In earlier post of “The Spark”,titled "Science in service of capital", we explained how capital has become the governing factor in the development of science and this article is a continuation in that series; here we will try to explore the motive forces and laws of development of Research and Development(R & D).
R & D in general of any kind and in particular industrial has major role in determining the state of scientific, technological, economic and social development of any society. It is one of the basic foundations of the economy of that society. Thus, it is of great importance to understand the motive forces and laws of development of R & D in any society.
The most basic fact is that R & D, in any society, is a sector of social production and like any other sector, it is always pursued in the same framework of socio-economic conditions of the society and, consequently, overall the same laws and motive forces govern the development of R & D that governs the dynamics of whole socio-economic conditions of the society, although intrinsic contradictions specific to R & D field also affect its development.
In a capitalist society the socio-economic-political conditions are controlled by the motion of capital and thus, the laws of motion of capital enforce themselves as the basic laws of development of all sectors of social production including R & D as well.
A capitalist society progresses with the progress of competition among individual capitals and with changes in the form of this competition. It is basic characteristic of every capital that it functions to increase its profits and to add volume rather than develop production. But in “free market competition” the compulsory forces of market compels each individual to increase its labor productivity for extracting more profit in order to survive in the market. Thus, every capital is forced to innovate and advance the technology of production and they invest in R & D, which is of primary necessity in developing new technologies and their use in the process of production.
The growth of R & D, other things being equal, is undoubtedly dependent on the mass of capital allocated to it. Big capitals, which extract huge profits and have access to banks and government credit on privileged terms, have wide possibility to earmark larger funds to R & D. Thus, development of R & D is directly related to production concentration (which is proportional to scale of production) and as Lenin said-“With highly concentrated production, the development of technology accelerated immeasurably.” And this development in technology gave huge impetus to the advancement of R & D by fulfilling the basic technical requirements necessary for R & D.
But in capitalism production concentration naturally leads to monopolization of market by a few big capitals. It should be noted that in the present state of globalization of world markets, the market competition takes the form of competition between monopolies and gives birth to even bigger monopolies, either by dissolution of one into another or by combination of two or more.
Like every other capital, monopoly develops production as long as it brings monopoly profits. The incentive to develop production can be understood clearly by understanding the relation between changes in the rate and mass of profit. As Marx emphasized-“the rate of profit is the motive power to capitalist production.” Between two capitals the one which secures the higher rate of profit will, thus, have larger mass of profit. With gigantic capitals, however, the mass of production is so large that even with a low rate of profit, compared to small and middle capitals; they enjoy incomparably more favorable material conditions for retaining the positions they have gained in production and on market.
“….and as soon as formation of capital was to fall into the hands of a few established big capitals, for which the mass of profit compensates for the falling rate of profit, the vital flame of production altogether extinguished. It would die out.”(Marx)
Thus a decline in the importance of change in the rate of profit inevitably weakens the incentive to develop R & D and other kind of social production. And as Lenin pointed out, this capitalist monopoly, “inevitably engenders a tendency to stagnation and decay. Since monopoly prices are established, even temporarily, the motive cause of technical and, consequently, of all progress disappears to a certain extent and, further, the economic possibilities arises of deliberately retarding technical progress.”
Thus it becomes clear that, although, capitalism organized and advanced R & D to much greater extent than ever before, but after a certain limit the same capitalism has become shackles in the further development of R & D. This system cannot provide economic and technical assistance to the R & D related to those fields which do not provide immediate profit, viz. environment and its preservation, development of renewable sources of energy, infrastructural development to uplift the living status of common people, etc. and government of each capitalist state waste a huge amount of money by investing in R & D devoted to war preparations for their control on world markets and protecting the profits of its capitalist class.
This antagonistic system inhibits the free flow of scientific knowledge in the society by applying economic, political and social bondages, while it can be well proved with appropriate facts and figures that development of R & D depends on the depth of scientific knowledge in the society. This system creates strata in society with different level of scientific and technical knowledge, leaving majority of people to level zero. This exactly matches the need of this system from professionals in science to workmen with little or no scientific knowledge. The huge number of unemployed people with different level of scientific and technical knowledge fulfills the need of industrial reserved army who are ready to work on any wages and in any condition to get meal even for once in a day and the parasitic capitalist class extracts profit from the last drop of blood of working population by decreasing the wages to minimum level of subsistence.
Thus, today it is primary responsibility of every sensitive, logical and justice loving person to struggle for the abolition of this anti-human system based on profit and replace it by a system based on humanity, brotherhood and equality, which can be done only by socialist revolution in the leadership of proletariat. Only that system can ensure the unrestricted development of R & D and of whole society.
