The same may be said for the organization
of a planned, organized, supervised planetary economy. So far as we
know, such world economic institutions and practices cannot exist in the
chaos of one hundred forty sovereign states, each exercising authority
over its economy, each with its own program for growth and expansion,
and putting its claims for wealth and power above peace, order,
justice, and mercy for the entire human family.
General economic practice throughout the 1450-1970 experiments with
nation building, empire building, competitive struggle and sporadic
efforts at world conquest, occupation and exploitation have crossed
national boundary lines as a matter of necessity. It could not be
otherwise, because no nation has been able to reach the cultural level
of civilization on a basis of economic self-containment. Primitive
agriculture can maintain a high degree of self sufficiency. City
populations abandon self-sufficiency and adopt the principles of
expansion, occupation and utilization of foreign territory and
exploitation of resources and manpower, at home and abroad.
As western civilization has matured, power struggles at the top,
conquest, occupation and exploitation have come more and more to the
fore until, in the era of monopoly capitalism, they dominate the field.
In this period of human history nothing less than the just sharing of
available goods and services will implement the principle of "to each
according to his need".
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