The Philosophy of the
THE SYSTEM OF CORRELATION OF MAN AND HIS ENVIRONMENT
The
17th. January 1963
Third Edition
World Copyright @ 1964 by
The
B. S. P. P. / G-5 / B-l / 9-64 /10,000
CONTENTS
THE SYSTEM OF
CORRELATION OF MAN AND HIS ENVIRONMENT
Page
I
2 The
Three Worlds
II
2 Man and
His Society
III
8 The
Laws of Process of the History of Society
- The System of Correlation of the
Material and the Spiritual Life of the Human Society
IV
23 The
Determining Role of the Working People
- Man and His Material Environment
- Man and Socialist Planning
- The Leading Role of Socialists
V
36 Our
Attitude to Our Own Ideology
APPENDICES [placed online in the Online Burma Library as
separate documents]
43 The
53 The
Constitution of the
This is a statement of the Philosophy
of the Burma Socialist Programme Party as approved and adopted by the
Revolutionary Council of the Union of Burma at its twenty-second meeting. The System of Correlation of Man and His
Environment forms the guide to the Burma Socialist Programme Party which
considers that the citizens of the Union of Burma should know and appreciate
it. In compliance with a resolution of the Central Organising Committee of the
Party, therefore, the Secretary publishes it herewith.
THE SYSTEM OF
CORRELATION OF MAN AND HIS ENVIRONMENT
(Translated from the original statement in Burmese)
1. We, the
citizens of the Union of Burma, strive to build, by the Burmese Way to
Socialism, a new socialist society of affluence where justice shall prevail.
We base our programmes, in our endeavours, on a
philosophy which we have framed from a close study of the nature of man and of
his society.
We go to our tasks in the deep awareness that in
building a socialist society of affluence where justice shall prevail a close
study of the nature of man and of his society is a pre-requisite; that our
philosophy and programmes should seek to extinguish the bad and cultivate the
good traits in man's moral character; that only thus can we achieve our goals.
What then is our philosophy
framed from a close study of the nature of man and of the society in which he
lives?
2. Our philosophy* is
our world-outlook. It forms
particularly the ideology of our Party,
our view and appreciation of the society
which is human and worldly.
Our Party's world-outlook,
derived from a close study of man and the society he lives in, is as follows:
___________________________________
* [highlighting in official
English version – DA]
I. THE THREE WORLDS
3. When we look at nature we
see three worlds, viz., the material,
the animal and the phenomenal worlds.
The material world consists of the whole of our material environment.
In other words it constitutes the entire Okasaloka: the four principal elements
of existence evincing apparently converse characteristics which on deeper
anal/sis are the same-abstract Earth whose characteristics are to harden and to
soften, abstract Water whose characteristics are to flow and to paste, abstract
Air whose characteristics are to expand and to contract, and< abstract Heat
whose characteristics are to heat and to cool; and the tangibles that we see or
feel such as the forests and the mountains, the seas and the skies, the
planets, the stars and space.*
The animal world consists of all living and sentient beings like mammal, bird, reptile
and fish. In other words it means the entire Sattaloka
The phenomenal world consists of the entire
process of nature manifested in the space-time continuum of events of mind and
matter, interacting in infinite patterns -- matter interacting with matter, mind with mind and matter with
mind. In other words it means the entire Sankharaloka,
embracing both the Okasaloka and the Sattaloka
______________________________________________
* The vegetable kingdom has
life but no consciousness, and is therefore categorised under the material
world.
II. MAN AND HIS
SOCIETY
4. In the world of phenomena
which also embraces the other two worlds, it is the animal world which is the
most important of all the most useful of all and the most determinant of all.
Again in this animal world the human society of which
we ourselves form a part is the most important of all, the most useful of all,
the most determinant of all and the noblest of all, for amongst all the living
and sentient beings it is only man who has the highest intellect and the
highest capability to use it.
Therefore, in studying the
history of society as well as in solving its problems we should proceed from
the premise of man. The following are the principal features of our
observations and conclusions.
We conclude from our study of man that:
(a) he
is concerned with all the three worlds, of which he is an image;
- in him combine the
material body with life, mind and matter in their correlation, and the ceaseless
process of mutation;
- he belongs just as
much to the material as to the animal and phenomenal worlds so that the study
of man is the study of the three worlds of nature.
We conclude from our study of man also that:
(b) the
flux of his mind depends on his aggregate of matter; his mind cannot exist
without this aggregate of matter on which it must continually depend;
- while the mind, dependent as it is on matter,
is not a material principle, having no stuff or substance, is nevertheless a
living reality; mind is the state of consciousness as a whole;
- mind which is
sentient and matter which is not are two different principles of nature and
they meet in man in a continuing state of flux.
We conclude from our study of man also that:
(c) while man's mind is dependent on his
aggregate of matter, it leads all his bodily, verbal and mental actions in his
social life;
- while consciousness arises from contact of
sense-objects with sense-organs, yet without the aid of the mental factor of
advertence or attention, consciousness can neither take place nor be full;
- therefore it must be remembered that matter
is not the sole source of the states of consciousness which arise from and
depend on causal action of matter on the one hand and of mind and mental
factors on the other in correlation.
