THE CONCEPT OF LABOUR AND SOCIAL RELATIONS IN CLAUDE AKE’S PHILOSOPHY- IMPLICATIONS FOR AFRICA

And in so doing, in modern terms, society is divided into antagonistic andself destructive classes of those who own only their labour power and those... In the history of human society,

CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background of the Study

The basic natural impulse of man is the preservation of his existence.What this implies is that man tries to protect his existence foremost beforeconsiderations are given to other needs It means therefore, that he has to live

in the first instance, before his essence This is the primacy of the humanexistence which, for existentialist thinkers, is what should genuinely engagephilosophers To live or to preserve his existence, man must keep his bodynourished by food; and to provide for food means that he must work Thismeans that he must use his energy to convert what is given in nature to becomeuseful to him

This work is therefore motivated by the fact that labour which shouldserve as a human activity that allows man to sustain his very existence hasbecome a tool for self destruction arising from the class divisions, antagonismsand conflicts the appropriation of the products of labour engenders in modernsociety This is more so because even though the prodigality of nature hasprovided man with the basic materials to meet his existential needs, however,the provident of nature rarely exists in forms directly suitable to meet man’sneeds It is, therefore, required of human labour to make nature suitable for hisuse And in so doing, in modern terms, society is divided into antagonistic andself destructive classes of those who own only their labour power and those

who own the means of production and so appropriate the product of labour andeven manipulate the labour power of others Why is it so?

Labour is, therefore, what man does to provide food for the nourishment

of his bodily needs, to sustain his existence For this reason, Claude Akeasserts that economic productivity is the primary activity of man.3 If man mustlive, according to him, then he must work to provide food for himself

Ake avers that it is the importance of this that is amply reflected in theconsciousness of men that they give themselves appellations according to thetype of work they engage in: for instance, a teacher is one who engages inteaching to earn a wage to provide for food; a doctor, for a medicalpractitioner; an engineer; a trader etc For him, although it is true that mandoes not live by bread alone, but it is a more fundamental truth that mancannot live without bread The fact that one is no longer preoccupied by hisdaily economic needs, he asserts, means that the needs are being met, but thatdoes not, for him, take away the urgency of this need

It is through human ingenuity from his labour that discoveries are made

to provide for his other needs such as shelter, clothing, and so forth, to protectman from the unfriendly conditions of his immediate environment It is soimportant and central to man that his life goes beyond just mere subsistence:

Man creates and recreates his entire life Bywork, he builds Dams, irrigates deserts andfashions tools, which give him new capacitiesand new opportunities, for acquiring

knowledge By creating and recreating hiseconomic and other material conditions manalso creates culture, history and civilization.

Most importantly, he also creates hisconsciousness….4

Man has also used his labour power to structure his society and establishculture and patterns

In the history of human society, labour has played the most vitaldeterminant role in social relations Adam Smith supports this view when he

writes in his Wealth of Nations that society tends to benefit more when labour

is social; when there is a division in the productive process where oneperforms functions he is best skilled He states: “the greatest improvement inthe productive powers of labour, the greater part of skill, dexterity, andjudgment with which it is any where directed, or applied, seem to have beenthe effects of the division of labour”.5

It is in this socialization of production that modern societies are formed,and human relationships are fostered; hence labour shape the character of allhuman societies Society is often times polarized according to dynamicsarising from the relative importance placed on some aspects of labour overothers in the production process Ake notes in the production process, someappropriate the labour of others and benefit from the proceeds which cause themajor division between those who own the labour power and those whoappropriate the labour power of others He adds that:

Everyman is rich or poor according to thedegree in which he can afford to enjoy thenecessities, conveniences, and amusements

of human life, but after the division oflabour has once thoroughly taken place, it

is but a very small part of these with which

a man’s labour can supply him, the fargreater part of them he must derive fromthe labour of other people, and he must berich or poor according to the quantity ofthat labour which he can command, orwhich he can afford to purchase.6

Societies are thus made up of people classed into relations in view ofthose who sell their labour power for self sustenance and those who use thelabour of others for production This has become a major source of divisionand conflict in modern societies The study of the economic structure ofsociety for Ake will make it simpler to understand other aspects of society Heasserts that:

Once we understand what the material assets andconstrains of a society are, how the societyproduces goods to meet its material needs, howthe goods are distributed, and what types of socialrelations arise from the organization, we havecome a long way to understanding the culture ofthat society, its laws, its religious system, itspolitical system and even its mode of thought.7Ake therefore outlines that the primary cause of the problems in Africa areproducts of labour relations owing largely to the introduction of capital relationsfrom the West

1.2 Statement of the Problem

This study is motivated by the incessant conflicts in the Niger DeltaArea experienced by the researcher These conflicts are even experienced inthe wider Nigerian society and in Africa in general A closer survey of thesereveal that these conflicts are engendered by a lack of the basic necessities oflife relating to a poor state of social and economic development, in the midst

of an abundant resource base in almost all parts of Africa Conflicts aretherefore, products of frustrations resulting from this lack and want of thebasic needs of man in Africa The researcher sees Claude Ake’s conception oflabour and the class divisions it brings upon society, which in turn createsconstant antagonism and conflicts, relevant to the African experience, hencethe choice of this topic as a basis for an understanding of the causes ofconflicts in Africa and to proffer ways of resolving them

Claude Ake defines labour as human effort applied in production for the provision of food for the sustenance of his being He notes that it is through human labour that discoveries are made to provide for his other needs such as shelter, clothing, tools, and so forth, to protect him from the unfriendly conditions of his immediate environment Apart from being a means towards the provision of food for the sustenance of his being and the discovery of tools to meet his other immediate needs, labour is also used for the creation and recreation of his economic and other material conditions, he adds However, Ake notes that contemporary experience reveals that as societies develop and owing to the complexities in the production process, social relations are formed in relation to those who own the, means of

production and so regulate the other factors in the productive process, including the labour of others and those who do not This leads to antagonism between these social groups While the class of those who benefit from this arrangement attempt to maintain the status quo, the other class struggles to change the existing system For him therefore, there is an intrinsic link between labour and social relations Societies are therefore plagued with conflicts and strife between these two antagonistic classes Ake therefore studies the prevalent social conflicts in Africa and links these

to the social relations of production introduced into Africa through colonialism and imperialism.

