Because You Never Asked

THE 'REVOLUTION' and CAPITALISM

            (Author's note: One of the readers noticed this essay cross referenced in an essay already included on the web site. She specifically requested it. In satisfying her request, I realized that the essay "The Seattle Riots of '99" is a close spiritual relative of this one. As a result, it will be posted directly after and it is suggested they be read together.)

            I'd like to begin this essay by quoting one of the finest pieces of literature this writer has ever had the good fortune to read, that being the novel, "El Siglo de las Luces" (The Century of Lights), by Alejo Carpentier. Carpentier's passage through this life is worth mention; a Cuban whose father was French, he was actively involved in Cuba's 1959 revolution, eventually becoming a diplomat for Castro's regime in Paris, where he recently died. There were rumors, at the time of his death, hinting at an estrangement with his government, although his passing was treated with great reverence in Cuba. I'm sure I state not only my own opinion when I call him one of this century's greatest writers.
            The Century of Lights is a historical novel dealing with the decade or so surrounding the French Revolution both in France, and, even more so, in the Caribbean. Near the end of the work, Esteban, who has been involved with the revolution on both sides of the Atlantic, has returned to his native Havana. He is a broken and disillusioned man, having lived the frustrations and failures of the great social upheaval. He speaks to his cousin Sofia, with whom he was raised in the same house. "This time the Revolution has failed. Maybe the next one will be the good one, but you'll have to come looking for me with a lantern in broad daylight to get me involved in it. Be careful with words that are too beautiful, of Paradises and Utopias created with words. Our era has succumbed to an excess of words. The only Promised Land we can find on this Earth is that we can find within ourselves." To which Sofia, a bohemian spirit in spite of her upper class lineage, replied: "One cannot live without a political ideal; the good fortune and well being of the people cannot be gotten on the first try. Certainly, grave errors have been committed but these errors will serve as useful teachings in the future. (.) The excesses of the revolution were deplorable, but great human advances are only accomplished with pain and sacrifice."

           How timeless and universal these two positions are; broken faith and eternal hope. At this point in history the Russians and other crest fallen seekers with "political ideals" must be relating quite closely to Esteban's broken faith. Yet for me, and I'd guess for Carpentier as well, Sofia's reply will always be the only valid way to see things.
           Esteban's "next one" arrived in Russia in 1917. Have the "grave errors" of the past served as "useful teachings in the future"?
            On balance, and in spite of the abuse western pundits would heap upon such opinion, I would have to say yes. While not meaning to make light of some "deplorable excesses", the people who waged the Russian Revolution have now had four generations at the helm, have accustomed themselves to both the privilege and burden of such responsibility, and are not about to give it up.
            But here is where I throw in a curve ball.
            "The Revolution", as perceived by Marx, Lenin, Castro, Esteban and Sofia, as well as the mobs at the Bastille and the Winter Palace, that is, as lower social classes rising up to throw off the yolk of their oppressors, is an outmoded concept caused, ironically, by the successes of capitalism.
            I consider the way of life or system of values created around such concepts as capitalism, the free market, consumerism, and, in my own word, The Premise (see essay "The Economy"), to be the principle roadblock to our species' quest for some kind of higher realization. But the ideas embodied in this excessively mercantile-material system have also given mankind its greatest leap forward in the history of the planet. In order to insure the system's success, as many people as possible must be able to buy the goods produced. This has changed the "masses" from an army of mule labor into an important segment of consumers. You don't have to be Adam Smith to know that K-Mart is no fun without money. I am not qualified to get any more specific than that, but I know this concept has helped create more wealth, more goods, more technological advancements, more social mobility, more self-esteem for more people, than ever before. It has made the idea of class warfare a less relevant factor.
            But it has outlived its usefulness. It is beginning to create more social problems than it is worth. Its competitive nature, its aggressive attitude, its self-centered adolescent egoism, its quest for "success", the pressures not to "fail", its delirious, trivial attempts to ward off the boredom caused by an almost purely material way of seeing things, are all beginning to reap its crop of neurosis, violence, depression, insecurity and environmental ugliness beyond acceptable levels. The fundamental question is this: is the promulgation of more and more business activity improving the quality of life on this planet? Or, put another way, what's good or bad for the "economy" isn't really the question, but whether the "economy" is good for us.
            The next great task for humanity is to harness this technology and the system's ability to produce in a more rational way. As a species, we still have the mentality of the hunter or subsistence farmer fearful for one's day to day survival. Technologically we are over that hump but our emotional outlook is lagging behind. This wonderful technology, currently being used almost exclusively for the military protection of material interests and the perpetration of excessive business production, could give us the quality time necessary to truly develop our full potential as human beings. This potential is now being squandered in the rat race of superfluous materialism.
            The next "Revolution" will not be class warfare, but rather, an uprising against the Tyranny of Business. This Tyranny, possessed of the most powerful persuasionary tools the world has ever seen, is shaping every aspect of our lives. It is creating our personalities, our desires, our needs, our concepts of ourselves. It is not objective. It doesn't care what's right, wrong, better or worse. It only wants our money. It is a despotic robot without a soul. It will not be easily defeated.
            Long live the "Revolution".

            Relevant Material: In describing two crucified men during the days of Jesus Christ, the author writes: "Flies were already visibly and audibly busy about the wounds, in hands and feet, blessed creatures of God about their elemental affairs, above man's wickedness and tortured attempts to find an acceptable mode of social and moral order." From the novel, "Man of Nazareth", by the singular English genius, Anthony Burgess.

       There is a wonderful novel about the life of the Mexican bandit-revolutionary, Pancho Villa, written by the Texan, Earl Shorris. It is entitled "Under the Fifth Sun". There is a fascinating moment when Villa lies with his regular whore while being held as a political prisoner. The prostitute is a Mary Magdalena of sorts, constantly encouraging Villa in his revolutionary fervor. I quote from the book: " . she lay at his side and whispered that war and poverty were sisters, the wounds of one no less than the other. He said she was a soldier. She answered that she'd gladly be a soldier, but only if there was a revolution. Anything else is just a war. If it's not a revolution, being a soldier is just a frivolous whim."

            "I don't believe in being a failure. Only one who looks to be a success can be considered a failure, but being a success is the ambition of mediocre people. What matters is nobility of spirit."  From the great satirical novel, "La Bella Durmiente Va a la Escuela" (Sleeping Beauty Goes to School), by the Spanish master, Gonzalo Torrente Ballester.  

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Email: JerryG@postcman.info