever establish a classless society. The abolition of capitalism may abolish the proletariat as such; but it is highly doubtful, psychologically, if it is not metamorphosed into a new ruling class.
We talk glibly about declassed intellectuals, meaning that, unless the intellectuals fully differentiate themselves, spiritually, from the bourgeoisie, they cannot be revolutionaries – advocates of a new social order. Is it not only logical that the same test should be applied to those who are to wield dictatorial power during the transition period? If the proletariat cannot throw up individuals who will also be declassed, its dictatorship cannot possibly usher in a classless society. De-classed intellectuals usually attach themselves to another class – the proletariat; they develop the proletarian mentality. Power in the hands of people having no vested interest alone can guarantee the reconstruction of society as a co-operative commonwealth. It is easy to see that only philosophers, as individuals, can be completely disinterested. The proletariat in power will have as much of vested interest as the bourgeoisie. When the proletariat captures power, it also wants to keep it in its own hand; and if that will mean, in the hands of a few people who also belong to that class, then proletarian dictatorship will be a permanent feature; it will never wither away." (Pages – 142, 143)
16. "We must take it for granted that Karl Marx honestly believed that under Socialism class distinctions would disappear, and therefore the State as a class organization wither away. But one cannot help feeling that that was a naïve belief; it was wishful thinking. How could a keen intellect be reconciled to such a belief? The zeal to prove that Communism was not a utopia which Iured Marx away towards the uncertain ground of speculation, and he made a dogma out of speculative thought. So long as a stateless society remained inconceivable, Communism could not be anything but a utopia. Therefore, for the sake of his "Scientific" Socialism, Marx had to postulate the withering away of the State. Either, at the point, Marx came very near to anarchism – also a utopia – or he did not think hard enough. The State is the political organization of society. How could a complicated, centralized, industrial society be ever without a State? This question should have occurred to Marx while he was casting the horoscope of humanity. As it is, he set up a number of hypotheses, and these are getting exploded. Is it, then, still Marxism to stick to those hypotheses as final truths? That is not Marxism. If Marx returned in our midst, he would say that, a hundred years ago, he anticipated history to move according to a certain pattern, but since that did not happen, and things developed differently, what he said a hundred years ago does not hold good any longer and is to be rejected." (Page – 147)
17. "The free individual discharges social obligations not under any compulsion, nor as a homage to the exacting god of a collective ego, but out of a moral conviction which grows from the consciousness of freedom. The idea of dictatorship, on the contrary, marks a complete break from the cultural heritage of modern civilization. It is a negation of all the social and ethical values which have given expression to the liberating urge of mankind ever since the man of the Renaissance rose in revolt against spiritual regimentation under the banner of the Christian Church, and temporal totalitarianism of the Holy Roman Empire." (Page – 161)
18. "The theory and practice of dictatorship, even as the means to an end, is repugnant. But, on the other hand, the limitations of parliamentary democracy can no longer be ignored. Under it, civil liberties can be reduced to mere formalities. Without accepting the Marxist view that parliamentary democracy is also a class dictatorship (of the bourgeoisie), a view which cannot be easily disposed of, critical students of modern history should be able to see that the inadequacies of parliamentary democracy are inherent in itself. In the highly complicated modern industrial society, individual citizens particularly, those belonging to the majority laboring under economic disadvantages, have very little chance of exercising effectively the sovereign right which formally belongs to them. Law gives them little protection, particularly in critical times. It is an indisputable fact that under the parliamentary system democracy cannot control the executive. Between two elections, it is completely out of the picture. During that period, a party having a majority in the parliament can legally assume dictatorial power. The guarantee against such a possible abuse of power, attainable with democratic sanction, is not legal. The guarantee is provided by the moral sense of the majority party. Thus, parliamentarism as such cannot defend democracy, and guarantee civil liberties, under all circumstances." (Pages – 161, 162)
19. "While, true to its humanist tradition, Liberalism proclaims freedom of the individual, its economic doctrine of laisser faire, with the political corollary, places the individual in a helpless position in the wilderness of cut-throat competition. In such circumstances, individualism becomes a mere word. The political and social practice of Liberalism having negativated the moral excellence of its philosophy, parliamentary democracy was bound to be discredited. If that was not the case, the stormy rise of Fascism could not be rationally explained. Fascism grew out the crisis of parliamentary democracy, within the limits of which the social and economic problems confronting Europe in the inter-war period could not be solved. In order to survive Fascism, democracy must out grow the limitations of formal parliamentarism based on an atomized and therefore helpless electorate. An organized democracy, in a position to wield a standing control of the State, should be the political foundation of the new social order. By reorientating itself in this direction, democratic Socialism will open up before the modern progressive humanity a new vista of political and economic reconstruction, which will neither postulate an indefinite period of blood and tears, nor be clouded by doubts about the alternative course of peaceful development." (Pages – 162, 163)
