The Naked Socialist

by Paul B Skousen

  Next on the world scene was Egypt. Would they fare any better?

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  107 Igor Shafarevich, The Socialist Phenomenon, foreword by Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn, in Russian in 1975 by YMCA Press; in English by Harper & Row, 1980.

  108 For several good references on Sumer, see Will Durant, The Story of Civilization: Our Oriental History (1935); Peter Bogucki, The Origins of Human Society (1990); Petr Charvat, Mesopotamia Before History (2002); Hans J. Nissen, The Early History of the Ancient Near East, 9000-2000 B.C., (1990); Chandler Tertium, Four Thousand Years of Urban Growth: An Historical Census; A. I. Tiumenev, The Economy of Ancient Sumer, Moscow-Leningrad, 1956, as quoted in Shafarevich, 1980.

  109 John Stuart Mill, The Principles of Political Economy, Book IV, Chapter 7.

  Chapter 11: Pharaoh, the Demigod Socialist

  Egypt built a civilization on the flood plains of the Nile, extracting prosperity from the toils of thousands that grew into millions—starting sometime around 2700 B.C.

  STORY: The pattern of temple worship and top-down control was not unique to Sumer. It was representative of other civilizations during the same period—Egypt, Greece, Turkey, Crete, Mesopotamia, with shades of the same in the Indus Valley civilizations. By the middle of the third millennium B.C., life in the ancient world underwent a big change. The friendlier conclaves of temple society and city-states were replaced by the all-encompassing power of the state—a new power of absolute force that changed the world forever.

  Pharaoh and the Nile, Gifts From the Gods

  Ancient Egypt is a good example of the new and expansive state. The land was ruled by Pharaoh, a god incarnate who united far-flung villages under his umbrella of control. He was advertised as being without parents, miraculously formed in the womb by the gods. They said he knew all, saw all, and as the gods’ chosen one, he therefore owned all, including the land, the people and the animals. He was revered as the high priest to Ra and favored of Horus, son of Osiris. He was Pharaoh—the deified king.

  The No-ability Nobility

  Helping Pharaoh, but later competing with him, was a class of nobility—the royal administrators. This rich upper class ruled in Pharaoh’s stead, checking every part of people’s lives—spiritual, social, and economic. They kept track of all things with a small army of scribes. These scribes were sent across the land every year or two to take inventory of the peoples’ possessions, and taxed them accordingly. Naturally, the scribes took along a few beefy-looking soldiers to enforce the peasant’s cooperation. It was leveling at the most intimate place in a person’s life.

  The Quill Is Mightier Than the Rod

  The scribes were well educated, themselves forming a class of intelligentsia who typically knew a lot more than their masters, the nobility. Knowing how to read and write led many scribes into positions of administration or pursuits of political agendas later in life.

  This massive bureaucracy of administrators was everywhere in Egypt—village judge, village scribe, builder of palaces, overseer of grains and granaries, chief of canals, chief of the fleet, butlers of the palace, leaders of the land, the Sherden, cowherds, priests, warriors, swineherds, shopkeepers, interpreters, boatmen, husbandmen, noblemen, administrators, personal attendants, etc.

  Obedience is Better Than Sacrifice

  As for the general populous, peasants and farm workers made up the largest part of the population. The snooty upper classes looked down on them with disdain. Many worked the Pharaoh’s lands in exchange for a home and food. Others were their own masters and owned their own homes and land, and engaged in producing, buying, and selling as they pleased. However, they were still supervised by someone from a temple or private estate or some other bureaucrat.

  Masters were reasonably kind to their workers. They kept them fed, clothed, housed, and protected from mobbing and bullying—they were, after all, the real producers and worth preserving. A maxim from the 19th dynasty proclaimed, “Give one loaf to your laborer, receive two from (the work of) his arms. Give one loaf to the one who labors, give two to the one who gives orders.”

  The storehouse typically released food once a month. Some depictions on tombs show workers on the verge of starvation while the beasts of burden are fat and healthy—a telling display of priorities in the Egyptian culture.