We conclude from our study
of man that:
(d) matter and mind in man are inseparably
linked on the ever-turning wheel of change;
- everything that
exists in nature is in a state of ceaseless change and man who is the aggregate
of elements of nature is also in a state of ceaseless change and motion.
- Here we must clearly see the difference between the change that takes place in inanimate matter
and that in man, the living being.
- The constant change in inanimate matter is
caused by its own inherent mutability, the contending principles in itself such
as of heat and cold and environment. Change in matter comes from the ceaseless
struggle of the contradictory principles and also from their reciprocal
actions, all inherent in matter itself.
- Man, on the other hand, in whom matter and
mind exist as correlates, changes in both his
elements, viz., the material body and the mental body.
- Even as mind changes with the change in matter,
so matter changes with the change in mind.
- Change in matter sometimes precedes that in mind; change in mind
sometimes" precedes that in matter.
- Changes in mind and in matter are
interdependent and reciprocal.
- Whenever a material force is dominant it is
matter which causes the given change; whenever a mental force is dominant, it
is mind which causes the given change.
- In man, matter and mind change in correlation
by way of reciprocity.
- In the process of change in man, however, mental
flux far outstrips the material. The flight and flux of mind are faster than
light which travels at 186,000 miles per second.
- Mind is a process of complex motion, and it
is volitional.
- While it is generally true that mind cannot
move nor create beyond the allowances and limitations of material energy, yet
clearly it is the human intellect which
discovers and harnesses the physical forces of the material world.
Such, in the main, are the
differences between material world and the human society.
We observe from our study of
the processes of the phenomena of matter and of mind that:
(e) the process develops through
insignificant and imperceptible degrees into significant and striking strides;
- various conditions, happening by gradual
steps in time and space, arrive at a stage when they combine, and interact by
way of reciprocity, giving rise to new sets of qualities, new forms of
substances, new orders of vitality, new arrangements of conditions, new shapes
of subjects, new moulds of bodies, new formations and such; this way all
processes operate, towards birth and growth, or towards decay and death - they
come to pass, they change, and change further;
- the cause of all
formations and all dissolutions is not one but many; observe for instance the
journey of man from the womb to his tomb.
We observe from our study of man that:
(f) he
is an egocentric animal;
- man's secondary
feature is that he is also an altruistic social animal;
- he instinctively
seeks freedom in which to live and act;
- human society is but
an institution of human beings organized by them under their codes of law and
behaviour;
- man in his fundamental nature, either as an
individual or a group, as a race or a nation, aspires, in this human society,
for the fulfilment of both his material and spiritual needs; we must recognize
this as fundamental to the nature of man;
- man serves social interests in order to serve
his own; in so serving, his instinctive spirit of freedom incites him to rise
and shake off his fetters and clear his path of obstacles;
- in this way, thus, the egoism and the
altruism in man, his designs and efforts to free himself from encumbrances and
restraints, act as forces in correlation giving direction to the course of
history of the human society.
Thus we observe and conclude
from our study of the nature of matter and that of man that the Law of Correlation is forever manifest
between matter and matter, man's body and his mind, man and his environment.
III. THE LAWS OF
PROCESS OF THE HISTORY OF THE HUMAN SOCIETY
The Development of the Life of the Human Society
5. If we understand the
character of man and the laws of his evolution we can understand the same of
his society. Similarly if we can understand the character of man's society and the
laws of its evolution we can understand the laws of the history of the human
society.
A man's life-span runs from
the moment of man's conception to that of his death.
The continual material and
mental processes and their reciprocal actions which all take place throughout a
man's life-span determine the fate of his life.
Similarly the material life
and the spiritual life of the human society and their reciprocal actions
determine the course of the history of that society.
What, then, constitutes the material
life of the human society?
And what constitutes the
spiritual life of the human society?
The term material life of the human society
means the formation and development of material instruments and such materials
as food, clothing, shelter and commodities essential for man's livelihood.
The spiritual life of the human society is a collective term embracing
such entire range of development as man's desires and aspirations, thoughts and
ideas, arts and sciences, policies and plans (political, economic, educational,
social), knowledge and experiences, philosophies and ideologies.
The human society is
therefore a unity of the material life and the spiritual life of man.
Throughout the history of
the human society the material life and the spiritual life of society have
evolved in accordance with the natural law of reciprocal action. They both are
thus evolving at present, and they both will thus evolve in the future.
This is the law of the
history of the human society. This is the law of dialectics (Paticccsamuppada)
of history.
The System of Correlation of the Material Life and
the Spiritual Life of the Human Society
6. In what pattern and in
what way, then, do the material life and the spiritual life of the human
society interact?
