True Political Economics- Mahatma Gandhi

[Prof. Dr. Yogendra Yadav]

Prof. Dr. Yogendra Yadav

Senior Gandhian Scholar

Gandhi Research Foundation, Jalgaon, Maharashtra, India

Contact No. – 09404955338, 09415777229

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True Political Economics- Mahatma Gandhi

 

Political economy consists in the production, preservation and distribution, at the fittest time and place, of useful and pleasurable things. The farmer who reaps his harvest at the right time, the builder who lays bricks properly, the carpenter who attends to woodwork with care, the woman who runs her kitchen efficiently are all true political economists. All of them add to the national income. A science that teaches the opposite of this is not “political”. Its only concern is with individuals merely accumulating a certain metal and putting it to profitable use by keeping others in want of it. Those who do this estimate their wealth the value of their farms and cattle by the number of rupees they can get for them, rather than the value of their rupees by the number of cattle and farms they can buy with them. Furthermore, men who thus accumulate metal rupees think in terms of the number of workmen whose services they can command. Let us suppose that a certain individual possesses gold, silver, corn, etc. This person will require a servant. And if none of his neighbours is in need of gold, silver or corn, he will find it difficult to get one. He will then have to bake his bread, make his clothes and plough his field all by himself. This man will find his gold to be of no greater value than the yellow pebbles on his estate. His hoard of corn will rot for he cannot consume more than his neighbour. He must therefore maintain himself by hard labour as other men do. Most people will not want to accumulate gold or silver on these terms. Careful reflection will show that what we really desire through acquisition of wealth is power over other men power to acquire for our advantage the labour of a servant, a tradesman or an artisan. And the power we can thus acquire will be in direct proportion to the poverty of others. If there is only one person in a position to employ a carpenter, the latter will accept whatever wage is offered. If there are three or four persons who need his services, he will work for the person who offers him the highest wage. So that growing rich means contriving that as large a number of men as possible shall have less than we have. Economists generally assume that it is of advantage to the nation as a whole if the mass of people are thus kept in want. Equality among men is certainly not possible. But conditions of scarcity, unjustly created, injure the nation. Scarcity and abundance arising naturally make, and keep, the nation happy.

Reference:

Indian Opinion, 13-6-1908