The theory of capitalism and private enterprise suggests that the only way to run an economy efficiently is to let everyone pursue mainly, if not exclusively, his own advantage.
The theory of communism is that the economy works best when everybody acts according to "plan" for the public interest.
Both theories are plausible enough; but in practice they work badly.
Mahatma Gandhi, in 1945 (?), put forward his TRUSTEESHIP model as a via media, or Middle Way. Under (State-regulated) TRUSTEESHIP he proposed, the individual will be free to make as much money as he likes, but will not be free to hold or use his wealth for selfish satisfaction or in disregard of the interests of society. To make this possible, the character of production, at the same time, would be determined by social necessity and not by personal whim or greed.
Gandhi's ideas on Trusteeship can be found in Appendix II of this book. Here are a few of his sayings:-
Earn your crore by all means. But understand that your wealth is not yours; it belongs to the people. Take what you require for your legitimate needs, and use the remainder for society.
Those who own money now are asked to behave like trustees holding their riches on behalf of the poor.
-Absolute TRUSTEESHIP is an abstraction like Euclid's definition of a point, and is equally unattainable. But if we strive for it, we shall be able to go further in realising a state of equality on earth than by any other method.
The rich man will be left in possession of his wealth of which he will use what he reasonably requires for his personal needs and will act as a TRUSTEE for the remainder to be used for the society. In this argument honesty on the part of the trustee is assumed.
- By the non-violent method we seek not to destroy the capitalist: we seek to destroy capitalism. We invite the capitalist to regard himself as a TRUSTEE for those on whom he depends for the making, the retention and the increase of his capital.
When a man of the calibre and experience of Vadilal Lallubhai Mehta takes up this theme, after decades of reflection, to issue "A Plea for an Alternative Along Gandhian Lines", the result is not just another book but an historical event of profound importance:-of importance not only for India but for all humanity.
Wherever we may be situated, we cannot go on with class war-fare, confrontations, and the prevailing separation of economics and politics from any kind of ethical responsibility. The attempt to operate a social system on the basis of no other principles than those of GAIN and POWER has failed and can never succeed. It is not possible to devise a system which will produce good results without goodness on the part of the people within it.
Gandhi had the courage to acknowledge this. If you want a good society you must appeal to the goodness that is in people, provoke it, stimulate it, take it for granted, and acclaim it. It is chimerical to assume that goodness can be attained by a "system" however cleverly devised. The modern tendency to be "hard-headed" or "hard-nosed" (what ugly words!) about all ethical matters is disastrous and works as a self-fulfilling prophecy. The more we assume that economics and politics are about nothing other than GAIN and POWER, the more this becomes true, and the better instincts of the people are being supressed instead of encouraged.
If India should be able to move along the path of EQUALITY THROUGH TRUSTEESHIP as set out in this book, she could become a beacon to the world. By bringing into life again the best of her marvellous traditional teachings, she could become the most modern of nations while remaining faithful to herself.
Vadilal Lallubhai Mehta is too experienced an industrialist and too intelligent a follower of the Mahatma's teachings to imagine that the world could be saved by good intentions alone. In the beginning, assuredly, is THE WORD, but then THE WORD must "become flesh" (as the Christians say) and "dwell among us". This means that the high ethos of TRUSTEESHIP must in some fashion become incarnate. In the context of economic development, this means that the conscious striving for EQUALITY THROUGH TRUSTEESHIP must be matched and paralleled by an equally conscious striving for the evolution of appropriate technologies.
It is a grave error to assume that technology is a neutral factor in socio-political affairs; that there is a simple way of distinguishing "better" from "worse", and that the latest is always likely to be the "best". Technology is anything but "neutral". It is a most powerful political force, shaping and moulding society into its own image. The technologies evolved during the last hundred years almost exclusively by Western Capitalism are now the strongest force pressing all societies which adopt them into the mould of Western Capitalism - whether in its private-capitalistic or its State-capitalistic form. They are the opposite of what Gandhi considered good for the people at large. Then concentrate power in a few hands and reserve the privilege of creability and production for there already rich or powerful multinational corporations, tycoons of various sorts, bureau-crats, commisars and the like. Ordinary people, whether educated or uneducated, do not count; their task is to adapt themselves so that they will fit into a "slot" provided by the rich and powerful, where they can carry out some more or less meaningless function and fill a gap left, for the time being, by mechanisation or automation. When there are not enough "slots", millions of these ordinary people are left without work and without self-earned income, useless, rejected, unable to stand on their own feet.
This little monograph aims at presenting an alternative system for achieving full employment along Gandhian lines in India. Its purpose is to initiate debate and dialogue on some hitherto relatively neglected areas. A scheme of social organisation is provided here, drawing on the experiences and teachings of Mahatma Gandhi.
The present juncture appears to be particularly suited too for such a debate, since a considerable amount of cumulative experience of societies following different systems is now available. These experiences have manifested themselves in the accumulation of capital, the inculcation of an industrial culture and the resulting socio-political tensions. They have heightened man's insensitivity and have made him conscious of the whorls of constrictions that bind him. These experiences, it may be added, have also produced dissatisfaction with the overall results of the different systems. Accordingly a critique and reappraisal of the prevalent modes of economies becomes necessary.
Among the several seminal ideas of Mahatma Gandhi, his notion of Trusteeship is perhaps the most important. Even though his idea of Trusteeship may be known to students of Gandhian thought, the way in which it is reformulated here has a special merit, it is submitted, viz. of evolving a structure of economic institutionalism. In particular, we have made efforts to graft the concept of Trusteeship on to the present-day economic situation. There is also a scheme for implementing the proposed system in the contemporary Indian context, which, it is hoped, would also be of international interest.
Trusteeship as a Gandhian precept could be ignored, but not rejected in the present context when we see the irrevocable failure of the two polar extreme systems capitalism and commun At the simplest level, we advocate Trusteeship as merely a new ideology to be tried out. Though it may be existing in some form or the other, it is definitely not sharply focussed and therefore not yielding the best benefits. At a more complex and analytical level, Trusteeship provides a model which alone can function uniformly and advantageously by giving the fastest rate of growth of national income and savings, along with fundamental civil liberties.
Neither capitalism, nor communism, nor, for that matter, the mixed economies have delivered the goods. All these systems have failed, particularly in reducing the grave inequalities of income and wealth. Hence, the idea of Trusteeship is proposed in this study for removing the evils and concretising the good elements of the prevalent system in a form that would bring about economic development, coupled with social distributive justice and political stability.
On the one hand, under communism, the job of equalising the distribution of wealth has been sought to be achieved by the use of force, which has not produced the desired result; instead, be-cause of the use of force even to the extent of mass killings and jailing of millions of people, it has created tremendous conflicts and widespread tribulations.
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