Thoughts on Power without PropertyAuthor(s): Jose FigueresSource: Journal of Inter-American Studies, Vol. 2, No. 3 (Jul., 1960), pp. 257-260Published by: Center for Latin American Studies at the University of MiamiStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/165041 .

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NUEVAS CORRIENTES

NOTA

Siguiendo la norma establecida en abril, ofrecemos cuatro trozos que representan aspectos de la actualidad. El primero, por el senor Jose Figueres que no necesita presentaci6n en nuestra America, es un apre- cio de una obra norteamericana. El segundo, cedido gentilmente por el seior Pablo Cuadra, Editor de La Prensa de Managua, representa una reaccion al sustancioso estudio hecho por el Prof. Federico G. Gil en nuestro numero de octubre de 1959. Asi podemos ver en una sola revista el estudio original y algunos de los conceptos que ha susci- tado. Tercero, por cortesia del gran escritor y pensador de Venezuela, Augusto Mijares, presentamos por primera vez en nuestras pdginas un trozo de literatura que tiene profundo significado para la ensenanza

y el desarrollo social. Cuarto, un trabajo original del senor Luis Terdn Gomez, boliviano, quien ostenta la representacion consular de la her- mana republica de El Salvador en La Paz, Bolivia.

Al presentar NUEVAS CORRIENTES por segunda vez, nos atreve- mos a pedir a nuestros lectores que nos manden sus ideas, sus cartas

y sus sugerencias para nuevos aspectos y NUEVAS CORRIENTES.

THOUGHTS ON POWER WITHOUT PROPERTY *

Jose Figueres

This is an era of explorations into space. Of Sputniks and Explorers. Of photographic cameras behind the Moon.

Other explorers of space, perhaps more dauntless though less spec- tacular, have developed the theory of perpetual creation of matter, through the continuous emergence of hydrogen atoms out of nothing, and have described the flight of the galaxies, horrified of each other, away into space.

Several other spaces are being explored. One of them, of more im- mediate concern, is the economy - the real nature of the economy in a contemporary society. The nature of the economy is usually covered,

? Adolf A. Berle, Jr., Power Without Property; A New Development in American Political Economy, New York, Harcourt, Brace, 1959.

NUEVAS CORRIENTES

NOTA

Siguiendo la norma establecida en abril, ofrecemos cuatro trozos que representan aspectos de la actualidad. El primero, por el senor Jose Figueres que no necesita presentaci6n en nuestra America, es un apre- cio de una obra norteamericana. El segundo, cedido gentilmente por el seior Pablo Cuadra, Editor de La Prensa de Managua, representa una reaccion al sustancioso estudio hecho por el Prof. Federico G. Gil en nuestro numero de octubre de 1959. Asi podemos ver en una sola revista el estudio original y algunos de los conceptos que ha susci- tado. Tercero, por cortesia del gran escritor y pensador de Venezuela, Augusto Mijares, presentamos por primera vez en nuestras pdginas un trozo de literatura que tiene profundo significado para la ensenanza

y el desarrollo social. Cuarto, un trabajo original del senor Luis Terdn Gomez, boliviano, quien ostenta la representacion consular de la her- mana republica de El Salvador en La Paz, Bolivia.

Al presentar NUEVAS CORRIENTES por segunda vez, nos atreve- mos a pedir a nuestros lectores que nos manden sus ideas, sus cartas

y sus sugerencias para nuevos aspectos y NUEVAS CORRIENTES.

THOUGHTS ON POWER WITHOUT PROPERTY *

Jose Figueres

This is an era of explorations into space. Of Sputniks and Explorers. Of photographic cameras behind the Moon.

Other explorers of space, perhaps more dauntless though less spec- tacular, have developed the theory of perpetual creation of matter, through the continuous emergence of hydrogen atoms out of nothing, and have described the flight of the galaxies, horrified of each other, away into space.

Several other spaces are being explored. One of them, of more im- mediate concern, is the economy - the real nature of the economy in a contemporary society. The nature of the economy is usually covered,

? Adolf A. Berle, Jr., Power Without Property; A New Development in American Political Economy, New York, Harcourt, Brace, 1959.

