AAKM-UNIVERSALITY-OF-ATATURKS-PHILOSOPHY

Reproduced by Australian Atatürk Cultural Centre Inc. 14 livestock and all types of transport, just as it watches over the wealth of the nation in general. In the administration and defence of the country, the above examples are more important than field guns and rifles, in fact more important than any weapon (...). Private interests are often in conflict with the public interest. Private interests are, after all, based on competition. The fact is that this competition alone is not sufficient for building an economic order. Those who think it is, have allowed themselves to be deceived by a mirage.32 As a matter of principle, the state should not step in to replace the individual but should promote the general conditions required to assist him (...). The personal efforts of the individual must remain an essential tool for economic development. Allowing the individual to go his own way and in particular ensuring that government does not put up barriers to thwart his economic freedom and enterprise are essential principles of democracy (...). The point at which private enterprise runs into difficulties is where the activities of government should start. Government may take on business ventures which, given particular circumstances, may acquire permanence.33 The type of Statism we refer to here may be described as social, ethical and national. A more equitable distribution of national wealth and a higher level of prosperity for working people are imperative in order to safeguard national unity. As the representative of national unity, it is an important duty of the state to keep this need constantly in mind (...). The state and the individual are not incompatible; indeed they complement each other. When we talk about the state and the individual, we have in mind not the abstract meanings of these words but the individual as a social being living within the state. The individual, as a member of society, is the only true reality.34 We further think that the expansion of the economy depends on finding a method whereby all nations may work together in a spirit recognising the entitlement of all nations to live in prosperity and to achieve progress.35 People need material prosperity for themselves, for their families and for the state. However, whilst people may have wealth as an instrument of freedom they should not become enslaved by it. People are not all equally healthy of course, nor do they have the same attitudes or the same capabilities, but they are all subject to the same law of life. Nothing can be gained without working.36 Labour Thanks to his intelligence, his art and his willpower, man may make use of all the fundamental elements to his own advantage. This refers to the ethical character of labour as well as to a right, which is most sacred (...). Without working hard it is not possible for man to develop mentally or to reach a high degree of moral development. Lethargy is the mother of all evil. Labour is not a burden (...). There is nothing

AAKM-UNIVERSALITY-OF-ATATURKS-PHILOSOPHY

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