The question is therefore, what is labour? Of what importance is labour

to man? How does labour engender social divisions? How do these divisionscreate conflicts in Africa, in Claude Ake’s conception? How does Ake addressthe problems of ethnicity, wars, poverty, bad governance, poor infrastructuraldevelopment, corruption and so on, in Africa and what lesson can Africalearn? The problems which this study sets to solve are,

1 Ake blames colonialism for some of the social problems in Africa; towhat extent is this assertion true?

2 If Africa’s problems are products of colonialism, what of other nationswhich were colonized yet they are advancing?

3 For Ake, Africa’s problems are caused by foreign agents, what rolewould the Africans play in tackling their problems?

4 Are there no possibilities of Africans contributing to their problems,considering the fact that direct political control has ended a long timeago in most of Africa?

5 Is there any possibility of African charting a new course for Africandevelopment based on the dignity of labour under a harmonious socialrelation?

1.3 Purpose of the Study

The purpose of this study is to critically examine Claude Ake’sconception of labour and social relations with a view to showing itsimplications for Africa, especially Nigeria It is an attempt to (a) identify themeaning of labour in Ake’s social and political philosophy (b) place hisconception of labour within the context of social and economic conflicts inAfrica (c) argue that within Ake’s thought, the contradictions and conflictsaround labour are linked in a fundamental way to colonialism and its impact inAfrica, and (d) finally the papers argues that resolving the contradictionsgenerated by colonialism is possible within the context of genuine democratictransformation in Africa

1.4 Thesis

The study establishes that Ake’s theory of labour and social relations isessentially Marxist in orientation with negative implications for Africa, giventhe role of colonialism and imperialism in Africa’s socio-economic history

1.5 Scope of the Study

This work will concentrate on Ake’s thought as it relates to labour and thedynamics of social relations in Africa While doing this, the contradictions andconflicts of labour and social relations in Africa will be highlighted

1.6 Significance of the Work

This work will expose in a long way the major causes of social problemsand the attendant developmental malaise in Africa, especially, Nigeria,highlighting how they can be addressed It shall add to the library of existingliterature on the subject and also serve as a reference material to scholars forfurther studies

1.7 Methodology

The qualitative research design was used for the study The data for thiswork were sourced basically from the library, books and journal The historicaland expository methods were used to situate Claude Ake and his place inhistory while exposing his concepts of labour and social relations Theseconcepts were further subjected to critical analysis and evaluations

4 Ake, a Political Economy of Africa, 8.

5 Adam Smith, the Wealth of Nations [with Introduction] by Alan B

Krueger (New York: Bantam Books, 2003), 9

6. Smith,43

7 Ake, A Political Economy of Africa, 1-2.

CHAPTER TWO

2.1 Literature Review

The concept of labour has engaged humanity since the earliest of times

to date It is on this account that the story of creation in the Christianconception states that a woman was made out of man to be his help mate, tosupport him in his labour.1 Labour is, therefore, what man engages in, usingthe products of nature to meet his needs It is synonymous with work In thischapter, we shall do a review on the concept of labour from the Ancientthrough Contemporary times

In the prehistoric times, it is on record that the early man used his labour

to subdue nature for his survival Through human progressions, humansurvival was made while hunting for games and gathering of fruits to thediscovering, via accident, of fire It is labour that has tailored the progression

of the human race in terms of the taming of nature for self- sustenance Thishuman ingenuity brought about the evolution of agriculture It foreclosesTimothy Fik’s definition of agricultural system as “any mutually interacting orinterdependent groups of agents, factors, and/or institutions involved in theplanting and tending of crops…and or the caring for and raising of livestock…for the purpose of producing food….”2

The importance of labour through agriculture was underscored in theancient Egyptian and Babylonian mythology where cults were established for

fertility: for instance, the earth was female, while the sun male Labour,therefore, must be a fusion of these elements of earth and sun for production.3

Human labour developed in the ancient civilizations of Egypt andMesopotamia, occasioned by agricultural production, 4 which in turnengendered social groups in these ancient societies Agriculture andproduction yielded commerce, and consequently aided the emergence of socialclasses in these ancient civilisations According to Russell,

The social system was very different…a smallaristocracy subsisted on the labour of oppressedserfs …in the poorer agricultural regions, thepopulation consisted mainly of farmerscultivating their own land with the help of theirfamilies But where commerce and industryflourished, the free citizens grew rich by theemployment of slaves….5

The above analysis underscores the role of labour through agriculture incivilization and the concomitant polarization of society into classes even inearlier human societies In this account, even the gods, in the myths were notdifferent from human beings, except that they were believed to be immortaland possess supernatural powers Otherwise, these gods were “the gods ofconquering aristocracy,”6 festering on the labour of others Gilbert Murrayunderscored this fact when he wrote that

The gods of most nations claim to create theworld The Olympians make no such claim

The most they ever did was to conquer it…

And when they have conquered theirkingdoms, what do they do? Do they attend togovernment? Do they promote agriculture?