We observe from our study of the system of
correlation of the material life and the spiritual life of the human society
that:
(a) it
is man's consciousness and mental factors depending on man's material body,
which precede all his bodily, verbal and mental actions in his social life;
- man is one integrated whole into which
interacting matter and mind and mental factors all coalesce; man of such a
nature enters into relationships with others of his kind, and by his intellect
and by his physical and mental energy creates and brings forth physical means
and instruments of production out of his inanimate material environment;
- with the means of production thus procured
man produces and consumes such materials
as food, clothing, shelter, transport, and commodities, essential to his
livelihood;
- this social production helps to bring forth
man's such physical, intellectual and spiritual qualities and powers as thoughts
and ideas, efforts, philosophies and knowledge, policies and plans, technology
and crafts, arts and sciences, fine arts and literatures, systems and
ideologies, cultures and institutions; in other words it is man himself who
cultivates the growth of the spiritual life of the human society and nourishes
it;
- the growth of the spiritual life of the human
society thus cultivated and nourished by man, in turn, influences the growth of
the material life of that society (the production of food, clothing, shelter
and social and cultural needs of life);
- the history of the
human society evolves in this way;
- it is therefore only
man, the living being possessed of
reason and intellect, who plays the
determining role in causing the changes throughout the history of society;
- it is man's own
creative imagination and efforts that lead and guide all human achievements;
- man is therefore the
prime factor and mover In the development of history;
- In solving the problems of society we must
adopt and go by the motto : MAN MATTERS MOST.
Furthermore we observe from our study of the system
of interaction of the material life and the spiritual life of the human society
that:
(b) all
matter and mind, according to the Law of Impermanence, are in a constant state
of change and motion, with the old ever decaying and dying and the new ever
rising and growing, the whole state of flux ceaseless ad infinitum.
- in the same way the history of the human
society is also in a constant state of change; all the material life and the
spiritual life of that society are continuously and ceaselessly changing and
moving;
- while the old social
and political systems of the history of the human society are heading towards
decay and death the new are in the process of birth and evolution;
- the Law of Constant
Change is ever determining the history of the human society;
- the so-called
"immutable" social systems and "just" economic systems
which allow exploitation of man by .man (such as the slave system, the feudal
system and the capitalist system) too cannot withstand the inexorable law of
change;
- we who wish to promote the interests of the
people should not, therefore, proceed from the premise of, nor should we rely
on the social and political systems which can no longer serve society and which
permit exploitation of man by man, nor on those classes and strata who are
defending those systems;
- we must proceed from the premise of only such
working people as the masses of peasants and industrial workers who have been
serving the interests of society along the ages, and those intelligentsia and
intellectuals who are serving the interests of society; on those people alone
must we depend, to them alone must we be attached.
Furthermore:
(c) In the study of the process of change in the material life and the
spiritual life of the human society we must seriously study their system of
correlation.
In this study it is necessary to always bear in mind the
fact that man is the prime mover in both the material life and the spiritual
life of his society.
Touching on the material
life of that society, we wish to dwell mainly
on the production and the means of production of materials necessary for human
life.
In order to live man needs
food, clothing, shelter and consumer goods.
To have these materials man
must produce them.
In order to produce these
materials man must have the means and instruments of production, and of
economic life, and of livelihood.
Man must by his own
imagination and efforts create these means and instruments of production. He
must also have the know-how to use them. Only then can his society earn its
livelihood.
Man's creative imagination
and efforts form the spiritual life,
and the instruments of production created by this imagination and efforts, the material life.
It is necessary to deal here
with the productive forces and the
relations of production.
(i) Man's ideas and
imagination, his experiences and know-how, his skills and techniques, which
form the spiritual life, and (ii)
all the means of production which form the material life, together are termed
the productive forces of the human society. These productive forces form a
basic factor in the development of that society. However, their development
alone cannot fulfil the livelihood of the society.
There must also exist production-relations which vitalise the development of
the productive forces, because in the production of material goods man has to
enter into mutual relationships.
- Man must enter into mutual relationships
either by way of defined legal systems or by way of traditions and customs
which are not so well-defined.
- Only within the bounds of such relations can
the productive forces come to life, and the economic system
of the human society operate.
- The
productive forces and the production-relations Interact and are dependent
on each other.
- Hence the study of the economic life of the
human society demands the study of the correlation of the productive forces and
the production-relations.
- In such a study we need to stress on the conditions of the production-relations,
for without production-relations of man the economic life of the human society
cannot exist; without social relations there can be no such thing as human
society. We must therefore take an interest in the production-relations as well
as the general social relations of man.
- In the study of the production-relations of man we must study two things: man's mutual relations within production
on the one hand and man's relations with
the means of production on the other. These two things are connected and
correlated by way of reciprocity.
- Using the means
of production man produces material goods not as
isolated individuals but in mutual relationships, thus giving rise to relations of social life.
- What kinds of relationships does man enter
into in such a process of socio-economic production which assumes the form of
social relations?
Are they the relationships
of the exploiter and the exploited? Or are they the relationships of
cooperation and mutual help, free from the exploitation of man by man?
Who and which classes own the means of production in the economic
life of the human society?
What kinds of relationships
are there between those Who own the means and
instruments of production*and those who do not?
The answers to these
questions reveal the conditions of the social system of a given era of history.
