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Libya
The Green Book, Part II
Qadhafi begins The Green Book, Part II: The Solution of the
Economic Problem: "Socialism," published in early 1978, with
a brief examination of the relationship between workers (producers)
and employers (owners). He recognizes that the lot of the worker
has been improved dramatically since the Industrial Revolution.
The worker has gained fixed working hours, overtime pay, different
kinds of leave, profit sharing, participation in management, job
security, and the right to strike. Drastic changes have also occurred
in ownership, including the transference of private ownership
to the state (see Income and Wealth , ch. 3).
Despite these significant changes, however, the basic relationship
between the producer, who is a wage earner, and the owner, who
pays the wages, is still one of slavery. Even where the state
owns the enterprise and the income derived from it reverts to
the community, the plight of the wage earner, who contributes
to the productive process for someone else's benefit, remains
the same. Qadhafi's solution to the problem is to abolish the
wage system. Rather than contributing to the productive process
for the owner's benefit, or profit, the actual producer should
be a partner in the process, sharing equally in what is produced
or in the income derived from what is produced.
Qadhafi believes that a person cannot be free "if somebody else
controls what he needs" to lead a comfortable life. Thus, each
person must fully possess a house, a vehicle, and an income. Individuals
cannot be wage earners because someone else would then control
their income. They cannot have an extra house to rent, for in
renting property they would be controlling a primary need of someone
else. According to Qadhafi, "The legitimate purpose of the individual's
economic activity is solely to satisfy his [material] needs";
it is not to create a surplus in order to gain a profit. Qadhafi
maintains that profit and money will eventually disappear as basic
human needs are met. The only provision for a differentiation
in wealth is social reward, in which the society allocates to
an individual a certain share of its wealth equivalent to the
value of some special service rendered.
The 1969 constitutional proclamation recognized both public ownership
("the basis of the development of society") and private ownership
(so long as it was nonexploitive). The application of Qadhafi's
new views on ownership began a few months after publication of
Part II of The Green Book. In May 1978, a law was passed
giving each citizen the right to own one house or a piece of land
on which to build a house. Ownership of more than one house was
prohibited, as was the collection of rent. On September 1, the
ninth anniversary of the September revolution, Qadhafi called
on workers to "free the wage earners from slavery" and to become
partners in the productive process by taking over "the public
and private means of production." The takeover of scores of firms
followed; presumably the firms were to be controlled by the new
people's committees. Still another aspect of the drive against
exploitation was Qadhafi's late-autumn ban on commercial retail
activity. The Libyan leader advised retailers to enter productive
occupations in agriculture or construction (see The Revolution
and Social Change , ch. 2). However, the immediate practical result
of these changes, was economic chaos and a significant decrease
in production (see Income and Wealth , ch. 3).
With regard to land, Qadhafi rejects the idea of private ownership.
Drawing a distinction between ownership and use, he argues that
land is the collective property of all the people. Every person
and his heirs have the right to use the land to satisfy their
basic needs. The land belongs to those who till it. To hire farm
hands is forbidden because it would be exploitive.
Data as of 1987
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