On Economic Decentralisation and Cooperativisation

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On economic decentralisation and cooperatisation ...CooperativesAs you know, human society is one and indivisible. A human being cannotlive alone. If a person wants to drink water from a well, he or sheneeds a rope and a bucket, and to tie the rope one needs a hook. For all these things, the help of the others is indispensable. In societyhuman beings have to work jointly with others so that everybody canmove forward collectively.That is, society is the collective movement of a group of individualswho have made a unanimous decision to move towards a common goal. If human beings move closely together in all aspects of life, except for those few aspects, which are very personal, the better it will be for the welfare of society. Only those things that cannot be donecollectively should be done individually. So, it is always better for people to work together as far as possible -- the more that humanbeings work together, the better it is. If this principle is notfollowed the spirit of society will be broken, adversely affecting thevery existence of human beings. People have to eat food individually --another person cannot eat your food for you -- however a meal can beshared collectively. Where individuality dominates human life, theenvironment, the welfare of different groups and even the continuedexistence of humanity may be adversely affected.---Cooperatives not communism and not capitalismIn communism the slogan is, "From each according to his capacity, toeach according to his necessity," but in the cooperative system theslogan is, "Each will get according to his or her capacity." Due tothis slogan, a person will try to do more labour. People will put alltheir talent and energy into a task and production will increase.In communism the leaders themselves try to avoid labor. They prefer tosit in an office rather than work hard, thus there is sluggishproduction. In the cooperative system, for example, people are issuedshares in farming cooperatives based on the amount of land that theyfarm under cooperative management. Similar concepts apply to producersand consumers cooperatives and all manner of industrial enterprise. Inthe communist system, this type of participation is absent, so peopledo not feel oneness with their work. They are led to believe that their needs will be supplied by the state, so they have no incentive or interest in the system.---On decentralizationAt the beginning of civilization, the desire to create arts and craftsarose in the human mind. At that time artisans used to work at home,and arts and crafts were produced in cottage industries. Men, women,boys and girls --all participated in the creation of arts and crafts. Later people

realized that some arts and crafts could not be produced in everyvillage; so a few combined villages produced certain artifacts. If artisans had not combined together, they would have suffered losses inthe market place, and their numbers would have been significantlyreduced. So gradually human beings started to go and work in placeswhere production was done collectively, or the first factories. At thattime the few industries that existed were decentralized. In thisconnection one thing should be remembered -- the more that arts andcrafts are decentralized, the greater the benefits for human society.Decentralization does NOT diminish or dissipate economic potential.Rather, decentralization removes regional disparity because wealth isdistributed almost equally everywhere. We do not find situations wherepeople in some places cry out in agony due to scarcity and starvation,while people in other places become immoral due to excessive affluenceand over abundance. Such problems only arise from economiccentralisation (whether capitalist in the hands of few corporations or communist in the hands of party bureaucrats of the state). In fact,industrial centralization is detrimental to a well-knit social order.In a decentralized economy people do not have to leave their homes towork in an industry or work is close at hand in the collectiveenterprise, and consequently they are saved from the expenditure of maintaining two establishments or travelling long distances. Moreover,decentralization increases the possibility of saving labour, becausepeople can earn their livelihood while simultaneously taking care of their household responsibilities. This arrangement is not possibleunder capitalism. Capitalism will never support decentralization,because capitalist production exists to maximize profits.Centralization means industry for profit, while decentralization meansindustry for consumption - for the benefit of the consumer.PROUT's approach, which will be supported by all rational people, isproduction for consumption. PROUT's maxim is, "Production for consumption, not production for profiteering."Capitalists want to produce commodities at the lowest costs and sellthem at the highest prices. To produce commodities cheaply, there mustbe efficient transportation, cheap raw materials, cheap labor, cheapenergy, adequate water supply, etc. No matter what form capitalismtakes -- individual capitalism, group capitalism or state capitalism --capitalists will always prefer centralized production. All these formsof capitalism are essentially the same. Thousands of industries havemushroomed around major cities due to this capitalistic mentality.Remote places such on the other hand have been neglected. They havegone to sleep, crying in cimmerian darkness. Perhaps only a few peoplehave even heard of these places. How could they? The people livingthere are extremely poor. They are incapable of purchasing a woollenwrapper for winter, what to speak of expensive woollen clothing. Takean example. In India regional disparity is increasing. Calcutta's per capita income is twenty percent higher than the rest of Bengal, whilethe Punjab's per capita income is higher than Haryana's and Orissa's.The people of Delhi enjoy much greater liberty and comfort than thevillagers of Purulia district. Regional disparity is detrimental to thecause of a healthy social order. A progressive utilisation theory isthe only panacea. There is no other solution.

Communism is state capitalism, which is why it is not free from thedefects of capitalism. State capitalists, like individual and groupcapitalists, control industries. State capitalism means statecontrolled industries. In other words, in state capitalism industriesare centralized. Communist countries support state capitalism, whichmeans centralized production. While communism appears to differ fromcapitalism on the question of popular liberation, capitalism andcommunism are the same internally. Fruits of the same variety may havedifferent colour skins, but their seeds are the same. Capitalism andcommunism are fruits of the same variety.To ensure the social and economic liberation of human beings, themaximum amount of socio-economic decentralization is essential. Whileit may be difficult to establish village-level economic infrastructureat present, there is no insurmountable obstacle preventing us fromestablishing block-level or quasi-regional economic infrastructure. Asfar as possible, the establishment, operation and distribution of allindustries should be done at block level. Only when this cannot be doneshould industries be organized at a higher level. Obviously, industriessuch as iron and steel factories cannot function in every village,block and district, so they should function in a larger area. There aresome special types of key industries, which can conveniently functionas either small-scale industries or medium-scale cooperativeindustries. If some key industries are structured in this way, theymust be under state regulation. Care should be taken to ensure thatthey are properly organized and widespread.Capitalists should never control key industries, such as electricitygrids, telecommunications backbone networks, dams, roads, essential oiland gas supplies, etc; otherwise the interests of the people will bepartially if not fully ignored. Moreover, if they are left in the handsof capitalists, many different kinds of problems will arise. Normallyonly very large-scale key industries should be under state control, andthese industries should be centralized instead of decentralized. Thelocal government can often be the agent managing such enterprises.But industries that cannot be readily decentralized today may bedecentralized in the future due to changing circumstances. At that timethe decentralization of key industries must be implemented. Thatprocess will be one of cooperatisation not privatisation.There are also many other adverse effects of industrial centralization.For example, in large cities it is difficult for people to remainhealthy because of the scarcity of fresh fruits, vegetables and milk.Junk food sales become prolific. Immorality and corruption are rampant.Thieves, criminals, drug addicts, alcoholics and antisocial elementseasily conceal themselves and prey on innocent people. Malnutrition,air pollution, water pollution as well as other problems also exist inmany cities in the West tend to be hidden from view - rather the imageis one of glorifying the city. All large industrial centers presentlysuffer from these defects.---Decentralized economy

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