11C2a Vol. 80, No. 4 APRIL 1975 CONTENTS EDITORIAL: ROBIN HOOD'S RETURN? 3 THE SOCIAL ROLE OF MONEY . 4 by James Robertson THE MALE CHAUVINISM OF D. 14. LAWRENCE. 8 by Hector Hawton DISCUSSION: ECSTASY 10 FORUM.: POPULATION EXPLOSION 11 FOR THE RECORD . 12 by the General Secretary BOOK REVIEW: THE UNIQUENESS OF MAN 16 by Dr. A Lovecy SPECIAL ITEM: SOUTH PLACE, TRUSTS AND CHARITABLE STATUS 17 YOUR VIEWPOINT . 20 SOUTH PLACE NEWS. 22 COMING AT CONWAY HALL 2, 23 Published by SOUTH FLAcz ETHICAL SWETT Conway Hall Humanist Centre Red Lion Square, London, WC1R 4RL SOUTH PLACE ETHICAL SOCIETY OFFICERS: General Secretary: Peter Cadogan Lettings SecretarylHall Manager: Iris Mills Hon. Registrar: Rose Bush Hon. Treasuier: C. E. Barralet Editor, "The Ethical Record": Eric Willoughby Address: Conway Hall Humanist Centre Red Lion Square, London WC1R 4RL. (Tel: 01-242 8032) Coming at Conway Hall Sunday, April 6 11.00 am—Sunday meeting: T. F. EVANS on A German Master: Ginner Grass. Soprano solos: Hedone Faulkner 6.00 pm—Bridge practice and Scrabble in the Library 6.30 pm—Concert: Georgian Quartet. Schubert Dmi Op. Posth. (D810), Barry Guy No. 2, Brahms Ami Op. 51 No. 2 Tuesday, April 8 7.00 pm—Discussion. First in series on Scandinavia. Swedish Social Democracy introduced by Eric Willoughby Sunday, April 13 11.00 am—Sunday meeting: HAROLD BLACKHAM on Sir Julian Huxley. Violin and piano: Margot McGibbon and Phyllis Roast 3.00 pm—Forum: The Future of South Place, with Peter Cadogan, George Hutchinson, Dr Albert Lovecy 6.00 pm—Bridge practice and Scrabble 6.30 pm—Concert: Tilford String Trio, Mary Ryan. Mozart A K298 Flute quartet, Mozart Divertimento Ell K563 String trio, Beethoven serenade D Op. 25, flute, violin, viola (Continued on page 23) CURRENT SPES PUBLICATIONS THE SECULAR RESPONSIBILITY Marghanita Laski 10p THE ALTERNATIVE SOCIETY James Hemming 10p THE BREAKDOWN OF GREAT BRITAIN Leopold Kohr 10p MAN AND THE SHADOW Laurens van der Post 10p WHAT ARE EUROPEANS? G. K. Young, CB, CMG, MI3E 10p THE ORIGINS OF CHRISTIANITY FROM PAGAN AND JEWISH BACKGROUNDS G. A. Wells 20p HUMANITY AND ANIMALITY Edmund Leach 10p THE USES OF PAIN Jonathan Miller 10p 33-p postage for one-7p for two or more THE ETHICAL RECORD Vol. 80, No. 4 APRIL 1975 The views expressed in this journal are not necessarily those of the Society EDITORIAL Robin Hood's return? IT IS cruelly ironic that as the comparatively rich peoples of the western world and industrial lands clamour for more and more money, the developing countries (with the exception of the oil pro- ducers) are becoming progressively poorer. The peoples who have wealth want more to spend on unnecessary things they could not otherwise afford, and the last thing they think about is giving money to the causes established to help the poor of this world. It is considered obscene by some that the getting and spending of money which forms the "western" way of life not only takes no notice of the starving millions in the world, but indeed contributes to that starvation and poverty by wastefully consuming precious resources. This does not only apply to oil, coal and other heat-producing materials, but to foodstuffs, too. How much uneaten rice does each housewife in England scrape off the plates every week? Of course the old argument about it being impractical to send wasted western food to the starving nations is perfectly valid. The fact that it would only be sending back a lot of what we have taken away from them in the first place is another matter. But a radical, and potentially successful, way to improve the world balance of wealth—for like it or not, that is the lynch-pin of modern life everywhere—has recently been discussed. The idea centres around graduated international taxation, adminis- tered by the United Nations. The rich countries would then be subsidising the poor nations, and a greater equality could ensue throughout the world. A UN spokesman has written of the idea: "An exploration of a broad spectrum of international financial measures for development appears to be called for. Progressive international taxes are certainly one of the most potent measures in the spectrum." Dr Jan. Pronk, the Dutch minister for development co-operation, has written: "I am very much in favour of progressive and obligatory international taxation. ." Dr Karan Singh, Indian minister of health, believes: "Certainly the affluent countries should make a larger contribution to the welfare of the poor. ." And since the idea started in Sweden, it is right to quote Olof Palme, Sweden's prime minister: ". sooner or later international taxation is inevitable". As US senator Charles Percy, Illinois, has pointed out, "This would be taxation without representation". But as someone else once said: "Taxation with representation is no darned good, either." 