F.E.D. Dialectics: Seldon's Sayings Series, #8. Beyond State-Capitalism -- 'Citizen Stewardship Equity' as a Component of 'Generalized Equity'.

Thursday, September 01, 2016

Seldon's Sayings Series, #8. Beyond State-Capitalism -- 'Citizen Stewardship Equity' as a Component of 'Generalized Equity'.

Dear Reader,

It is my pleasure to share with you, from time to time, selections from the seminal sayings, and writings, shared by him among we of F.E.D., by our co-founder, Karl Seldon [main site: www.dialectics.info; see also http://equitism.org/Equitism/Equitism-entry.htm].

Such is the following --

“ . . . The program for ‘equitarian political-economic democracy’ -- for the social system founded upon ‘generalized equity’ as the higher successor system to late, [state-]capitalism -- is not founded upon any outlawing of private capitalism.”

“It is not at all founded upon the use of the state-power, exercising a monopoly on all capital, to repress the transactions and operations of private, or joint-stock, etc., capital. That is state-capitalism, and nothing higher than capitalism, nor transcendent of [descendant-phase] capitalism in any way.”

“The ‘Citizens Stewardship Equity’ Human Right, codified in the ‘Equitist Constitution’, gives access to means of production to workers, organized as self-organized producers’ cooperatives.

But it does so only if their membership and business plans are sufficient to convince one of the, competing, ‘Social Banks’, also a ‘Citizen Stewardship Equity’ producers’ cooperative, to risk its own income and solvency on such a membership and on such a business plan -- on providing the means to implement that business plan, as a grant of stewardship, not ownership, over the social property requisite to that implementation, in return for a ‘social rent’ on the means of production so granted, paid to the national ‘Office of the Custodian of Social Property’, monthly, by that socialized producers’ cooperative, with a share of that ‘social rent’ forming the income of the Social Bank that put itself on the line to fund that socialized producers’ cooperative.”

“If the “associated producers”, the members, of that ‘Citizen Stewardship Equity’ socialized producers’ cooperative, are successful in pleasing their customers, then they may continue to share in the democratic internal self-governance of their producers’ cooperative, in their compensation for hours worked, and in an equal share of the net surplus earnings of their enterprise.”

“But to do so they must be ‘co-successful’ in competition with other enterprises -- with other ‘Citizen Stewardship Equity’ socialized producers’ cooperatives, and also with other, private capitalist or joint-stock capitalist firms, who may serve the same customers, customers who, we expect, will also increasingly be other “[associated] producers”. ...”

“We bet that, over time, the ‘Citizen Stewardship Equity’ cooperatives will win out, more and more, in their competition against the remaining capitalist firms. But even before that, the remaining private-capitalist and joint-stock capitalist firms will at least have to treat their workers better than before, or risk driving them away into the arms of existing ‘Stewardship cooperatives’, or into forming their own new ‘Stewardship cooperatives’. ...”