- In any case a given generation has but to
accept by inheritance the environment of both material life and spiritual life
(economic, social, political, educational, customary, cultural)
handed down from its predecessors.
- Man then tries to transform the environment
thus inherited. By his own creative efforts he forges such changes in his
inherited environment as he deems to be good.
- In this way new environments are created for
the heritage of future generations.
- Whatever form or pattern the social system of
a given period of history may assume, it is man's laws, traditions and customs,
views, knowledge and experiences, cultures, arts and sciences, creative
imagination, thoughts and ideas, policies of social relations, in brief the spiritual life of the preceding and
the present periods, which leads to
create that social system, and organises, constructs, and sustains it for a
certain duration.
- And in consequence the material life and the
new productive forces of the human society further develop.
And man's
production-relations also change and develop correspondingly.
And consequently man's socio-economic
system too changes and develops.
- In this way, the history of the human
society, epochs in history, socio-economic systems (such as the primitive
communal-land system, the slave system, the feudal system, the capitalist
system and the socialist system) change and develop.
- Therefore, if we are to study the history of
the human society objectively, we must do so by an analytical inquiry of the
aforesaid principles of change and development.
- The programmes of our historic tasks too must
be based upon such studies and analysis.
Furthermore we observe in our study of the underlying
principles of the change process of the material life and spiritual life of the
human society that:
(d) the
changes in their condition pass from insignificant and imperceptible stages to
significant and perceptible ones;
- gradual changes give
place to rapid ones;
- the changes of a
quantitative accumulation of causes unite in forming new qualitative results;
- in the same way, in
the history of the human society, the transition of one epoch or social or
economic system to another takes at? first the form of a gradual evolution, but
at a certain stage of development when appropriate causal phenomena are in
unity of correlation, a new epoch or system fundamentally different from its
predecessor arises and grows; the old epoch dies out, and the new epoch comes
into being;
- even while an old
epoch or system is decaying or dying in a gradual way, there hatches and grows
within its very framework, a new form (e.g., the capitalist economy has its
genesis within the environment of the feudal system); such a gradual process of
change is called an evolution;
- when an evolutionary
process reaches a certain condition, point or stage, it passes into a revolution - a form of fundamental and
entire change of dynamic momentum; historians call such changes social revolutions;
- the change called Social Revolution is thus only an
effect and not a cause; whereas the evolutionary process is the cause of that
revolutionary change;
- if we wish to truly
understand revolutionary phenomena we must study their causal evolutions as they really are, and be
able to draw lessons;
(e) It is all the more
necessary here to study the change
which assumes a revolutionary character.
- When the system of economic relations of a
given age can no longer serve the interests of his society, man thinks of,
searches for, and endeavours to establish new systems which can better serve
his interests.
- Particularly, when the system of economic
relations of a given age hampers the advancement of the economic status of the
people, the progressive forces and those in favour of the status quo must collide in antagonism with each other, nation with
nation, class with class, party with party, and state with state.
- At such times the ruling classes and strata
defending the status quo oppress and
restrict those who endeavour to establish new progressive economic relations.
- Then as a result, social antagonisms between the
partisans of the old system and those of the new appear in various forms.
- These social antagonisms, depending on the
time, place and conditions, sometimes assume a violent form and appear as
violent movements.
For instance,
in
Another instance is the basic contradiction inherent in capitalism. Huge industrial
establishments, while being operated by the social labour of immense masses of
workers, are owned as private property by a capitalist minority. Therein lies a basic conflict of interest and character, i.e.
between the interest of the common weal and the socialistic character of the
labouring masses on the one hand, and the self-seeking interest and
individualistic character of the capitalist minority on the other. It is to
solve this basic contradiction that the Socialist Revolution has emerged.
- Further, the problem of antagonism is solved
either by a peaceful victory of a strong majority over a weak minority (e.g.,
the mass struggles without armed insurrections);
- or by an alliance of
the contending forces (e.g., the Romans and Teutons at the fall of the
- or by the common
ruin of the contending forces (e.g., war between ancient Greek city-states, and
the threat of a modern thermo nuclear war).
- In any case, in the course of a transition
from an old epoch or system to a new, social antagonisms
are inevitable to a greater or lesser extent.
- If we wish to solve the problems of social
relations, we must endeavour to observe, and learn the causes of social
antagonisms as they really are.
- Only then can social antagonisms of all sorts
of a given human society, inter-class or inter-group or Inter-strata or
inter-racial antagonism, be solved.
- We must not conceal social antagonisms, but seek
means and ways to face and to solve them.
- Looking back on history we find that man has
experienced various instances and forms of social antagonism, especially class
antagonisms.
We find such distinct
classes as slave and master in the age of the slave system, as serf and lord in
that of the feudal. and as worker and capitalist in
that of the capitalist, and also antagonisms of class interests in their
economic relations.
- In the age of the slaves/stem the means of
production of society were monopolised by the slave-owning class. The masses of
slaves were exploited, and the fierce antagonisms that existed between the two
classes roughly represented the content of the slave system.