Do they practice trades and industries? Not abit of it Why should they do honest work?

They find it easier to live on the revenues andblast with thunderbolts the people who do notpay (tax) They are conquering chieftains,royal buccaneers 7

These gods, according to Murray, were human creations for exploitation andsocial divisions of oppression of the disadvantaged in relation to labour andthe productive forces.8

Plato in his conception stated that labour is related to duty and justice Inhis theory of the state, Plato argued that the state is a natural institution andevolved from the nature of the individual The origin of the state is thus areflection of people’s economic needs; needs arising from human nature of thepreservation of the self, which must be met through work For him, it is only inthe state that efficient satisfaction of the needs can be made In his words, “astate comes into existence because no individual is self -sufficing”9 He addedfurther:

Our many needs require many skills, and no onepossesses all the skills needed to produce food,shelter, and clothing, as well as the various arts

Therefore, must be a division of labour, formore things will be produced and the work moreeasily and better done when every man is setfree from all other occupations to do, at the righttime, the one thing for which he is naturallyfitted 10

Plato reasons that society will soon be so complex that a division oflabour and specialisation will be the only solution to meeting its varying needs

This he said can engender efficiency and satisfaction Justice, therefore, forhim is when the status of this division of labour is maintained, requiringeverybody to perform his job creditably Societies or cities, for him, are builtbased on labour, to satisfy human needs effectively He stated that Polisoriginates,

…because the individual is not sufficient, but has many needs which hecannot supply himself… It originates, as

self-we have seen, from our needs… And ourfirst and greatest need is clearly theprovision of food to keep us alive.11

Plato maintained that in labour, human satisfaction and justice can only beattained in society when everyone contributes the best of his aptitude to thecommon-wealth, because “the result, then, is that more plentiful and better-quality goods are more easily produced if each person does one thing forwhich he is naturally suited.”12

Labour then is a natural need, and one that gives every individual insociety an opportunity to contribute to the development of the common-wealthbased on one’s aptitude It is one that engenders social participation andequality because every member in a society, going by this injunction, iscompelled by nature to be an active, not a passive participant, in the affairs ofthe polis based on ability and capacity, which alone can bring justice

For Epicurus, the beginning and the root of all good is the pleasure ofthe stomach He averred that true pleasure, that which must be pursued is the

absence of pain to which “even wisdom and culture, must be referred to”.13The most pleasant condition, according to this notion, is one where one isconstantly neither hungry nor thirsty 14

The Epicurean conception seems to mean that to satisfy or attainpleasure as the ultimate good, the labour of man must be involved This meansthat the productive energy of the individual must be exerted to satisfy theyearnings of the stomach in order to gain pleasure He, however, added thatthe safest social pleasure is friendship Therefore, in seeking pleasure, onemust not sacrifice friendship or segregate others Friendship in its true sense isthe absence of inequality in human interactions He held that, “friendshipcannot be divorced from pleasure, and for that reason, must be cultivated,because, without it, neither can we live in safety and without fear, nor everpleasantly”15

The stoics also are in agreement with the above position when theystated that all people are manifestations of the one universal spirit and should,according to them, live in brotherly love and readily help one another Theyheld that external differences such as rank and wealth are of no importance insocial relationships Reason, and not wealth, the Stoics averred, should be themoderating factor in relationship in society They in their foundation of ethicsproclaimed that good lies not in external objects, but in the state of the soulitself, in the wisdom and restraint by which a person is delivered from thepassions and desires that perturb the ordinary life, beyond immediate material

needs. 16 The stoic injunction implies that beyond satisfying the need for selfsustenance, human labour through material wealth should not be a basis forsocial actions.

In the medieval era, St Augustine in the Confessions, while eulogizing

creation, referred to humanity as a ‘workman’ with the

Intelligence by which he masters his art andsees inwardly what he is to produceexteriorly…which he translates what he doesfrom his mind to his material, and theninforms the mind of the result of hisworkmanship, so that the mind may judge bythat truth which presides within it whether thework is well done.17

For him, man is not merely a labourer, but has the capacity to appreciate whathis labour has produced to see if it suits the purpose of the labour or not 18

It is the position of this work that labour is the main reason for socialdivisions Feudalism, a characteristic feature in medieval philosophy, featuredprominently in most of the thoughts therein This was captured by the study of

St Anselm by Steven Cahn in the Classics of Western Philosophy Cahn

comments:

Most of the disputes into which Anselmentered revolved around the conflictingclaims of secular and spiritual authorities in ahighly feudalized society; for example,whether a bishop was a feudal servant of theking, and whether the king had the right toinvest bishops with the insignia of theiroffice 19

Economic considerations, in relationship with labour, were therefore, features

of this period even though we understand the era to be dominated by religiousthinking Religion was evidently used as a veil to perpetuate social segregationduring this period as evident from our earlier expose

In Modern philosophy, science, not religious dogma, was the mode ofexplaining natural phenomena, including social relationships, unlike earliertimes were religious dogma “lay down a complete system, covering humanmorality, human hopes, and the past and future history of the universe.” 20Bertrand Russell claims that although modern science was theoretical andpractical, from understanding the world to analyzing it, it was held thatscientific technique built in man a sense of power over his environment than inearlier times He added that the power conferred on humanity in modernscience is rather social than individualistic.21