20. "The store of cultural values, piled up since the dawn of civilization, is far from being exhausted. That precious heritage of the past provides a solid foundation for the magnificent structure of the future dreamt alike by romanticists or revolutionaries, idealists or utopians. If the germs of Socialism or Communism grew in the womb of the capitalist society, then the inspiration for a truly liberating philosophy for the future should also be found in the moral and spiritual values of the so-called bourgeois culture. No Marxist could disagree, without belying the master. To be true to their liberal tradition, the democratic Socialists should also find the ways and means to enable individual citizens to stand out in sovereign dignity, which is not attainable within the limits of formal parliamentarism based on atomized electorates." (Pages – 163, 164)
21. "Politics cannot be divorced from ethics without jeopardizing the cherished ideal of freedom. It is a fallacy to hold that the end justifies the means. The truth is that immoral means necessarily corrupt the end. This is an empirical truth." (Page – 164)
22. "Democratic practice which is no more than mere counting of heads is, in the last analysis, also a homage to the collective ego. It allows scope neither for the individual, nor for intelligence. Under the formal democratic system, unscrupulous demagogues can always come to the top. Intelligence, Integrity, wisdom, moral excellence, as a rule, count for nothing. Yet, unless the purifying influence of these human values is brought to bear upon the political organization of society, the democratic view of life cannot be realized.
The contemporary world is not poor in men and women incorporating those values of the humanist tradition. But disdaining demagogy, they can never come to the helm of public affairs. On the other hand, a dictatorial regime, even if established as the means to a laudable end, discourages the rise of that type. Thus, between formal democracy and dictatorship, humanity is deprived of the benefit of having its affairs conducted by spiritually free individuals, and is consequently debarred from advancing towards the goal of freedom." (Pages – 165, 166)
23. "Moral sanction, after all, is the greatest sanction. It has been shown above that the real guarantee of parlismentary democracy is not law, but the moral conscience of the majority in power. In the last analysis, dictatorship also rests on a moral sanction, it claims to be the means to an end. But group morality is a doubtful gauarantee against the temptation of power. Values operate through the behavior of individuals. Therefore, government composed of spiritually free individuals, accountable to their respective conscience, is the only possible guarantee for securing the greatest good to the greatest number." (Page – 166)
24. "Even if elections are by universal suffrage, and the executive is also elected, democracy will still remain a formality. Delegation of power, even for a limited period, stultifies democracy. Government for the people can never be fully a Government of the people and by the people, and the people can have a hand in the Government of the country only when the pyramidal structure of the State will be raised on a foundation of organized local democracy. The primary function of the latter will be to make individual citizens fully conscious of their sovereign right and enable them to exercise the right intelligently. The broad basis of the democratic State, coinciding with the entire society, will be composed of a network of political schools, so to say. The right of recall and referendum will enable organized local democracy to wield a direct and effective control of the entire state machinery. They alone will have the right to nominate candidates for election. Democracy will be placed above parties representing collective egos. Individual men will have the chance of being recognized. Party loyalty and party patronage or other forms of nepotism will no longer eclipse intellectual independence, moral integrity and detached wisdom.
Such an atmosphere will foster intellectual independence dedicated to the cause of making human values triumph. That moral excellence alone can hold a community together without sacrificing the individual on the altar of the collective ego, be it the nation or the class. People possessed of that great virtue will command the respect of an intelligent public, and be recognized as the leaders of society automatically, so to say." (Page – 167)
25. "Until the intellectual and moral level of the entire community is raised considerably, election alone cannot possibly bring its best elements to the forefront, and unless the available intellectual detachment and moral integrity are brought to bear on the situation, democratic regimes cannot serve the purpose of promoting freedom."(Page – 168)
(to be continued)
New Orientation
M.N.Roy
Ajanta Publications (India)
Jawahar Nagar,
Delhi – 110 007
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