“Man is, at one and the same time, a solitary being and a social being.
As a solitary being, he attempts to protect his own existence and that of those who are closest to him, to satisfy his personal desires, and to develop his innate abilities.
As a social being, he seeks to gain the recognition and affection of his fellow human beings, to share in their pleasures, to comfort them in their sorrows, and to improve their conditions of life.
Only the existence of these varied, frequently conflicting, strivings accounts for the special character of a man, and their specific combination determines the extent to which an individual can achieve an inner equilibrium and can contribute to the well-being of society.”
“The abstract concept “society” means to the individual human being the sum total of his direct and indirect relations to his contemporaries and to all the people of earlier generations. The individual is able to think, feel, strive, and work by himself; but he depends so much upon society—in his physical, intellectual, and emotional existence—that it is impossible to think of him, or to understand him, outside the framework of society. It is “society” which provides man with food, clothing, a home, the tools of work, language, the forms of thought, and most of the content of thought; his life is made possible through the labor and the accomplishments of the many millions past and present who are all hidden behind the small word “society.””Above is a paragraph where Einstein writes on the “nature” of man through motivations—solitary (self-interest, more human nature as it is self-preservation) and social (altruistic) motives. It does not dismiss the importance of either motive, yet emphasizes the role of society in one's solitary motives (ex. protecting his own existence is, for the most part, only possible with the food, clothing, and home provided by society); “…[I]t is impossible to think of him, or to understand him, outside the framework of society.” “[H]idden behind the small word “society”” is an interesting thing said by Einstein; is this to say that others do not emphasize the role/intricacies of society enough? I think this would be correct to assume, as this text is about socialism (made clear in the title).
”It is evident, therefore, that the dependence of the individual upon society is a fact of nature which cannot be abolished—just as in the case of ants and bees. However, while the whole life process of ants and bees is fixed down to the smallest detail by rigid, hereditary instincts, the social pattern and interrelationships of human beings are very variable and susceptible to change.”Einstein then goes on to speak more on the “nature” of man, with the comparison to ants and bees—not surprising from someone who was famous for his work in science. However, he counters that same point of “nature” with implying that humans are more than “nature” and infact are “variable and susceptible to change”. Einstein elaborates on this with examples directly after:
”Memory, the capacity to make new combinations, the gift of oral communication have made possible developments among human being which are not dictated by biological necessities. Such developments manifest themselves in traditions, institutions, and organizations; in literature; in scientific and engineering accomplishments; in works of art.”Memory and oral communication are two things not exclusive to the human race, but two things that it seems we have utilized as a race to the best of our abilities. We have used these two things for goals beyond what he calls “biological necessities”, or human nature.
Man acquires at birth, through heredity, a biological constitution which we must consider fixed and unalterable, including the natural urges which are characteristic of the human species. In addition, during his lifetime, he acquires a cultural constitution which he adopts from society through communication and through many other types of influences. It is this cultural constitution which, with the passage of time, is subject to change and which determines to a very large extent the relationship between the individual and society. Modern anthropology has taught us, through comparative investigation of so-called primitive cultures, that the social behavior of human beings may differ greatly, depending upon prevailing cultural patterns and the types of organization which predominate in society.Above is somewhat of a summary of what he has went over in the past two excerpts.
Here is where Einstein presents what seems to be a thesis:
”It is on this that those who are striving to improve the lot of man may ground their hopes: human beings are not condemned, because of their biological constitution, to annihilate each other or to be at the mercy of a cruel, self-inflicted fate.”He takes this thesis and makes a connection to his premises on human nature and societal benefits/going beyond biological necessities:
”If we ask ourselves how the structure of society and the cultural attitude of man should be changed in order to make human life as satisfying as possible, we should constantly be conscious of the fact that there are certain conditions which we are unable to modify. As mentioned before, the biological nature of man is, for all practical purposes, not subject to change. Furthermore, technological and demographic developments of the last few centuries have created conditions which are here to stay.”This seems to be recognizing, again, that regardless of innovation, there are things that humans cannot change about themselves. In addition to that, modern industry has also created “conditions” that seem to be immovable (possibly due to complacency).
"The time—which, looking back, seems so idyllic—is gone forever when individuals or relatively small groups could be completely self-sufficient." "I have now reached the point where I may indicate briefly what to me constitutes the essence of the crisis of our time. It concerns the relationship of the individual to society." "Unknowingly prisoners of their own egotism, [modern humans] feel insecure, lonely, and deprived of the naive, simple, and unsophisticated enjoyment of life. Man can find meaning in life, short and perilous as it is, only through devoting himself to society." Einstein presents a problem and solution. Soon after (the next sentence), he address this problem more in depth:
"The economic anarchy of capitalist society as it exists today is, in my opinion, the real source of the evil. We see before us a huge community of producers the members of which are unceasingly striving to deprive each other of the fruits of their collective labor—not by force, but on the whole in faithful compliance with legally established rules." Einstein sees the economic principles of capitalism in modern society as evil, primarily because of how it pits the "producers" against eachother, "depriv[ing] each other of the fruits of their collection labor". He specifies that this is "on the whole in faithful compliance with legally established rules", meaning that this deprivation is an intrinsic part of the capitalist system.
