The Process of Social Transformation
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Source: Bahá'í Library Online (bahai-library.com), curated by Jonah Winters. Used by permission of the curator. Original citation: Farzam Arbab, The Process of Social Transformation, bahai-library.com.
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The Process of Social Transformation

Farzam Arbab
published in The Bahá'í Faith and Marxism pp. 9-20

Ottawa: Bahá'í Studies Publications, 1987

Introduction

Every theory of social change has at its foundation a set of profound and
often implicit convictions, which must be made explicit if the corresponding
analysis of social reality is to achieve a reasonable degree of clarity.
Beliefs about human nature, already discussed by previous speakers, are
examples of such convictions; another set of equally important ideas has to
do with the role of the individual and of social structures in the process of
social transformation. In this respect, two opposing views can easily be
identified. At one extreme, a number of ideologies tend to seek social
change as a mere outcome of the upgrading of the individual, be it through
secular education and training, or through religious conversion. To these
belong numerous religious movements that seek the solution of all human
problems in the salvation of souls, either offered to fixed numbers, or
finally to every human being on the planet. It is implicitly assumed by these
groups that change in social structures will somehow be an automatic
consequence of the salvation of a sufficient number of individuals and the
victory of the righteous. In practice, of course, it is not difficult to find the
righteous fully participating in oppressive social structures without even
noticing the slightest contradiction. It is interesting to note that this type
of ideological stand is so prevalent in the internationally supported
development plans of the governments of many countries, plans that hope
to overcome poverty with minimum structural change, by upgrading the
skills of individuals through elaborate training programs and by offering
them some means for improving their conditions, usually jobs or credit.

Views opposing this individualistic approach to social change may argue
that the human being is entirely a product of society. No change is then
possible unless social structures, mainly those related to matters of
political power, are changed first. The greater social consciousness of
adherents to such views, however, does not guarantee freedom from
oppression either. It is possible for certain extremes to accept easily that
ends completely justify means and to define moral codes entirely in terms
of the objectives of the destruction of old structures, at least during the
period of revolutionary change. This position can be further strengthened
by the adoption of extreme views of social determinism laws of
transformation inherent to the logic of history that shape individual and
collective will, and when necessary, justify almost any act of violence and
oppression.

The Bahá'í concept of social change does not fall in either of
these two categories. We tend to see the transformation of human society
as a result of a very complex set of interactions between profound changes
that have to occur within the individual and deliberate attempts at changing
the structure of society.

10
THE BAHA'I
FAITH AND MARXISM

Moreover, the change of social structures is not understood as mere
political change, it involves total change in all structures, mental, cultural,
economic, and social, including a complete change in the very concept of
political leadership and power.

Individuals, whose behavior is highly influenced by society do possess a
spiritual dimension, which can be illumined by divine teachings and free
them from the bounds of oppressive social forces. These individuals, by no
means perfect or saved, try to walk a path of spiritual transformation
defined by the teachings of the central figures of the Bahá'í
Faith. This path of spiritual growth, however, is not one of individual
salvation; it exactly implies constant efforts to create and strengthen new
social institutions. The new structures, even when perfectly designed, may
not function in a perfect way at first, but they do make it possible for an
ever-increasing number of human beings to walk farther and farther on this
path of spiritual transformation. The vision, then, is one of an iterative
process, which unfolds within a few generations, is propelled by forces
inherent in the very purpose of the creation of the universe, and in turn
generates forces that continuously accelerate the processes of change,
leading finally to what Shoghi Effendi has called an "organic change in the
structure of presentday society, a change such as the world has not yet
experienced."1

The spiritualization of the individual, one half of the process of social
change, is by itself too vast a subject to be treated here. I would only like
to discuss a little further the importance of its social dimension. It is often
said that the acquisition of spiritual qualities and moral behavior is what
the Bahá'í Faith has in common with all other religions. While
this is true, a few important differences must be noted. The fact that the
goal of religious practice is shifted from individual salvation to the
collective progress of the entire human race is reflected in the
Bahá'í teachings in the change of emphasis on the qualities to
be acquired by each believer. For example, while charity, so essential to
Christian theology is still highly praised, justice is given a far more central
place. Bahá'u'lláh has told us:The best beloved
of all things in My sight is Justice; turn not away therefrom if thou desirest
Me, and neglect it not that I may confide in thee. By its aid thou shalt see
with thine own eyes and not through the eyes of others, and shalt know of
thine own knowledge and not through the knowledge of thy neighbor. Ponder
this in thy heart; how it behoveth thee to be. Verily justice is My gift to
thee and the sign of My loving-kindness. Set it then before thine eyes.2In the same way, while tolerance
is recommended, those attitudes that lead to unity and human solidarity are
far more appreciated. In general, moral behavior is analyzed from the point
of view of the achievement of human potential, individually and collectively,
thus liberating the believer from the feelings of guilt so common in many
religions.

