The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1933-01-27

iechn0cracy and Marxisn,,"
Workers Library Publishers, 5 cents.
EVERY day in every way we hear
more and more about Tech
nocracy, the new Messiah of the
bourgeoisie. Leading articles in
magazines, newspapers, pamphlets.
books, all dealing with Techno-
cracy. And while the public is try
ing to find out what it is all about.
the publishers are piling up for
tunes.
1t is true that Technocracy as
sails the price system" but the
publishers through the price sys-
tenn are getting rich by selling
Technocracy. However this is the
logic Of the capitalist system which
the Technocrats do not understand
or do not want to understand.
We have before us number of
publications dealing with Tech
nocracy; Harper's Monthly Science
and Mechanics, Tecnnocracy Re-
view, The New Republic, New Out
look, etc. There are articles pro
and con; statements and refuta-
tions, all sorts OF statistics and re-
ports one contradicting the other.
Most Of these articles are written
by scientific men in a most shallow
unscientific manner. We are there
fore glad to see the pamphlet Civ
ing Communist view of Tech
nocracy published by Workers Lib
rary Publishers.
This pamphlet contains two i'm
portant items. One is the article
on "Technocracy and Marlsm" by
William z. Foster and Earl BroWd-
er; the other q speech delivered
by w, Molotov at the Fifth ALI
Union Conference Of Engineers and
Technicians of the Soviet Union on
November 26, 1882. The article
by comrades Foster and Browder
is the only clear analysis of Tech
nocracy because they approach the
subject armed with the Marxist-
feminist theory, the only theory
which can throw a correct light on
the new-fangled panaceas born as
result of the crumbling capitalist
system of society.
WHILE the many articles appear
w ing on Technocracy deal with
the accuracy of the figures quoted
by one or the other, Foster and
BroWder correctly dismiss this as
unimportant. "EXaggerations or
inaccuracies that may be contained
in the statements of Technocracy
are only incidental and do not
touch the essence of the question"
They concentrate their analysis on
the fundamental problems involved
The Technocrats as represented by
their prophet Howard Scott, see
the main cause of our present eco
nomic crisis in the price system"
therefore the price system (but not
the capitalist systemD must be
done away with.
FAIL TO UNDERSTAND
CAUSE OF CRISIS
True TO their petty bourgeois
theology the TechnocratS are I'M
able to understand the real under
lying cause of the crisis. They
treat the price system as a separ-
10 III Il
whatever to do with the capitalist
system as whole. Like all uto-
plans they catch on to one par
ticular phase of social relations
and wish to substitute another
form which in their opinion will
solve the problem. The price
system" is not an independent phe-
nomenon arising from nowhere and
changed at will 1t is a mode Of
exchange which in turn is a re-
suit of the capitalist mode of pro-
duction, lie. the production for
profit for those who own and con-
troll the means of production. This
is made clear by comrades Foster
and Browder when they state:
what is actually happening, how
ever is not q crisis in the mech
anism of exchange (the price sys-
teml, but rather what Engels de-
scribed as the mode of produc-
ton rising in rebellion against the
form of exchange The produc-
tive forces have grown SO great
that they can no longer be con-
tanned within the social institutions
which are based upon capitalist
ownership of the means of produc-
ton"
THE pamphlet "Technocracy and
L Marxism" supplies us with a
number of quotations from the
Communist Manifesto and other
sources which prove conclusiVely
that the Technocrats do not under
stand the real nature of capitalism.
Although the economic crisis, now
in its fourth year, has shaken their
confidence in the vstem, they only
see superficial facts. The captains
of industry and finance whom these
scientists and technicianS served
faithfully for decades, have shown
themselves incapable of steering
the ship through the troubled