The Green Book: Part Two
Muammar Al Qathafi
THE GREEN BOOK
Part Two
The Solution of the
ECONOMIC PROBLEM
'Socialism'
Chapter One
THE ECONOMIC BASIS
OF THE THIRD
UNIVERSAL THEORY
Important historical developments
have taken place which contribute to
solving the problem of work and
wages, i.e. the relationship between
the workers and the employers, be-
tween the producers and the owners.
The developments include fixed work-
ing-hours, wages for additional work,
different types of leave, minimum
wages, profit sharing and participation
in administration. In addition, arbit-
rary dismissal has been outlawed and
social security has been guaranteed,
along with the right to strike and
whatever other provisions are found in
almost all modern labour laws. Of no
less significance are the changes in the
field of ownership such as the emerg-
ence of systems limiting income or
outlawing private ownership and
transferring it to the state.
Despite all these not inconsiderable
developments in the history of the
economic problem, nevertheless the
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problem still basically exists. The |Partners not
modifications, improvements, provi- |wage-workers
sions and other measures have made
the problem less severe than it was in
past centuries by gaining many advan-
tages for the workers. Yet, the econo-
mic problem has not been solved. All
the attempts which have concentrated
on ownership have not solved the prob-
lem of producers. They are still wage-
workers, even when ownership has
been transferred from the extreme
right to the extreme left or has been
given various intermediate positions.
Attempts to improve wages are as
important as those which lead to the
transference of ownership. The be-
nefits received by workers, guaran-
teed by legislation and protected by
Trade Unions are all that have been
achieved in tackling the problem of
wages. Thus the hard conditions of the
producers immediately after the In-
dustrial Revolution have been trans-
formed, and, in the course of time
workers, technicians and administra-
tors have gained previously unattain-
able rights. However, the economic
problem still, in fact, exists.
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This attempt confined to wages was
certainly not a solution at all. It is an
artificial attempt, aimed merely at
reform, more of a charity than a recog-
nition of the right of workers. Why are
the workers given wages? Because
they carry out a production process for
the benefit of others who hire them to
produce a certain product. In this case,
they have not consumed their produc-
tion, but have been obliged to surren-
der it for a wage. The sound rule is:
'He who produces is the one who
consumes.'
Wage-workers are a type of slave,
however improved their wages may be.
The wage-worker is like a slave to
the master who hires him. He is even a
temporary slave, since his slavery
lasts as long as he works for wages
from the employer, whether the latter
is an individual or a state. The work-
ers' relationship with the owner of the
productive establishment as regards
their own interests is one and the same
... Under all conditions prevailing now
in the world they are wage-workers,
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even though ownership varies . . . from
the right to the left. The public econo-
mic establishment itself gives to its
workers only wages and other social
benefits; and these do not differ from
the charity granted to the workers by
the rich, the owners of private econo-
mic corporations.
The argument that, in the case of
public ownership, income reverts to
society, including the workers, in con-
trast to the case of the private corpora-
tion where income reverts only to its
owner, is valid. This is so provided that
we take into consideration the general
interests of the society rather than the
particular interests of the workers,
and provided that we assume that the
political authority which monopolizes
ownership is the authority of all the
people, that is to say the authority of
the people in their entirety, as prac-
tised through their popular congresses,
people's committees and professional
syndicates rather than the authority of
one class, one party, group of parties,
sect, family, tribe, individual or any
other representative authority.
However, what is received directly by
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the workers, as regards their own
interests, in the form of wages, percen-
tage of the profit or social benefits, is
the same as is received by the workers
in the private corporation. That is to
say, workers in both public and private
establishments are equally wage-
workers though the owners differ.
Thus the change in ownership from one
type to another has not solved the
problem of the workers' right in what
has been produced directly by himself,
and not by society or for wages. The
proof is that the producers are still
wage-workers despite the change in
ownership.
The ultimate solution is to abolish
the wage-system, emancipate man
from its bondage and return to the
natural law which defined relation-
ships before the emergence of classes,
forms of government and man-made
laws. The natural rules are the mea-
sure, the reference book and the sole
course in human relations.
Natural law has led to natural social-
ism based on equality among the eco-
nomic factors of production and has
almost brought about, among indi-
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viduals, consumption equal to nature's
production. But the exploitation of man
by man and the possession by some
individuals of more of the general
wealth than they need is a manifest
departure from natural law and the
beginning of distortion and corruption
in the life of the human community. It
is the beginning of the emergence of
the society of exploitation.
If we analyse the economic factors of
production from ancient times till now
we always find that they are composed
of these essentials: raw materials, an
instrument of production and a produc-
er. The natural rule of equality is that
each of the factors has a share in this
production, for if any of them is with-
drawn, there will be no production.