- In the age of feudalism the means of
production of society were monopolised by the feudal lords. The masses of serfs
were exploited. The antagonisms between feudal lords and serfs and those
between feudal lords and capitalist merchants roughly represented the content
of the feudal society.
- In the age of capitalism the means of
production are in the hands of the capitalist class de jure merely by virtue of the bourgeois legal system, and the
class which holds no capital, i. e. the working class, is exploited. Continuous
class struggles between capitalists and workers form the main feature of the
capitalist system.
- In such wise, the antagonisms that exist
between the interests of the exploiting classes on the one hand and those of
the exploited on the other, form the picture shown off in bold relief by the
history of man.
- Hence the history of man is not merely the
history of states, of nations, or of wars and individuals, but also of class
struggles.
- The socialist society based on justice, upon which we have set our hearts, is a prosperous and affluent
society, free from exploitation or oppression of man by man, where there is no
profiteering, where there is no class antagonism that threatens human welfare,
and where man's physical well-being and spiritual happiness are assured.
- In a socialist society in which there are no
exploiters conditions for class antagonisms will have been abolished.
- Class antagonisms will continue as long as
the conditions for them exist.
- Class antagonisms must disappear
,if we abolish their conditions.
- When a socialist society is successfully
established class antagonisms can no longer exist. The socialist economy is a
new economic system which has the potency to abolish the conditions for class
antagonisms.
Why?
Because the socialist
economy will end such pernicious systems of economy as the slave system,
feudalism, capitalism and fascism, which are the conditions for class
antagonisms.
- The slave-owning economy and the feudal
economy which hampered the progressive development of society have passed away.
- Capitalism which is in contradiction with the
prosperity and progress of society has also either passed away or is dying out
in some places. emerged for the
- The socialist economy has prosperity and
progress of society.
- In a socialist society the character of the
process of production, which is social in that the production is carried out by
the social labour of the majority, and the character of ownership of the means
of production, which too is social in that the ownership rests with the
majority, are compatible with each other. Each is a condition for the other.
The magnitude of social
production is immense, and it can only be carried out by social labour. (It is
the condition of the objective life of production.)
Economic production and
relations are natural only when they are managed and correlated on the policy
that as labour in a production is social, ownership of the means of that
production must also be social. (It is the demand of the subjective life of
production.)
Operation of social enterprises
by private ownership is unnatural and can only lead to social antagonisms.
- Socialism is a system of economy which is
based on the correlated compatibility of the social character of the process of
production and social ownership of the means of production.
- The socialist economy is planned in
accordance with the economic laws of socialism, which are as follows:
(i) The Basic Law of giving
maximum satisfaction to material, social and cultural needs of the whole
nation;
(ii) The Law of Planned
Proportional Development of the National Economy;
(iii) The Law of
Contribution according to capability and Distribution according to work;
(iv) The Law of Steady Increase in the Productivity of
Labour;
(v) The Law of Socialist
Accumulation;
(vi) The Law of Continual
Enhancement of the Standard of Living of the People along with Continual
Expansion of Socialist Production on the basis of advancement in science and
technology, enabling the people to enjoy in affluence the fruits and blossoms of
the socio-economic system of socialism.
The Burmese Way to Socialism
of our country is a way guided by these economic laws of socialism.
IV. THE DETERMINING
ROLE OF THE WORKING PEOPLE
Egoism and Altruism
7. Man is egoistic and
self-seeking by nature.
However, man cannot live
alone.
In order to solve the
problems of his livelihood and to protect himself from the forces of nature and
other dangers, man has to enter into a life of social relations with others of
his kind. (Here the married life of man and woman and the formation of family
relations are also to be taken into consideration. Aspects of love and
attachments between parent and child must also be taken into serious account.)
To serve his own interests
man enters into relations with others of his kind who also have the same
motive. And in so doing he unavoidably has to serve the interests/ of others
and thereby to conform to the disciplines, customs, traditions and duties of
his society.
Prompted by the very motive
of self-interest man has the instinct, whenever opportunities arise, to free
himself from the fetters of society and the difficulties of life. He also
desires to live and act in freedom. This is man's nature.
The conditions of social
life, in turn, however, restrain and keep within bounds man's
self-aggrandizement and desire for freedom.
Just as man must serve
social interests in order to serve his own, so also must he in his own interest
enjoy his share of social benefits.
- Man's desire to live compels him to
participate in the life of society which, after all, is but an association of
individuals. Individual life is possible only because of social life.
- Self-interests and social interests are thus
correlates, interacting in accordance with the principle of reciprocity.
- Our socialist economy shall be based on the
dialectical unity of the individual and social interests of the citizens of the
Union of Burma. Our socialist economy is a system which will achieve a harmony
between the individual and the social interests of the people.
Man and His Material Environment
8 The life of social relations is dependent upon the conditions of livelihood
(the conditions of the production of man's material and social needs); the life
of social relations is caused and developed by production (livelihood).
- The life of man's social relations varies
with the progression or retrogression of the conditions of production. The
progression and retrogression of production are also determined by the positive
and the negative conditions of social relations.
- Man who carries out the process of production
enters into relationship with a material environment, that is, with the means of production; it is only on
the basis of material means of production that man can carry out production.
