The Freeman 1972 - The Ludwig von Mises Institute

1972 THE ROOTS OF "ANTICAPITALISM" 661might be genuine, but often servesas a detour. Much of the currentantipollution campaign is subconsciouslydirected at capitalism viatechnology. (This particular problemis less acute in the SocialistWorld only because it is less industrialized;it is neverthelessamusing to see the Left embracingall the idle dreams of the oldconservative agrarian romanticism.)However, if we examineclosely the attack against free enterprise,we find the followingelements:• (1) The charge that businesscycles are the consequence of freedomrather than political intervention,though proof to the contraryis well established.• (2) The attack against theman-consuming, soul-killing, slavedrivingforms of modern production.In this domain, however, themain culprit is the machine ratherthan the human factor. Technologyper se is strictly disciplinarian.In this respect, socialism orcommunism would not bring theslightest alleviation. On the contrary!Let us remember the idealof the Stakhanovite, the absencein socialist countries of genuinelabor unions, the limitless meansthe totalitarian state has for coercion,regulations, and controls.We must bear in mind that thefree world also has a competitivelabor market. Man can choose theplace and conditions of his work.• (3) The critique of "monopolycapitalIsm," shared in a milderway by the "Neo-Liberal" school,is opposed to all forms of bigness.Still, in the free world we findthat most countries have legislationagainst monopolies in orderto keep competition alive, to givethe consumer a real choice. Anycriticism of monopolies by a socialistis hypocritical, because socialismmeans total monopoly, thestate being the only entrepreneur.Deeper ResentmentsYet these attacks are frequentlyonly rationalizations of much deeperresentments. At the very rootsof anticapitalism we have the theologicalproblem of man's rebellionagainst Original Sin or, toput it in secular terms, his vainprotest against the human condition.By this we mean the curse towhich we are subject, the necessityto work by the sweat of ourbrow. The worker is in harness,but so is the manager and so iseverybody else. For this uninspiring,sometimes unpleasant state ofaffairs, the average man will stickthe guilt on somebody; capitalismserves as the convenient scapegoat.Of course, work could begreatly reduced if one were willingto accept a much lower living