This content downloaded from 169.229.32.137 on Thu, 8 May 2014 11:58:56 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

JOURNAL OF INTER-AMERICAN STUDIES

like the ground in autumn by dead leaves, by the dead words that were fresh and adequate at a previous season.

One of the few explorers is Adolf A. Berle, Jr. His present pub- lication, Power Without Property, is not a book. It is a chapter. Or rather, it is several chapters from the author's "travel book". Other

episodes have appeared in his previous publications, and many more are still to come, one hopes.

The title of the work is less esoteric than some of its contents. It refers to the power held in a modern economy by the directors and

managers of corporations, without much, or any, ownership of the

things they control.

This power was not in the minds of the men who inspired consti- tutional law, when they thought of the necessity of a "division of

powers". At that time the right of ownership, exercised by the pro- prietors of things, did not seem to constitute a fourth power.

Perhaps much of today's struggle for "private enterprise" is an

archaicly worded plea for a division of the powers of the body-politic into: the Executive, the Legislative, the Judicial, the Economic.

Power Without Property begins by shedding new light on the studies, which Mr. Berle pioneered three and a half decades ago, of the economic institutions, especially of the modern U. S. corporation: How corporate capital is being continuously created out of current activities. How individual ownership is being transformed into institu- tional ownership, and so into social ownership. Or, into no ownership, like the sea and the sky.

The question is no longer who owns the instruments of produc- tion, but who holds power over them. The philosophy of ownership becomes the philosophy of economic power. And this essay is a valuable contribution to a needed general philosophy of power.

I feel tempted to dust off some pages, long filed in my memory, from the readings of my youth, and evoke Shopenhauer's division of the sources of a man's power into three categories: what he has; what he represents; and what he is.

What a man has (his personal property) is precisely the fount of economic authority that is drying up in the epoch of corporate en-

terprise. What a man represents (what other people think of him) has gained ground, though perhaps temporarily, in this epoch of "pub- lic relations". What a man is (his character, his culture, his concept of justice, his capacity to rule or to guide), probably has been, is and

258

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NUEVAS CORRIENTES

will be the most solid basis for permanent authority, in the field of the economy or elsewhere.

Because of the imperfection of our present electoral system (or because of our modest degree of general education), the attainment of a political position may be determined by what a man represents, or by what he has, whether it be his or his friends'. But lasting author- ity, over present or future generations, can only be a consequence of and a tribute to what a man is.

Another essay in Berle's book explores a territory of our contem- porary society that is often taken for known: the public consensus. How public opinion is only a momentary expression, on a given sub- ject, of a whole body of public consensus, which is constantly being formed by the accumulated experiences, the accumulated desires, the accumulated values and premises of the community.

Public opinion may be wrong at a certain moment; it may be emotional; it may be ill-informed. But public consensus is more ins- tinctive, more related to the preservation and enhancement of a given type of man and of society. Public consensus acts slowly but surely. It is "inchoate law", and a testing ground for possible explicit law, when necessary.

It is this public consensus that really holds the reins of economic

power, in the long run. It accords legitimacy to a necessary delega- tion of power to a few individuals. It makes them responsible for re- sults. Some of the desired results are also mentioned and described in Mr. Berle's book.

An economy so regulated is what the author calls the Economic

Republic. The phrase is reminiscent of Plato, of course. So are the

thoughts!

Finally, Power Without Property indulges in a sort of parallel be- tween the two great economic systems that have emerged, from not

very different sources, in the twentieth century: the American System and the Soviet System.

Surprisingly for some, not for others, the conclusion is that the similarities are greater than the differences, at the economic level. Also, that evolution may bring them even closer, proving that economic realities are stronger than men's dogmas. That there is no reason for war between the two systems, and that there is every reason for

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JOURNAL OF INTER-AMERICAN STUDIES JOURNAL OF INTER-AMERICAN STUDIES

peace and co-existence, provided one society does not attempt to im- pose its system on the other.

This is about the boldest thing I have read in the ebb of the Mc- Carthian era. Why some people should demand non-objectivity in ap- praising a potential enemy, as a necessary proof of patriotic loyalty, some of us cannot understand. Treason is closer to deliberate blind- ness than to unbiased insight.

