The People’s Republic: The Forces At Work

CONTINUED FROM LAST WEEK

To correct these defects, fertilizers must be introduced. The fertility of the land can and must be conserved by preventing soil erosion, and by the scientific cultivation of the soil itself. Furthermore, the land must be broken and cultivated in order to make it yield its fullest increase. It must be used for what it can grow best. If a piece of land can grow rubber, oil palm, and cocoa, but can grow cocoa best, then it must be used for growing cocoa not rubber or oil palm, other things being equal. In this wise, an optimum utilisation of the land will be attained.

The strain of seed or plant must be high-yielding, not low-yielding. Indeed, it must be the highest-yielding available. The seed or plant must be such as would do best in the prevailing climatic conditions.

It is, for instance, crazy to try to plant cocoa or oil palm in the temperate climate, or barley in a hot tropical climate. Pests and diseases which damage or destroy seeds, plants, and animals must be identified and controlled. In order to conserve forest resources, they must be scientifically exploited; and there must be a scheme of carefully planned reafforestation and regeneration.

In certain cases, the soil may be eminently suitable for the cultivation of a particular crop, while the climatic conditions are not. In such cases it may be economical to induce the required conditions. For example, in Sudan the soil in certain parts is excellent for the growing of cotton and other crops,but in those parts it scarcely rains for years on end. So the waters of the River Nile have been used, with great success, to irrigate vast portions of these parts under the Gezira Scheme.

Similarly, where national economy, or the requirements of scientific experiments call for it, tropical crops may be grown in a temperate climate, in a hot house specially buiIt for the purpose.

Labour

Each worker must be made fit physically, mentally, and spiritually. To this end, he must receive education in physical culture, mental development, and spiritual self-realisation. He must be educated, generally, to understand, to a reasonable extent, his surrounding and the world in which he lives. That is to say, he must understand some common earthly phenomena so that he may live his life free from fear and superstition, and be in a fit state to give of his best. In order that all these processes of education may achieve the end for which they are intended, the education of the worker or labourer, that is to say of every man or woman, must begin from childhood. Otherwise, it might be too late.

In order to get the best out of him, each worker must do or must be advised or made to do what he is best fitted to do. For this purpose, his aptitude and natural bent must be ascertained at an early age, or he must be advised or induced at an early age to develop an inclination for a given career. After his bent or aptitude for a given career bas been ascertained, or he has been successfully induced to develop the required inclination for a given career, he should then be given the education appropriate to that career. The career may be anything from teaching infants to doing space research. As time goes on, a person may change from one career to another or move upward in the ladder of a given career.

Once a man has received the necessary education for what he is best fitted to do, he must be induced to remain in that occupation for which he has been specially educated. This means that the wages and conditions of service in all the occupations and vocations and careers in the State must not only be comparable but must also be such as to make all the occupations in the land equally attractive.

In other words, equal qualifications and merits must be equally rewarded no matter where a person is employed. In short, there must be adequate and equal incentives for every worker or labourer.

Before we pass on to the next topic we would like to make three observations. Firstly, in the matter of the education of workers we are here dealing specifically with such education as will fit a man best for the occupation or vocation or profession which he chooses to pursue . .’ In Chapter 9, we shall be dealing with that form of education which will make a man live a happy and full life irrespective of his vocation, occupation, profession, or career. Secondly, the supreme importance of land and labour must be stressed at this juncture. As Marx has rightly declared, “Land is the mother and labour the father of all wealth”. All wealth, of course, includes all that we consume plus all that we save or invest for the purpose of producing further wealth. Thirdly, we would like to stress the point. that we can only get the best out of land by a judiciously selective utilization of it, and the best out of a worker by a skilful division of labour.

Capital

In order to produce further wealth, something must be set aside from present output for the purpose. Even a static economy or society would require capital. A community which does not want to starve and suffer extinction must set aside part of its present output for the purpose of future production. In order to maintain continuous progress, however, there must be an ever-increasing capital formation. What is set aside this year as capital must be more than what was set aside as capital last year. In other words, each year must witness a rising net capital formation. This objective may be achieved by either consuming less this year than we consumed last year, provided output this year is the same as last year’s; or by producing so much more this year that after consuming more than we did last year we are still able to save more this year than we did last year. In other words, efficient and optimum capital formation does mean producing so much more than is consumed that the difference between output and consumption in each succeeding year is greater than in the year before. Whatever happens, enough must be consumed to ensure that the goose that lays the golden egg is healthy and strong enough to continue to play its part. That is to say, the worker must have enough of necessaries to consume compatible with his health and happiness, while at the same time enough is set aside to ensure an ever-increasing output On the other hand, if the output is meagre, consumption will either account for all that is produced leading eventually to death by starvation, or be at subsistence-starvation level in order to leave anything at all for capital formation.

CONTINUES NEXT WEEK

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