- Man always thinks about, invents and creates
for the betterment of the means and instruments of production and of the
process of production as a whole.
- While inventing and improving the
instruments of production and new productive enterprises, man does not pause to
reflect what social results these improvements will lead to, but only thinks of
securing some immediate and tangible advantages for himself.
- Owing to these newly invented and expanded
instruments and enterprises of production new conditions of social and
political life arise. Only then is man confronted with the activities of social
revolution and social changes, and he is obliged to solve the problems arising
from such changes.
- Just as small industries originating in
feudal days had given rise to the social revolutions that brought forth
capitalism, so also have expanded capitalist monopolies of production given
rise to the political and economic movements (economic struggles of the working
people) which demand a new system of socialist production-relations.
- Thus the changes and developments in the
means and instruments of production which constitute the material life of
production and those in social relations of production are correlated.
- We must therefore fully recognize that man
and his material environment are interacting as correlates.
- In the process of interaction of man and his
environment it is man who studies the physical laws of matter, and utilizing
them, changes his material environment to his benefit. The changes in his
material environment, in turn, give rise to changes, for better or worse, in
his spiritual life and also, for better or worse, in his socio-economic life.
And in this process of interaction it is man,
the living and sentient being, who plays the prime role.
- It is the living, sentient and working people(peasants, industrial workers, intelligentsia and
intellectuals) who study matter, utilize matter, and produce material
instruments of production and material goods.
- It is therefore the working people who are
the prime movers in the creation of the life, development and history of
society.
- The main social force of humanity throughout
history is the working people, and, therefore, the history of man is not the rajavurhsa of rajas (the history of kings) but the history of the working people.
Man and Socialist Planning
9. In socialist construction
the significant role of man must be recognised.
- The socialist economy is a planned economy.
(Planning is a factor that pertains to the spiritual life of human society
whereas the means of production constitute the conditions of the material
environment of that society.)
- It is man who is the author, the organiser
and the implementor of socialist plans.
- It is man who has created, is creating and
will create, systems of economic relations either for
the good or for the bad of society. Man is the most determinant capital amongst
all the productive forces of society.
- It is man who will change and transform the
evil environment of a bad economic system.
- And it is man again who will create the happy
environment of a good economic system.
- Socialist planning is planning which will
abolish the evil material and social environment of society and create a good
one instead. And man in the form of the
working people is here to play the
most dominating role.
- Man is the master and the captain of history.
of man must
- The significance and importance therefore be
fully recognised.
- Accordingly, the welfare of man shall be our
main concern. The progress of man shall be our aspiration. And the material and
spiritual happiness of man shall be the guide in all our activities.
- We firmly believe that programmes for the
betterment of the human society can fully succeed only when all our
actions-bodily, verbal and mental-are consistent.
- It is only by the united strength, initiative
and leadership of those people who give precedence to the matter of man's
welfare over all other things, who would do unto others as they would be done
by, who base their human relations on the dignity of man, whose natural human
weaknesses of covetousness, hate and pride are mild, and who are also
true-hearted, that the socialist economy can be carried through.
- For good works good people are needed.
- Recruitment of good cadres is therefore the
key to and the determinant of successful programmes.
The Leading Role of Socialists
10. In building a socialist
society, the working people are the determining forces. So are the socialists
who will guide the working people.
- It is therefore vitally important that
socialists are able to lead the people in a correct way, and that they
themselves remain unswervingly on the road to socialism.
- Man has a tendency to go astray. Aware as we are of such human frailties
we must make our way of life a living reality, i.e. a socialist way of democratic life that can constantly check and
control this evil tendency to lapse. Only then can every one have the right of
using his own creative labour and initiative.
- The socialist way of democratic life brings
the individual and social interests of man into harmony.
- Socialist democracy is a way of harmonising
the interests of each individual and those of the society. In other words, it
is a way of practice which by means of a dialectical
method unites the will and desire of each individual and that of the
society.
By the term dialectical method we mean an
application of the practice of dialectical
approach on the basis of our socialist programmes, a middle way of practice
which is free from both the left and the right deviations.
- Here we may dwell a little on our socialist
dialectical method.
Our dialectical method is
the art of scientific approach to the phenomena of nature and society. It is an
art and science of making a systematic and comprehensive study of the
contradictions in nature and society such as opposite forms, opposite
phenomena, diametrical extremes and antagonisms and putting them to good use.
The main functions of our dialectical method are as follows:
(i) With a heart for the
general weal to honestly see nature, society, history of society, the life of
social relations, social problems, and for that matter all phenomena, as they
really are, with true objectivity, and analyse accordingly.
(ii) To study contradictions
objectively and analytically; to study various forms of antagonism existing in
contradictory things and phenomena; to avoid deviation towards either the left
or the right extreme, and to systematically
unite the positive potentialities of each opposite by a method which ensures progress; to study the features and forms
of such unity and put them to positive use.
(iii) To formulate a guiding
theory or a principle from the study of life, and test its validity by applying
it to life and further developing it again on the basis of life; to maintain
the correlative unity of theory and practice; to avoid dogmatism, deviation
either to the left or to the right, subjectivism and bigotry.