  We Keep You Alive to Serve This Pharaoh

  Unlike Sumer, the Egyptians prided themselves in keeping their workers alive. Both they and their supervisors were subject to beatings for laziness, tardiness, or desertion. Pharaoh appreciated the value of the working class and did not work them to death as did the Sumerians.

  While the upper classes enjoyed the richness of life, thanks to the workers, the peasants were on a bare subsistence level. The central planners determined that to stay alive for a year, a working-class family required 380 pounds of wheat (about a pound a day), 44 pounds of lentils, and 11 pounds of meat. Most peasants could earn 50-90 percent of those minimums, thus requiring the women and children to work as well, just to avoid starvation.110

  And so grew Egypt through thick and thin, for dozens of centuries, to rise and fall and rise again—steeped in Ruler’s Law.

  The Seven Pillars

  The Egyptian culture made an enormous investment in supervisory management at every level of society. This multi-layered involvement created a mid-level of bureaucratic meddlers in a caste system that was strong, well-funded, well-organized, and was perpetuated down through the generations.

  As with Sumer, there were layers of rights in ancient Egypt. The privileged had more rights than the common serfs, but all things remained under the control of Pharaoh—no private ownership of property except with his permission, and few natural rights were acknowledged.

  Whatever Pharaoh proclaimed was declared as truth: let it be written, let it be done. Obedience to him or her (there were female Pharaohs111) was extracted by force because disobedience to Pharaoh’s law was deemed also an act of disobedience to the gods.

  And then there arose a man who decided to blatantly disobey the God. Things didn’t go well for this frail human, either. The same dissolution that attends all individuals and societies that try socialism also became his ending. The Bible called him Nimrod, a hunter of men—

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  110 For several good references on Egypt’s use of Ruler’s Law, see Will Durant, The Story of Civilization: Our Oriental History, Egypt (1935); Walter Scheidel, Real wages in early economies: Evidence for living standards from 1800 B.C. to A.D. 1300, Version 4.0 September 2009, Princeton/Stanford Working Papers in Classics; Andre Bollinger, www.reshafim.org.il/ad/egypt/; The Encyclopedia Britannica, Egypt, 13th Edition, 1926.

  111 See Dodson, Aidan; Dyan, Hilton, The Complete Royal Families of Ancient Egypt. Thames & Hudson, 2004

  Chapter 12: Nimrod, the Anti-God Socialist

  Nimrod’s story begins approximately 2200 B.C., a short time after the Great Flood.

  STORY: According to Josephus112, an ancient Roman-Jewish historian from the first century A.D., Nimrod is the fellow who re-introduced centralized power and socialistic tyranny into the world after the deluge—the Great Flood.

  Those who know their Bible take interest in Nimrod because he was a great-grandson of Noah. Genesis implies that Nimrod ordered the building of the tower of Babel so his people could survive another flood should God send one. The Bible describes Nimrod as a mighty hunter before the Lord who ruled over several major cities in Mesopotamia. Thanks to ancient historians and other scholars, here’s a summary of who Nimrod was and what he tried to do:

  Nimrod comes from the Hebrew verb “marad,” meaning “to rebel.” Adding “n” changes it to “the rebel” or “we will revolt.” The man’s name may not be Nimrod at all, but a derisive term. Some scholars believe he might be the king of Uruk, also known throughout history as Gilgamesh.113

 
Genesis 10:9 says “He was a mighty hunter before the Lord: wherefore it is said, Even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the Lord.” Most scholars since A.D. 100 point out that the phrase “before the Lord” should be understood negatively, to mean in opposition to, or in defiance of the Lord.

  Genesis 10:10 continues with, “And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar.” Scholars conclude that Nimrod’s great kingdom was built of men, explaining that the term “great hunter” really means he hunted men to build his empire in opposition to God.114Ancient writers said Nimrod turned the people from God, telling them that true joy came not from the Lord, but by their own hand. He instituted pagan worship, idolatry, and the worship of fire. He changed the government and put himself in charge, essentially declaring himself to be god. He forced the people to become dependent on him for everything they required—an ancient version of today’s food stamps, pensions, and general government welfare. Genesis says Nimrod’s reign of tyranny and force was ultimately conquered by the confusion of tongues at the Tower of Babel when all the people were scattered for lack of a common language or understanding.115

  After The Flood, Seven Soggy Pillars

  Nimrod was a devoted adherent to the seven pillars of socialism.

