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«Globalization» is a term of political science, which became known to people interested in politics and economics in a few recent years. «Globalization» became the term for the economic and cultural phenomena that affect historically formed cultures of peoples living in different parts of the world (including the economic structure). Such phenomena on the one hand disrupt those cultures and ways of life and on the other hand integrate them into some global culture that is yet starting to come into being. In the historical perspective this global culture is to unite the whole of mankind.
Will this culture be bad or good? This is still an open question in many aspects.
But it is this very question that anti-globalists are not interested in, because they act on their prejudice of globalization being invariably bad. Such an attitude is bad in itself. The point is that:
Historically real globalization is the result of actions of many people who pursue their own interests or the interests of their groups. And those interests are mostly not of a global scale.
What is now being termed «globalization» happened before but did not have a name. Over the whole course of recorded history «globalization» appears to be a process of national cultures penetrating one another. In the past international trade and the policy of conquest stimulated it. Nowadays it is stimulated directly by the integration of technologies belonging to different national economies into a world economy of the mankind. The economic constituent of this process consists in concentration of control over the society’s productive forces. The mankind of today ca
Thus, because globalization is the result of actions taken by many people seeking to provide for their private — and not in the least global — interests then it is really useless to fight it. In order to stop globalization one must totally ban all export-import transactions, do away with tourism, migration, concert tours of all performers, art and other exhibitions, translating business correspondence, works of art and academic papers, minimize diplomatic activity and eliminate mafias.
Judged on the basis of the above-mentioned vision a sincere effort of fighting globalization in general — as an inherent principle of civilization development on our planet — is a form of insanity. But to put up with globalization as it proceeds in the historic reality of today is to bring horrible afflictions to the mankind in future.
The point is that though globalization results from the social element of many people’s private activities of the people’s pursuing their own ends not in the least of a global scale, the historically real globalization is a controlled process. This happens because along with average people who devote themselves to vanity and avoid considering their private and largely social affairs on the global scale, there have been among the mankind from immemorial time more or less numerous social groups whose members in the succession of generations pursue some definite objectives regarding the entire mankind and develop and apply the means to accomplish those objectives. As the choice of objectives and means to accomplish them is subjectively determined by the «globalists»’s morals, globalization in itself may be directed towards accomplishing mutually exclusive objectives by mutually exclusive means following mutually exclusive scenarios.
But as globalization is generated by actions of many people who are not globalists and as it is impossible to stop it, only one option remains. Globalization proceeding toward accomplishing unacceptable objectives by unacceptable means following unacceptable scenarios must be opposed by a profoundly different globalization, acceptable from the point of its objectives, the means to accomplish them and scenarios along which those objectives are accomplished by those means.
This approach to the issue of historically real globalization and its possible alternatives leads us directly to the question of an objective, i.e. pre-destined for the man and the mankind, Good and accordingly of an objective Evil.
2. Henry Ford and Industrialization
in the USSR
In the 20th century or at least its largest part the historically real issue of objective Good and Evil viewed globally always led to the question: which one of these two categories is represented by the «American way of life» and «American dream» and which one is represented by «the Soviet way of life» and «the ideals of bolshevism».
Many people including representatives of the well-read «intelligentsia» adhere to the view that history has given a final answer to this question even after September 11th, 2001[1]. Namely, they think that the «American way of life» and the «American dream» suit human nature and the nature of human society better and therefore are universal and viable, while the Soviet way of life and the ideals of bolshevism are the product of a far-fetched social experiment and therefore are a historical bankrupt. This bankruptcy was manifested, and to many convincingly, by the irreversible failure of the USSR in terms of state institutions, social structure and culture. And the current status of the «former USSR» and the USA is one of the facts belonging to the globalization, which defines its future perspective.
Along with that since the mid 19th century and up to present time the course of globalization and its quality (goals, means to accomplish them, scenarios) has been determined by the extent to which the people of the USA and Russia have used their chances to provide mutual help and cooperation in developing the cultures of both two countries. That is why in order to understand the future trends of globalization and discover a variant of it that is objectively executable to the benefit of all the peoples of the world it is insufficient simply to proclaim the failure of the USSR and the seemingly cloudless future of the USA (even more so after September 11th, 2001). One must turn to our common history.
Usually when one needs an example of a positive cooperation between Russia and the USA one recalls the World War II. But in our opinion the cooperation between Russia (the USSR) and the USA in that period is not the kind of phenomenon that is exemplary to the present and future politicians, businessmen and common people in both countries. The reason is that the unity between the USSR and the USA during the WWII existed due to a common enemy. The hypothetic victory of that enemy would have ended the history of both countries and their peoples. But to discover a way to a peaceful and bright future of all the peoples of mankind one needs not to answer the question «whom should we be friends against?» but the question «in the name of what ideals should we be friends and how could we make our common ideals a reality?» That is why we should find another example of fruitful cooperation in our past.
The industrialization of the USSR — new branches of industry coming into being and old ones being modernized — was going on simultaneously with the «great depression» in the USA and world economic crisis. While the crisis paralyzed the economies of all industrialized countries for many Western companies sales to the Soviet market became a way of surviving financially. The so-called «class interests», «class solidarity» of capitalists in the fight against the «world evil of communism» for many of them receded into the background. They were ready to work for the socialist regime of the USSR contrary to their class interests for the sake of preserving their firms and keeping their present social status.