Einstein: Why Socialism?

A new magazine was launched in May 1949. Its name was Monthly Review . Albert Einstein contributed an article to the first issue of the magazine. The title of the article was Why Socialism .

Einstein lived in Germany, Switzerland and the USA, the cradle of capitalism. He escaped from Nazi Germany and went to Princeton. During my time in Berkeley, I listened to Einstein a lot from my teacher Marvin E. Jones. He would tell me about his encounters with Einstein and the conversations he had with him, albeit infrequently, while he was doing his doctorate at Princeton. After talking to a person who had witnessed Einstein in person, the meaning of the article titled “Why Socialism” changed in my mind.

Let's take a look at Einstein's article. The summary below is not a translation, but my account of the article. But my message is at the end of the article.

Source: https://monthlyreviewarchives.org/mr/article/view/MR-007-02-1955-06_3

A summary of Einstein's paper:

The article begins with the question of whether it is advisable for someone who is not an expert in economics or social issues to express an opinion on socialism, and continues with the answer that it is advisable.

Einstein, looking through the lens of scientific knowledge, establishes that there is no fundamental methodological difference between astronomy and economics. Both sciences seek to discover generally accepted rules. However, this is much more difficult to achieve in economics, because each concept that economics addresses is much more difficult to measure due to the large number of factors that affect those concepts.

The experience accumulated since the beginning of the period when humanity entered the definition of civilization has shown that many elements affecting the economy are under the influence of many other elements that are not only economic. For example, most of today's major countries owe their existence to conquests. Those who carried out the conquests established their own legal and economic order as the privileged classes of the places they conquered. At the same time, they created a system of values and guided the social behavior of the places they conquered.

Human development, within the historical tradition, has nowhere transcended the predatory phase described by Thorstein Veblen. Yet the aim of socialism is to transcend this predatory phase. However, economics in its current form is inadequate to enlighten us about the socialist society of the future.

While socialism suggests a direction towards a social and ethical end, science cannot create an end. Science can at most provide the means necessary to achieve the desired end. The end sought to be achieved is adapted and carried into the future, semi-consciously shaped by the personalities and moral ideals of individuals. Thus, social evolution is determined in this way.

When it comes to human-related problems and issues, science and scientific methods should not be used more than necessary. It should not be thought that only experts in the relevant science have the right to express an opinion on issues related to humans and social structure.

As many people have declared, humanity is going through a crisis and the stability of humanity has been deeply damaged. A new great war will threaten the existence of humanity, and the only way to prevent this is to have a supranational organization.

Can humanity get out of the crisis it is in? What could be the reason for this? It is easy to ask these questions, but it is difficult to find an answer that will provide the desired result.

Man is simultaneously a solitary and social being. With his characteristics of being a solitary being, man tries to protect his own existence and that of his immediate environment, to satisfy his personal desires and to develop his natural talents. With his characteristics of being a social being, he tries to gain the attention and love of those around him, to share the things that give him pleasure, to relieve the suffering of those around him and to improve his living conditions.

The characteristics of being alone and being social, even if there are contradictions between them, enable the person to find his inner balance and then determine his contribution to the good of society. The relative strength of the characteristics created by these two basic characteristics most likely emerges through an inheritance. Personality characteristics are shaped by the environment in which the person is in his developmental period, the traditions brought by the social structure and certain behavioral characteristics. The meaning of society, which is an abstract concept, for the individual is his contemporaries with whom he interacts directly and indirectly and the previous generations in the history of the society.

The individual has the ability to think, feel, struggle and work, but he is extremely dependent on society for his physical, intellectual and emotional existence. It is impossible to think about and understand a person without society.

The human needs for nutrition, clothing and shelter, work order, language use, ways of thinking and the content of his thoughts can only emerge as a result of the achievements of the millions of people of today and the past who are behind that short word called society. Therefore, it is clear that the individual's dependence on society is a fact of nature. Just like ants and bees. However, while ants and bees have fixed hereditary instincts, humans are open to change due to their characteristics resulting from social communication.

Because of their memory, ability to think and speak in different combinations, humans have been able to develop beyond their biological limitations. Development is evident in traditions, institutional structures and organizations, literature, scientific and engineering achievements, and artistic works. Humans can influence their own lives under their own control, and conscious thinking and desire play an important role in this power of influence.

In geographies where population density is relatively high, a high level of specialization and a highly centralized, efficient apparatus for the production of essential goods is essential for the existence of society. Humanity has created a society on this planet based on production and consumption.

