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Structure
17.0 I .I 17.2 17.3 17.4 17.5
Objectives Introduction Rise of Bureaucracy Role of Bureaucracy Bureaucratic Power and Military Dictatorship Characteristics of Bureaucracy
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17.5.1
17;6 Sharpening of Conflict between Capitalists and Workers Administration ii Marx's Socialist Society 17.7 17.8 Critical Appraisal . 17.9 Let Us Sum Up 17.10 Key Words 17.1 1 Some Useful Books 17.12 Answers to Check Your Progress Exercises
17.0 ?BJECTIVES.
After going through this Unit you should be able to: uqderstand the significance of Marx's views on bureaucracy
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Marx was born in Germany in 181.8. He did his PhD. inAncient Greek philosophy. His revolutionafy views prevented his appointment as a university Jeacher, and led to his exile from country after country. He wrote voluminously but always remained poor, which resulted in much suffering for his family. He participated in the revolutionary movement in.France which led to the short-lived Paris Commune in 1870. He died in 1883,,leaving most of his'works unfinished. Marx's ideas on administratibn are spread over his numerous works. He has dealt with the rise of bureaucracy, its role in developed and developing countries, its dysfunctions, its destruction in the course of the socialist revolution, and its supersession in the new non-exploitative society. In this Unit, we shall describe Marx's views on ~ u r e a u c r a c and ~ , examine the criticism on his views.
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The governmental bureaucracy has a,similar function in regard to workers empatsed by the government. here are large number* of workers in government owned railways, roadways, power stations, arid other undertakings. Large number of workers are employed by the government in non-industrial occupations also, such as postmen, nurses, teachers, . 'mechanics, and so on. Somc of the workers have a higher status than others; thus engineers, doctors, architects and scientists are also involved in productive activity, and 4 hence are workers with a high status. All these workers have to be kept under check. For . . this Purpose, control is exercised ov& them by the bureaucracy. Bureaucracy corkists of administi-atorsand managers whoado not perform the productive activity themselves, but
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only control workers. Thus members of the Indihn Administrative Service and also those of State Administrative Services advise ministers and in consultation with them, direct, supervise and control the workers involved in productive activity. In recent days in India, doctors, engineers, teachers, nurses and other workers demonstrated for better working Conditions and even went on strikes. Some of them were punished: the punishments were administered by administrative officers, such as a Director or a Secretary to the concerned government. On behalf of the government,if necessary, negotiations with the workers were also conducted, b i administrative officers. These administrative officers, then, constitute the bureaucracy: their function is to control the workers on behalf of the government.
Another function of the governmental bureaucracy is to help in maintaining capitalist relations of productiop in the wider society. Thus,if workers in a private firm go on a strike, the capitalist can get the help of the polkg for keeping them under check. The government provides protection and assistance to private industry and trade in many ways., Thus it protects domestic industrialists from competition by foreign industrialists through the imposition of import duties. It manages the economy through fiscal and monetary policies so as to maintain effective demandfor goods produced by industry. It provides means of transport and communication, electric power at cheap rates, and key goods for . industry and agriculture. All these services to the private sector are channelised through governmental bureaucracy. Ths governmenhl bureaucracy implements labour laws so as to keep the wheels of industry moving and maintain the profits of the capitalists. Thus the . governmental bureaucracy performs the important .function of maintaining and developing I capitalism. . According to Marx, the path to socialism lies, mostly, through capitalism. Hence, while on the one hand the development of capitalism accentuates exploitation, on the other hand it prepares the way.to socialism.
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DICTATORSHIP
In the course of functioning as the instrument af-maintenrilSQe aRd d l e v e h p t ~ f caiitalisrn, !he bureaucracy acquires power of its own The basis of its powkrls detailed infomaticin, particularly secret information. That is why it jealously guards secret information, not only from the people in general, but also from legislators and even from ministers. Ministers are busy with political affqirs and have to depend upon the bureaucracy 'for information and adviw. Thus,the bureaucracy comes to save an important role in policy formulation also. If unions and Dosociatioris of the people, and political parties areaweak,they are unable to communicate the needs and grievances of the people to the govkrnment. In this situation of political underdevelopment, the bureaucracy becomes the main channel of communication between the government and the people. Since the bureaucracy is better informed about the problems which the people face, than even the so-called representatives .of the people, dependence upon it increases, thus giving it .more an'd more power, Hence,in normal times also,fhe bureaucracy is quite powerful due to the possession of secret inforktion; its power is'greater in underdeveloped countries to these is the due to the weakness of unions of the people and of political parties. ~ d d e d factor of the power hunger of the bureaucracy. Marx says that, "The bureaucracy Ltakes itself to be the ultimate purpose of the state.... it comes i ~ t conflict o everywhere with 'real' objectives,"'~n other words, it attaches more imprtance to serving its own interests than those drpeople and so becohq body , . 'a ~~arasitic
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There are ckrtain special siiuations in which the%ureaucracy itself comes to rule. This is thd situation of a military dictatorship. i'he military is also a bureaucracy. Now-adays there are military dictatorships in many underdeveloped countri~es, such asHig&a and Brazil. ' ~ a r x provides an explanation.for ~ u c h rule by the military rtnd-cim bureaucracy, H e suggests that when two powefful classes with conflicting interests k o t i t s bqually balanced in power, they let the bureaucracy rule to avoid continuous warfare . ,. . between themselves.