3 The Social Role of Money BY JAMES ROBERTSON Mr TALK covers three main topics. First, I shall make some general points about social and economic institutions and about institutional reform. Second, I shall focus in greater detail on the institutions of business, industry and finance, and those parts of government that are concerned with the industrial economy. I shall suggest that a wide ranging programme of reform is necessary, under the headings "socially responsible enterprise", "financially responsible government" and "honest money". Third, I shall say a little about the framework of political debate in which these reforms will take place. I shall conclude by suggesting that the present time should he seen as a turning point in the development of institutions, politics, ideas and personal values—certainly for the western world, and probably for the world as a whole. The challenge, as I see it, is whether this turning point will be a breakdown or a breakthrough. Some people believe that the fabric of modern society is breaking down. But we could be on the brink of a breakthrough to a new post-capitalist and post-socialist era. This will involve institutional changes in politics and public life reflecting similar changes in the personal values and life-styles of iridividual people and in their ideas about the world. The Need for Institutional Reform We live in a society which is now dominated by large institutions. These have certain characteristics which we need to understand. First, all large organisations have a tendency to malfunction. They tend to be less intelligent, less moral, less forward looking and less civilised than most of the individual people who work in them. From my own experience I would say that this is true, for example, of organisations like the big banks, the Foreign Office, or the Treasury. I am sure it is also true of big business, big trade unions, and other big organisations generally. More specifically, they have a tendency to become self-serving and self-perpetuating. Big business, big trade unions, the civil service, public services like education and health—all these now seem to give top priority to the interests and aspirations of the people who run them. Customers, workers, citizens, students and patients have become the material—the fodder, you might almost say—upon which business tycoons, trade union leaders, politicians and top civil servants, teachers, doctors and administrators in the public service, build their empires and achieve their satisfactions. Ivan Illich is probably the best-known advo- cate of this view in books like "De-schooling Society" and "Medical Nemesis". Even those of us who do not go all the way with Illich will surely agree that we want institutions serving people instead of people serving institutions. Second, it is important to remember that the institutions of our society interlock with one another. At present in Britain, for example, government, industry and the City all tend to blame one another and the trade unions for our failures in the industrial and economic sphere. Changes in one cannot be introduced successfully while the others remain unreformed. A piecemeal approach to London's traffic problems is no good, if all that happens is to shift the traffic jams from Hyde Park Corner to Knightsbridge, Piccadilly and Marble Arch, A piecemeal approach to reforming the institutions of our society makes little headway for the same reason. This interlocking character of institutions explains, at least in part, the failure of leadership from the top in industry, the City and government. The 4 top people are prisoners of the present system. They are organisation men, and they cannot break out of their traditional roles and pigeon holes. This, in turn, is one of the factors that has led to a more general failure of authority throughout the country as a whole. Top people say that Britain is becoming ungovernable. But what has actually happened is that our gov- erning institutions have lost credibility. Inflation is a prime example. We need to consider the social role of money, therefore, in the context of a broader need to transform our economic, social and political institutions into mechanisms of decision and choice that will work openly, fairly and credibly, and be acceptable to most members of society. The Money System Money should function as a calculus of value, an accounting system, which indicates the entitlements of people (including organisations) to -purchasing power and thus enables us to recognise the claims that each of us may make on society's resources. Using the institutions that operate the monetary and financial system (banks, insurance companies, stockbrokers, and so on), people should be able to trade present for future purchasing power over time as suits them best, and prepare themselves or their success- ors for accident or death.