Swarajya, May 15, 1965
Statism is the policy of concentrating extensive economic, political, and related controls in the State, at the cost of individual liberty. This is the present Government of India’s policy and what the Swatantra Party strenuously opposes. Where under the Constitution a political party can seize government as a result of a general election, the concentration of all power in the State, at the cost of individual liberty, gives to that ruling political party the power of perpetuating itself, making itself impregnable and rendering the parliamentary system a sham and mockery. This is what has already happened in India; it must be reversed if freedom is to be restored. Those that oppose Statism and seek to maximize individual liberty should fight the election on this single issue. If a united front is organized on this basis, the Congress Party can be defeated.
We have an example of complete Statism in Soviet Russia, as we had in Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. Dr. Lin Yutang’s book The Secret Name *dealt with, the Soviet record of 40 years, from 1917 to 1958. It was written eight years ago. But the withering satire and effective exposure of communism contained in it make the book worth reading for all those who are still attracted by the glamour of the communist revolution in Russia. Dr. Lin Yutang explains how the communist leaders of Russia have actually gone over from extreme left to extreme right.
Abraham Lincoln has defined the correct position: “The legitimate object of government is to do for the people what needs to be done, which they cannot do so well in their separate or individual capacities.” This should be the firm boundary between the State and the people. And it is quite the opposite of Statism.
Statism is the policy of concentrating extensive economic, political, and related controls in the State, at the cost of individual liberty. This is the present Government of India’s policy and what the Swatantra Party strenuously opposes. Where under the Constitution a political party can seize government as a result of a general election, the concentration of all power in the State, at the cost of individual liberty, gives to that ruling political party the power of perpetuating itself, making itself impregnable and rendering the parliamentary system a sham and mockery. This is what has already happened in India; it must be reversed if freedom is to be restored. Those that oppose Statism and seek to maximize individual liberty should fight the election on this single issue. If a united front is organized on this basis, the Congress Party can be defeated.
We have an example of complete Statism in Soviet Russia, as we had in Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. Dr. Lin Yutang’s book The Secret Name* dealt with, the Soviet record of 40 years, from 1917 to 1958. It was written eight years ago. But the withering satire and effective exposure of communism contained in it make the book worth reading for all those who are still attracted by the glamour of the communist revolution in Russia. Dr. Lin Yutang explains how the communist leaders of Russia have actually gone over from extreme left to extreme right. There has been a total reversion to autocracy. It is not the Czar, but it is the closed-shop party that autocratically rules. The party is not an adult-suffrage-elected single party, as people in India may think mistakenly. It is a limited number of people, a self-perpetuating small circle. Labour has no rights under its rule. Strikes and collective bargaining have been abolished. Chairmen of Unions are appointed by Government. Unions help the Government to pay less and extract more work. It may be thought that this will not happen in India. We have only to wait for the burden of foreign debt, recklessly incurred, to mature into a national obligation—to work, produce and export in repayment. The drive for production is bound to lead to the same sort of slave-labour as obtained in Russia to meet the Government’s requirements. This is the natural and logical termination of the State-capitalism adopted by the Congress Party and enforced by the Government of India under that party’s direction. The citizen becomes just a tool.
If we do not like this to happen, we must oppose and fight it. ‘Socialism’ is a technical word used to denote a particular method of regulating the national economy. The word is used to deceive people to think that it is a benevolent process. It is nothing but State-capitalist totalitarianism in the hands of a self-perpetuating circle. ‘The problem is complex, involving an increasingly complex economy, says Dr. Lin Yutang, and asks the crucial questions:
“Shall State control increase to a point dominating the personal life of the individual or is it worthwhile always to guarantee the sanctity of individual freedom against the encroaching power of the State machine? What is our human destiny? Shall there be more autocracy, or more freedom? Both Communism and Fascism place the State above the individual. Is this going to be the flower of future culture?”
These questions arise with reference to “socialism” as much as to communism and fascism, whatever the name the regime may assume, wherein the State is placed above the individual, and the goal is set for the individual to become a smooth and efficient and submissive working tool for the State, willing or unwilling—but complete.
Abraham Lincoln has defined the correct position: “The legitimate object of government is to do for the people what needs to be done, which they cannot do so well in their separate or individual capacities.” This should be the firm boundary between the State and the people. And it is quite the opposite of Statism.
__________________________
* The Secret Name by Lin Yutang; Heinemann, London.
