Are the earth’s supplies of energy, ores and other raw materials coming to an end? Is a real society of abundance only a dream, impossible to realize because there are not enough resources to do it?
A yes-answer to these questions is a common assertion against Socialism.
It comes from people who think that capitalism is quickly draining the earth of its supplies of oil, forests, ores, etc. As Socialism cannot be built on a rubbish-heap it is impossible to establish according to them.
Instead of Socialism — a real society of abundance with free access to all that is produced — these people often talk about a return to “a simpler life” (as if the working class has ever had anything else).
It is true that because of its profit motive capitalism is misusing the earth’s resources so as to give rise to the fear that, by nuclear war or continued massive pollution, it really destroys the potential for abundance which is necessary for the establishment of Socialism. But it has not done that yet and this possibility only underlines the urgent need for Socialism here and now.
When Socialists are told that Socialism is impossible because of lack of resources, we reply that there is no direct connection between capitalism’s consumption of various raw materials and the standard of liv-
ing of the majority. Socialism will abolish all the waste connected with capitalism: no labour, energy or raw materials will any longer be wasted on banks, armament production, parking meters and the thousands of other articles which are only needed in a commodity-producing society.
Socialism will also be economical with the earth’s resources by only producing what is best. Instead of cheap consumption articles which will soon wear out, it will produce durable articles which will last.
Still many critics are not satisfied. “In any case”, they say, “it can only postpone the time when the earth has been emptied of its resources.” And they generally seem to think that this postponement will not be very long. Sometimes they are even producing “evidence” for this in the form of statistics over the world’s supplies of various raw materials and how long they will last with various paces of consumption.
In reality no one knows how big the earth’s absolute supplies of different raw materials are. No such investigation has ever been made. What has been investigated are supplies and resources which capitalism needs. And that is something very different.
A
s the daily newspaper Dagens Nyheter some time ago pointed out in the headline to an article (13th December 1976): “Ore or not — a question of price”. In the article we learn:
Nobody knows exactly how big supplies of ore Sweden has — or the world as a whole for that matter . . . Ore only exists when it is profitable . . . When one has once established the economic definition the difficulty of measuring the supplies of ore in the world is realised. It varies with the price.
The article mentions that a ten per cent. increase of the world market price for a certain ore sometimes can double the supplies — which in reality were in existence all the time.
In the north of Sweden, five miles west of Kiruna, there is a place called Tjarrojaka. Here researches have been made during the last years and the supplies of copper ore have been estimated at ten million tons and the supplies of iron ore at 52 million tons. “These deposits would have been sensational in Bergslagen [in the middle of Swedenl”, Dagens Nyheter points out, “but in Norrbotten they are worthless”. This is because of the higher transportation costs which mean that they can not be used profitably — and therefore will not be mentioned in official statistics over ore supplies.
What is true of the ore is also true for most other raw materials and resources, oil, coal etc. This is the way capitalism counts and must count. It is a further argument for not worrying about lack of resources and instead setting about to work for the task of establishing Socialism.
Ake Spross
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