Yan Xishan’s Cosmopolitan Economy
In his pamphlet, How To Prevent Warfare and Establish the Foundation of World Peace, Yan Xishan offers a wide variety of solutions to the issues plaguing the international system. Given, however, that its intended purpose was a rebuff of communism, the section on the economy proves especially complex and at times contradictory. Within his “cosmopolitan economy”, Yan provides three main principles that ought to be followed. These three principles simultaneously blend and reject both capitalism and communism in the international economy.
“The first principle is that labor should be coincident with enjoyment. What is meant by this is that the fruit of one’s labor should be wholly given to the laborer for his contribution of labor. It should not be exploited by any method or system.” (p. 18)
Yan’s first principle of the cosmopolitan economy describes a system in which the laborer is directly rewarded with “the fruit of one’s labor”, rather than allowing the labor to be exploited by the system. Despite Yan’s opposition to the communist economic system, this principle carries a Marxist sentiment in regards to the exploitation of the worker. Marx and Engel, in the opening lines of The Communist Manifesto, describe the historical basis for one class exploiting another. They argue the exploitation of the proletariat can only be remedied by a remaking of the world economic system in which private property is abolished and all are rewarded equally, sharing in the goods of society. While Yan does not exactly reflect this sentiment, his principle shares a number of commonalities with the ideology he is writing in opposition of.
“The second principle is that the laborer should be provided with ample opportunity for offering his labor. The worker should work in order to support his livelihood. If he is not given the opportunity to work, he will have no chance of sustaining his livelihood.” (p. 18)
Yan’s second principle primarily serves as a critique of the capitalist system, which he describes as “exploitation and the existing monetary defect.” Within the context of the Great Depression, Yan’s critique of a worker having “no chance of sustaining his livelihood” was no doubt a relevant critique of the world capitalist system. An interesting comparison to Yan’s desire to provide work for all workers is President Roosevelt’s New Deal, which similarly sought to create ample work for workers. The New Deal’s “Three R’s”, as they are frequently referred to by historians, sought relief for the poor and unemployed, economic recovery and a reform of the financial system to prevent another such crisis. To some extent, Roosevelt’s New Deal reflects Yan’s sentiment by providing new economic opportunity for workers, in order to bring the unemployed back into the economic system and support a livelihood. So while Yan is critiquing the capitalist system, arguably, there is a capitalist example within the constraints of Yan’s theory that successfully provided “ample opportunity for offering […] labor”.
“The third principle is that we should increase the effectiveness of labor. What is meant by this is that by raising the efficiency of a worker, his standard of living can be raised. […] workers have not been much benefited by the increase in production made possible by scientific development. […] Though wages have been increased, the said increase has been offset by the rise in the price of commodities.” (pp. 18-19)
Yan’s third principle, once again, seems to represent an almost communist sentiment, writing that “the sole party that has benefited is the capitalist class. (the owner of the plant)”.Yan suggests a publicly owned factory in which some amount of the profits made off of the increased productivity of technology will not go to the owner, but be set aside. Of course, the most notable example of publicly owned factories is within communist countries, where there is an abolition of privately owned property and business. Therefore, Yan’s third principle seems to exist in a strange grey area between communism and capitalism as he is still encouraging the productions of goods for a market place, while also encouraging the creation of public factories.
Yan’s cosmopolitan economy principles seem to straddle communism and capitalism, with Yan picking and choosing from aspects of the two economic systems. But above all, Yan’s priority is the worker and his ability to provide for himself. This sentiment seems to me to most closely mirror the communist ideals of the worker and the working class. However, Yan’s work primarily does critique communism in other ways, particularly the political aspects of that ideology, leaving readers with no clear understanding of Yan’s political ideology beyond the creation of an international system based on cosmopolitanism.
Yan Xisan, How To Prevent Warfare and Establish the Foundation of World Peace, pamphlet, pp 1-41.