Apart from science with its explanatory and interpretative capacity, theModern period also offered an insight into socio-political thought What wasimportant for human society, and which also preoccupied scholars was asociety which was safe, and where law and order exists A society whichallowed humanity enjoys the safety of his labour and the product of his labour.The modern philosophers were aware that science and critical thought cannotflourish in a society where there is strife Humanity was therefore interested infashioning out the best form of society that served that purpose

Thomas Hobbes, one of the prominent figures in that thought, saw the

Leviathan evolving through a social contract as the solution to a hitherto chaotic human society, the state of nature It is implied in the Hobbesian

(referring to the Thomas Hobbes’ philosophy) treatise that labour is paramountand therefore the product of labour, that is, private property must be guided atall cost to enable man live a good life

For Hobbes, all men are naturally equal, in the state of nature, where theinstincts of liberty and self preservation were paramount in human thought.That desires for survival brought man to the state of war where life, in histerms, became ‘solitary, nasty, brutish and short’ This instinct is akin to theneed for food and labour, without which man will soon die of starvation.Hobbes maintained that without a sovereign authority, “that great Leviathan,

or rather (to speak more reverently) of that Mortal God to which we owe…,

our peace and defence”, 22 without which the labour of man would be useless

as common strife shall consume him sooner than he desired To avert suchsituation in his conception, men entered into a social contract and appointed asupreme authority to regulate human behavior so as to curtail excesses Thesovereign, therefore:

Is one person, of whose acts a great multitude, bymutual covenants one with other, have madethemselves every one the author, to the end hemay use the strength and means of them all, as heshall think expedient, for their peace andcommon defence.23

The sovereign is a product of the people according to this treatise, unlikegovernment as a product of a greedy capitalist class who oversees thesuppression of the will of the majority as expressed in later theories.

Men who enacted government as a product of the contract entered intoare by this conception equal, not by labour or wealth The sovereign hasauthority to regulate their conduct and to keep them law-abiding, because theymust submit their liberties to the sovereign He maintains that the citizens canoppose the authority of the sovereign only on two major grounds: on thepreservation of the self, which of course is the reason for the institution of thisauthority; and on the account that if the sovereign does not have the powers toprotect the rights, liberties and security of the individual

Spinoza agrees with Hobbes that men in the state of nature were in astate of strife He added that;

Nothing can exist in a natural state which can becalled good or bad by common assent, sinceman who is in a natural state consults only hisown advantage, and determines what is good orbad according to his fancy and in so far as hehas regard for his own advantage alone, andholds himself responsible to no one save forhimself by any law… The law and ordinance ofnature under which all men are born, and formost part live, forbids nothing but what no onewishes or is able to do, and is not opposed tostrife, hatred, anger, treachery, or, in general,anything that appetite suggests 24

However, Spinoza is opposed to the Hobbes’ conception that men wereequal before the contract was entered into civil society For him, the Hobbes’

conception of self preservation and equality of man is plausible if viewed fromthe absence of war based on the cohesion by the sovereign 25

It is however safe to note that Hobbes based his theory on the basicassumption that all interests are the same in human society He assumed thatthe interest of a monarch is always identical with those of his subjects.Experience has shown that that is not always the case Monarchs or rulers have

in most times acted in such a manner that has polarized society into verticalrelationships of ruler and ruled; haves and have nots

For Robert Filmer in the Patriarcha, human society is naturally

classified, that is, it is natural that some are kings and others subjects Thetruth, according to him is that political power is derived,

Not from any contract, nor yet from anyconsideration of the public good, but entirelyfrom the authority of a father over hischildren….That the source of any regalauthority is subjection of children to parents; …that the natural rights of a king are same asthose of a father; and that by nature….26

For Filmer, therefore, social divisions are natural and the institutions whichuphold this hegemony are merely fulfilling this natural inclination and that theconcept of equality and liberty came to flourish in the times of ‘schooldivinities’ He argued that, “this tenet(s) was (were) hatched in schools, andhath been fostered by all succeeding Papists for good divinity”.27

One prominent figure in modern philosophy whose analysis of issues as

it relates to our subject of discourse is John Locke For him, man in the state of

nature was guided by reason He writes that, “reason, which is that law, (that)teaches all man-kind who will but consult it, that being all equal andindependent, no one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty andpossesions.”28

For this reason, Locke maintained that in the state of nature man livedpeacefully, but the fear of war occasioned the institution of an authority toavert the impending war Locke suggested that amongst the rights implied inthe natural law of reason cited above was the right to private property Theright to private property, Locke posited, precedes civil law, for it is grounded

on the natural moral law What justifies private property, according to this, islabour He states:

Since one’s labour is one’s own, whatever onetransforms from its original condition by one’slabour becomes one’s own, for one’s labour isnow mixed with those things It is by mixing his

or her labour with something that a person takeswhat was common property and makes it privateproperty 29

From the analysis of Locke, it is clear that the providence of naturerarely exists in forms directly suitable to meet human needs It thereforerequired of human labour to make nature suitable for use and when humanlabour is added to nature’s gift, it becomes private property Labour, Lockesaid, is what privatizes property, even if the providents of nature are generaland free, the implication of which has changed, shaped and stratified humanhistory Locke added:

Though the water in the fountain be everyone’s yet

who can doubt that in the pitcher is his only, whodrew it out? His labor hath taken it out of thehands of nature, where it was common andbelonged equally to all her children, and haththereby appropriated it to himself.30

It is however safe to add that labour and the product of labour permitted

in Locke’s conception can be related to immediate labour and productrespectively This is because, in Locke’s view, there is a limit to the amount ofproperty one can accumulate; “as much as anyone can make use of to anyadvantage of life before it spoils, so much he may by his labour fix a propertyin.”31 By property, Locke referred to and included “lives, liberty and estates.”32