"The owner of the means of production is in a position to purchase the labor power of the worker. By using the means of production, the worker produces new goods which become the property of the capitalist. The essential point about this process is the relation between what the worker produces and what he is paid, both measured in terms of real value. Insofar as the labor contract is “free,” what the worker receives is determined not by the real value of the goods he produces, but by his minimum needs and by the capitalists’ requirements for labor power in relation to the number of workers competing for jobs. It is important to understand that even in theory the payment of the worker is not determined by the value of his product." The reference to "minimum needs" is simply connected to minimum wage: just enough to allow the worker to
get by. He contrasts "minimum needs" with "the real value of the goods he produces" to emphasize the exploitation in question; do the workers who assemble iPhones get paid 1 billion dollars
daily?
"Private capital tends to become concentrated in few hands, partly because of competition among the capitalists, and partly because technological development and the increasing division of labor encourage the formation of larger units of production at the expense of smaller ones. The result of these developments is an oligarchy of private capital the enormous power of which cannot be effectively checked even by a democratically organized political society." Einstein introduces the concept of the bourgeoisie without mentioning the term in particular by name, instead opting for using the terms "private capital", "capitalists", and "oligarchy".
"This is true since the members of legislative bodies are selected by political parties, largely financed or otherwise influenced by private capitalists who, for all practical purposes, separate the electorate from the legislature. The consequence is that the representatives of the people do not in fact sufficiently protect the interests of the underprivileged sections of the population. Moreover, under existing conditions, private capitalists inevitably control, directly or indirectly, the main sources of information (press, radio, education)." Here, Einstein introduces another concept: the concept of political action committees (PACs), or atleast, that is what we know them by today. These are organizations involved in the financing of political campaigns. Because policy is funded by the ones with the money, the interests of these policies are not in favor of the workers or "underprivileged sections of the population".
"It is thus extremely difficult, and indeed in most cases quite impossible, for the individual citizen to come to objective conclusions and to make intelligent use of his political rights." "The situation prevailing in an economy based on the private ownership of capital is thus characterized by two main principles: first, means of production (capital) are privately owned and the owners dispose of them as they see fit; second, the labor contract is free." "Of course, there is no such thing as a pure capitalist society in this sense. In particular, it should be noted that the workers, through long and bitter political struggles, have succeeded in securing a somewhat improved form of the “free labor contract” for certain categories of workers. But taken as a whole, the present day economy does not differ much from “pure” capitalism." What it seems Einstein means by this is the existence of worker's rights activism and groups fighting for that cause that have secured the concept of "minimum wage" and the 40-hour work week to protect workers. However, not only do some workers not see those benefits ("for certain categories of workers"), but those benefits have their limitations ("minimum wage" only being enough for a worker to
get by).
"Production is carried on for profit, not for use. There is no provision that all those able and willing to work will always be in a position to find employment; an “army of unemployed” almost always exists. The worker is constantly in fear of losing his job." "Technological progress frequently results in more unemployment rather than in an easing of the burden of work for all. The profit motive, in conjunction with competition among capitalists, is responsible for an instability in the accumulation and utilization of capital which leads to increasingly severe depressions. Unlimited competition leads to a huge waste of labor, and to that crippling of the social consciousness of individuals which I mentioned before." "This crippling of individuals I consider the worst evil of capitalism. Our whole educational system suffers from this evil." "I am convinced there is only one way to eliminate these grave evils, namely through the establishment of a socialist economy, accompanied by an educational system which would be oriented toward social goals. In such an economy, the means of production are owned by society itself and are utilized in a planned fashion. A planned economy, which adjusts production to the needs of the community, would distribute the work to be done among all those able to work and would guarantee a livelihood to every man, woman, and child. The education of the individual, in addition to promoting his own innate abilities, would attempt to develop in him a sense of responsibility for his fellow men in place of the glorification of power and success in our present society." Einstein now elaborates on the solution he gave paragraphs ago, which is the establishment of a social economy; however, his writing is unclear in this part as it seems he is equating "socialist economy" and "planned economy" to mean the same thing.
"Nevertheless, it is necessary to remember that a planned economy is not yet socialism. A planned economy as such may be accompanied by the complete enslavement of the individual." It seems that he still equates socialist economy with planned economy, but does not equate the existence of such economy to mean the existence of socialism as a whole.
"The achievement of socialism requires the solution of some extremely difficult socio-political problems: how is it possible, in view of the far-reaching centralization of political and economic power, to prevent bureaucracy from becoming all-powerful and overweening? How can the rights of the individual be protected and therewith a democratic counterweight to the power of bureaucracy be assured?" Here, Einstein still questions the idea of socialism, as he began the text with saying
"Is it advisable for one who is not an expert on economic and social issues to express views on the subject of socialism? I believe for a number of reasons that it is." Einstein may enjoy Descartes' theory... anyways, the question of "how is it possible, in view of the far-reaching centralization of political and economic power, to prevent bureaucracy from becoming all-powerful and overweening?" most likely is referencing the Soviet Union and the other socialist/communist movements that rose as a result of the Bolshevik revolution, as this article was published in May 1949. For context, this is after Stalin's campaign against Soviet Jews in January 1949, Operation Priboi in March 1949, and advancements in the Cold War.
"Clarity about the aims and problems of socialism is of greatest significance in our age of transition. Since, under present circumstances, free and unhindered discussion of these problems has come under a powerful taboo, I consider the foundation of this magazine to be an important public service." Source:
https://monthlyreview.org/2009/05/01/why-socialism/ ![[personal profile]](/%20https://www.npmjs.com/package/ocr-https-www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
