http://www.countercurrents.org/teltumbde070311.htmDalit Capitalism And Pseudo Dalitism
By Anand Teltumbde
07 March, 2011
Countercurrents.org
In the Communist Manifesto, Marx and Engels had stated "The history of
all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles." In
capitalism this history comes alive in its pristine form through the
contention of two antagonistic classes, bourgeois and proletarians.
They prophesied that proletarians would emancipate themselves by
intensifying class struggle so as to bring about revolutionary
transformation into socialism. Alas, it did not occur to them that
proletarians could themselves become bourgeoisie and subvert the
history. Why slave had to wage uninterrupted fight against freemen,
plebeian against patrician, serf against lord, oppressed against
oppressor; they could have themselves become freeman, patrician, lord
and oppressor and solved their problem. Indeed, why even struggle
against Brahmanism as did Ambedkar; dalits could themselves become
Brahmins and end the problem of castesim. The proposition may sound
preposterous but then that is what is precisely suggested by a section
of Dalits who have been propagating Dalit capitalism.
Deflecting Dalit Agenda
If one looks at the profile of Dalits as the predominantly (81
percent) rural people, linked with land as landless labourers and
marginal farmers with a small (19 percent) section living in urban
areas, a large part of which lives in slums and works in informal
sectors, one surely finds that the historical Dalit discourse
revolving around reservation has always been unrelated with the
majority of people, because it was articulated by upwardly mobile
urbanite Dalits, who detested stereotypical Dalit description and
aspired to see themselves as 'arrived'. It is this section which has
been having five star conferences and international conclaves and had
even planned a Dalit Capitalism March in 2006 of 5000 Dalits in three
piece suit and an umbrella in hand on the roads of Delhi to
demonstrate their progress. It is a different matter; they could not
do the latter. Since, globalization was opposed in the name of
downtrodden; they tended to support it to stress their difference from
the common stock. The concerted propaganda from them in favour of
globalization and capitalism in various newspapers and even scholarly
journal such as this one should be seen in this light.
It claimed how Dalits have prospered by migrating out of villages
during the period of globalization. It is forgotten that Dalits, with
little stake in village, have always been migrating out. As for the
claim that they are better off today than before globalization
(contrary to the tons of macro evidence), it suffers methodological
fallacy basing itself on some superficial observations. Secondly and
more importantly, the state of Dalits, better or worse needs to be
established in relation to that of non-Dalit population. The
celebration of Dalit capitalists and their Chamber of Commerce on the
basis of some hundred odd individuals (out of more than 17 crores) in
businesses, the cumulative value of which may not even be a droplet in
the corporate ocean will certainly elate the neoliberal propagandist
but in itself it is not a great development. There have been such
'capitalists' and such 'chambers' many times before. Although, any
achievement by Dalits may be laudable, when it is projected over the
entire community overlooking its woes, it becomes seriously
problematic.
Ambedkar on Capitalism
In the Dalit universe, Ambebdkar constitutes supreme ideological
authority and hence he is invariably invoked by people in support of
their viewpoint, particularly when it is unfamiliar. The protagonists
of globalization had tried to show him as free-marketist neoliberal
and even gone to the extent of painting him as monetarist (monetarists
are supposed to be the initiators of neoliberalism) to get him in
support of their propaganda. In any case how many Dalits, even among
the educated ones, knew what monetarism was? Ambedkar who publicly
professed his opposition to capitalism throughout his life was thus
willfully distorted to be the supporter of ultra capitalism, which
globalization is! Way back in 1938 Ambedkar, while addressing the
railway workers in Manmad, had famously declared that the Untouchables
had two enemies: Brahmanism and Capitalism. His first political party,
the Independent Labour Party (ILP), was fashioned on the lines of
British labour party, which followed the Fabian line of peaceful
transition to socialism but abhored capitalism. Ambedkar's ILP was not
only the first but true leftist party of India, the communist party
then being the socialist block of the Congress, which had borrowed the
moulds of class analysis that left caste, the pervasive reality of
Indian life, out. ILP, on the other hand, demonstrated on road how to
embed caste and class in people's struggle.
Although, he had to dissolve ILP and form the Scheduled Caste
Federation (SCF) in response to the Cripps Mission Report in 1942, his
leftism and anti-capitalism remained unaffected. The States and
Minorities, a memorandum submitted to the Constituent Assembly in 1947
on behalf of the SCF had proposed a radical model of state socialism,
to guard against unbridled grid of capitalists. As a abiding lover of
democracy, he termed capitalism "a dictatorship of private employer."
(17/1/381). Elsewhere he rationalized his choice saying that
"capitalism appeals to the rich and does not appeal to the poor. On
the contrary socialism appeals to the poor but does not appeal to the
rich." (5/444). In fact, even at the very fag end of his life, while
explaining why he embraced Buddhism, his love for socialism (and hence
hate for capitalism) comes out starkly. In his "Buddha or Karl Marx"
he comes closer to accept Marx but for his methods, which according to
him were overcome in Buddhism.
