Is the Permanent Revolution Occurring? Part 3
By [post_author] –
Posted on Freedom Advocates on April 21st 2008
Steven Yates in no way has misrepresented my research and resultant thesis. But this is not to say I am in agreement with his final analysis in “Is the Permanent Revolution Occurring?”
“In the last analysis, I find the argument for an autonomous process that is in many respects running on autopilot – driving capitalism into a global mode on its on so that at its highest stage, it can evolve into socialism and then into communism to be unconvincing…
”The issue between us: what really drives modern history? Is it an autonomous force? Or all-too-human greed or lust for power? I don’t think the enemy of freedom for persons or sovereignty for this nation is a malignant process.”
Mr. Yates and myself had already surmised I would not agree with his final analysis and I assured Mr. Yates this outcome would not surprise or offend me. The surprise lay in the fact that..now and finally…Mr. Yates agrees with 80% of my analysis (a great improvement over the last four years). Before proceeding I must make a few clarifications about my thesis:
(1.) Capitalism is completely impossible without Capital (paper money). Capitalism needs a continually expanding paper money supply in order to keep expanding…a Ponzi-Pyramid. (2.) The Capitalist mode of production (manufacturing, agriculture, or services) always produces more product for sale in the marketplace than the various consuming classes…which collectively never physically possess enough paper money (despite the inflated quantities) to purchase. This is known as The Flaw of Capitalism (overproduction and under-consumption). (3.) The various Radical Capitalist Classes that have evolved and existed over the last 200 years have constantly pursued a “Cure for Capitalism.” This process is known as The Permanent Revolution. The main engine for the Capitalist Permanent Revolution is Creative Destruction. The Permanent Revolution is not the “cure for Capitalism;” it is the catalyst. (4.) 200 years of American and World history has demonstrated there is no cure for Capitalism and those presently in control of the Permanent Revolution (The Crown and its Fabian Agents) will continue to present to the world a continuous process of “war, revolution and so on.”
In contrast, Mr. Yates favors Greed over Capitalism as the prime motivator of continuous historic and current events for the American Republic. Yes, greedy people exist in the RCC…as do greedy people exist in every social and economic class. There a “unifier” between Greed and Capitalism.
(1.) What is the most primary commodity necessary for Greed? The one word response should be…MONEY. Greed is completely impossible without MONEY…just like Capitalism. (2.) How does a Greedy individual acquire MONEY in the American Republic? Any individual residing in this Republic must …in one way shape or form, beyond any shadow of doubt…take part in only mode of production for this Republic, Capitalism (an economic system). (3.) Over the last 200 years, Greedy people have come and gone…Capitalism continually exists, evolves and expands as a result of the Permanent Revolution fueled by Creative Destruction. (4.) The quantity and the flow of MONEY in this Republic…for both the Greedy and the Capitalist…has been controlled by the British Crown and the Fabians for the last 100 years by controlling the continuous process of “war, revolution and so on.”
Quite simple really. No MONEY, no Greed. No MONEY, no Capitalism. But…once MONEY is printed in infinite quantities, Capitalism becomes a reality and then the opportunity for Greed is created. Capitalism is the “Dictator of Greed.”
I am 60 years old. Between the age of twelve and fifteen I spent my summer vacations (1960-1962) taking Evelyn Woods’ speed reading classes. During this period I literally “read my entire local library.” From this experience two books really had an impact on my hormonal raging teen psyche… Karl Marx, His Life and Environment, Isaiah Berlin, 1939 and Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy, Joseph Schumpeter, 1942.
Berlin’s Karl Marx verifies two realities: (1.) Karl Marl observed a continuous process in Capitalism he called the Permanent Revolution and (2.) Marx’s importance to history was his “new modes of thinking” in respect to political and economic issues,
“The doctrine which has survived and grown, and which has had a greater and more lasting influence both on opinion and on action than any other put forward in modern times, is his theory of the evolution and structure of capitalist society, of which he nowhere gave a detailed exposition.” (Karl Marx, Berlin, 1939, page xii)
The “Doctrine” from the above quote is Marx’s General Theory of Permanent Revolution described in pages 153-155 of Karl Marx. (Sir) Isaiah Berlin was considered the father of Modern Philosophy for 20th Century Western society and held the highest academic ranking for Western philosophy (the Chichele Chair in Social and Political Theory at Oxford) from 1957-1967. Sir Berlin is also “unofficially” credited with having started the Cold War (www.kirijasto.sc.fi/berlin.htm). Berlin’s biggest contribution to the realm of philosophy was to include or inject history into the discipline. Like Dr. Yates, Sir Berlin felt any historical analysis is impossible without including recognition of the prevalent philosophy of any designated period of history under “study.” Unlike Dr. Yates, one of history’s leading philosophers clearly recognized Marx’s General Theory of Permanent Revolution “is real.”