__________
1. Shoghi Effendi, The World Order of
Bahá'u'lláh, 2d cd. (Wilmette, Il.: Bahá'í
Publishing Trust, 1974), 43.
2 Bahá'u'lláh, The Hidden
Words, tr. Shoghi Effendi (London: Bahá'í Publishing Trust,
1932), 5-6.

The Process of Social
Transformation
11

In addition to the change of emphasis on specific qualities, the social
dimension IS also enhanced through the expansion of the meaning of most
qualities to include a social vision. Love includes the abolition of social
prejudices and the realization of the beauty of diversity in the human race.
Detachment from the world is not taught in a way that leads to idleness and
to the acceptance of oppression; it is acquired to free us from our own
material interests in order to dedicate ourselves to the well-being of
others. To this expansion of the meaning of almost all qualities is also
added a constant endeavor to acquire social skills to participate in
meetings of consultation, to work in groups, to express opinions with
fairness and clarity, to understand the points of view of others, to reach and
carry out collective decisions. Thus, the path of spiritualization mentioned
here should not be confused with one that defines goodness passively and
produces a human being whose greatest virtue is not to harm anyone; it is a
path to create social activists and agents of change.

This path of the spiritualization of the human being, the mystical-practical
path of social activity and inner transformation, is described in great detail
in the Bahá'í teachings. However, the other aspect of social
transformation, that of the organic change in the structure of human
society, is treated in a different way. The writings of the central figures of
the Faith contain numerous statements and explanations of social
principles, of laws and ordinances, as well as of institutions and processes
of change. But many of the theoretical and practical tasks are left to be
accomplished by the growing Bahá'í community through a
global and constant process of consultation and scholarly inquiry into social
reality. The final goal of the transformation is also given in the form of the
design of a new World Order, which is to be entirely different in all its
cultural, social, political, economic, and religious structures from the
present order that has been called lamentably defect
ive by Bahá'u'lláh.

The complex and intricate workings of this new World Order will be
intimately based on the teachings of the Founder of the
Bahá'í Faith but at the same time, much of it will be the fruit
of the process of integration of now isolated or even hostile races, groups,
and nations who, as they come together and unite in the same cause, become
transformed and help transform each other and bring to the rising
institutions of a new World Order the richness of different cultures and of
different social thought and experience. This is an essential aspect of the
process of social transformation as envisioned by the Bahá'í
Faith. Its universality has two distinct dimensions: one consists of the
original teachings of Bahá'u'lláh, who is accepted as a
universal manifestation, revealing the deepest of principles and laws of
human existence, and the other results from the fact that social concepts,
institutions, and practices are organically growing from unified efforts of
diverse peoples--Europeans, North Americans, Latins, the indigenous
peoples of the Americas, the African tribes, the people of India and China--
and are not based on the conditions of one people at a given historical
moment. In the remarks that follow, each statement must be seen as
accompanied by numerous questions that would need to be resolved
through a great deal of individual and collective reflection and by
challenges that must be met as the Bahá'ís actively
participate in social action and increasingly contribute to the processes of
change.