Caste of Capital
Capitalism emerged as a distinct mode of production from the ruins of
feudalism, which was the system of preordained privileges. It came to
India under colonial cover and did not have to contend with the feudal
forces for its growth. It rather made skillful use of some of its
components and let live others. For example the caste identities came
handy to keep the working class divided. Still its advent and spread
did impact the complexion of the castes which have internalized its
accumulation logic. In that sense the general lament over Marx's
prophesy at the time of the introduction of railway network that it
would entail collapse of castes is misplaced. The ritual aspects of
castes did collapse among the dwija castes which adopted capitalism.
These castes used their caste networks to mobilize investments, mop up
credit, collect and conserve information and secure political
patronage, which impelled some to characterize capital by their caste,
such as Marwari, Gujarati, Kutchhi capital and so on.
The same phenomenon is noted in its pronounced form in relation to the
successful entrepreneurship of the middle castes. During the early
post-independence decades, these farming castes were hugely enriched
by the Nehruvian modernist policies of land reforms, which were
immediately followed by the green revolution. The surplus coming from
capitalist agriculture found ways into capitalist enterprises, which
prospered primarily using the caste resources. Tirupur, a world leader
in the knitted garment industry, set up by the Gounders, a typical
middle farming caste in Tamilnadu, is by now famous exemplifying caste
as social capital. Gounders made use of their community and family
network for mobilizing capital, credit, information and as a mechanism
for enforcing contract far more cheaply than competitors. The same is
true of the Nadar community in Virudhunagar area entrenched in the
matches and printing industries as also of the Marwaris, Sindhis,
Katchis, Patels, etc, who have global networks of their castes aiding
their businesses.
While it is true that caste acts as social capital, in societies sans
caste, other community ties have performed the same role. The real
question is while capital is created using caste networks, can that be
characterized as caste capital. Going by the logic of capitalism, the
answer has to be in negative. The caste can obfuscate contradictions
between capitalist and workers belonging to the same caste but cannot
eliminate them, nor can they foil trans-caste formation of class of
capitalists. As a matter of fact, capital does not have race,
religion, caste, creed or even country. Capital has intrinsic tendency
towards globalization. Today, it comes out in its true character as
global capital.
Dalits as Capitalists
The Nehruvian modernist project spread capitalist relations in the
countryside, and hugely empowered a section of middle castes
economically and politically. As a fall out, the jajmani relations,
which characterized village life for most parts of the country, were
uprooted rendering Dalits hopelessly dependent upon middle caste
farmers for their survival as wage labourers. As the villages were
vacated by the upper caste landlords, the baton of Brahmanism also
came into the hands of the middle castes, which in caste terms joined
the dwija caste block, reducing the caste system to its classical
divide: caste and non-caste or non-Dalits and Dalits. The
contradiction between Dalits and these castes, mostly stemming from
capitalist paradigm, however manifested into caste atrocities. Since
mid-1980s, with elitist neoliberal policy thrust, they were further
adversely impacted vis-à-vis others. The odds have thus multiplied
against the vast majority (more than 90 percent) of Dalits, the caste
being neatly intermingled with the modern secular institutions. In the
face of this pathetic dalit reality, citing stray examples of Dalit
petty capitalists as the marker of progress is nothing short of a
cruel joke.
One fails to understand the real motive behind such projections. If it
is to highlight the riches of Dalit individuals, such cases of
individual richness existed even before. Somewhat inexplicable, but
there have been Dalit individuals who were extremely rich even in
colonial times. That did little difference to their status as Dalits,
least to their community. If it is to underline the capability or
merit of Dalits, it is a hackneyed statement. During the colonial
times (and even before), Dalits have displayed ample entrepreneurial
prowess by accepting new vocations, setting up petty businesses, or
modernizing their caste vocations and made huge progress. In fact, the
Dalit movement was actually the byproduct of this process. If it is to
praise the government for its policies of globalization, which appears
to be the case in view of this section belaboring to show how Dalits
made progress during globalization period, it would be condemnable as
not only dishonesty but also as betrayal of Dalit interests. There
have been a plenty of Dalit intellectuals seeking favours of ruling
classes by singing praises of their policies. Let Dalit individuals
become big bureaucrats, big bourgeoisie or any big gun, he or she
cannot count much in the emancipation project of Dalit community,
which lies only in thoroughgoing social transformation.
Dr Anand Teltumbde is a writer, political analyst and civil rights
activist with CPDR, Mumbai
------------------------------------
----
INFORMATION OVERLOAD?
Get all ZESTCaste mails sent out in a span of 24 hours in a single mail. Subscribe to the daily digest version by sending a blank mail to ZESTMedia-digest@yahoogroups.com, OR, if you have a Yahoo! Id, change your settings at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTMedia/join/
PARTICIPATE:-
On this list you can share caste news, discuss caste issues and network with like-minded anti-caste people from across India and the world. Just write to zestcaste@yahoogroups.com
TELL FRIENDS TO SIGN UP:-
If you got this mail as a forward, subscribe to ZESTCaste by sending a blank mail to ZESTCaste-subscribe@yahoogroups.com OR, if you have a Yahoo! ID, by visiting http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTCaste/join/
Also have a look at our sister list, ZESTMedia: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTMedia/Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTCaste/
<*> Your email settings:
Individual Email | Traditional
<*> To change settings online go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTCaste/join
(Yahoo! ID required)
<*> To change settings via email:
ZESTCaste-digest@yahoogroups.com
ZESTCaste-fullfeatured@yahoogroups.com
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
ZESTCaste-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
