During the eighties, the fascination for socialist ideals began to decline and a new found interest in capitalism was on the rise. Marxism was going down, Existentialism was going down, the attraction and interest in free-market economy slowly began to spread across the World slowly and steadily. Ayn Rand, Alan Greenspan, Nathaniel Branden and Milton Friedman became the buzz words in the corridors of power and also among the business and industrial circles. An unregulated economy was their aim and ambition and according to the economists of that time “controls breed more controls and regulations would discourage the budding entrepreneurs and industrialists forcing them to turn away from plunging into fresh ventures.
Existentialism took a back seat, even the youths who were the ardent followers of Jean Paul Sartre, Albert Camus and Martin Heidegger branded the philosophy as one which preaches The Negation of Life. It is reported that even Jean Paul Sartre who for years influenced the then intellectuals of France like a Colossus has become a persona-nongrata in that nation and is unheard of among the new generation. Sartre is sleeping in the book-shelves of even the yesteryear intellectuals. I don’t know how much truth is there in the report but while sitting glued to the present trend the report might be true.
Thus, capitalism began to rule the roost and capitalist ideals spread across the World, and with the collapse of ‘socialist ideals’, the World leaders and the industrialists turned their eyes and ears to the resurrection of the “forgotten philosophy”-capitalism. The rest is history.
The collapse of Soviet Union, Rumania, the brutal overthrow of Salvador Alleude- the Marxist ruler of Chile by the tyrant Augusto Pinochet and his implementation of free market economy ( which later collapsed like a pack of cards is another truth), Poland, Hungary, Checkoslovakia, Yugoslavia, a number of other socialist nations - the aftermath of decline of socialism and the reincarnation of Capitalism.
In 1991, the then Prime Minister of India, P.V Narasimha Rao fished out a renowned economist Dr. Manmohan Singh and appointed him as Finance Minister of India. Dr.Singh drawing inspiration from USA and like-minded nations, introduced neo-liberal economic policies loosening the controls on the economy gradually, thus paving the way for a new generation of business class and the liberal flow of funds from MNCs in the form of Foreign Direct Investments and also from other sources. Subsequently with the unprecedented growth of industry and business as a result of deregulation, the mind-set of the young generation underwent a sea-change and they began to ape the western culture and also with lots of money in hands indulged in a life of extravagance. On the other side, the teeming millions of Indians categorized as the ‘have-nots’ became more and more helpless, found it difficult to make both ends meet. The farmers found themselves in the lurch because of lack of attention from the Govt. side- the FM was obsessed with ‘welfare and prosperity’ of the industrial giants –in the mean time they got opportunities to reap a huge harvest- thus forgetting the seventy percent rural Indians, mostly consisting of farmers. They borrowed money from the local money lenders at exorbitant rates and with the failure of a good harvest due to the lack of irrigational facilities and also the mounting prices of fertilizers their debts piled up and on finding no other way to repay the debts, they found solace in suicide. The slashing of import tariffs and large-scale import of grains ,other items and also the gradual dismantling of subsidies caused enormous hardships to the farmers. Thousands and thousands of farmers were forced to end their lives. Even now the farmers who feed us all are in dire straits. Opening up of economy and the deregulation or loosening of controls resulted in such a situation.
Sorry, I have digressed from the main subject.
All hell broke loose last year first in USA, then in Europe, and it spread to other nations across the globe as a result of the “hands off” approach adopted by the nations, the developed countries particularly. As each nation’s economy is integrated with the Global economy and all nations are intertwined it is quite natural that each nation has to face the heat. Starting with the burst of housing bubble, the American economy collapsed like a pack of cards affecting the Investment Banking, Banks, IT firms, Automobiles, Insurance companies etc and the panic spread to the other nations like Britain, Germany, France, Italy, Russia, Japan and now the collapse is almost complete.
While going through the news of financial-melt down affecting the whole World. I happened to read a news story about the revival of interest in Marx, his well-known master-piece – ‘Das Capital’, and his ideals even among the rulers of the western world and also their citizens. The ones who abhorred Marxism and Marxist ideals found themselves engaged in implementing controls and even began to nationalize the banking institutions and other firms to wriggle out of a hopeless situation. Even the bail-out packages involving billions of dollars have not been able to stem the tide and the rulers are still groping in the dark to escape from the vicious circle. The fire brand advocates of Laizezz Faire Capitalism and Free Market Economy are keeping a low profile now.
An article by Oliver Burkman titled “The Surprise Success of an Economic Armageddon” appeared in a newspaper the other day. On going through the article, I was somewhat alarmed to discover that the advocates of Laizezz Faire and Free Market Economy have not yet conceded defeat. Some big guns playing behind the scenes. Otherwise in a pitiful situation prevailing across the World as a result of global-meltdown, some are still busy dusting off the books by Ayn Rand like “Atlas Shrugged” – her economic policy is somewhat summarized in the book- her love of virtue of selfishness, self-interest, the de-regulation or in her own words “a hands-off approach by the government of the day and her hatred towards altruism, welfare state and sacrifice at a moment when the aping of her philosophy blindly by the rulers landed the World economy in shambles, particularly the American economy. Before Ben Bernanke, her confident Alan Greenspan was Federal Reserve chairman for 18 years and reforms initiated by him were the root cause of the economic down-turn, that America faces today.
Even now her philosophy of ‘Objectivism’ is being shown as the way to heaven by some men hiding behind the scenes is a wily ploy to bring back the philosophy which has paved the way for the economic down-turn through the back door. It is only because of their blind opposition to socialism. The sudden spurt in the sale of “Atlas Shrugged” at this moment is a pointer towards it.
However I don’t want to quote the words of Noam Chomsky, one of the greatest writers and thinkers of our times about Ayn Rand.
The sudden revival of interest in Marx, his ideals and his master-piece “Das Capital” is very much understandable because of his preaching of equality, and his love for whole humanity, welfare and harmony among the people. But at a critical juncture like this, surreptiously driving the young generations’ interest in a work like “Atlas-Shrugged” (by Ayn Rand) is absurd and ridiculous and also with ulterior motives. Ayn Rand always preached virtue of selfishness, self-interest, deregulation of the economy and hated the concepts of a welfare state ,altruism and sacrifice in unequivocal terms.
She was a very articulate, powerful writer and had a rare knack for driving her philosophy straight into the heart of a novice and if the latter is willing to ponder over it for sometime, he can very well arrive at a conclusion that her philosophy is nothing but trash. Look at the goings on in America and the burden the incumbent President Barack Obama carries on his shoulders. The legacy left behind by his predecessor.
A philosophy which always stands for the welfare of humanity, sacrifice, equality and love will always withstand time with setbacks at certain points in history, but ultimately it will emerge victorious. A philosophy which caters to the needs and aspirations of a chosen few like businessmen and industrialists will not last long. While going through Ayn Rand’s works I was embarrassed to find out that there are no mentions of people leading miserable lives at the bottom of the ladder…Even then a lobby is seeming to be behind the surge of sales of Ayn Rand’s master-piece
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment