Sociology

Poverty and Capitalism in Oil
Upton Sinclairs novel Oil is a masterful expos of the failure of capitalism to address poverty and how its institutions  the bureaucracy, oil corporations, universities, and the media -  launch a concerted attack to oppress and marginalize the oil workers and the labor movement. The novel shows how the structural inequalities of capitalism are inherently exploitative and lead to the deprivation of workers rights to just compensation. Sinclairs novel triumphs in showing how rotten the capitalism system is at work as it exposes the connivance of corporate greed and bureaucratic corruption all in the name of profit. It depicts the hardships of the oil workers as they go on strike, the violent and deceptive tactics employed to crush them, and the social bias they endure as they struggle for their right to the eight-hour pay.

Sinclair fictionalized the early boom of the oil industry in Southern California where wildcat oilmen went in search for oil wells and sold their ideas to unknowing locals who sell their land at quails price disproportionate to the value of the oil in it. Putting his faith in  individual enterprise, J. Arnold Ross (Dad) preaches the benefits of the oil industry along with its attendant promise of steady employment, infrastructure, and wealth. Dad was a former working man turned oil tycoon, but he soon found himself trapped in a system that made him feel like a machine, condoning bribery to government officials and encouraging brutality against the workers in order to derive profit. In Sinclairs novel, we bear witness to capitalisms generalized commodity production or the exploitative practice where workers are paid less than value of the services or goods produced (Sommerville 2000).

Oil exposes how workers suffered social exclusion when their resistance to oppressive conditions were downplayed and even demonized. The oil workers were excluded on their right to livelihood, secure and permanent employment, property, earnings, land, and democratic participation (Silver, cited in Sen 2000).  In asserting their rights to decent wages, the oil workers struggle was undermined by the media who published right-wing propaganda and called them subversives who were trying to spread Communism. The union efforts were also sabotaged by the oil corporations. The Petroleum Employers Federation, an elite club of oil operators, crushed the striking workers by deploying scabs and manufacturing altercations to put the workers struggle in a bad light and legitimize arrest. Soon, labor leaders and union activists were jailed and brutally beaten in capitalisms war to make the world safe for democracy (Sinclair 2007 253). Instead of having their issues addressed by the government, the workers cause was demonized. The higher social classes in society considered them barbarians. They were accused of being insensitive to the plight of the nation in light the ongoing war and the President regarded them as a race of evil men who threaten civilization and democratic America (Sinclair 2007 204). The oppressed worker is epitomized by Paul Watkins, a former carpenter and employee of Dad who eventually became a labor union organizer and helped the striking oil workers. His struggle ended with his brutal murder by a mob hired by the oil monopoly. Bunny concludes he was killed by capitalism with its world-wide system of terror, that drove Paul here and there, harry him, malign him, threaten him - until at last it hired the brute with the iron pipe (Sinclair 2007 547). Dad, who had great visions of prosperity for himself and his family, ended becoming a slave to the oil monopoly and died of pneumonia while in exile. Capitalism, its murderous tendency, and its inevitable role as the cause of poverty, rather than its cure, is the highlighted problem in the study.

Trouble with Capitalism in Sinclairs View
Sinclair attacks capitalisms exploitation of labor and offers resistance to capitalism and a shift to socialism. Being a socialist and political activist during his time, Sinclair used social history in concluding that capitalism is inherently exploitative. He impresses upon the reader that the problem is structural and cosmetic fixes (regulation of the oil industry, legislation) will not solve a systemic problem. In Oil, it is important to analyze the true nature of capitalism by analyzing Dad. Being a former working man, Dad is described as relatively attentive to the needs of the workers (Sinclair 2007 167). In the early days, he paid 1 more to each worker in order to get outstanding labor. However, when he joined the oil cabal, he became subordinate to the regulations decided upon. The oil federation disliked his practice and enjoined him to pay him in the conventional wages. Despite his good intentions, he became hard-pressed to use the same brutal measures used by other oil operators against his own workers. Sinclair attacks the cultural critique of capitalism which views the systems defects as minor and places the blame on the bad capitalist. Sinclair is saying that no amount of goodness in a person can overcome the inherent evils of capitalism. Kindness alone cannot eradicate exploitation, poverty, or corruption. Dad himself acknowledged that corruption is something that goes along with the capitalist equation. He repeatedly tells his son Bunny that bribing government officials and politicians, even the President of the nation, is part of the business (Sinclair 2007 168).