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Karl Marx
i e below for your answers. ~ o t e : ' i) ~ s e ~ t tspace ii) Chwk your answers d t h t k ~ given q _at the Cnd 6f the- unit. 1 -'Mentify the causes for the rLe of bseaucracy as- identified by Karl Marx.
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17.5.1 Division of Labour ' I. M a r x agrees that the division of labour makes the organisation of capitalist society highly
productive. However, he points our that the basic division of labour, which we tend to overlook, is betw&n "intellectual and m&erial activity". While the workers perform the , ' pyoductive activity, the capitalists and bureaucrats perform only intellectual activity. Hence all the hard work falls on the workers in the name of the division of labour. Further, the gains of higher productivity go mostly to the capitalists, who share these to some extent With the bureaucracy, as indicated by-e bureaucracy's high salaries. So far the workers are concerned, highh productivity tends ta!lead to higher unemployment among them, as it
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happens when high technology is introduced. Increased unemployment tends to lower wages also. Hence. increased pruductivity,due to heightened division of labour may lead to I little gain for the workers.
17.5.2 Hierarchy
Marx notes that hierarchy is one of the characteristics of bureau.cracy. He says that while Hegel maintains that hierarchy prevents "arbitrary domination" by bureaucrats, the fact is the very opposite. In his view, it leads to "inevitable" sins. Thus if an official does some wrong to citizens, the tendency of his superiors is to protect him. However, if an official stands up against a wrong being committed by his superiors, he gets punished. Marx makes another interesting criticism of-hierarchy. He says, "The top entrusts the understanding of detail to the lower levels, while. the lower levels credit the top with understanding of the general, and so all are mutually deceived". Thus!the complaint of top administrators often is that a good policy has been badly implemented; on the other hand, officials at lower levels often complain about thefaultiness of the policy itself. This is what has happened in regard to land reforms in India: the policy makers and those responsible for implementation have been bla.ming each other for their failure.
17.5.3 Training
Marx notes that it is said, for example by Hegel. that liberal education humanises civil 'servants. He, however, maintains that the mechanical character of his work and the compulsions of office lead to the.d&umanisation 07' the civil servant. Marx is also critical of the recruitment of members of the bureaucracy through competitive , examinations. He says that members of a bureaucracy need statesmanship which cannot be tested through an examination: "One does not hear that the Greek or R q ~ a n statesmen passed examinations". Marx's class analysis would indicate that the main function of examinations is to ensure that only persons of the upper class who can afford the costly higher education are able to enter the bureaucracy. Apart from being costly, higher education inculcate's values and attitudes which are supportive of capinlism. Higher education tends to create social generally think that they distance between the rich and the poor: highly educated pe~ple are a class apart from the uneducated poor. Hence if a highly educated person is appointed as a manager, the exploitation of workers does not hurt him. '
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17.5.4 Rules
'Marx points out that bureaucratic minds are so bound in subordination and passive obedience that they come to think that adherence to rules is an end in itself, and not merely a means to an end. They come ,to attach more importance to rules than to human beings: ' "Actual knowledge,seems devoid of-content, just as actual life seems dead".
The concept of alienation is one of Marx's important contributions to social science, and particularly to administrative theory. It refers to the consequences of exploitation for man. Since exploitation is inherent in the.administration of large-scale organisations in capitalist society, they suffer from Mienation in an acute form. Alienationlhas four main aspects: i-7 I , ' I loss of freedom, loss of creativity, loss of humanity, and loss of morality'.
Loss of Freedom
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According to Marx, wherever there is exploitation, the exploivr Bs well as the exploited) . suffer from alienation. Hence all the members of the organisation suffer from alienation. "l'hus workers are under compulsion to take up jobs: they can no longer function as independent artisans. Once they have accepted the jobs, they are und'er the authoritarian command of the management. They are cderced, controlled and Jhreatened with punishment. The managers also suffer from alienation because they are themselves employees. The capitalist also loses his freedom. Marx points out that the capitalist is not free to eat, drink, buy books, or to go to the theatre of dance hall, or even to think, love, theorise, sing, pain1 etc., as he wishes. He is constrained by the nature of his business. To increase his capital he must save; he cannot spend as he likes. .
