Such is the case when we wish to ascertain from natural law what social
form is natural and applicable, and this is just what the bourgeois
Darwinists did. They drew the inference that the laws which govern
in the animal world, where the Darwinian theory applies, apply with
equal force in the capitalist system, and that therefore capitalism
is a natural order and must endure forever. On the other hand, there
were some Socialists who desired to prove that, according to Darwin,
the Socialist system is the natural one. Said these Socialists, “Under
capitalism men do not carry on the struggle for existence with like
tools, but with unlike ones artificially made. The natural superiority
of those that are healthier, stronger, more intelligent or morally
better, is of no avail so long as birth, class, or the possession
of money control this struggle. Socialism, in abolishing all these
artificial dissimilarities, will make equal provisions for all, and
then only will the struggle for existence prevail, wherein the real
personal superiorities will be the deciding factors.”
These critical arguments, while they are not bad when used as
refutations against bourgeois Darwinists, are still faulty. Both sets
of arguments, those used by the bourgeois Darwinists in favor of
capitalism, and those of the Socialists, who base their Socialism on
Darwin, are falsely rooted. Both arguments, although reaching opposite
conclusions, are equally false because they proceed from the wrong
premises that there is a natural and a permanent system of society.
Marxism has taught us that there is no such thing as a natural and
a permanent social system, and that there can be none, or, to put
it another way, every social system is natural, for every social
system is necessary and natural under given conditions. There is not
a single definite social system that can be accepted as natural; the
various social systems take the place of one another as a result of
developments in the means of production. Each system is therefore
the natural one for its particular time. Capitalism is not the only
natural order, as the bourgeoisie believes, and no Socialist system is
the only natural system, as some Socialists try to prove. Capitalism
was natural under the conditions of the nineteenth century, just as
feudalism was in the Middle Ages, and as Socialism will be in the
coming age. The attempt to put forward a certain system as the only
natural and permanent one is as futile as if we were to take an animal
and say that this animal is the most perfect of all animals. Darwinism
teaches us that every animal is equally adapted and equally perfect
in form to suit its special environments, and Marxism teaches us that
every social system is particularly adapted to its conditions, and that
in this sense it may be called good and perfect.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account