We have reached the point of what the reasons are for the crisis we are experiencing today. In today's conditions, the individual has realized his dependence on society to an unprecedented level. However, at the same time, he does not think that this dependence creates a positive situation for him or that it is a protective element, on the contrary, he thinks that it poses a threat to his natural rights and economic existence.

While the existence of the individual based on their ego in society increases, their social existence weakens and gradually deteriorates. All of humanity experiences the negativities brought by this deterioration. This deterioration manifests itself as not feeling safe, becoming lonely, and moving away from the pure and simple joys of life. However, humanity can find the meaning of life in devoting itself to society.

The economic anarchy of capitalist society lies at the root of the deterioration in the social existence of humanity.

The means of production belong to a number of individuals within the framework of private property rights. The worker carries out production using the means of production and the new products that emerge become the property of the person called the capitalist. At an important point in this process is the relationship between what the worker produces and the wages he is paid.

Both the quantity produced and the wage can be expressed in terms of a real value measurement. However, the wage that the worker receives is determined not by the real value of the products he produces, but by the worker's minimum needs and the supply of the number of workers required by the capitalist in the labor market. It is important to understand that even at a theoretical level, the worker's wage is not calculated on the value of the product he produces.

Private capital is concentrated and concentrated in a few hands, partly because of competition among capitalists, partly because of technological developments and because increasing specialization of labor encourages production in large rather than small production units. As a result, a development emerges in which private capital takes on an oligarchic structure and is so powerful that even a society with a democratic political structure cannot control it.

The political parties determine who the lawmakers will be. Political parties are largely financed and influenced by capitalists. This situation causes lawmakers to be in a position far removed from the electorate. Thus, the representatives of the electorate are far from sufficiently protecting the rights of the deprived segments of society. In addition, the capitalist directly controls the main sources of information (press, radio, education). Thus, it becomes very difficult or impossible for any individual to reach objective conclusions and to use their political rights rationally.

The means of production are in the hands of private property, and the owners of the means of production can always get rid of the means of production they do not deem necessary. Making a contract with the worker is free of charge. Today's economic conditions are not far from the pure capitalist model.

Production is done for profit, not for use. There is always an army of unemployed people in society, and workers live in fear of losing their jobs. Technological developments, instead of easing the working conditions of those employed, result in unemployment for a section of society.

The profit motive associated with competition among capitalists creates instability in the accumulation and use of capital, causing increasingly deep economic crises. An unlimited competitive environment causes the labor force to be wasted and, as mentioned above, the social consciousness of the individual to be impaired.

The greatest evil of capitalism comes from the crippling of the individual's social consciousness. With its extreme sense of competition, the education system prepares students to succeed in the competitive environment that awaits their future.

The result that emerged necessitates the establishment of a socialist economic model supported by an education system that is oriented towards social goals in order to eliminate this negative situation. In this economic order, the means of production will belong to the society and a planned use will be provided. The planned production will be of a nature that will meet the needs of the individual and the resulting work will be distributed in a way that will guarantee the life of every man, woman and child.

Education will support the natural talents of individuals and will have qualities that will emphasize the responsibilities of the individual towards his/her social environment rather than supporting his/her own power and success.

It should also be remembered that a planned economy alone is not socialism. A planned economy can also bring about the process of enslavement of the individual. The success of socialism can be possible by solving extremely difficult socio-political problems: How can the bureaucracy in a centralized economic and political structure be prevented from becoming too powerful and arrogant? How can the rights of the individual be protected and how can a democratic counterbalance be provided to the power of the bureaucracy?

Clear statements about the aims and problems of socialism are of the utmost importance in the transitional period we are in. Since free and unhindered discussion of these issues is taboo under the present conditions, the establishment of Monthly Review is an important social service.

This is how Einstein puts forward his ideas. In 1949, he explains how capitalism cripples human social consciousness. The text is almost about today.

I give myself the right to comment on only one part of the article. Today, instead of education that questions the global order and aims to increase the level of social consciousness, an education system that trains soldiers for the capitalist system is dominant.

Even the lectures at universities where the word "universe" is used have been turned into stock market courses by the lecturers. With some lecturers and students whose social consciousness is impaired, you can only bring misery to the future. Einstein describes this.

Since I have emphasized education, let me also reference two publications on the educational ideal in which I discuss Wilhelm von Humboldt: https://youtu.be/yuY3S4MuE5k and https://youtu.be/eSxHgW-ZYwc

Wilhelm von Humboldt is a great scientist who influenced even today's German education system.