The strategy and tactics advanced by

Marx and Engels as well as the process
of their evolution from. revolutionary
democrats to Communists — scientific
Socialists — has been inadequately
dealt with in the assessment of their
Contributions.

They openly confessed in their early
youth that their knowledge of socialist
and communist ideas was inadequate
— “a problem of this kind should not
be dealt with phraseology, but after a
long and thorough study.” They drew
lessons from this and began to study
the works of the foremost socialist
thinkers of their time, Charles Fourier,
Saint-Simon and Robert Owen. _

In his conception of history of soci-
ety Fourier advanced the position of
four stages of evolution: savagery, bar-

rism, patriarchate, . civilization (the
last is identical with civil or bourgeois
SOciety and it came in the 16th cen-
tury).

He proved “that the civilized stage
Taises every vice practiced by barbar-
sm in.a simple fashion into a form of
ifxistence, complex, ambiguous, equi-
Vocal and hypocritical” — that civili-
Zation moves in ‘a vicious circle, in
Contradictions which it constantly re-
Produces without being able to solve
them’—hence it constantly arrives at
the very opposite of what it wants to
attain, or pretends to want to attain,

So that under civilization “poverty is-

born of superabundance itself”.

‘ These socialist thinkers ruthlessly
Criticized the abuses and deformities
‘of Capitalist society, and drew up dar-
Ing plans for a harmonious human
Order of the future, free from exploi-
tation and oppression. But no matter

how great was their sympathy for the
poverty and misery of the workers, no
matter how faithfully they described
the longing of the working people for a
society free of exploitation, their theo-
ries lacked an objective scientific basis.

They appealed to the pity and under-
standing of the rulers and owners, and
did not recognize the power which the
proletariat itself possessed. Thus their
theories and teachings were infused
with a deep humanism, but remained
fantasies, wishful dreams of an ideal
human society. Marx and Engels highly
praised these brilliant contributions,
but they considered them utopian.

The life and work of Marx and En-
gels consisted in transforming utopian
socialism into scientific socialism. To
erect its monumental contribution they
drew on three sources:

1. German philosophy

2. English political economy

3. French socialism.

Engels left Germany for Manchester
in November 1842, went to work as
commercial representative in the cotton
mill of Ermen and Engels, in which his
father was a partner.

The People’s Charter in Britain issued
in 1838 advanced demands for democ-
ratic reforms—among them universal
suffrage (though only for men). The
high points of 1838-42 were strikes and
mass political actions which were of
great significance for the international
proletariat.

Engels, the young businessman,
avoided the society of the bourgeoisie
and devoted his time instead to con-
tacts with ordinary workers. He met
Mary Burks, an Irish working girl, and
she became his wife.

He came to England as a revolution-
ary democrat, there he ranged himself
on the side of the workers and an-
nounced himself to be a Communist. 1t
is instructive to note: that K. Marx
went to Paris as a revolutionary demo-
crat and became a Communist.
e

It was the great merit of Engels to
summarize Marx’s discoveries and his
own contribution.

In his Socialism Utopian and Scien-
tific (pp. 45-53) he brilliantly states the
case. He speaks of two main discoveries
by Karl Marx: 1) the materialist con-
ception of history; and 2) the secret of
capitalist production through surplus
value. ;
Historical materialism they described

as the course of history which seeks -

the ultimate causesand the great mov-
ing power of all important historic
events in the economic development of
society, in the changes in the mode of
production and exchange, and in the

consequent division of society into dis- .

tinct classes and the struggle between
these classes.

From this they drew the conclusion—
under the Latin term, the dictatorship

of the proletariat—of the leading role.

of the working class which assumes
political power in the period of transi-
tion from capitalism to socialism—the
last independent act, as Engels ex-
pressed it, creating conditions to do
away. with itself as a class, the build-
ing of a classless society and the gra-
dual withering away of the state.

The secret of capitalist production ‘s
the appropriation of unpaid labor,
which is the basis of the capitalist
mode of production—the exploitation

of labor. Even if the capitalist buys the
labor power of his laborers at its full
value on the market as a commodity,
he extracts more value from it than he
paid for; and in the ultimate analysis
this surplus value forms those sums of
value from which are heaped up the
constantly increasing masses of capital
in the hands of the possessing classes.
This is the source of exploitation and
all contradictions and conflicts—includ-
ing, economic, social, political, moral,
cultural, etc.

With these discoveries socialism was
transformed from utopia into a science.

In conclusion Norman Freed quoted
from the paper by R. S. Kenny, ending
with the following:

“The task of transforming the social
life of man is the most titanic-task that
the human race has ever embarked
upon; getting a man to the moon was
child’s play compared to this enter-
prise. It cannot be done by any group
of men, no matter how gifted or how
dedicated, who propose to do this with
the workers standing on the sidelines.

“As there is anarchy of. production
under capitalism, there is anarchy in
thinking processes. Bacon, the first
philosopher of the bourgeois world,
said there were laws in the natural
world. To master nature we must know
those laws. Obedience and not rejec-
tion is the path to mastery.