  He set himself up as the all-powerful ruler.

  He created classes of leaders and followers, a caste system with him at the top.

  He managed his power base with corruption, drawing support from his followers for the basest of reasons.

  He held all things in common for himself, doling out favors or necessities as he best saw fit. He regulated all things, certainly an exhausting undertaking at any level, but evidently not too exhausting for the power hungry.

  He controlled information and dismissed the belief in an intervening or judgmental God. He urged his followers to develop their own intellect and self-realization, along the lines he dictated, as the best guide for happiness and prosperity.

  He regulated society with ruthless force, passing laws according to his own whims.

  The people had no rights except what he granted them.The pattern Nimrod followed was not much different than other dictators and tyrants. For example, far to the east, many bad ideas incorporating Ruler’s Law were taking root among the ancient Chinese—

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  112 Josephus, Jewish Antiquities.

  113 See Kautzsch 1910, as cited by David P. Livingston, www.christiananswers.net/dictionary/nimrod.html.

  114 Genesis 10:8-10; 11:1-9, .

  115 C. F. Keil, and P. Delitzsch, Commentary on the Old Testament, Vol. 1, 1975.

  Chapter 13: China: Dynasties of Socialism

  From about 1600 to 200 B.C., the elements of Ruler’s Law kept order down to the most personal levels of life in China.

  STORY: Henri Maspero was a pioneering scholar of ancient China and researched the amazing history of rigid rule that existed in the earliest non-mythical period of region.116

  Most of what is known about the Shang Dynasty (1750-1100 B.C.) comes from inscriptions on tortoise shells, cattle bones, and other oracle bones. Scribes used bronze pins to scratch ancient characters into the bones, telling of a society ruled by an all-powerful king, the leader of Chinese nobility, a ruler called Wang.117

  Religious Tyrant

  Wang was leader, military commander, and the high priest. He offered sacrifice to royal ancestors and communed with the divine to bring wind and rain. Should war erupt, Wang kept a personal force of 1,000 men for protection from uprisings, and also to personally lead into battle with other soldiers.

  During Wang’s rule, the use of bronze was widespread. He ordered an enormous slave labor force to mine the copper, lead, and tin ores, haul them for processing, and deliver the metal to artisans and manufacturers. Bronze was used everywhere—for vessels, weapons, decorations, clothing items, and even chariot wheels.

  3,000 Crimes and Growing

  The Wang ruled the people with force. He called them his “cattle and people,” and on the disobedient he inflicted torture. One of the Wangs had a list of 3,000 crimes for which he imposed fear to extract obedience. For 1,000 of these offenses, the punishment was branding with a hot iron. For another 1,000, the punishment was cutting off the nose. There were 300 offenses punishable with castration, and 500 others for which they would cut off the heel. Two hundred were capital crimes for which the person was killed.

  Wang Owns All

  The Wang owned everything. One script declared, “Under the heavens there is no land that does not belong to the Wang, in the whole world from one end to the other there are no people who are not the Wang’s underlings.” Children were raised by the elders until age 10. The following year, they were forced to work. At age 20 they received a field whereby they made their subsistence. At age 60 they returned ownership of the field to Wang. When workers reached 70, they became wards of the state, and were cared for until death,

  Wang granted authority to other officials to supervise agriculture, public works, and war. These leaders held tight rein on the fields, deciding when to plant, what to plant, and when to rotate crops. One of their songs declared, “Our ruler summons us all ... orders you to lead the plowmen to sow grain....quickly take your instruments and begin to plow. ...Let ten thousand pairs go out...this will be enough ... the Wang was not angry; he said, ‘You peasants have labored gloriously.’” Other songs told of their land and grounds being theirs in common.118

  Marriage or Unions, Not Both

  Marriage was regulated. As a religious bond, only the nobility could marry. The peasants were ordered into “unions”—men had to take a spouse by age 30, the girls by age 20. A day for marrying in the spring was declared and local officials enforced it.