12
THE BAHA'I
FAITH AND MARXISM

Twin Processes of Change

At a first level of generality, Bahá'ís see the organic change
in the structure of human society as being propelled by two parallel
processes, which have been described by Shoghi Effendi in the following
terms:As we view the world around us, we are compelled to
observe the manifold evidences of that universal fermentation which, in
every continent of the globe and in every department of human life, be it
religious, social, economic or political, is purging and reshaping humanity in
anticipation of the Day when the wholeness of the human race will have been
recognized and its unity established. A two-fold process, however, can be
distinguished, each tending, in its own way and with an accelerated
momentum, to bring to a climax the
forces that are transforming the face of our planet. The first is essentially
an integrating process, while the second is fundamentally disruptive. The
former, as it steadily evolves, unfolds a System which may well serve as a
pattern for that world polity towards which a strangely-disordered world is
continually advancing; while the latter, as its disintegrating influence
deepens, tends to tear down, with increasing violence, the antiquated
barriers that seek to block humanity's progress towards its destined
goal.3The following passage
from The Promised Day is Come gives an indication of the range and
the intensity of the destructive process:A tempest,
unprecedented in its violence, unpredictable in its course, catastrophic in
its immediate effects, unimaginably glorious in its ultimate consequences,
is at present sweeping the face of the earth. Its driving power is
remorselessly gaining in range and momentum. Its cleansing force, however
much undetected, is increasing with every passing day. Humanity, gripped in
the clutches of its devastating power, is smitten by the evidences of its
resistless fury. It can neither perceive its origin, nor probe its significance,
nor discern its outcome. Bewildered, agonized and helpless, it watches this
great and mighty wind of God invading the remotest and fairest regions of
the earth, rocking its foundations, deranging its equilibrium, sundering its
nations, disrupting the homes of its peoples, wasting
its cities, driving into exile its kings, pulling down its bulwarks, uprooting
its institutions, dimming its light, and harrowing up the souls of its
inhabitants.4It is important
to note here that Bahá'ís do not find it necessary to
participate in this destructive process; the destruction of the structures of
an old world order comes about by forces that are already working within it
and, in a certain sense, do not need any extra help. As painful as the
destruction of a world is for every human being living in this age of
transition, its necessity has to be accepted, since old structures that
impede the establishment of a new world order must be swept away in one
way or another. Thus, for example, the persistence of racism, in an age when
it must necessarily be abolished forever, gives rise to forces that imply
painful strife and a great deal of human sacrifice. Yet, these

__________
3. Shoghi Effendi. World Order of
Bahá'u'lláh, 170.
4. Shoghi Effendi, The Promised
Day is Come, 2d cd. (Wilmette, Il: Bahá'í Publishing Trust,
1961), 1.

The Process of Social
Transformation
13

same forces gradually topple racist structures in every region, a process
that began more than a hundred years ago has achieved a great deal both
concretely and in terms of its influence on the convictions of millions of
human beings and will necessarily move forward to bring down the many
bulwarks that still remain.

The economic and political structures of human society have certainly been
shaken by the forces unleashed through strife and struggle among classes,
groups, and nations in the past century. Gone already are the kings and
potentates of the nineteenth century. Many of the strongholds of
colonialism have already been vanquished. New but inadequate structures
that have taken the place of the old ones, originating in the East or the
West, are in constant crisis. The economic and political relations among
nations and within countries Continuously deteriorate while the arsenals of
the world are being stocked with arms of increasingly destructive capacity.
Not only do governments spend fortunes on armaments, but also in many
countries, large numbers of people from among the masses of humanity are
being armed, including 13 and 14-year-old adolescents. The process of the
destruction of these structures is, of course, not a simple one. New
economic and political empires have been and continue to be built. New
formulas are constantly proposed, and the energies of entire generations in
every country are spent to prove their validity. Yet, there is no doubt that
the political and economic institutions of present-day society are only
surviving from crisis to crisis. The process of the liberation of humankind
from a defective world order is well under way, as every conquest or defeat
of the contending parts shows with more clarity the utter inadequacy of any
social organization based on the dictates of the lower nature of man and his
insatiable desires whether for material goods or for political and economic
power.

In the same way, the longstanding structures that have perpetuated
inequality between men and women are also being destroyed, preparing the
way for a very different organization of human society. Parallel to this, the
structure of family has undergone profound changes, at times destroying
valuable bonds and indispensable conditions for human growth, but at the
same time, paving the way for the establishment of a new kind of family
where the two sexes cooperate and help each other develop, and where
children learn the skills of living as world citizens rather than being slaves
of blind loyalty to a small nucleus of relatives.