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b s s of Creativity The characteristics of bureaucracy interfere with the creativity of workers. Such interference is sometimes called a dysfunction. Thus division of labour interferes with creativity. Because of division of labour,no worker produces the whole product. Hence the worker has lost the creative satisfaction of an artisan or an artist. Hierarchy has the result that do worker can say that he independently produced anything. The worker himself becomes a mere tool. Rules ensure that workers are all the time under detailed control. The administrator also loses his creativity. Thus the administrator in public administration is anonymous. Even policy making has to be done jointly; even if an administrator is responsible for drawing up a certain policy, he cannot take credit for it. The capitalist loses his creativity because of the big risks involved in a large-scale organisation. Loss of Humanity In modem large-scale organisations,workers tend to function like machines, thereby losjng their humanity. Due to division of labour most workers have no part in deciding the objectives, or how these are to be fulfilled. The office is also structured like a big machine. The workers, whether they are in a factory or an office, function like automata. They have to repeatedly, and monotonously, perform a job without taking into account its significance, or lack of it, for human beings. The managers are in a similar situation too; for, they are also part of a machine-like structure. The kapitalist, or political ruler, algo finds himself manipulated by impersonal market or political forces, and responds to these without fully taking into account human values. Loss of Morality ~ccording to Marx, the loss of freedom, creativity arid humanity necessarily leads to loss of morality. Thus,it is immoral to take away the freedom of workers and convert them into near animals. Loss of creativity also leads to immorality: if engineers or doctors are more interested in making.money than in building safe bridges or in curing patients, they become immoral. Loss of humanity, in the sense of being insensitive to the suffering of others, is certainly immoral. Capitalism is based upon competition between nation states, business firms, political parties, and so on. Since competition endangers survival, resort to all means, including immoral ones, is often made for ensuring srlrvival in capitalist society. Hence, according to Mar~immorality is inherent in capitalism.
Karl Marx
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According to Marx the "class struggle" has been going on between the exploiting and exploited classes th'roughout human history. In capitalist society also,the interests of the capitalist class and the working class conflict with each other, and so their struggle goes on. Marx maintains that while on the one hand, bureaucratisation helps the development of capitalism, on the other hand it also prepares for the latter's overthrow. The formation of large-scale organisations brings workers together. "Their concentra~ion in industrial. locations helps them to organise. The development of the means of transport and , communication helps them to expand their organisation. Their unions thus become countrywide and powerful. After struggling through demanstrations and strikes, their struggle begins to bring fruit such as higher wages and the shortening of the working day,.. Finally, the organised strength of the workers is able to overthrow the exploitative capitalist system through a revolution. With capitalism goes bureaucracy also, for the main function of bureaucracy, namely controlling workers, no longer needs to t)e performed. Capitalism, which really was the dictatorship of the capitalist class, is now replaced by the dictatorship of the proletariat. The dictatorship of the prolekiat is a short-lived period for the ushering in of the new socia,list society. The new society is classless, and so has no need for the state, since the function of the state is the maintenance of the domination of one class over another. Hence the state &tidually withers away.
Bureaucracy
,SOCIETY
Marx did not ny to describe in detail the nature of the future socialist society, since that would be utopian: It will be what we make it to be. Instead of speculating, Marx examined the nature of the Paris Commune which had been. set up after a revolution. The administration of the Paris Commune can give US some idea of the possible nature of the adniinistration in the socialist society of the future, as follows: * There would be "self-government of the producers"; in other words the new society would be wholly democratic.
The standing army would be disbanded; the people themselves would take to arms when need arose. There would be communes at rural, district and national levels.
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The central government would have only a few important functions: there would be decentralisation. The system of election would be indirect and based upon universal suffrage; all the elected members would be subject to recall at any time.
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The commune would be both, an executive and legislative body. The police would be stripped of its ~olitical attributes and turned into respo'nsible and revocable agents of the commune..
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Judges would be elected, responsible and revocable, so as to be free from control by the government.
It is held that competition and inequality of rewards are necessary for providing
modvatiotl.' The fact,.howeyer, is that the greatest achievers like great artists and scientists of the past never competed, except with themselves. 1'n a normal person motivation is mostly due to the creative urge; competition makes for unnecessary tension leading20 diseases.
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Aggression, it is sometimes Held, Is natural to human beings; hence wars and standing armies cannot be abolished. However, the view that aggression is natural to human beings
is considered to be obsolete. Now it is considered to be associated with abnormality, if it is in an acute form. Marx is sometimes criticised for supporting dictatorship. We have noted above, however, that Marx stood for self-goveminent of the workers. The short-lived dictatorship of the proletariat is needed only to deal with the prevailing dictatorship of the capitalist class. .
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Kay1 Marx
Check your Progress 2 Note: i) Use the space below for your answers. ii) Check your answers with the answer given at the end of the unit. 1 What, according to Marx, are the characteristics of bureaucracy?
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1 Albrow; Martin, 1970. Bureauo.acy; Macmillan: London. 2 Bbattacharya, Mohit, 1987. Puhlic Administratiorr; The World Press: Calcutta. 3 Prasad Ravindra, D., et al., (eds), 1989. Administrative Thinkers; Sterling Publishers: New Delhi. K., 1982, Marxist Interpretation; Administrative Change, Vol. 9, No. 2 4 ~eshadii, Jan-June, pp. 175-203.