“Marx and Engels established the ex-
istence of social laws. Mastery of our
social life is possible only if we disco-
ver these laws and through accordance
with these laws find the road to mas-
tery and freedom.”

j _ Why Canadian university students are frustrated

By TOM MORRIS

“Who needs the PhD?” asks
the just-issued report from the
Graduate Student Union of the

Niversity: of Toronto of a sur-
Vey made of last year’s gradu-
ates,

Universities? Of 158 who
SOught positions only 78 were
Successful. Community colleg-
€s? Of 53 seeking only two
found a job. High schools? 18
looked and three got hired. In-
Ustrial research? There were 65
applicants of which eight were
Ired. Other positions in indus-
try? 23 sought and one was suc-
Cessful. Research in govern-
Ment? Of 53. looking only three
80t a position. Other positions
IN government? Here two out of
4 seeking got jobs.

Toronto’s GSU. made its stu-
dy. of 190 PhDs over this last

Summer and found that a serious _

J0b crisis was already in exist-
€Nce with the prospect for things
© get worse. ;

Since according to Science
Council of Canada estimates it
Costs the Canadian ‘taxpayer
Toughly $144,000 to produce a

D, it is of no little conse-
Quence that PhDs are, as one un-
€mployed chemist puts it,
€ither over-qualified or there is
No employment available.”

One source of the difficulty
that is stressed in the report is

€ consequence of the branch
Plant character of the Canadian
€conomy. For example, where
M 1967. the U.S. spent approx-
lately $112 per capita on re-
Search and development, Cana-
4S expenditures that year were
only $37 per capita.

In April of this year,” the re-
Port points out, “Science Coun-

_ universities.

cil of Canada reviewed 60 com-
panies including the 30 research-
intensive companies employing
collectively 75% of all PhDs in
industry. This is what was found
‘Over the two year period the
next increase in employment of
PhDs was 40, instead of the 210
originally estimated. ’””’

Other findings include the fol-
lowing: ;

e With the massive cutbacks
in hiring of science and engin-
eering PhDs, the University had
been expected to fill the employ-
ment void. It had been projected
that by 1973, 70% of the PhDs
in this category will be hired by
However, because
of cutbacks in funding this has
not materialized. The same situ-
ation applies to PhDs in the hu-
manities and social sciences.

e PhDs are unable to get jobs
in the community colleges be-
cause a) they are over-qualified
and b) their degree is for high’
level research and high level.
teaching, two qualities not need-
ed by the community colleges.
The high schools are in the same

position with the complicating
factor.of a teaching certificate
as a requirement.

e Emigration of PhDs out of
the country to the U.S., is near-
ly impossible. An emigrant must
wait on the average of 14
months for a visa to enter, in
which time, due to the over-
supply of PhDs in the U.S., the
job will most certainly be filled.
However, no such policy exists
in Canada, thus increasing the

competition for scarce jobs.

e Despite differing methods
of seeking employment, such as
sending letters to prospective
employers, answering. ads, at-
tending annual meetings and
conferences, placement agencies,
the most prevalent method of
finding employment was the
“srapevine” or the “‘old-boy net-
work.” x

‘e Among the questions asked
in the survey was one on whe-
ther a quota on foreign citizens
teaching in Canadian universities
and other educational institu-
tions should be applied to ease

the job crisis. Favoring this were
53.2% of those in the survey. It
should be noted, however, that
72.5% of Canadians responding
favored a quota.

Among the recommendations
in the report which are now up
for discussion in the General
Council of the Graduate Student
Union are proposals to change
immigration laws ‘“‘to prevent
foreign professionals. in fields

where qualified Canadians exist ©

from entering the country”; re-
peal of the two-year free period
for foreign teachers; require-
ments on foreign-owned indus-
tries to do proportionately as
much research and development
in Canada‘as they are doing in

their countries of origin; legisla-

tion to make universities and
community colleges advertise all
their vacancies; “that the prov-
incial government not permit
further expansion of graduate
schools in Ontario”; and that all
departments at the University of
Toronto set up an employment
committee. Further it is recom-

‘mended for U.of T. to adopt a

policy “by which .2/3 of the
members of any given faculty be
Canadians, with remaining 1/3
positions, if need be, made avail-
able to academics from various
nations, with a maximuni of 10%
from any given country.

Their final recommendation is
that the School of Graduate Stu-
dies “restrict its intake in the
departments where PhD and
Masters graduates have difficul-
ties in obtaining employment,
and that preference be given to
Canadian citizens and’landed im-
migrants.” :

_ What it feels like to be an un-

wanted PhD is well expressed
by this comment by an unem-
ployed graduate of the French
department:

“I would like to offer some
comments on the demoralizing
effect of feeling unwanted after
years of serious preparation and
some sacrifice on the part of the
student. One’s self-image dwin-
dles alarmingly when no open-
ing materializes. Regardless of
rationalization one tends to feel
one is not good enough or in
some way has too little to offer.

“The question arises: what
about next year? Will it be any
better? I- doubt it. How many
years must one wait in order to
be productive? In the meantime,
what happens to one’s creative
capacities and‘ one’s desire to
contribute to the development of
Canadian criticism? What incen-
tive is there to write articles—
I have so many ideas at the
moment—when there is no bread
and butter or recognition forth-
coming? I foresee a slow frit-
tering away of much talent and
energy among those of us who
do not get placed.”

* PACIFIC TRIBUNE — NOV. 20 — PAGE 7