Wandering Meteor-Chapter 214 - 213 Natural Transition

The robot representative stood up, projected several data points into the air, and explained.

"Now, the data you’re looking at is the Gini Index, which is a coefficient used to describe the wealth gap in a civilization; the higher the value of the coefficient, the greater the wealth disparity. The current Earth Civilization’s wealth disparity coefficient is 0.1552. According to economists’ standards, below 0.2 indicates a high level of equality, 0.2-0.29 indicates relatively equal, 0.3-0.39 indicates reasonably fair, 0.4-0.59 indicates a large gap, and above 0.6 indicates an extremely wide wealth disparity."

"From this data, we can see that Earth Civilization’s Gini Index has been declining for many years, suggesting that the distribution of social wealth is increasingly trending towards equality and fairness. Although there’s still a gap between rich and poor, it is no longer significant. One of the goals of the Communist System is to eradicate wealth disparity, so it can be said that in terms of wealth distribution, Earth Civilization’s current social system already bears a resemblance to Communism."

"However, one point needs to be clarified: the Gini Index, which describes wealth disparity, refers to a collective statistical value, not the actual wealth difference between the richest and the poorest individuals, because individual data is meaningless. Hence, the statistic measures the proportion of total social wealth controlled by different groups within the civilization. For example, the top 40% of the population may control 50% of the wealth, and the remaining 60% also share 50% of the wealth, with even the least wealthy 10% at the bottom holding 6% of the total social wealth. This is unlike the past where the poorest 30% of the group had a wealth proportion of zero, while the poorest 10% actually had a negative value. Back then, the Gini Index was above 0.5."

"The reason for such accomplishment is largely due to the progressive tax system that Earth Civilization has been implementing for many years, with tax rates for high-income groups reaching up to 80%. This kind of wealth redistribution tax policy greatly narrowed the wealth gap. Furthermore, more importantly, with the development of social civilization, the state has continuously been raising salary levels and welfare benefits. Combined with the special systems of many companies and the enhancement of financial management concepts, the wealth controlled by ordinary citizens keeps rising with the tide, which also shrinks the social wealth gap."

"Having discussed how social wealth is gradually communizing, let’s look at another major divergence between Capitalism and Communism—the ownership of means of production. In the past, capitalists could continuously exploit and oppress workers precisely because they controlled the means of production. One of the most obvious characteristics of capitalism is that at least 90% of the means of social production, including various instruments, equipment, and technology, were in the hands of capitalists, who only made up 1% of the entire society. It was this extreme disparity that gradually gave rise to an ever-increasing wealth gap. Workers, having no means of production, could only offer their labor and were thus continually exploited by capitalists who controlled the means of production."

"But the times have changed. With the progress of the era and of concepts, not just social wealth, but actually the means of production are also transitioning from individuals to collectives. It might be hard to grasp just by saying so, but I have more data here for everyone to see. These are statistics on the shareholding structure of private companies worldwide that we’ve compiled during this time. In this data, individual or family ownership of a company’s total shares is only 0.021%, those holding 80% of a company’s shares account for 0.051%, and those holding 50% of a company’s shares account for 0.093%. All these added together don’t even make up 1%. As you can imagine, there are very few dictators of global private companies, and the shareholding structure is quite fragmented, usually with the highest shareholding ratio being less than 10%, and many large companies might have thousands or tens of thousands of small shareholders."

"And we know that in very advanced civilizations, besides state-owned enterprises, the remaining means of production in society are generally held in companies, owned by the companies, which then face society as joint-stock entities. So when the shares are dispersed, doesn’t it mean that the means of production owned by the company are actually dispersed among the various shareholders? Isn’t this an indirect way of transitioning the means of production from individuals to collectives? Although some companies might not have many shareholders, with so many companies globally, and many shareholders not having overlapping roles, many being employees of the companies themselves, the overall trend still sees the means of production dispersing from individuals to collective ownership. This is also evidence of capitalism’s gradual and natural transition to Communism as productivity and consciousness improve."

"Here, I need to add that Earth Civilization’s small wealth gap owes much to the stock ownership system because many company founders realized that only when employees regard the company as their own will they work to their fullest and create the most value. As a result, more and more companies began to reward and distribute shares to their long-serving employees in various ways. After many years of development, the share structure of surviving companies has naturally become very fragmented, and employees who own shares can enjoy annual dividends, naturally narrowing the wealth gap. While there are certainly reluctant dictators in society, in a highly advanced civilization, they are ultimately in the minority and will not affect the overall situation."

"It can be said that the existence of the stock market and the shareholding system will gradually decentralize the means of production exclusively held by capitalists, and also narrow the wealth gap. When social productivity reaches a certain level, the change in production relations will naturally transition towards Communism. In the past, the proponents of Communism believed that only by violently overthrowing capitalism could Communism be achieved. However, with the emergence of the shareholding system, they realized that this system would gradually shift the social system towards Communism, thereby achieving a peaceful transition. Because when workers become owner-controllers of the means of production, or have a certain amount of control, it will be difficult for them to exploit and oppress themselves, and they may even take the initiative to attempt to change the system. Then the outdated capitalist system and thinking will be eliminated. Of course, the next system may not necessarily be Communism, but at least Communism is the social system we currently possess that can accommodate this new production relation." freeweɓnovēl.coɱ

The robot representative concluded: "Perhaps the entire process has been somewhat disorganized, but to summarize, with the advancement of social civilization and the increase in social productivity, whether it is social wealth or means of production, both are beginning to shift towards collectives. This has become an irresistible trend, and coupled with awakened consciousness, when people start to pursue spiritual enjoyment, this will fundamentally conflict with capitalism. If this continues, there will inevitably be problems. So rather than being passive, it’s better to be proactive. We, the robots, recommend implementing the Communist System."

"Everyone has listened, what are your thoughts and opinions? Do you agree? Please express your stance!"

As the host of the conference, Constant Star Lu Chen was very cautious and did not rush to make a judgement, but first asked everyone’s opinions.