Each factor has an essential role in the
process of production and without it
production comes to a halt. As long as
each factor is essential and fundamen-
tal, they are all equal in their essential
character within the process of produc-
tion. Therefore they all should be equal
in their right to what is produced. The
encroachment of one factor on another
is opposed to the natural rule of equal-
[8]
ity, and is an attack on the right of
others. Each factor, then, has a share
regardless of the number of factors. If
we find a process of production which
can be performed by only two factors,
each factor shall have half of the
production. If it is carried out by three
factors, each shall have a third of the
production and so on ...
Applying this natural rule to both
ancient and modern situations we find
the following:
In the state of manual production the
productive process involved raw mate-
rials, and man, the producer. Later, an
instrument of production intervened
between the two and man used it in the
productive process. The animal may
be considered as an example of the
instrument as a power unit. It, then,
developed and the machine replaced
the animal. Raw materials increased
in kind and quantity, from cheap sim-
ple materials to valuable complex
ones. Likewise man developed from an
ordinary worker into a technician and
an engineer and a large number of
workers began to be replaced by a few
technicians. Although the factors of
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production have quantitatively and
qualitatively changed, the essential
role of each factor has not changed.
For example, the iron-ore which is one
of the factors of production, both past
and present, was primitively manufac-
tured by the ironsmith to produce a
knife, an axe or a spear ... etc. The
same iron-ore is now manufactured in
big furnaces, and from it engineers
and technicians produce machines, en-
gines and all kinds of vehicles. The
animal -- the horse, the mule or the
camel and the like -- which was one of
the factors of production has now been
replaced by the vast factory and huge
machines. The means of production
which were formerly primitive tools
have now become sophisticated tech-
nical equipment. The essential natural
factors of production are basically
stable despite their great develop-
ment. The essential stability of the
factors of production makes the natu-
ral rule sound. It is inevitable, after the
failure of all previous historical
attempts, which disregarded natural
law, to return to it in order, finally, to
solve the economic problem.
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The previous historical theories
tackled the economic problem either
from the angle of the ownership of one
of the factors of production only or
from the angle of wages for production
only. They have not solved the real
problem, namely the problem of pro-
duction itself. Thus the most important
characteristic of the economic systems
prevailing in the world today is the
wage system which deprives the work-
er of any right in his production
whether it is produced for society or
for a private establishment.
The industrial establishment is
based on raw materials, machines and
workers. Production is the outcome of
the workers' use of the machines in the
factory to manufacture raw materials.
In this way, the finished goods pass
through a process of production which
would have been impossible without
the raw materials, the factory and the
workers. So if we take away the raw
materials, the factory cannot operate;
if we take away the factory, the raw
materials will not be manufactured
and if we remove the producers, the
factory comes to a halt. The three
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factors are equally essential in the
process of production. Without these
three factors there will be no produc-
tion. Any one factor cannot carry out
this process by itself. Even two of these
factors cannot carry it out. The natural
rule in this case requires that the
shares of the three factors in the pro-
duction be equal, i.e. the production of
such a factory is divided into three
shares, a share for each of the factors
of production. It is not only the factory
which is important, but also those who
consume its production.
The same is the case in the process of
agricultural production. That which
involves man and land without a third
factor, the instrument, is exactly like
the manual process of industrial pro-
duction. Here production is only di-
vided into two shares in accordance
with the number of factors of produc-
tion. But if an agricultural machine or
the like is used, production is divided
into three shares: the land, the farmer
and the instrument used in the process
of agriculture.
Thus a socialist system is estab-
lished to which all processes of produc-
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tion are subjected, by analogy with this
natural rule.
The producers are the workers. We
call them 'producers' because the
words 'workers', 'employees' or 'toil-
ers' are no longer applicable. The
reason is that workers, according to
the traditional definition, are quantita-
tively and qualitatively changing. The
working class is continually declining
as science and machines develop.
Strenuous tasks which previously
had to be performed by a number of
workers are now done by machines. To
run a machine requires a smaller num-
ber of workers. This is the quantitative
change in the labour force, while the
qualitative change necessitated the re-
placement of a physical force by tech-
nical skill.
A power which is totally concerned
with producing has now become one of
the factors of production. As a result of
these developments the workers have
changed from a multitude of ignorant
toilers into a limited number of techni-
cians, engineers and scientists. Conse-
quently, Trade Unions will disappear
to be replaced by professional and
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technical syndicates because scientific
development is an irreversible gain to
humanity. Through such scientific de-
velopment, illiteracy will be eradi-
cated and the ordinary worker as a
temporal phenomenon will gradually
disappear. However, man, in his new
form, will always remain an essential
factor in the process of production.
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Chapter 2 Table of Contents