(iv) To correlate the two different aspects of Truth-v/z.
the Relative aspect of Truth, which is merely conventional but nevertheless
called Truth only relatively to time, place and conditions, and the Absolute
aspect of Truth, which is true in the ultimate sense, and immutable, regardless
of time, place and conditions-and put them to good use.
- If socialists practise this dialectical
method they will be free from making grave mistakes and going astray.
- The term socialist
democracy includes the unity of the will and initiative of the individual
man and group on the one hand and the centralised
guidance of the society on the other. In a society which aspires for
progress two features are necessary, viz. centralism
resting with the State and the freedom of Initiative resting with individuals
or the majority.
- Without centralism society will tend towards
anarchism. Again without freedom of initiative of individuals society becomes
mechanical and its progress is retarded.
- Just as centralism is essential for a stable
State so is freedom of initiative necessary for individuals or groups and must
be encouraged. Only then can a society progress and be prosperous and affluent.
- In encouraging the will and initiative of the
people their spiritual life must
also be improved.
- We believe in the maxim that wholesome
morality is possible only when the stomach is full.
- The programme of the socialist economy is to
establish a new peaceful and prosperous society by filling the stomach of every
one and raising his moral standards.
- Just as it is true that wholesome morality is
possible only on a full stomach so is it true that only when men of excellent
morals are in the leadership the programme of filling stomachs (in other words the socialist programme) can be
carried through.
Why is this so ? Because it is not easy to suppress
and eradicate the evil tendencies of man.
In the study of the nature
of man we find that man has inherent in himself inclinations towards such
unwholesome volitions as insatiable greed.
- These unwholesome volitions cannot be killed
by mere fulfilment of the needs of the material body.
Under the socialist system
the waning and lessening of these unwholesome volitions may be possible only to
a certain extent.
Even in a socialist society
it is possible that men, tempted by lust and greed, enraged by hate and
violence, blinded by pride and conceit, and overwhelmed with self-aggrandizement,
will rear their heads as and when opportunities are favourable. This can cause
the ruin of a socialist society.
The programme of building a socialist system which will fill the stomachs of
the people must therefore include the
betterment of the spiritual life of the people also.
- So long as man cannot control such of his
evil proclivities as greed and selfishness, ill-will and violence, ignorance
and folly, pride and conceit, which are inherent in the very nature of himself,
Science, no matter how it strives even as a wizard or the master of the fate of
the material world, will not be able to give a full and happy life to man.
- It is true that for man to be able to lead a
happy life his physical needs must be fulfilled.
But this alone is not
enough.
Psychical principles (such
cultural values as morality, self-examination and self-criticism, treating
others as we would like others to treat us and loving kindness
) which purify, control and study and examine the mind are necessarily
to be extolled and nurtured.
- The socialist system must plan for the
physical as well as the spiritual happiness of society.
- However keen we may be to establish good
systems we must recognise that it is only by man that these systems will be
established, and that sound execution of plans by man and his equally good
intentions, and sound knowledge and ideas of man must play the main leading
role in the construction of a good society.
- Time and again man has come face to face with
those nation-building programmes which have been brought to naught by
wantonness and faults of mind and mental factors.
- Here incidentally, we should objectively
criticise the one-sided notions of some so-called "leftists". The
notions and actions of some so-called "leftists" are subverting the
socialist aim. How ? In what way are these leading
towards just the reverse of the socialist aim ?
With their dogmatic views of
vulgar materialism some so-called
"leftists" appear to pay scant heed to mind and mental factors. Their
way of thinking and doing things is wholly ensnared by their habitual
"matter-matters-most" bias and outlook.
What are the consequences ?
The meaning of man is
nullified. Man's mind and mental factors are devalued. They also take little
account of sincerity, amity and fellow-feeling, morality and social ethics in
human relations. These noble virtues have become a mere commonplace in all
their mental, verbal, and bodily actions.
All these have the effect of
restricting man's progress.
These so-called
"leftists" at last have even fallen into a degeneracy of mutual
suspicion.
Their relationships with the
masses of working people who have come under their sway is
nearly despotic. They restrict working masses in all their activities. They even
look upon the working masses as robots.
The vulgar materialism of
the so-called "leftists" is thus heading towards the reverse of the
socialist aim. (The experiences of the leftist circles of Burma and of some
countries may be critically reviewed to provide lessons.)
- We must ever be vigilant
not to commit the erroneous left and right deviations of these so-called
"leftists"
- The outlook of the capitalist class too is
somewhat tantamount to vulgar materialism. The capitalists are flushed with pride
of wealth, and they have come to reckon that by means of money and materials
men can be made into mere pawns in their exploiting hands. They pay little
regard to man's mental faculties, moral principles, will and feeling. They look
upon human labour as a commodity of the market, and when they think of men they
do so in terms of mere merchandise. The worst stage that this sort of
capitalism will land in is fascism. This much for the
capitalist vulgar materialism.
