MIM Notes # 222       Nov 15, 2000

U.S. Government passes instant reform on Firestone

by MC5 

In the Firestone tire recall furor, Congress has felt the heat 
to such an extent that it has done something reminiscent of 
the dictatorship of the proletariat in an effort to fool the 
people into thinking something has been done about the sale of 
dangerous, defective tires for profit. On October 11th, the 
House and Senate passed a bill that gives the power to federal 
officials to investigate the auto industry. President Clinton 
will likely sign the bill and thus make it law.

Of course, the measure was weak in the sense that it only 
mentioned 15 year sentences possible for auto executives and 
it only applied to the auto industry instead of all 
capitalists selling dangerous and defective products for 
profit. As MIM said in MN #220, we believe the death penalty 
should apply in circumstances such as these. A Republican 
Senator, John McCain of Arizona also thought criminal 
penalties should be stricter in such cases. Weak as the bill 
is, Bridgestone/Firestone approved the bill.

Other details of the House and Senate bill passed require the 
automakers to tell The National Highway Traffic Safety 
Administration about foreign recalls of defective products, 
update tire standards and test for vehicle rollovers.

The ruling class media has admitted now that over 100 deaths 
and 400 injuries resulted from Firestone's defective tires.(1) 
It is typical of capitalist Amerika that it allows execution 
of mentally retarded people for murder, but Firestone and 
cigarette executives go scot-free just to mention the mass 
murderers in the limelight recently.

At this time, the bourgeoisie worries that even the Amerikan 
masses might realize what is wrong with leadership under 
capitalism. In truth, there are some benefits that the 
dictatorship of the proletariat would have in this Firestone 
situation for the middle-classes. Under the dictatorship of 
the proletariat, we have to admit that Ford Explorers will not 
be manufactured in the foreseeable future. The Amerikan yahoos 
who buy them will not be entirely pleased with MIM instantly. 
While people are starving, wasteful luxury vehicle production 
will not be first priority. Ford Explorers waste resources, 
pollute and provide for overkill in individualist 
transportation. To say otherwise is to tolerate the resource-
deprivation of people in this world that leads to mass deaths. 
However, what vehicles are produced in nearly pollution-free 
and fuel-efficient socialist North America will be safe, not 
subject to cover-ups to protect profits or careers. The reason 
is no one will be making profits from their production and 
everyone will have jobs, so they need not worry excessively 
about firing and career advancement. This along with the 
improvement in the environment is something for the middle-
classes to consider in the Firestone controversy and what the 
dictatorship of the proletariat has to offer relative to the 
dictatorship of the bourgeoisie we have now.

Conservatives and reactionaries think it's OK for Firestone to 
sell defective tires, because they think it is the consumers' 
own fault for buying them; hence they along with libertarians 
want no government intervention. Anarchists, libertarians and 
liberals are apt to tolerate the executives who knew or should 
have known about the fact that the Decatur, Illinois plant was 
producing tires more than 10 times as defective rate-wise as 
the Oklahoma City plant.(2) To many Liberals, everyone is 
innocent and no one is twisted. When MIM says the dictatorship 
of the proletariat should execute such people, the Liberals 
grow fearful about abuse of power, which is somehow only abuse 
of power when it applies to the bourgeoisie. They complain 
about abuse of power, have no plan for eliminating power and 
do nothing to punish the abuse of power.

We genuine communists do not bury our heads in the sands like 
ostrich conservatives and nor do we tolerate the people 
causing deaths of others. The first step toward a peaceful 
world of non-violence requires violent non-toleration of 
people like the Firestone executives. After a prolonged period 
of violent non-toleration of Firestone-type behavior, akin to 
the violent non-toleration of slave-owners that has been 
necessary in history, the idea of letting others die for 
profit or career will become unthinkable. Such a state of 
affairs where tolerating such killing is unthinkable is a 
prerequisite for the accomplishment of communism.

MIM takes this chance to explain the communist idea of the 
leadership principle as it should be applied under the 
dictatorship of the proletariat. Very simply, those who lead 
will be serving the people, risking their lives for the 
people's benefit. Those who do not want to risk execution for 
massive Firestone-like bungling should not volunteer for 
leadership. In a hurry, we will thus apply Lenin's teaching 
"better fewer, but better." Of course, we will always retain 
lesser roles for people who want to serve the people with less 
risk.

Unlike the Liberals and anarchists with no real plans to 
scientifically measure and eliminate power, the communists 
seek leaders who will work toward the elimination of 
leadership and be accountable while doing so. The Liberals 
think that accountability means at most losing office in an 
election or receiving criticism from the public. This is not 
the communist leadership principle. Leaders who are not moving 
things forward or at least maintaining safe standards will be 
punished. Those responsible for mass deaths above and beyond 
the norm as in the Firestone situation, whether through 
incompetence, laxness or intention will be executed. That is 
what it really means to serve one's country--taking the risk 
to lead in such a way as to benefit the people and eliminate 
leadership in the long-run.

Without the genuine communist leadership principle, the 
prestige of leaders will be low and they will abuse power 
exactly as the Liberals and anarchists say. The Nazis 
understood something about this and openly copied Lenin, but 
they had no plans toward a long-run future of peace and 
stability. We communists will cut down careerism by utilizing 
the leadership principle fully. No one should think that MIM 
will be like Khruschev and peacefully tolerate "anything  
goes" in the party ranks.

Under socialism, it is the party leaders who have potential 
capitalist access to the means of production. If those leaders 
do not exist in a strict atmosphere worthy of honor, then they 
will become a new capitalist class and restore capitalism. By 
loosening the atmosphere in the Soviet Communist Party after 
Stalin, that is what Khruschev did.

Such a sacrifice of public servants serving the public under 
stressful conditions is not something we communists expect 
forever. The direction of leadership will be to abolish 
leadership by making production, politics and science 
accessible to all the people.

To implement progress toward leaderlessness means eliminating 
elitist education and replacing it with universal education, 
which is only possible when the rulers do not fear an educated 
public. Under socialism, capitalist-style incentives of 
lottery-size money or public acclaim will go to those leaders 
who invent and innovate in such ways that elite leaders become 
less necessary. There will be a prize awarded for the 
invention of the personal computer and the Macintosh operating 
system that made point and click and menu operations possible 
for billions with little computer training. In this way of 
building evermore transparent and accessible leadership 
structures, when a select few attempt to benefit from the 
death of others, they will be discovered quickly and 
apprehended.

Notes:

1. http://www.usatoday.com/money/consumer/autos/mauto884.htm

2. New York Times 15Sept2000, p. c5.