The effects of the process of disintegration can be further enumerated to
include religious, educational, and cultural structures, and even to touch
upon some of the basic structures of scientific thought that have been
cherished for the last two or three centuries as the foundation of progress
and modern civilization The important point to be mentioned here is that,
according to the Bahá'í interpretation of recent history, all
these destructive processes are simply paving the way for the first stages
of a world order described by Shoghi Effendi in the following
terms:The unity of the human race, as envisaged by
Bahá'u'lláh, implies the establishment of a world
commonwealth in which all nations, races, creeds, and classes are closely
and permanently united and in which the autonomy of its state members and
the personal freedom and initiative of the individuals

14
THE BAHA'I
FAITH AND MARXISM

that compose them are definitely and completely safeguarded.
This commonwealth must, as far as we can visualize it, consist of a world
legislature, whose members will, as the trustees of the whole of mankind,
ultimately control the entire resources of all the component nations, and
will enact such laws as shall be required to regulate the life, satisfy the
needs, and adjust the relationships of all races and peoples. A world
executive, backed by an international Force, will carry out the decisions
arrived at, and apply the laws enacted by, this world legislature, and will
safeguard the organic unity of the whole commonwealth. A world tribunal
will adjudicate and deliver its compulsory and final verdict in all and any
disputes that may rise between the various elements constituting this
universal system. A mechanism of world inter-communication will be
devised, embracing the whole planet, freed from national hindrances and
restrictions, and functioning with marvellous swiftness and perfect
regularity. A world metropolis will act as the nerve centre of a world
civilization, the focus towards which the unifying forces of life will
converge and from which its energizing influences will radiate. A world
language will either be invented or chosen from among the existing
languages and will be taught in the schools of all the federated nations as an
auxiliary to their mother tongue. A world script, a world literature, a
uniform and universal system of currency, of weights and measures, will
simplify and facilitate intercourse and understanding among the nations and
races of mankind. In such a world society, science and religion, the two most
potent forces in human life, will be reconciled, will co-operate, and will
harmoniously develop. The press will
, under such a system, while giving full scope to the expression of the
diversified views and convictions of mankind, cease to be mischievously
manipulated by vested interests, whether private or public, and will be
liberated from the influence of contending governments and peoples. The
economic resources of the world will be organized, its sources of raw
materials will be tapped and fully utilized, its markets will be coordinated
and developed, and the distribution of its products will be equitably
regulated.5The other process
mentioned by Shoghi Effendi is one of integration and construction. It is
clearly related to the thousands of efforts by diverse groups and
individuals throughout the world who search for new solutions to human
existence on this planet in all the economic, political, educational, cultural,
and organizational realms. As far as the Bahá'í community is
concerned, it refers specifically to building a sufficiently large and
consolidated Bahá'í world community with its own local,
national, and international institutions--a community that, in addition to its
direct role, can also offer humanity a working model and provide it with
insights into the process of the construction of a new world order.

To do justice to this last theme, a careful examination would have to be
made of the very large number of diverse programs that occupy
Bahá'ís at any given moment in thousands of villages, towns,
and cities under the guidance of more than 140 National Spiritual
Assemblies, as well as the systematic measures taken by the World Centre
of the Bahá'í Faith to consolidate a well-organized

__________
5. Shoghi Effendi, Guidance for Today and
Tomorrow (London: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1953), 167-
68.

The Process of Social
Transformation
15

world community and, at the same time, to familiarize humanity and its
leaders with the remedies that the revelation of Bahá'u'lláh
offers a suffering society. Such an examination is clearly beyond the scope
of this presentation. Instead, I would simply like to examine some of the
processes of change that are set in motion in many of the villages of the
world as the influence of the Bahá'í teachings expands
systematically even to the remotest areas of the planet.

Processes of Change in Villages

There are many ways of seeing and analyzing a village. A convenient way for
the purposes of this presentation may be to consider the large number of
interacting processes within which the villagers carry out their daily
activities and to examine the changes that occur in the corresponding
structures. Depending on the nature of the village, it is easy to categorize
activities in terms of processes such as various kinds of productive
processes, the exchange of goods and marketing, different types of
educational processes, a process of technological adaptation or even
innovation, socialization, spiritual and religious processes, cultural
enrichment, flow of information, and decision-making. Corresponding to
each one of these processes, there are important structures, the family, the
school, the village council, the market, storehouses, religious
organizations, and many other formal and informal organizational patterns.
It can easily be seen from the examination of almost any rural area in the
world that under the influence of forces (especially from outside the
village) these processes are becoming ineffective; village economy and
culture is disintegrating; and the corresponding structures are proving to
be inadequate for the exigencies of present-day life, let alone a prosperous
and more advanced future. It may prove useful to look at the work of the
Bahá'ís in terms of the reorientation and sometimes
redefinition of an increasing number of these community processes as well
as the construction of viable village structures to be coupled to the
national and international institutions of a new world order.