Joseph Schumpeter’s Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy…metaphysically speaking…put Karl Marx’s Permanent Revolution “into visible motion” for me. The Permanent Revolution is a Capitalist reality and the main engine for its progress is and has been Creative Destruction. By the time I personally became a victim of the Permanent Revolution in 1998…I could make the exact same following statement with the same self-assurance Alan Greenspan displayed on page 48 of his autobiography, The Age of Turbulence, 2008,
“Working with heavy industry gave me a profound appreciation of the central dynamic of capitalism. “Creative Destruction” is an idea that was articulated by the Harvard economist Joseph Schumpeter in 1942. Like many powerful ideas, his is simple: A market economy will incessantly revitalize itself from within by scrapping old and failing businesses and then reallocating resources to newer, more productive ones. I read Schumpeter in my twenties and always thought he was right, and I’ve watched the process at work through my entire career.”
Greenspan also understands the vital importance of the Fabian Society to Creative Destruction.
“The Fabians laid the groundwork for modern social democracy, and their influence on the world would end up being at least as powerful as that of Marx. While Capitalism succeeded brilliantly in delivering higher and higher standards of living for workers throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, it was the tempering effect of Fabian socialism that many argued would make market economies politically palatable and keep communism form spreading. Fabians took part in founding Britain’s Labour Party.”
I want to introduce one more source supporting my argument that Creative Destruction is real.
“Schumpeter claimed the essential fact about Capitalism is innovation through the process of Creative Destruction.”
The above quote comes from Dr. Arthur M. Diamond, professor of Economics at the University of Nebraska (Omaha), Ph D from Chicago University and a “public policy expert” at the Fabian Society dominated Heritage Foundation. The above quote comes from Dr. Diamond’s “The Abstract” from a position paper, Creative Destruction: The Essential Fact About Capitalism, published in June of 2007. Diamond’s and Yates’ educated positions on Creative Destruction are in total opposition. This is an indication Academia is split on the issue of the reality of Creative Destruction of Capitalism…not any different than the divisions in society in 1492 concerning the shape of the earth…round or flat. Regardless of the evidence provided by a handful of “scholars,” according to all “official forms of control” that ruled…the Earth was flat. Diamond further observes more and more people realize Creative Destruction is “real,”
“I present arguments and evidence that Schumpeter was right, and that a growing number of academics, and practitioners in business, are recognizing the importance of the process of Creative Destruction.”
I thank Arthur M. Diamond for stating Creative Destruction as a Capitalist economic process is a real process. But I disagree with Dr. Diamond (even though he semi-supports my thesis) more than I disagree with Dr. Yates. Dr. Diamond believes,
“The adoption of policies that open the economy more to the process of Creative Destruction, has the potential of increasing the rate of economic growth, and the length and quality of human life.”
Diamond believes Creative Destruction is good for all of society. He makes this observation easily. How? Diamond totally “ignores” the “Destruction” part of Creative Destruction. Diamond separates Creative Destruction into two parts, (1) Creative and (2) Destructive and he even believes the “Destruction” phase of Creative Destruction is good for all mankind. Nowhere in Diamond’s paper does there appear the most important of Schumpeter’s process of Creative Destruction…”war, revolution and so on.” Please let me demonstrate. Let us turn to pages 82-84 of Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy. There you will read such little intellectual gems as,
“The essential point is that in dealing with capitalism we are dealing with an evolutionary process…”
“…It may seem strange that anyone can fail to see so obvious a fact with moreover was long ago emphasized by Marx…”
Well, it may seem strange…but yes…many people “fail to see so obvious a fact.”
“Capitalism, then, is by nature a form or method of economic change and not only never is but can never be stationary…”
“…And this evolutionary character of the capitalist process is …important and these changes (war, revolution and so on) often condition industrial change…”
The major method for change the last 200 years has been “war, revolution and so on.”
“The fundamental impulse that sets and keeps the capitalist engine in motion comes from the new consumers’ goods, the methods of production or transportation, the new markets, the new forms of industrial organization that capitalist enterprise creates…”
“…The history of the productive apparatus…is a history of revolutions…”
Most Academics and politicians today speak of saving existing Capitalist structures,
“…in other words, the problem that is usually being visualized is how capitalism administers existing structures,”
The Academics and politicians have completely failed to see,
“…whereas the relevant problem is how it creates and destroys them. As long as this is not recognized, the investigator does a meaningless job.”
What is most important to comprehend, and accept is the unavoidable reality,
“The same process of industrial mutation…incessantly revolutionizes the economic structure from within, incessantly destroying the old one, incessantly creating a new one.”
Capitalism is a Permanent Revolution seeking a cure for the Flaw of Capitalism through the process of Creative Destruction aiding its evolution into some future Socialism. One can “philosophically” oppose and ignore my thesis…we still have a free country…but for how long? How long can Americans ignore (or be kept clueless) to this more than obvious reality and expect the American Republic and its Perpetual Union to continue to survive?
Terry Hayfield is an independent researcher and former union leader who lives in Findlay, Ohio. He has authored a number of articles on NewsWithViews.com and elsewhere.
This article contains links to outside sources not controlled by Freedom Advocates and therefore are subject to change.