This implies that even if private property is necessarily allowed, theremust be a limit to how much one can acquire so as not to create wastage andthe problems of alienation arising from the appropriation of the surplus valueleading to social classes, the antagonism and ‘war’ evident today Locke’sargument for private property did not yield to the accumulation of propertybeyond one’s immediate need

Joseph Omeregbe, argues that Locke is not a defender of crude, greedyand unscrupulous capitalism.33 This may, however, not have been animmediate problem for Locke What was important and needed urgent answers

in his time was how to protect lives and property in the society Omeregbe thusstated that it was for this purpose that people created political society because,

…When disputes arise, people tend to decide intheir own favour It is desirable therefore to

have both a set of written laws and also anindependent judge to decide disputes Toachieve these ends, people create a politicalsociety 34

As can be seen clearly from the above analysis, Locke averred that politicalsociety is instituted by man to curb the excesses of man in his attempt to uselabour to acquire private property for secure existence

Jean-Jacques Rousseau in his Social Contract attempted to provide

answers to the question why must there be civil authority and whether man iscompelled to obey the laws of civil government For him, “man is born free;and everywhere he is in chains.”35 Rousseau contends that in the state of

nature, people were motivated by “a natural sentiment -amour de soi - an

inclination to watch over his preservation, produce emotions of pity, humanityand virtue He further contends that it is the growth of human society, thecontact of men with other men that developed vices which are motivated by

“an artificial sentiment -amour proper - which is born in society and which

leads every individual to make more of himself than every other.”36 Therefore,

to settle the contradictions arising in such society, men undertook, “to find aform of association which will defend and protect the whole common force theperson and goods of each associate, and in which each, while uniting himselfwith all, may still obey himself alone”.37

The solution Rousseau added is the total alienation of each associate, togetherwith all his rights, to the whole community This for him is the road tofreedom

Rousseau’s attempt seems to place men on an equal pedestal bearing inmind how civil society evolved This fact, he says, should be considered whenmaking laws in society to allow for the special interest of all classes; toinstitute a system that guarantees the equality of all Social segregation istherefore not a considered problem going by this conception

The absence of a society without antagonistic classes according toG.W.F Hegel, can only exist in a society where the people make rationalchoices For him, therefore, “laws must be rational and directed at rationalpersons… (whose function) therefore is to bring rationality into behavior.” 38

For Herbert Spencer, the possibility of a high social state can only comethrough a cessation of war and hostilities amongst people in society andbetween societies through economic activities which in turn provides freedomas;

Industry makes for democracy and peace as lifeceases to be dominated by war….Sinceproduction can prosper only where initiative isfree, and industrial society breaks down thosetraditions of authority, hierarchy, and caste….39Spencer’s conception of evolution of societies underscores the fact thateconomic activities, not wars, superstition or religion can yield good humansocieties with freedom as its hallmark It is only in a system, according to him,which guarantees the preservation of human life, thereby building virile human

institutions across international borders for the protection of same objective.

He wrote thus:

Peace at home becomes the first need ofprosperity, and as capital becomes international,and thousand investments cross every frontier,international peace becomes a necessity aswell… Superstitious religions give way toliberal creeds whose focus of effort is theamelioration and ennoblement of human life andcharacter….40

Among the superstitious religions referred to by Spencer is the concept

of God which, according to Nietzsche, debases the very essence of humanity,which he said is the origin of the morality of the weak, the debased and the un-industrious in society; whom he says would perish on the introduction of themaster morality in society This, for Nietzsche, “is the ripping out of life by theroot; the practice of the church”, which, he said, is ‘hostile to life”41 anddestructive to human existence

Emile Durkheim relates his concept of society to Plato’s teleology Forhim, a good human society is always function related When the componentunits are able to play their specific roles, society functions at its best, heimplied Kinikanwo Anele referred to Durkheim’s analysis as concerned withthe account for social integration which depends on mechanical solidarity withprimitive and modern societies.42

Durkheim’s work concerns the moral basis of social cohesion based onthis solidarity which is the ultimate respect for human lives and the sanctity of

the individual He contends that in an ideal environment, modern societiescharacterized by extensive division of labour and specialization allows forgreater individual freedom and at the same time involve greater dependence onothers This moral order breaks down, when, according to him,

…Under conditions of anomic division oflabour This occurs when the division of labour

is not based upon the different interests andabilities of the people concerned, but is forcedupon them and is therefore experienced asunjust It also occurs when work becomes sofractionalized that all sense of meaningful co-operation in the work process is lost Underthese conditions, people become isolated fromeach other rather than integrated.43

Social solidarity, according to this analysis, originates from the division oflabour which proceeds through differentiation and the specialization of tasksand functions.44

For Auguste Comte, social progression is, therefore, a function of anindustrial state where wealth is generated by rational, scientific organization ofwork Progress, for him, includes

The scientific character of industry,especially the way in which labour isorganised, the unparalleled development ofwealth and resources arising from scientificapplications, and the new social phenomenon

of large-scale organization or work infactories 45

Similar to Nietzsche’s claim cited earlier, is that of one of the greatestsocial scholars ever recorded in humanity’s recent history, Karl Marx Marx

reasons that the concept of religion intoxicates like a deadly alcohol, opium,which kills the virility in humanity and makes man a tool for exploitation by aclass of those who are clever and virile in spirit Marx in his analysis focused

on the specific character of modern societies based on capitalist system ofeconomic production He stated that when a few people own the means ofproduction upon which others depend for their livelihood, the consequencesare class conflict, exploitation, alienation and social segregations Marx’sconcept of alienation is supported by Sylvia Hale, who defined it as, “thedehumanizing character of social relations under capitalism.”46

