Perseverence Sows Success
Karl Polanyi’s The Great Transformation, first published in 1944, was an evolutionary roadmap for economic sociology. Polanyi’s predictive inquiry asks how society responds to phenomenon’s such as globalization and market failure.[1] Known today as the originator of substantivism, a cultural approach to economics, Polanyi’s visionary narrative leaves behind a legacy that continues to influence economists and philosophers 73 years after the book’s first publication.[2] I connected right off with Polanyi as he introduced his work by casting a literary net that caught the reader’s attention by describing a Satanic Mill that “ground men into masses.”[3] Polanyi, born in Hungary, became appalled by the Western market system and said that it was turning “man and nature into fodder for the satanic mill of the self-regulating market-system.”[4] This post will explore the influence of spiritual warfare during the Polanyi era and see what connections can be made with his exposure to Christian socialism.
Described as the prophet of “managed capitalism,” Polanyi was a Hitler era philosopher-intellectual who survived the Jewish genocide and synthesized the emerging relationships between markets, society, and politics.[5] I found Kuttner’s article a good source to get below the surface of the renowned Dr. Polanyi and explore what life events grew his passion, ideas, and character. His marketplace savvy and social economic drive originated from his Hungarian-Jewish heritage, cavalry officer service on the Russian Front during WWI, survivor of typhus, husband to Communist revolutionary Ilona, father of Canadian Economics Professor Kari, and romantic idealist who migrated to the United Sates and taught at Columbia University.[6]
This man called Karl Polanyi has grit I thought, he knows what it means to persevere. Even though he had many challenges in attaining his Doctor of Law degree, Polanyi persevered and portrayed the rigorous academic quality that Rountree calls “grit and self-control.” [7] Polanyi lived the idea of perseverance because he did not give up, quit, or give in to his personal warfare experiences with the Russian Front, the hospital, the Holocaust, and the observed atrocities from the English “workhouses” (Satanic Mills).[8]
Perseverance, according to the Apostle Paul, follows the practice of metaphorically putting on Christ as an individual Armor of God suit. The armor suit represents six unique Christ-like attributes. Paul directs Christians to put on truth, righteousness, peace, faith, salvation, and Spirit to defend against the schemes of the devil. Paul says in addition to putting on the Christ suit of armor, the wearer must also pray and persevere for the Biblical checklist against spiritual warfare to work as advertised.[9] Persevering infers that the wearer of the Christ suit will be tested. I believe that perseverance is both an intentional spiritual practice and a practical situational warning to watch for, defend against, and overcome the evil destructive schemes of the devil. Sin, death, destruction, violence, evil, are but a few of the schemes that come from Satan and his host of demons. Their number one goal is the destruction of humanity by any means possible. Satan and his demons participated in creating marketplace destruction. For example, Polanyi says, “The trading classes had no organ to sense the dangers involved in the exploitation of the physical strength of the worker, the destruction of family life, the devastation of neighborhoods, the denudation of forests, the pollution of rivers, the deterioration of craft standards, the disruption of folkways, and the general degradation of existence.”[10] Therefore, according to Scripture, the only chance to survive the spiritual warfare generated by the idea of a self-regulated market described by Polanyi involves the generous practice of putting on the Armor of God.
Polanyi experienced first-hand how to persevere from the threat of death and destruction from the Russian Front, in the hospital recovering from typhus, and through his Jewishness during the Holocaust. I was happy to see that Polanyi, influenced by England’s “Christian Left,” critically reviewed the socialistic ideas of Karl Marx while building his preeminent bibliographic research and data-base for his Great Transformation book on the evolution of social economics.[11] McRobbie supports the author’s “Christian outlook” during his time spent in England as a co-editor in 1935 on Christianity and the Social Revolution.[12] I discern that Polanyi’s work was influenced by his personal spiritualism, Christian associations, and passion to serve and save humankind. Was he a Christian? I like to think so, but only God knows the heart of his creation.