Activities often begin when a number of the inhabitants of a village accept
to walk the path of spiritualization offered by the Bahá'í
teachings and, with the help of Bahá'ís from nearby villages
or towns, establish a Bahá'í community. The first steps for
the establishment of such a community, taught by their more experienced
friends, involve the organization of the process of decision-making. Within
the vision of the Bahá'í Faith, future villages will have a great
deal of autonomy in the management of their social, economic, and religious
activities. The emphasis on the decision-making process, then, results from
the desire to initiate as soon as possible the very hard road that people,
traditionall
y ruled by others in almost every aspect of their lives, have to walk in
order to become full participants in a world civilization. Three institutions
are created to make meaningful participation of the people in their own
affairs possible. The first is the nineteen-day feast, celebrated once every
nineteen days throughout the Bahá'í world, during which
Bahá'ís, in addition to enjoying spiritual enrichment and
fellowship, consult on community matters. The second is the Local Spiritual
Assembly of nine people elected on a yearly basis and given the task of
guiding and serving the community, and the third is a local fund (made up of
voluntary and private contributions by Bahá'ís), which is
administered by the Local
Spiritual Assembly.

16
THE BAHA'I
FAITH AND MARXISM

Effective participation in these institutions implies, from the beginning,
profound changes in the attitudes of the Bahá'ís and the
gradual development of many new skills and abilities. The election of the
local assembly in itself is now a highly spiritual activity, and
Bahá'ís are taught that they need to shun the usual political
practices of propaganda, electioneering, and the use of power to influence
votes and opinions. The village has to learn to elect those who will guide and
serve it with serene thoughtfulness, with prayer, and with dispassionate
analysis on the part of each individual voter without interference from
others. The community is taught that the elected members of the assembly
have no individual position and that the traditional concepts of leadership
must be totally rejected. The decisions of the assembly as a whole are
binding, and the members are to consider their election for a year not as a
position to be sought, but as a call to service; this is religious duty in the
highest sense. The management of a community fund to be spent for the
progress of the village is not a task that comes easy to most villages
either; a long-term and persistent educational process is always needed to
develop the necessary qualities and skills and to build up trust among the
community members. Yet another challenge in many villages is the abolition
of attitudes of prejudice within sometimes subtle existing social divisions
as well as a continuous effort to establish the equality of men and women
effectively at the decision-making level. The greatest challenge, however,
has to do with the process of decision-making itself through the
introduction of what the Bahá'ís call the art of consultation.
At first glance, consultation refers to a set of spiritual qualities, attitudes,
abilities, and skills, as well as rules and procedures, that allow for the frank
and sincere expression of every opinion and for joint exploration of
possibilities in order to reach consensus and a common decision.
Bahá'ís do not divide themselves into contending groups
according to their opinions on issues or problems that confront them. The
whole challenge is to see one's opinion as a contribution to group
exploration and to do one's best to bring joint decisions to as successful an
end as possible. At a deeper level, however, consultation is much more than
a simple art of group discussion and self-expression. It is the very
backbone of any Bahá'í methodology of community action. It
is group action-reflection; it is exploration of reality, experimentation,
deliberation on concrete directions of activity as well as the principles and
concepts that must guide it; it is raising the level of awareness, community
self-diagnosis and self-education.

The first important task given to these local decision-making structures
from their very inception is that of the establishment and maintenance of
unity. This, however, is not a childish, romantic idea of brotherhood; it is a
unity that understands self-interest and conflict but strives to transcend
them; it is a unity that must be constantly defended, especially during this
period of human history when the most noticeable effects of the
disintegrating forces attacking the villages are disunity and division--into
sects, political factions, and conflicting groups of every nature divisions
that weaken the community and open the doors to exploitation and
oppression. Moreover, it is well understood that the maintenance of unity,
even in its simplest form, whi
ch involves settling small differences among the inhabitants, points to the
principle that the basis of the desired unity is justice. Thus, the local
spiritual assemblies, besides being the basic structures of unity, are also
the embryonic structures of justice, the local

The Process of Social
Transformation
17

courts if you wish, and indeed "local house of justice" is the name by which
they will come to be known in the future.