When the majority of the people are denied access to the means ofproduction, Marx wrote, the result is that, “they are reduced to a state ofchronic insecurity and powerlessness They sell their labour power forwages….Work is reduced to a meaningless, demoralizing activity.”47

The resultant stratification of society into classes, according to Marx, makesfor an unhealthy rivalry between these groups in society This antagonism, forMarx, does not make way for progress as it is rife with mutual distrust andantagonism He traced the history of class in his works from what he calledthe primitive society, through the slave society, to the feudal and the capitalistsystem based on the antagonism of classes He professed that owing to themutual antagonism between these two major classes in the modern state, aninevitable revolution of the working class will eventually overthrow the

capitalist class, leading to the evolution of socialism and ultimatelycommunism a classless society.

The underlying characteristic among these stratified groups in historymentioned, according to Marx,

Is an exploitative one In the feudal societies,exploitation often took the form of the directtransfer of produce from the peasantry to thearistocracy Serfs were compelled to give acertain proportion of their production to theiraristocratic masters….In modern capitalistsocieties, the source of exploitation is lessobvious….In the course of the working day …workers produce more than is actually needed

by employers to pay the cost of hiring them

This surplus value is the source of profit, whichcapitalists are able to put to their own use.48Marx explains that the aim of wage-labour in capitalism is constantexploitation of the labour power of the individual, who are paid wages merely

to enable them survive for further exploitation He averred thus:

The average price of wage-labour is theminimum wage, i.e., that quantum of the means

of subsistence which is absolutely requisite tokeep the labourer in bare existence as a labourer

What, therefore, the wage labourer appropriates

by means of his labour, merely suffices toprolong and reproduce a bare existencephilosophy and choice 49

Anthony Giddens opined that the Marxian analysis of class directs ustowards objective structured economic inequalities in society Classes, he said,

do not refer to beliefs people hold about their positions, but about objective

conditions which allow some to have greater access to material rewards thanothers.50

Marx Weber’s approach to class and stratification is also related to that

of Karl Marx His conception is, however, a modified and elaborated analysis

of the subject Weber sees a greater variety of economic factors in classformations than are contained in the Marxian treatise He contends:

Class divisions derive not only from control orlack of control of the means of production, butfrom economic differences which have nothingdirectly to do with property Such resourcesinclude especially the skills and credentials orqualifications which affect the types of jobpeople are able to obtain Those in managerial

or professional occupations earn more, and havemore favourable conditions of work, forexample, than people in blue-collar jobs Thequalifications they possess, such as degrees,diplomas and the skills they have acquired,make them more ‘marketable’ than otherswithout such qualifications.51

Furthermore, Weber highlighted two basic social groups beside class, namely:

Status and Party Status, for him, refers to differences between social groups in

the social honour or prestige they are accorded by others.52 Privileged statusgroups are people who have high prestige in a given social order; for instance,lawyers, doctors, lecturers have high prestige in most societies

According to this view of Weber, the possession of material wealth may notnecessarily give one a high social status.53 He added that whereas class is

objectively given, status depends on people’s subjective evaluation of social

differences Class, according to Weber, derives from economic factorsassociated with property and earnings; status is governed by the varying styles

of life groups follow 54

Party, for Weber, is a group of individuals who work together becausethey have common backgrounds, aims or interests Party formation hemaintains, is an important aspect of power, and can influence stratificationindependently of class and status because it has the capacity to affecteconomic circumstance of individuals and groups 55

Closely knitted to the above analysis is the view expressed by anAmerican, Eric Olin Wright Wright in his theory incorporated both Marx andWeber’s positions He avers that there are three dimensions of control overeconomic resources in modern capitalist production

These include:

a Control over investment or money capital;

b Control over the physical means of production; and

c Control over labour power

His analysis is that those who belong to the capitalist class have controlover each of these dimensions within the productive system Members of theworking class do not have control over any of the above list He added that inbetween these two main classes emerges a group whose position is rather

ambiguous This group, for him, is the contradictory class whose members are

able to influence some aspect of production, but are denied control over others

White-collar and professional employers are in this category They contracttheir labour power to earn a living same as manual or blue-collar workers, yetthey have a greater degree of control over the work setting For this reason,Wright terms them a ‘contradictory class’ formation because they are neithercapitalists nor manual workers, yet share characteristics with both.55

Frank Parkin agrees that ownership of the means of production is thebasic foundation of social classes He stated that property is, however, onlyone form of social closure which can be manipulated as a basis of power overothers Social closures, for him, are processes whereby groups try to maintainexclusive control over resources, limiting access to them Ethnic origin,

language, religion are some of such social enclosures used for usurpation and exclusion of other groups from gaining access and control over economic

resources.57 This view is supported by Okwudiba Nnoli who stated that “ethniccontradictions have an objective basis in the social structure of society.” 58

Ted Robert Gurr is rather of the opinion that some deliberate historicalactions are some of the causes of inequality in contemporary societies Heoutlined the cases where descendant groups from economic migrants whowere recruited as labourers in Eastern Indian plantations in Malaysia andTurks in Germany often lack skills or access that would help them break classbarriers He added cultural values, belief systems as playing a role in the totalsubjugation of a people to subordinates classes in society For instance, when agroup has values and belief that discourage developmental activities, such a

group will continue to subject her people to subordinate classes as statedabove.59