Capitalism, according to Sinclair, is the system that condemns one class into poverty and allows another class to reap the profit. Capitalism leads to the development of an underclass as private capital concentrated under the ownership of a few elites led to new class-based social divisions into those who possessed capital and those that did not (Van Parijs 1995). With further accumulation of capital, bureaucracies are formed so that voluntary and formally equal interaction became replaced by hierarchical domination (Somerville 2000 89). In a system where competition is a rule of law, capitalists need to profit ahead of others in order to survive by whatever means necessary, as J. Arnold Ross eventually did  acquiring more lands and driving away more people from their homes at a pittance. In order to get the lumber and pipes ahead of anyone else and avoid being driven out of business too early, he bribes the dealers. In order to put up a road toward the site as soon as possible, he bribes a government official. Greasy money in the hands of the right people gets things done. The criminal acts committed were made all in the name of capitalism. In the novel, J. Arnold Ross reasoned with his son that if he did not hire the mob to break out the striking workers, he will risk all the other oil operators conspiring against him and soon putting him out of business. Sinclair believes that the system creates a capitalist class that will use violence, manipulation, corruption and every conceivable means, all in the name of profit. Sinclair sums up capitalism as ...an evil Power which roams the earth, crippling the bodies of men and women, and luring the nations to destruction by visions of unearned wealth, and the opportunity to enslave and exploit labor (2007 548).

Socialism, not Capitalism
If the struggling workers were to emancipate themselves from the exploitative relation of capital and labor, Sinclair suggests that they have to resist the capitalist system. He presents the history of the labor unions as a requirement for all oppressed workers to assert their rights to humane working conditions and decent wages. Their strength will be in their numbers. Hence, in resisting exploitation and oppression, an alliance among oppressed groups is required (Pierson 2000). Labor union organizing would require oil workers to forge solidarity with other unions in the state or national level.

Sinclair believed that capitalism is a system where only the wealthy benefit, and must be changed.  In place of capitalism, Sinclair advocates socialism. Capitalisms exploitation of labor springs from the dominance of a minority upper class who owns the means of production over the working class who sell their labor at an unfair price (van Parijs 2000). In this manner, capitalism concentrates economic and political power on an elite group in society and as a result, creates social inequality by excluding the struggling majority from accessing opportunities in order to reach their maximum potential. While Sinclair recognizes that capitalism has resulted to advancement in technology and industry, the interests of the capitalist are purely selfish and do not translate to the public good. Socialism is a system wherein the ownership of the means of production is transferred to the state and the use of modern technology is utilized to rationalize economic activity (Harrington 1972). In this manner, wealth and power will be allocated not in terms of capital, but of work expended. Sinclair presented his proposed alternative to capitalism when he unveiled his End Poverty in California (EPIC) platform during his bid for the governorship of California. He proposed that the State give workers access to the factory through means which are legal and constitutional (Social Security History 2009). To revitalize the factories that were shut down, Sinclair offered a method of cooperation by having co-operative, barter, and self-help groups all over California that produce goods that are of use (Social Security History 2009).

I do not disagree with Sinclairs observation that Western capitalism is faulty and deficient. Capitalism, according to economist Barbara Harris-White (2005) is associated with crisis both in theory and in practice (p. 8). The capitalism in the 1920s during Sinclairs time has evolved into globalization. The globalization of capital, some economists and social activists say, has resulted to the globalization of poverty as well. Many poorer nations have suffered under implementation of free-trade rules and regulations (Levinsohn 2000). True enough, globalization has made the Internet and modern technology more accessible to all nations, but under a global market economy, it seems obvious that poor countries cannot compete with rich, industrialized nations. Capitalism has turned out to be a crisis-prone economic system that requires violence from what history has so far revealed. The search for new markets to dump surplus goods has fomented wars of aggression by the United States. Under the guise of disarming Saddam Husseins weapons of mass destruction, the Iraq War was legitimized when it was really about oil. Americas failure to justify the existence of WMDs and their prolonged presence in Iraq has cast serious doubts on the fascist nature of capitalism as exactly what Upton Sinclair thinks it is Fascism is capitalism plus murder (Social Security History 2009). Corruption scandals that led to the downfall of Enron, AIG, and other American corporations reveal the greedy nature of capitalist societies. Another inevitable result of globalization is loss of jobs. Because of globalization, jobs are outsourced to Third World countries who can offer cheap labor, leaving millions of unemployed and underemployed citizens. All these historical incidents somehow give credence to Sinclairs disdain for capitalism. Capitalism works only for the benefit of the capitalist, as economist Jagdish Bhagwati says, the Wall Street-Treasury complex is unable to look much beyond the interest of Wall Street, which it equates with the good of the world (Aisbeth 20048). Capitalism works under a selfish policy that what is good for American is somehow good for the entire world.

Although the novel was written in 1927, the vivid descriptions of exploitation of workers by oil corporations and the arguments Sinclair throws to denounce the evils of capitalism remain relevant today. The stability of capitalism as a global economic order has been doubted in light of the latest global financial crisis managed only by massive bailouts by governments of distressed corporations in their respective countries. In place of the American Dream and prosperity in America, the bastion of capitalism, escalating unemployment and homelessness confronted its people. Exploitation of labor runs rampant especially in Third World countries and unions are suppressed or even banned. In light of the current energy crisis and the so-called petroleum wars, Americas greed has manifested itself in its wars of aggression. Instead of confronting real issues that confront the workers and the nation, American media resorts to misinformation and manipulation to trumpet and justify pro-capitalist policies of the government. Because of these defects in capitalism, Sinclair and his proposal for socialism seems a very real alternative at the moment.