- The revolutionary ideas of socialist democracy
which we have accepted run counter to the egoistic ideas and actions of the
capitalists.
Similarly we must reject the
left-and-right-deviative ideas and actions of many so-called
"leftists" who have blundered.
- We are those who study things, one and all,
with a critical eye. We accept things which should be accepted and discard
those which should be discarded.
- We are
just Burmese revolutionaries and socialists who are keeping pace with the life
of history.
We shall critically observe, study and avail
ourselves of the opportunities provided by such progressive ideas, theories and
experiences at home and abroad, as are of real and practical value for the
endurance of our mother-land the Union of Burma and for the well-being of the
whole nation which is composed of indigenous racial groups, masses of peasants,
industrial workers and working intelligentsia and intellectuals.
This is the true essence of the purpose and the
spirit of our
V. OUR ATTITUDE TO OUR
OWN IDEOLOGY
The aforesaid form our
ideology.
Our Party shall base its
programmes and their execution on the philosophy
of correlation of man and his material environment.
We do not, however, look
upon our ideology as complete and final.
And for that matter , in our outlook we do not hold that any mundane idea
or any social system is complete and final. Just as man has endeavoured to
improve the social systems era by era throughout his history so he shall
continue to do In future.
The philosophy of our Party is a purely mundane
and human doctrine. It is neither religious nor supernal.
The ideology of our Party
should not therefore be looked at from a religious or super-mundane point of
view. It should be seen and studied only as a worldly matter.
Our Party will keep on
striving to make our ideology more and more entire.
There is a beginning and an
end in all phenomena: there is a beginning and an end with each and every
single thing, with each and every single man, with each and every single group
of men, with each and every single class, with each and every single race, with
each and every single society, with each and every single nation, nay, with
each and every single civilisation. All these are relevant truths.
Here we should like to
present our Party's one interpretation of history.
It cannot be that man has
only now acquired very high intellectual faculties and developed civilisations.
Looking back on the life span of the world and its changes we can say that man
has possibly attained, time and again, levels of civilisation much higher than
those of our times. It is probable that the conditions that had developed and
become similar to those available now must have come to ruin on account of a
certain catastrophe which must have taken place in the whole world. All arts
and sciences, all records, all machineries and nuclear instruments and such
must have then come to rack and ruin, and those men who survived must have
retrograded into the dark ages. Thereafter civilisations must have had to start
all over again and progress step by step. We like to take as fables what we
read about wonderful feats of engineering in ancient literature, but it is
possible that these feats must have once been actually achieved, and men must
have spoken about them, and hence these "fables" must have come to be
handed down from generation to generation. It might be taken if we like, that
man, living his life and ever aspiring on the basis of those "fables"
and symbols spoken about by his ancient ancestors, and by his imagination and
designs must have managed to progress to reach the present levels of
civilisation.
This is only a hypothesis.
We do not say that it must be true. We present ft merely as a thought-provoking
idea. We present it just to bring the possibility home to our hearts that the
achievements of man's civilisation can be destroyed by unprincipled vicious
renegades.
We shall never as a party
pass judgement, one way or another , on things which
are beyond the grasp of our intellect and which do not have any bearing on our
Party's, programmes.
In any case, whatever the
beginning of man might be, the history of society is but the history of the
bodily, verbal and mental activities, in all the three periods of time, the
past, the present and the future, of man in whom Rupa and Nama (matter and
mind) exist as correlates.
As for nature, however, it
has neither beginning nor end. There is no division or department of time and
space in nature. There is no alpha
and omega of nature.
What man experiences, knows, feels, thinks, invents, designs, plans, and does are
not forms or shapes without beginnings and ends. They are not absolute or
ultimate truths. They are mere forms and shapes which remain true only as long
as and as much as they are relative to time, place and causal conditions. They
are just relative or conventional truths.
Things in this universe are
transient and every period in its life Is all too
brief.
Names are forgotten as fast as
all things fade; history books become obsolete even as they are written.
Founders of religions and ideologies, men of world renown-statesmen, generals,
scientists, authors, kings-all are prone to this
universal law of transience. They live and die as every other being on this
earth; when they die, they leave behind a faint echo of their existence, but
this echo does not resound forever. It is very unlikely that this echo will be
heard for another ten thousand years. It is almost certain that it will have
died out completely in another one hundred thousand years; and what an
insignificant fraction of time even one hundred thousand years are ! All these, after all, are only relative truths.
Members of our Party must
not therefore take the ideology and programmes of the Party to be final and
complete beyond the need of amendment or alteration.
The programmes of our Party
are mere relative truths. Nevertheless, for a man to work during his life-time
for the welfare of fellow citizens, for that of the majority and for that of
man in brotherhood is indeed a beatitude.
The Burmese Way to Socialism
is the Programme of Beatitudes for the Society in the Union of Burma.
We shall constantly try our
best to make the ideology and programme of the Party more and more entire. We
shall constantly endeavour by critical reviews to cleanse them of errors. We
shall constantly apply our minds to improve them.
Thus alone shall our Party
leave to the future generations of the society in Burma worthy environments for
their heritage.