This position is shared by Willie Okowa,60 when he argued that wherethe accepted belief and tradition by man makes it difficult for him to takeresponsibility of his actions, and attributes his failures and gains to causes andagents outside his reason, , his capacity to be productive is affected and assuch he remains at the lowly class, amenable for oppression by others Okowareasons that for man to tame the world or to produce, he has to understand theworld, 61 using his thinking faculties and not emotions or superstition Labour

is, therefore, a conscious activity aimed at providing results to enhance humanexistence

For Harold Laski, the modern human society at every epoch is one thatguarantees exploitation of classes He affirms that the perceived function ofthe modern state: to secure order; provide a technique of peaceful change; and

to enable demand to be met on the widest possible scale, is doubtful, or at bestclass based For him:

What the order maintained by the state securesdoes not provide a technique of peaceful changeand does not permit demand to be satisfied onthe largest possible scale The state, it is urged,

is, in fact, the supreme coercive power in anygiven political society; but it is, in fact, used toprotect and promote…the interest of those whoown its instrument of production.62

The order according, to this analysis, that the state maintains, is the order ofthe subjection of the working class to the rule of the capital class; a peacefulchange that maintains the retention of power, always by the capital class Thedemand to be satisfied depends upon the safeguard of the property class in thatsociety.

It is to add credence to the above claim that J.W Smith affirms that the

“very life-blood of powerful societies flows through those arteries of (un-equalcoexistence).”63 Smith was quite apt when he lamented that:

An economy is a social machine to produce anddistribute the needs of the people The peopleassociate together in a society for mutualbenefit; the basic civilizing impulse is theprotection of the weak from the tyranny of thestrong Economic value is created by…simplyput, ‘living’ Through creating subtle-monopoly,property rights structuring inequality into law,the cunning have convinced the unwitting towillingly hand a large share of this wealth tothem 64

Opposed to the un-equal co-existence expressed by Smith in capitalistsocieties, S.M Molema noted that, in the Bantu society in Africa, the code ofsocial relations, between, “one member of the tribe with his fellow-tribesmanand with a member of another tribe”65was utilitarian It a system which soughtthe greatest happiness and good of the tribe, over the individual Thisutilitarianism made up of social inequalities, as Molema shows He writes thatthe tribal communism acted as a substitute for, “physical inequality as nature

may have set up between men…so that men who may be unequal byconvention … are considered in the tribe utilitarianism.” 66

Molema’s argument is further strengthened by Julius Nyerere, who claimedthat exploitation and class distinctions are alien to the African and as such therewere no known capitalists in traditional Africa For him,

Since the appearance of millionaires in a societydoes not depend on its affluence, sociologistsmay find it interesting to try and find out why oursocieties in Africa did not, in fact produce anymillionaires… It was because the organization oftraditional African society—its distribution of thewealth it produced—was such that there washardly any room for parasitism.67

Nyerere maintained that in traditional Africa, everyone was a worker;not in the capitalist sense of an exploited seller of his labour, but one whocontributes to the overall wellbeing of society He said the African socialismwas one embedded in work, “as there is no socialism without work A societywhich fails to give its individuals the means to work, or, having given themthe means to work, prevents them from getting a fair share of the products oftheir own sweat and toil, needs putting right” 68

John Mbiti highlighted that in the African world, the individual does notexist, except from the perspective of the whole Therefore, social exploitationsand segregation are not part of the African existence, because,

Only in terms of other people does the individualbecome conscious of his own being, his ownduties, his privileges and responsibilities towardshimself and toward other people….Whatever

happens to the individual happens to the wholegroup, and whatever happens to the whole grouphappens to the individual The individual canonly say: I am, because we are; and since we are,therefore I am 69

It is from this social understanding that the African world revolves, in Mbiti’sargument, and so, exploitation and class existence are not part of the traditionalsociety in Africa

Mbiti contends that there existed systems of social equality in traditionalAfrica before the introduction of capitalism by the West, and the socialinequality and strife accompanying this introduction The incessant conflictsand the problems of development were therefore, planted by this capitalistsystem It is on this assertion that Martin Meredith, argued that conflict inAfrica and the myriad of problems therein were planted by her contact with herWestern colonizers, who in their attempt at seeking territories for economicexploitation divided hitherto existing people into alien territories with aliensocial experiences Meredith writes:

The map used to carve up the African continentwere mostly inaccurate: large areas were

described as terra incognita When marking out

the boundaries of their new territories, Europeannegotiators frequently resorted to drawingstraight line on the map, taking little or noaccount of the myriad of traditional monarchies,chiefdoms and other African societies that existed

on the ground Nearly one half of the newfrontiers imposed on Africa were geometric lines,lines of latitude and longitude, other straight line

or arcs In some cases, African societies were rentapart… In other cases, Europe’s new colonial

territories enclosed hundred of diverse andindependent groups, with no common history,culture, language or religion.70

The major reason for this conquest and colonization of Africa by the West waseconomic There was the need to explore further lands for markets, to exploitresources and for expropriation of the labour of the Africans, thus preparing theground for the myriad of crises in Africa

It is discernible from the above review that human existence andsustenance can only be made through the product of labour Societies anddevelopments have evolved as by-products of human labour This is whyObafemi Awolowo asserts that, human loyalty is primarily for economicconsiderations, and secondary considerations can only be made to any otherassociation or belief system that can guarantee his economic needs.71 However,

it can safely be said that the human desire for accumulation has turned thecircumstances surrounding labour into vices that plague contemporary humansocieties Social segregation is one of such vices which have brought humanityinto constant antagonism with himself and his neigbours The original aim ofthe guarantee and sustenance of human life and property, which civilgovernment was first instituted to do, is no longer guaranteed by the division

of society into classes in relation to production

The reverse is the case in almost all human constitutions The state asthe highest form of human society exists now to maintain the hegemony ofexploitation of the labour of the less privileged groups The history of man as