Once the basic organizational elements mentioned earlier are in place, and
without expecting a very high degree of maturity and effective functioning,
the thoughts of the new community and those who help it usually turn
towards educational processes. Education often begins with simple classes
for the development of spiritual qualities and moral values in children, and
gradually grows to include schools of different levels as well as nonformal
learning centres. However, it is important not to view these activities as a
mere extension of the present educational system of the so-called
developed world to developing rural regions. The unbridled process of
transfer of technology and education, promoted vigorously by governments
and churches during the past decades, has already shown its devastating
effects in the creation of a most alarming state of hopelessness, alienation,
and confusion among millions of rural youth who see no future for
themselves either in the villages or in the marginal neighborhoods of the
cities to which they are forced to migrate. It would not be an exaggeration
to say that many Bahá'ís all over the world, while acutely
aware of the great value of education, show profound disagreement with
present educational practices. At the same time, it is understood by all that
Bahá'í education has not yet come into existence and must be
developed by the painstaking work of a few generations. Some of the
features of the future system, however, can already be discerned.

The educational objectives that are being sought are integration of the
spiritual and the material, the theoretical and the practical, the technical
and the social, the sense of individual progress with service to the
community at large, all these as opposed to the increasingly fragmented
educational content of the present-day systems. The form of education is
also to undergo profound change, become more participative and less
autocratic, more consultative and based on joint exploration of nature and
social reality. There is, moreover, an extremely strong emphasis on
excellence, but not excellence exclusively for the children born to certain
social classes. The educational system being sought will foster social
justice and will fulfil all the requirements
of universal education.

An important characteristic of the process of search for this new and
universal education is that the corresponding efforts are well scattered
throughout the world among diverse peoples and cultures. It does not seem
at all, then, that this future education will be the brainchild of a few groups
of educationalists carrying out research in isolated centers and
universities. While there is a great deal of room for such research, the
search for new education is taking more and more the form of a popular
movement with roots in the most diverse set of lifestyles, consisting of an
increasing number of formal and nonformal learning programs in which
incremental progress is made and very small, often unnoticeable
innovations are introduced by practitioners who may be highly educated or
barely literate. A well-connected network of local and national
communities, to the extent that it becomes consolidated, collects the
knowledge that is being generated, analyzes and tests, conceptualizes, and
slowly gains insights into the nature of a totally new educational
process.

As educational activities, even in their most rudimentary form, get under
way, the scope of activities in the villages is expanded to take on other
processes

18
THE BAHA'I
FAITH AND MARXISM

and structures such as health, housing, production, and infrastructure. Again,
a detailed examination of the principles governing these activities is
beyond the scope of this presentation, but I would like to discuss
production, mostly because it sheds light on some of the more difficult
challenges of the process of social transformation, which will have to be
increasingly faced by Bahá'ís, both in villages and in urban
centres. In order to do so, I would first like to mention very briefly some of
the characteristics of what is usually called the peasant mode of
production.

Alternative Economies

The first serious attempts to understand peasant economies seemed to
have followed a model of an ideal type of peasant family that almost
exclusively produces for its own consumption and for the reproduction of
its own productive conditions. Later studies have clearly shown that such a
model is too simplistic and that it hardly applies to even the remotest rural
areas of today's society. Those who study rural societies now tend to look
at peasant populations as highly heterogenous with diverse groups of
people from full-time farmers to landless labourers, all engaged in a very
complex set of interactions with the state, the private sector, and the
market. However, in spite of this heterogeneity, a few important
characteristics of their mode of agricultural production seems to persist
even through the last few decades of accelerated change. There is a definite
tendency in peasant economies towards self-sufficiency, a capacity to
produce goods both for consumption and the market with a clear emphasis
on the reproduction and the improvement of the conditions of production
rather than on accumulation as an end in itself. There is a high awareness of
risks and a tradition of the optimal use of local resources, coupled to a
concrete set of activities to conserve resources. Peasant production
systems all value diversity of species and include a very complex
management of time and space unlike most monoculture systems of
commercial agriculture. The utilization of family labour on one's own farm
and on others' follows a far more complex logic than simple wage earning,
work is a social process that has inherent in it interchanges with other
families, a concept of reciprocity and social responsibility, and usually a
deep commitment to the community. What the researchers in this field tell
us then is that there is a logic to this mode of production quite different
from the logic of a commercial agriculture based on the rate of return on
investment, or that of an agricultural operation planned by the state to
produce cheap and abundant food for urban areas and industrial workers.