The appearance of this new chapter of Mr. Berle's explorations into the space of economy proves that the American public consensus, on economics and on other matters, despite temporary and partial de- viations of public opinion, is a permanent foundation for the freedom of the mind in search of the truth.

NUEVAS TENDENCIAS EN LA POLITICA HISPANOAMERICANA

(Editorial de La Prensa de Managua, Nicaragua)

En el difundido Journal of Inter-American Studies de la Univer- sidad de Florida aparece un interesante estudio sobre las principales tendencias en la politica latinoamericana que nos servira de pauta para un analisis de sus conceptos enfocandolos sobre la realidad nicara-

giiense.

I. EL SENTIMIENTO ANTI-NORTEAMERICANO, ELEMENTO DE ACCION POLITICA

Es sugestivo el hecho apuntado por el comentarista de Journal de

que coincida el renacimiento de un sentimiento de hostilidad hacia Estados Unidos de parte de Hispanoamerica, con la desaparici6n - en la misma Hispanoamerica - del temor a una agresion flsica de Estados Unidos. Ello indica que esa hostilidad conjuga dos corrientes que cons- tantemente se estan uniendo: la de un creciente nacionalismo, exacer- bado con frecuencia por intereses demag6gicos o por consignas inter- nacionales, y la de una conciencia democratica cada dia mas clara en "las grandes minorias de nuestra America que exige a los Estados Uni- dos una actitud mas sincera, o mejor dicho, una relaci6n logica entre su politica y su doctrina.

Despues del caso de Cuba la situaci6n de Estados Unidos en sus relaciones "con los pueblos" hispanos del area del Caribe se ha agra- vado. Tanto porque el caso de Cuba ha servido de excitante para re- crudecer el sentimiento romantico anti-yanquista, como porque los Es- tados Unidos se han entumido aun mas en su ya entumida politica de

peace and co-existence, provided one society does not attempt to im- pose its system on the other.

This is about the boldest thing I have read in the ebb of the Mc- Carthian era. Why some people should demand non-objectivity in ap- praising a potential enemy, as a necessary proof of patriotic loyalty, some of us cannot understand. Treason is closer to deliberate blind- ness than to unbiased insight.

The appearance of this new chapter of Mr. Berle's explorations into the space of economy proves that the American public consensus, on economics and on other matters, despite temporary and partial de- viations of public opinion, is a permanent foundation for the freedom of the mind in search of the truth.

NUEVAS TENDENCIAS EN LA POLITICA HISPANOAMERICANA

(Editorial de La Prensa de Managua, Nicaragua)

En el difundido Journal of Inter-American Studies de la Univer- sidad de Florida aparece un interesante estudio sobre las principales tendencias en la politica latinoamericana que nos servira de pauta para un analisis de sus conceptos enfocandolos sobre la realidad nicara-

giiense.

I. EL SENTIMIENTO ANTI-NORTEAMERICANO, ELEMENTO DE ACCION POLITICA

Es sugestivo el hecho apuntado por el comentarista de Journal de

que coincida el renacimiento de un sentimiento de hostilidad hacia Estados Unidos de parte de Hispanoamerica, con la desaparici6n - en la misma Hispanoamerica - del temor a una agresion flsica de Estados Unidos. Ello indica que esa hostilidad conjuga dos corrientes que cons- tantemente se estan uniendo: la de un creciente nacionalismo, exacer- bado con frecuencia por intereses demag6gicos o por consignas inter- nacionales, y la de una conciencia democratica cada dia mas clara en "las grandes minorias de nuestra America que exige a los Estados Uni- dos una actitud mas sincera, o mejor dicho, una relaci6n logica entre su politica y su doctrina.

Despues del caso de Cuba la situaci6n de Estados Unidos en sus relaciones "con los pueblos" hispanos del area del Caribe se ha agra- vado. Tanto porque el caso de Cuba ha servido de excitante para re- crudecer el sentimiento romantico anti-yanquista, como porque los Es- tados Unidos se han entumido aun mas en su ya entumida politica de

260 260

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