Chronik einer Endomorphose, 16. Juli 2001 The
Grapes of Wrath |
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| John Steinbeck beschreibt in
seinem Klassiker "Die Früchte des Zorns"
die wechselvolle Geschichte amerikanischer
Kleinbauern, die durch wirtschaftliche Not von
ihrer Scholle aus Oklahoma vertrieben worden sind und ein
neues Glück in Kalifornien suchen. |
 Volltitel und Quellenangabe |
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| Im Kapitel fünf seines
Buches schildert Steinbeck auf äußerst eindrucksvolle
Weise den seelenlosen Mechanismus des
Kapitalismus als ein entmenschlichstes Monster. |
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| Es wird beschrieben, wie
Vertreter der Landeigentümer in Autos
vor die Häuser der armen Kleinpächter
fahren, um diesen letztendlich zu erklären, dass sie
aufgrund mangelnder Rentabilität ihrer Tätigkeit das
Land zu verlassen hätten: |
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| "Some of the owner
men were kind because they hated what they had to do, and
some of them were angry because they hated to be cruel,
and some of them were cold because they had long ago
found that one could not be an owner unless one were
cold. And all of them were caught in something larger
than themselves. Some of them hated the mathematics that
drove them, and some were afraid, and some worshiped the
mathematics because it provided a refuge from thought and
from feeling. If a bank or a finance company owned the
land, the owner man said, The Bank - or the Company -
needs - wants - insists - must have - as though the Bank
or the Company were a monster, with thought and feeling,
which had ensnared them. These last would take no
responsibility for the banks or the companies because
they were men and slaves, while the banks were machines
and masters all at the same time. Some of the owner men
were a little proud to be slaves to such cold and
powerful masters." "And the owner men explained the workings and the thinkings of the monster that was stronger than they were." |
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| Und die Landbesitzer
erklärten auch, warum eine Bank nicht zufrieden sein
kann, bloß zu existieren; sie muss wachsen: |
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| "But - you see, a
bank or a company can`t do that, because those creatures
don`t breathe air, don`t eat side-meat. They breathe
profits; they eat the interest on money. If they don`t
get it, they die the way you die without air, without
side-meat. It is a sad thing, but it is so. It is just
so." |
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| Und als einer der Pächter
um ein weiteres Jahr bittet, in dem doch die Preise für
die angebaute Baumwolle steigen könnten, muss der
Landbesitzer ablehnend antworten: |
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| "We can`t depend on
it. The bank - the monster has to have profits all the
time. It can`t wait. It`ll die ... When the monster stops
growing, it dies. It can`t stay one size." Und: "We have to do it. We don`t like to do it. But the monster`s sick. Something`s happened to the monster." |
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| Auf den wachsenden Zorn der
bedrohten Pächter antwortete der Landbesitzer: |
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| "We know that - all
that. It`s not us, it`s the bank. A bank isn`t like a
man. Or an owner with fifty acres, he isn`t like a man
either. That`s the monster." "We`re sorry. It`s not us. It`s the monster. The bank isn`t like a man." |
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| Worauf die Pächter
entgegneten: "Yes, but the bank is only made of
men." |
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| ...und die Landbesitzer
erklärten: "No, you`re wrong there - quite
wrong there. The bank is something else than men. It
happens that every man in a bank hates what the bank
does, and yet the bank does it. The bank is something
more than men, I tell you. It`s the monster. Men made it,
but they can`t control it." |
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| Diese Zitate, geschrieben in
den 1930iger Jahren, könnten heute genauso gut von jedem
Mitarbeiter eines Konzernes stammen, der moralisch
angreifbare Dinge tut - tun muss - weil er keine Wahl
hat. Wir haben die Kontrolle unseres Tuns an kalte
Mechanismen, an den alles bestimmenden Sachzwang der
Kapitalrendite abgegeben. |
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