Marx maintained, has remained a history of struggles by one class groupagainst others What is needed now is how to settle the conflicts arising insociety from the concomitant effects of human accumulation andmisappropriation of human labour

We shall now make a brief biography of Claude Ake, whose concept oflabour our work examines

2.2 A Brief Biography of Claude Ake

Claude Eleme Ake was born in Omoku, in Rivers State, SouthernNigeria, on February 18, 1939 He was the son of Geoffrey Ake, a politician,and Christiana Ake, a trader Ake attended Kings College, Lagos, and theUniversity of Ibadan in Nigeria He then moved to Great Britain, completinghis bachelor's degree at the University of London in 1962 Ake pursued hisgraduate studies in the United States, earning a master's degree from ColumbiaUniversity in 1963 and a doctorate there in 1966

After completing his Ph.D., Ake was offered a position as an assistantprofessor of political science at Columbia, where he taught for three years In

1967, Ake published his first book, the influential treatise A Theory of Political Integration In 1969, Ake left the United States to take a job as an

associate professor of political science at Carleton University in Ottawa,Canada During his time at Carleton, Ake won a Rockefeller Foundationfellowship and spent some time at the University of Nairobi in Kenya as avisiting professor From 1972 to 1974, Ake was a visiting professor at theUniversity of Dar-Es-Salaam in Tanzania

In the mid-1970s, Ake returned to Nigeria to take a position at thenewly-founded University of Port Harcourt in his home state of Rivers State

He served as professor of political economy and, later, as dean of faculty of

social sciences In 1978, Ake published Revolutionary Pressures in Africa,

described by its publisher, Zed Press, as "one of the most controversial books

to have come from an African author in the 1970s." In the book, Ake looked atthe history of Africa from a Marxist perspective, arguing that the continentwas ripe for a revolution against capitalism "Neo-colonial dependence isrooted in the class structure of Africa," Ake wrote in the book's introduction,

"it cannot be ended unless a socialist revolution occurs."

Ake explored similar themes in Social Science as Imperialism: A Theory of Political Development, published in 1979, and A Political Economy

of Africa, published in 1981 In 1982, Ake was a visiting fellow at Oxford University in Britain That year, he published The New World Order: A View from the South From 1985 to 1986, Ake was a Woodrow Wilson Scholar at

the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C

In 1989, as Nigeria prepared to return to civilian rule, Ake took time offfrom his position at the University of Port Harcourt to help form one of thecountry's new political parties Once the parties were organized, however, themilitary government decided to abolish them and form its own As a result,

Ake told Walusako Mwalilino of the West Africa Review: "I felt that I could

not, in all conscience, participate in those parties at that time And in themeantime, because I had taken part in politics, however temporarily, I was notallowed anymore to teach in the university and I had to resign."

Unable to find a teaching position in Nigeria, Ake moved to the UnitedStates, accepting a post at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C In

doing so, Ake unwillingly became part of a problem that has plaguedpostcolonial Nigeria: the "brain drain" of highly-qualified professionals wholive in other countries for political or economic reasons.

Soon afterward, however, Ake was able to return to Nigeria, and, in

1991, he founded the Center for Advanced Social Science (CASS), a think

tank intended to foster development from within Eric Page wrote in the New York Times that during the 1990s the center also functioned as "an honest

broker concerning oil revenues and environmental issues between localofficials and representatives of several minority groups in the oil-producingarea in southeastern Nigeria."

For Ake, deciding to return to Nigeria was a moral imperative "Perhapsbetter than anything else, this move exemplifies Claude's total and selflesscommitment to the advancement of social science in Africa," Professor Guy

Martin of Clark Atlanta University was quoted as saying in West African Review Martin continued, "Declining many lucrative offers from prestigious

academic institutions in the United States and elsewhere or even occasionaloffers of lobbying on behalf of discredited African governments Claudeconsidered it his sacred duty to work in Africa." In 1992, the Nigeriangovernment conferred on Ake an Order of Merit Award for his contribution tosocial science

In addition to his academic work, Ake served as a consultant for manyinternational organizations, including the World Bank, the United Nations

Development Program, the United Nations Economic Commission, theAfrican Development Bank, and Canada's International DevelopmentResearch Center Ake also worked closely with Ken Saro-Wiwa, aninternationally-known environmental and social activist In the early 1990s,Saro-Wiwa persuaded Ake to join a commission, sponsored by oil companyRoyal Dutch/Shell, to study the ecology of the oil-producing Niger Delta Akeagreed, although he was critical of Shell's negative impact on Nigeria'seconomy and environment.

In 1995, Saro-Wiwa was executed by the Nigerian government, a movethat drew worldwide condemnation Ake resigned from the commission inprotest, accusing Shell of being complicit in Saro-Wiwa's murder "In Nigeria,companies like Shell are struggling between greed and fear," he was quoted as

saying in the New York Times Refusing to be intimidated, Ake continued to

fight to expose human rights and environmental abuses in Nigeria

The following year, Ake accepted a position as a visiting professor at

Yale University Also in 1996, he published Democracy and Development in Africa, in which he argued that economic development in Sub-Saharan Africa

was impeded mainly by domestic politics The only solution, in his view, was

"people-centered" development, led by ordinary Africans, not externalorganizations or the African elite

During his time at Yale, Ake continued to be active with the think tank

he had founded in Nigeria In November of 1996, he returned to Port Harcourt