R & D in general of any kind and in particular industrial has major role in determining the state of scientific, technological, economic and social development of any society. It is one of the basic foundations of the economy of that society. Thus, it is of great importance to understand the motive forces and laws of development of R & D in any society.
The most basic fact is that R & D, in any society, is a sector of social production and like any other sector, it is always pursued in the same framework of socio-economic conditions of the society and, consequently, overall the same laws and motive forces govern the development of R & D that governs the dynamics of whole socio-economic conditions of the society, although intrinsic contradictions specific to R & D field also affect its development.
In a capitalist society the socio-economic-political conditions are controlled by the motion of capital and thus, the laws of motion of capital enforce themselves as the basic laws of development of all sectors of social production including R & D as well.
A capitalist society progresses with the progress of competition among individual capitals and with changes in the form of this competition. It is basic characteristic of every capital that it functions to increase its profits and to add volume rather than develop production. But in “free market competition” the compulsory forces of market compels each individual to increase its labor productivity for extracting more profit in order to survive in the market. Thus, every capital is forced to innovate and advance the technology of production and they invest in R & D, which is of primary necessity in developing new technologies and their use in the process of production.
The growth of R & D, other things being equal, is undoubtedly dependent on the mass of capital allocated to it. Big capitals, which extract huge profits and have access to banks and government credit on privileged terms, have wide possibility to earmark larger funds to R & D. Thus, development of R & D is directly related to production concentration (which is proportional to scale of production) and as Lenin said-“With highly concentrated production, the development of technology accelerated immeasurably.” And this development in technology gave huge impetus to the advancement of R & D by fulfilling the basic technical requirements necessary for R & D.
But in capitalism production concentration naturally leads to monopolization of market by a few big capitals. It should be noted that in the present state of globalization of world markets, the market competition takes the form of competition between monopolies and gives birth to even bigger monopolies, either by dissolution of one into another or by combination of two or more.
Like every other capital, monopoly develops production as long as it brings monopoly profits. The incentive to develop production can be understood clearly by understanding the relation between changes in the rate and mass of profit. As Marx emphasized-“the rate of profit is the motive power to capitalist production.” Between two capitals the one which secures the higher rate of profit will, thus, have larger mass of profit. With gigantic capitals, however, the mass of production is so large that even with a low rate of profit, compared to small and middle capitals; they enjoy incomparably more favorable material conditions for retaining the positions they have gained in production and on market.
“….and as soon as formation of capital was to fall into the hands of a few established big capitals, for which the mass of profit compensates for the falling rate of profit, the vital flame of production altogether extinguished. It would die out.”(Marx)
Thus a decline in the importance of change in the rate of profit inevitably weakens the incentive to develop R & D and other kind of social production. And as Lenin pointed out, this capitalist monopoly, “inevitably engenders a tendency to stagnation and decay. Since monopoly prices are established, even temporarily, the motive cause of technical and, consequently, of all progress disappears to a certain extent and, further, the economic possibilities arises of deliberately retarding technical progress.”
Thus it becomes clear that, although, capitalism organized and advanced R & D to much greater extent than ever before, but after a certain limit the same capitalism has become shackles in the further development of R & D. This system cannot provide economic and technical assistance to the R & D related to those fields which do not provide immediate profit, viz. environment and its preservation, development of renewable sources of energy, infrastructural development to uplift the living status of common people, etc. and government of each capitalist state waste a huge amount of money by investing in R & D devoted to war preparations for their control on world markets and protecting the profits of its capitalist class.
This antagonistic system inhibits the free flow of scientific knowledge in the society by applying economic, political and social bondages, while it can be well proved with appropriate facts and figures that development of R & D depends on the depth of scientific knowledge in the society. This system creates strata in society with different level of scientific and technical knowledge, leaving majority of people to level zero. This exactly matches the need of this system from professionals in science to workmen with little or no scientific knowledge. The huge number of unemployed people with different level of scientific and technical knowledge fulfills the need of industrial reserved army who are ready to work on any wages and in any condition to get meal even for once in a day and the parasitic capitalist class extracts profit from the last drop of blood of working population by decreasing the wages to minimum level of subsistence.
Thus, today it is primary responsibility of every sensitive, logical and justice loving person to struggle for the abolition of this anti-human system based on profit and replace it by a system based on humanity, brotherhood and equality, which can be done only by socialist revolution in the leadership of proletariat. Only that system can ensure the unrestricted development of R & D and of whole society.