  Then Came Confucius

  Winding down through the dynasties, from Shang (1600-1046 B.C.) through the Western Zhou (1046-771 B.C.), Confucius finally arrived around 500 B.C. He taught about man’s ethical and moral progression and the importance of his nobility and justice, his love of all things. Despite his proclamations on the dignity of man, the Chinese culture continued to strengthen its embrace of the seven pillars of socialism.

  Shang Yang Weakens the People

  By A.D. 350, a more rigid and centralized state took form. Shang Yang worked hard to strengthen the central government. He viewed the people as raw material that required softening and molding like clay by a potter. He wrote, “When the people are weak the state is strong; when the state is weak the people are strong. Hence the state that follows a true course strives to weaken the people.” Shang Yang advocated the seven pillars of socialism in his classic work, “The Book of Lord Shang,” with a chapter entirely devoted to political enslavement called, “Weakening the People,”119 such as—

  Make Them Dependent: Sever ties that bind people together and build trust in the government: “If the people are ruled as virtuous, they will love those closest to them; if they are ruled as depraved, they will become fond of this system.”

  Destroy the Culture: “If in a country there are the following ten evils: rites, music, odes, history, virtue, moral culture, filial piety, brotherly duty, integrity and sophistry, the ruler cannot make the people fight and dismemberment is inevitable.”

  Inject Mistrust: The ruler “should issue a law on mutual surveillance; he should issue a decree that the people ought to correct each other.”

  Reward “Whistle Blowers”: “Regardless of whether the informer is of the nobility or of low origin, he inherits fully the nobility, the fields and the salary of the senior official whose misconduct he reports to the ruler.”

  The Ends Justify the Means: “If by war, war can be abolished, then even war is permissible; if by murder, murder can be abolished, then even murder is permissible; if by punishment, punishment can be abolished, then even harsh punishment is perm
issible.”

  Staying Focused on the One Thing: Shang Yang considered the “One Thing” to be agriculture and war. Putting everyone’s attention to these prevented the peasants from considering other pursuits in life: “He who wants the flowering of the state should inspire in the people the knowledge that official posts and ranks of nobility can be obtained only by engaging in the One Thing.”

  Gimmick for Control: Part of the “One Thing” strategy was to control the peasants with farming: “When all thoughts are turned to agriculture, people are simple and easily governed.”

  Policing the Rulers: The other part of the “One Thing” was to control the nobility: “All privileges and salaries, official posts and ranks of nobility, must be given only for service in the army; there must be no other way. For only by this path is it possible to take a clever man and a fool, nobles and common folk, brave men and cowards, worthy men and those good for nothing, and extract all that is in their heads and their backs and force them to risk their lives for the sake of the ruler.”

  Information Control: There could be nothing outside of the “One Thing” because the people might start thinking on their own: “It is necessary to drive people into such a state that they should suffer if not engaged in agriculture, that they should live in fear if they are not engaged in war.”

  Ignorance Must Be Cultivated: “If knowledge is encouraged and not nipped in the bud, it will increase, and when it will have increased, it will become impossible to rule the land. ...The art of ruling well consists precisely in the ability of removing the clever and the gifted. ...If the people are stupid, they can be easily governed.”The State is Central in All Things

  Oppressive tyranny over the people of China was a way of life for centuries. In 221 B.C., Qin Shi Huangdi rose to power, calling himself the First Emperor. He unified the various warring states and brutally suppressed any teaching or philosophy different from his own. He destroyed the Hundred Schools of Thought that had been developing since 770 B.C. by burning all offending books and writings so he could unify the people’s thinking with his own. The next year he buried alive 460 scholars who continued to own such books. The executions and elaborately staged book burnings went far to prevent independent thought.120 And so it was that the seven pillars of socialism were forced upon the people of China.