The Economy of Permanence: A Quest for a Social Order Based on Non-violence (स्थायी अर्थतन्त्र)

Economy of Permanence
principles were violated by the factory owner. Such a standard is expensive and
so he will have no reserves to fall back on, in case of being put out of
employment, and being habituated to spending money on material wants, these
would assume the role of necessities without which, he is led to believe, he
cannot live. Thus are his freedom of movement and bargaining power curbed
and the worker is glued down to his work bench. Such a standard functions like
a nose-string to a bullock. It is placed there to neutralize his freewill and to
make the worker amenable to the will of the employer.
The high salaries paid to public servants under a foreign government are of this
nature. Many a patriot has been drawn away from his path of duty by such baits
and has been so caught in the meshes as to deaden his conscience into adopting
strong measures against his own people which he would never have consented
to in his untramelled and detached state. Such persons have their sense of
values distorted and their will to act has been paralysed by the lure of colourful
and comfortable existence.
Again, looking at it from the point of view of the bargaining power of capital
and labour, if any dispute should arise between the employer and the workers,
the former, having greater financial reserves, can bide his time and wait till
the power of resistance of the workers is broken. The workers who live on their
wages cannot hold out long before they are faced with dire need and
starvation. But workers, whose method of living is simple and, therefore,
inexpensive, can resist longer than those whose living is complex and
expensive. Hence also is the employer interested in advocating a complex
standard of living for his workers so that his workers may not be in a position to
bargain with him long. Apart from these reasons concerning his workers, we
have already seen how the complex modes of living afford good markets for the
manufacturers as in the case of the British gardener's household. So both on the
side of production and that of sales, the complex standard is a profitable one
for the manufacturers.
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