The People’s Republic: Constitutional basis

CONTINUED FROM LAST WEEK

Both the Organic and Mechanistic Theories err on the fundamental ground of using the words State and Government as synonymous. We have previously defined the State as an ‘Association of human beings, whose members are at least considerable, occupying a defined territory, and united with the appearance of permanence for political ends, for the achievement of which certain governmental institutions have been evolved’. We have also defined Government as: ‘The body of persons charged with the duty of governing a State’ .

From these definitions, three inferences are irresistible. First, the analogy of the State as an Organism is fundamentally erroneous and untenable, because the State, as defined, just cannot be an organism. Second, men do not obey the State: it is the Government they obey. Reason; without the Government, the State, at best, is nothing but a passive and inert entity; and, in action, it can only, at its best, be a chaotic and mutually destructive association of people. It is the Government then, we repeat, that the people obey. Third, people obey the Government not for its own sake but because it is they that charge it with the duty of governing the State which is their own association. Indeed, men obey the Government more or less in the same way as they obey the Executive of their Club, their Religious Authority, their Party Executive, and their Board of Directors. The only difference of course is that the Government is vested with unlimited coercive instruments with which it enforces its directives. At the same time, it must be pointed out that, even though the clubs, Religious Authorities, and Company Boards of Directors do not have the same sort of limitless coercive instruments, they do have sanctions by means of which they discipline their members and keep themselves permanently integrated; and occasionally, they do avail themselves of the coercive powers of the Government.

If the State is as we have defined it, why is it then that men do not dissolve it as easily as they dissolve their clubs, Partnerships, Companies, etc.? There are two important reasons why, except in very extreme cases, people do not treat the State in this way. First, the dissolution of the State would more likely than not lead to its fragmentation into family units. As we have seen, the family unit is a precarious and nonviable organization. Furthermore, it can be established from historical happenings that even .a small aggregation of families is never as viable as a very large aggregation. Indeed, present-day events proclaim and testify most loudly and faithfully that the-larger the aggregation the better for the people concerned. Second, sentiments do die very hard. Whenever a people, after very many generations, have developed sentimental attachment to any given Association – be it a Club, Partnership, Religious Organization, Political Party, or State- it is well-nigh impossible to get them to agree to dissolve such an Association, except in very grave circumstances. Patriotism and loyalty are psychological and hereditary phenomena, pure and simple. They do not arise because the relationship of the citizen to the State is analogous to that of the organ to the organism, or to that of a mechanical part to the machine. When the State is uni-

lingual, it is presumed, without fear of contradiction, that the sentimental attachment of the citizens to one another because of language, must have begun with the emergence of homo sapiens himself. Any suggestion or attempt by any section of the people to dissolve such a State is bound to provoke the utmost resistance, hostility, and violence on the part of the majority of the citizens of such a State. Multi-lingual States, not Empires, are comparatively recent innovatio(ls which date back to the latter part of the eighteenth century. Even so, as soon as the citizens develop a strong sentimental attachment to a multi-lingual State, it becomes very difficult to dissolve it; and any attempt at dissolution is also bound to provoke violent resistance.

It must be pointed out that people are far from being conscious of these reasons, in their action to preserve the corporate existence of the State. Over the years, or the centuries, the reasons have become subconscious. Hence they operate so powerfully to drive and motivate loyal and patriotic citizens to go to the extremity of laying down their dearest possessions – their lives – in the defence of the integrity, sanctity, and unity of the State.

The Forces At Work

THE primary objects of a State are the maintenance of internal order, and the prevention of and resistance to external aggression. But the ultimate aim or purpose of a State is much more positive and comprehensive. As we have seen, the purpose which impels family units to prefer aggregation to isolation is to enable its members to enjoy the fruits of their labour, and to live a full and happy life, including the enjoyment of fundamental human rights. Furthermore, it was to enable them to benefit from the inherent advantages of: (i) division of labour; (ii) exchange of goods; and (iii) the increased productivity and higher standard of living which automatically arise from (i) and (ii).

The enjoyment of all these benefits must depend on a number of factors, chief among them being: (i) the manner in which the totality of the wealth of a State is produced, exchanged, and distributed; and (ii) the form of Government under which the citizens are administered. We have dealt with the principles of the latter in Chapter 5. We will now deal with the former.

One of the first things which the contracting families must have done was to demarcate and delimit the area of land which each family claimed or could successfully assert as belonging to it. For be it noted that, granting the absence of forcible expropriation by a conqueror, whether in the era of hunting and of extensive search for food from place to place, or in the period of domestication of animals, and of agriculture, each family would undoubtedly see to it that it appropriated as much hunting ground, fishing water, food – and fruit – growing areas, and pastoral and farming lands to itself as were judged adequate for its subsistence and survival. Each family would produce what it could on the areas of land

CONTINUES NEXT WEEK

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