Superstructure Determined by Base

Notes

1. Copper bells and copper swords were used in ancient Japan correspondingly. Copper bells praised gods and copper swords were used to expel demons. Zoroastrianism and Brahmanism also refer to gods of right and wrong. Therefore, a sense of right and wrong is somehow owing to the fact that Nature provides both good and bad things for human beings.

2. This characteristic was also true in nomad societies because their productivity equally depended on the growing cycles of plants.

3. Refer to Onishi (2008, 2012).

4. Refer to the Institute for Fundamental Political Economy (1995).

5. Strictly speaking, some policies that realize net increases in production or utility can give interests for all the social constituents by some perfect redistribution. This is the so-called win-win situation. In other words, if the situation is zero-sum, confrontation among social constituents must become more and more severe. The present situation of the advanced countries is the best example.

6. Related to this point, I recollect the sincerity of the Marxian economists in present-day China. In China, “Western economics” has become mainstream economics in the Chinese academy, and therefore Marxist economists cannot take any special advantage from the government. In my opinion, this situation guarantees their academic sincerity. However, no advantage does not mean no disadvantage. Different from the Western countries, the Marxists are not oppressed so much, and both of the disciplines, Marxist economics and “Western economics,” are properly balanced and coexisting.

7. From this viewpoint, the attitude of the Chinese political leaders should be assessed as follows: Jiangze Ming supported capitalists too much while Hu Jintao was not biased.

8. Here we have discussed mainly academic ideologies, but the same is true for their religious counterparts. They need to feign neutrality by discussing morals, ethics, customs, and conventions. For example, Tibetan Buddhism has consecrated clockwise worshipping while Bon has consecrated anticlockwise. Hindu and Islam prohibit some foods and enforce fasts. All different religions have come up with ritual ceremonies. They are apparatuses to pretend neutrality.

9. The opposite perspective is Rightism. It is the standpoint that would promote the railroad construction neglecting the interest of the small retailers in the case I mentioned previously. Rightists generally stand up for capitalism and give preference to capitalists asserting their leadership in terms of economic development. For social progress, the existence of this perspective is important and sometimes consistent with the Marxian view of society—just as with Leftism. Therefore, our problem is when Marxism is consistent with Rightism and when it is with Leftism, and the answer depends on which standpoint is advantageous for economic development. Racial chauvinism such as Zionism, Yamato racism in Japan, and Han racism in China are examples of Rightism that assert the superiority of the ruling race, while nationalism against racism or imperialism is an example of Leftism. The former is the standpoint of the strong and the latter is that of the weak. Facing these ethnic conflicts, Marxists focus on how each ethnic group or individual develops productivity, and explains the historical reality that if these groups resist productive development, they might disappear or be assimilated by stronger groups in certain instances. For example, the ancient Japanese Jyomon hunter-gatherers were assimilated by the Yayoi people who brought agriculture from the continent. However, Marxism supports industrial protectionism when it works well for productive development.

10. It does not mean that the pace of the socialist revolution should be slow. It only means the stability of the communist society that will be realized after the all changes of the whole society.

11. This expression possibly might lead to a misunderstanding that agriculture is generally not changeable, which is not true. While Japanese agriculture has developed without any radical changes after the post-war reform, Chinese agriculture is now under the strong pressures of modernization. When I visited a model farm near Yinchuan city of the Ningxia Autonomous Region in China several years ago, “collected” farmers under a leader were talented in finding profitable agricultural products such as flowers or grapes, and were changing products every year. Before the high growth period, because the impoverished masses needed only wheat, rice, corn, or kaoliang, there was no use in producing flowers or grapes. However, times have changed and they require entrepreneurs with the visions to match. This is why modern China needs capitalism. This condition will continue until China will reach the point of being a stable society.

12. In this sense, a non-sharp-sighted way of life in a stable society is also individually rational and good for individual interests. If this is true basically for the majority of the society, this way of life (strategy) is crystallized as a culture or an ethnic characteristic. This mechanism is theorized as the infinitely repeated game theory of mainstream economics.

13. As mentioned in Note 12, this type of materialistic human formation also has a base of individual rationality.