Swarajya, August 24, 1963
No national wealth can be produced except through individual energy. If, then, this basic truth is realized, the question is, how shall we increase the output of individual energy?
There are only two ways by which this can be done. By putting external compulsion of one kind or another on the individual from outside, or by doing something to induce the individual himself to put forth his energy, of his own free will. We have seen enough recently in communist countries and in our own experience, throughout the ages, of the drawbacks of the methods of compulsion. In modern times the minds of men rebel against compulsion more violently than in former times, and therefore compulsion becomes more and more ineffective as civilization advances.
State-socialism in all its applications should thus be ruled out, except where public management and its deficiencies are unavoidable. There is no way of solving India’s problems in the task of increasing national production except by way of organizing adequate incentives and relying on the principle of individual profit, which takes the shape of a share of the production.
Apart from wealth and production as ordinarily understood, the greatest and most reliable wealth for India has ever been, and will continue to be, her moral and spiritual wealth. The Vivekananda Centenary should remind us of this, if nothing else; we must rebuild our lost aristocracy, not of birth or of wealth or even of intellect, but of character. We shall be truly great if we rebuild this aristocracy and not all the furnaces and factories we dream of can truly make us so great.
There is much talk about national wealth and about increasing it. But I wonder if many people remember that all wealth is the result of individual energy, be the wealth what is called national or wealth belonging to the individual. No national wealth can be produced except through individual energy. If, then, this basic truth is realized, the question is, how shall we increase the output of individual energy?
There are only two ways by which this can be done. By putting external compulsion of one kind or another on the individual from outside, or by doing something to induce the individual himself to put forth his energy, of his own free will. This something that induces a man willingly and of his own free will to work where he had not been doing so before, or to work harder and more diligently or for longer time than he was doing before then, is what is called incentive. The incentive comes from outside; unlike compulsion, it does not cause pain or fear of pain, but works on the individual’s own mind and incites him to exertion and greater attention. it brings into being a mood of creativity and joy instead of the feeling of subjection—which always accompanies yielding to compulsion.
When the State plans something big which has to prove fruitful as the result of the work of numerous people, this question of choice between two alternatives, compulsion or incentive, becomes very important. This choice can be given the name of ‘policy’. We have seen enough recently in communist countries and in our own experience, throughout the ages, of the drawbacks of the methods of compulsion. These drawbacks apply not only in the case of naked slave labour but also in every other form of the compulsory enforcement of work. In modern times the minds of men rebel against compulsion more violently than in former times, and therefore compulsion becomes more and more ineffective as civilization advances.
State-socialism in all its applications should thus be ruled out, except where public management and its deficiencies are unavoidable. The payment of high salaries and the employment of a large network of strict supervision at all levels, may take the place of incentives, but it would result in too heavy a burden on the tax-payer. There is no way of solving India’s problems in the task of increasing national production except by way of organizing adequate incentives and relying on the principle of individual profit, which takes the shape of a share of the production. Individuals and their interest in production must form the only safe, natural and reliable basis of increasing national production.
Apart from wealth and production as ordinarily understood, the greatest and most reliable wealth for India has ever been, and will continue to be, her moral and spiritual wealth. The Vivekananda Centenary should remind us of this, if nothing else; we must rebuild our lost aristocracy, not of birth or of wealth or even of intellect, but of character. And here I must stop, saying somewhat like what John Bunyan wrote nearly three hundred years ago: “I can better conceive of it with my mind than speak of it with my tongue.” We shall be truly great if we rebuild this aristocracy and not all the furnaces and factories we dream of can truly make us so great.