My purpose here is clearly not the defense of peasant economies, which at
best offer meager subsistence to people, but I would like to make two
points on the basis of this short description. The first is that economies
with different "logics" are quite possible, and the only choices open to
humanity are not the capitalist and socialist modes of production, both of
which are products of two or three hundred years in the history of the
European people. There is no doubt that peasant economies are defective
and that there is no use romanticizing present and past peasant societies.
But why should a mature humanity not be able to develop an economy with a
totally new logic that is not based on greed or false precepts of absolute
equality, that allows reasonable freedom yet promotes and safeguards
justice? Moreover, why should the village Bahá'ís, in

The Process of Social
Transformation
19

their attempt to move forward, follow dreams of false modernization and
become converted to the logic of one of the two dominant world
ideologies?

This is exactly the second point I would like to emphasize. The best option
for the villagers is indeed to understand the strengths and weaknesses of
their own past and present economic system and then move forward and
build on their own strengths. In doing so, they would incorporate into their
schemes certain structures such as the village store with its unique
functions in the abolition of extremes of wealth and poverty, as described
in the writings of the Bahá'í Faith. Other elements may be
borrowed from capitalism or socialism. The majority of the structures,
however, would have to be discovered through a long process of
experimentation and in conjunction with the changes that they gradually
bring about in important processes of community life other than production.
Their search for the elements of a new village economy, it should be
remembered, is only meaningful when it is seen as a contribution to the
larger global effort to discover a world economy entirely different from
the present one, not only in its operation but also in its very logic and
underlying purposes.

Knowledge and Structural Change

As a village community consolidates, its institutions develop the capacity
to work on more and more of the processes of community life, and to
establish and strengthen the corresponding structures. It is important,
however, not to confuse this entire transformation process with what is
usually known as the community development approach to rural
development. Ours are not attempts to organize the poor in order to make
integration into the present world system easier. To repeat what has
already been said, the Bahá'í attempt is to set in motion a
process of profound change both in the individual and in social structures;
this implies very different attitudes towards the present order than
community development programs have usually shown and involves a
totally different set of challenges. I would like to conclude by discussing
one of these challenges related to the process of generation, accumulation,
and application of knowledge.

Any theory of change, if it claims to be a significant departure from current
theories, must have its own theory of knowledge. The Bahá'í
writings are rich in the detailed discussion of the question of knowledge, its
sources, its nature, the limitations of human knowledge, and some of the
mechanisms and conditions for its validation and accumulation. A discussion
of a theory of knowledge based on the Bahá'í teachings is
well beyond my abilities and beyond the limits of this conference. Yet, it is
important to remember that in all kinds of activities mentioned here,
Bahá'ís are explicitly working at important changes in the
process and the structures of knowledge generation. Just to take the case
of technological knowledge, where much of the flow today is from centres in
the North to the people in the South, there is a clear tendency among
Bahá'í programs to respect the technological logic and the
knowledge base of all people. Villagers who become Bahá'ís
are taught to look at their own past with more confidence. This becomes the
starting point for the creation and the recreation of structures for the
cultural expression of a people.

The best known example of such efforts in recent years is the
establishment of a number of radio stations in rural areas of South America.
These stations

20
THE BAHA'I
FAITH AND MARXISM

are not by any means instruments for the extension of dominant cultures
(as conventional stations are) but are embryonic structures for the
recuperation, systematization, and the subsequent progress of the entire
knowledge base and culture of the inhabitants of a region. This represents a
very different pattern of knowledge generation than one depending entirely
on a selected group of elite in certain more developed countries and an
elaborate machinery of extension and education to take the corresponding
fruits to the rest of humanity.

Bahá'ís tend to speak a great deal about the principle of
universal participation. What is important to understand is that the
principle has great implications for the process of generation and
socialization of knowledge, as well as the many other processes that
constitute different aspects of both the spiritual transformation of the
individual and the organic change in present-day social structures. This,
however, is by itself a vast subject that merits careful examination on
another occasion.

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Scanned 1998 by Jonah Winters.
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-- The Process of Social Transformation (Used by permission of the curator)