4.3. Fordizm - the First Advent of Bolshevism to America
Ford and Stalin. How to Live in Humaneness · перевод (English) · раздел 12 из 42
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4.3. Fordizm - the First Advent of Bolshevism to America
Joseph Stalin defined the essence of the fundamental economic law of capitalism the following way:
«The main features and requirements of the basic economic law of modern capitalism might be formulated roughly in this way: the securing of the maximum capitalist profit through the exploitation, ruin and impoverishment of the majority of the population of the given country, through the enslavement and systematic robbery of the peoples of other countries, especially backward countries, and, lastly, through wars and militarization of the national economy, which are utilized for the obtaining of the highest profits» (“Economic Problems of Socialism in the USSR”, “Remarks on Economic Issues Connected with the November 1951 Discussion”, Ch. 7. “The Basic Economic Laws of Modern Capitalism and of Socialism” [58]).
Today it is hardly possible to call the population of the «golden billion» countries impoverished: it is stupefied by over-consumption due to the global redistribution of income from usury and debts that cannot be repaid performed by the supra-national bank corporation. Yet nowadays striving for the highest possible profit is still characteristic of the Euro-American type of capitalism. [59]
And yet we find the following on the very first pages of the book “My Life and Work” by H. Ford:
«As things are now organized, I could, were I thinking only selfishly, ask for no change. If I merely want money the present system is all right; it gives money in plenty to me. But I am thinking of service. The present system does not permit of the best service because it encourages every kind of waste - it keeps many men from getting the full return from service. And it is going nowhere. It is all a matter of better planning and adjustment. (put in bold type by the authors)» (Introduction. “What Is the Idea?”).
This extract leads us to assume that H. Ford as businessman is not the type of businessman whose qualities served as the basis for defining the fundamental economic law of the Euro-American type of capitalism. It is so because Ford clearly condemns money-grubbing, i.e. getting a maximum profit from a business and seizing it solely for one’s private needs (we shall speak about it later), proclaimed as a goal that every «normal» member of society seeks to achieve. Ford does not accept the capitalism of his time as a system. He also contrasts the self-seeking money-grubbing that reigns in that system with the universal norm of social behavior: acting to the BENEFIT of other people and society.
Yet unlike the true Marxists - anti-capitalists - Ford is not a revolutionary. He is seeking not to overthrow the social and economic order that has formed in the course of history but to reform it. And he is a reformer who rejects violence as a means to achieve social progress. He is a teacher. He had learned a great deal about organizing production and distribution of products within the society, about politics as a whole (including global politics [60]) and interpreted what he had learned. And he had carefully written that knowledge down in his books [61] to enable others - who share his creative approach to life and to problems one must face in it - could use his knowledge and practical skills to the benefit of their contemporaries and descendants.
But before we go on quoting Ford’s book “My Life and Work” we shall make a short digression into the realm of laws and rights (which are different things).