Martin gives Polanyi some bad critique in his review saying Polanyi’s work was conceptually sloppy, inconsistent, and casual with the treatment of historical sources.[13] He goes on to say that without Block’s forward for this book and Block and Sommers The Power of Market Fundamentalism “salvage efforts” on Polanyi’s work that much of his efforts would have been dismissed and set aside as an historic anomaly whose shelf-life has expired.[14]
In summary, The Great Transformation for me has two story-lines. One story-line shows the evolution of the social marketplace while the other story-line captures the motivations of the author. Polanyi was not a John Wayne, but he did have true grit. His Good-Samaritan philosophy contributed to his theological shift from Jewish economist to the Christian socialist who fought against capitalism. I liked the book and was able to successfully connect Polanyi to the spiritual warfare principle of perseverance. While non-spiritual in scope, Polanyi’s actions and thesis support his underlying goal to save humanity from evil while seeking to improve and create a social-economic Christianic Mill that supports, saves, and ministers to the “least of these.”[15]
Stand firm,
M. Webb
[1] Isaac W. Martin. “Reading The Great Transformation.” Contemporary Sociology: A Journal of Reviews 44, no. 2 (2015): 163.
[2] “Karl Polanyi,” Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Polanyi (accessed January 30, 2018).
[3] Karl Polanyi. The Great Transformation the Political and Economic Origins of Our Time. 2nd Beacon Paperback ed. (Boston, MA: Beacon Press, 2001) 35.
[4] Morris Silver. “Karl Polanyi and markets in the ancient near east: reply.” The Journal of Economic History 45, no. 1 (1985): 137.
[5] Robert Kuttner. “Karl Polanyi Explains It All.” The American Prospect 25, no. 3 (2014): 70.
[6] Ibid., 72.
[7] Derek Rowntree. Learn How to Study: Developing the study skills and approaches to learning that will help you succeed in university: A virtual tutorial with Professor Derek Rowntree. Kindle ed. (Wappingers Falls, NY: Beekman Books, 1989). Location 336.
[8] Polanyi, The Great Transformation, 106.
[9] Eph. 6:18.
[10] Polanyi, The Great Transformation, 139.
[11] Kenneth McRobbie. Karl Polanyi in Vienna: The Contemporary Significance of The Great Transformation. (Montreal, Canada: Black Rose Books Ltd., 2000) 381.
[12] Ibid., 311.
[13] Martin, Review of The Great Transformation, 163.
[14] Ibid., 164.
[15] Mat. 25:40.
About the Author
Mike
3 responses to “Perseverence Sows Success”
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Hi Mike,
Your discussion in your Blog (and with your comments to our classmates) of “the least of these” is intriguing to me. With your global experiences of witnessing poverty and domineering, I respect where you are coming from. Then, throw in the much needed reminders about perseverance through the AOG, and your post is helpful for me and others.
Are you feeling any pushback from our Cohort about the oft reminders of Spiritual warfare?
I only hope that my research and dissertation has the ability to carry on after graduation as much as yours will!
Mike,
I found this quote and thought you might be interested: Stricken with typhus in 1917, Polanyi read the New Testament during his convalescence. He drifted away from active political life and converted to Christianity. Though he did not attend church regularly, he found a “revolutionary” message in the Christian tradition: The Gospels offered, in Polanyi’s words, “the way to a higher life, over and above personal self-interest,” emboldening individuals to “act with uncompromising radicalism, the almost terrifying radicalism of Jesus.” In later years, he came to find the New Testament inadequate, accusing Christianity of having fostered the conditions for the rise of capitalism. But while Polanyi eventually returned to politics, something of this Christian communitarianism would linger in his assessment of the moral costs of the market economy.”
The implications to me would show that Christ did influence his thoughts at the very least. What do you thinK?
Jason
Hi Mike! I appreciate the fact that you were able to make a good connection to the AOG. I was intrigued by this statement: “While non-spiritual in scope, Polanyi’s actions and thesis support his underlying goal to save humanity from evil while seeking to improve and create a social-economic Christianic Mill that supports, saves, and ministers to the “least of these.” – this supports a lean towards socialism? I’m curious about your thoughts on this…