Thoughts on Social Darwinism

Social Darwinism is a theory of social selection based on the laissez-faire economic doctrine that is combined with a heavy racial bias. It originated in the 1870s in the United Kingdom, Western Europe, and North America. It was popularized in the 19^th and 20^th century Europe and United States and embraced heavily by the Nazi party. These beliefs are based on theories of evolution developed by British naturalist Charles Darwin. The core belief of social Darwinism is that the human race is subject to the laws of natural selection, resulting in “survival of the fittest”. Because the theory of social Darwinism has such negative connotations and also because of the genocides carried out during the Second World War, few people identify themselves as social Darwinists today.

In British India during the mid-1870s, India was effected by El Nino. The effect of the tropical storms on the crops of India were devastating. Also occurring during that time there was a large celebration being thrown for Queen Victoria’s coronation Empress of India. More than 60,000 people showed up for the celebration. Princes, retainers, and friends of the British Empire were feasted over the course of a week. This may have been the largest catering event in history! While ruling British elite were feasting and posing for photographs, millions of Indians were slowly dying from starvation. The Viceroy of India justified his inaction with arguments backed by the beliefs of Social Darwinists. The gist of the argument was that the famine could been seen as an instrument of natural selection and that the only people to perish would be the unfit. It was the Viceroy’s opinion that to intervene would be to interfere with a rule of nature.

The irony of this argument is that until the British came along, the Indians grew their own food and had access to food from other groups in the community that would have shared. When the British forced the poorest peasants to grow cash crops like wheat and rice instead of their own food, these fail safes that guarded against starvation disappeared. Granted, these actions by the British brought the Indians into the world market, this is what condemned them to death in the late 1870s. While the Indians were starving and selling their children for food and killing themselves in utter desperation, the food that could have saved them was ready for export to Britain and America on the docks of Madras. If the British would have left India alone, the people would have been growing their own food there and they would not have starved.

When the Viceroy of India was finally forced to take action, he setup a system of outdoor relief that was basically the British equivalent of Nazi concentration camps to assist the Indians. The first rule in getting relief was that they could not obtain relief or a job within 10 miles of their home. This often meant having to walk long distance, sometimes hundreds of kilometers. Once at the outdoor relief camp, Indians were put to work doing heavy labor and confined to camps were there daily caloric intake was less than many Nazi concentration camps. These were quite literally death camps. During the famines of India in the 1870s, 8 million Indians died. Famines also returned in the 1880s and 1890s. Almost a total of 30 million Indians starved to death while under British rule.

As a rational thinker, I can see and recognize the science behind natural selection. I also understand however, that the theory of natural selection is intended to be only a description of a biological phenomenon. Regardless of whether or not this theory is accurate, it is not meant to imply that this is a positive biological phenomenon and it certainly does not seem that it was meant to be used as a moral guide in human society. It seems that those who have power seek to justify the reasoning that they have power when most self-conscious. Or, perhaps it is better said that those who crave power are constantly looking for reasons to alienate their opposition. Either way I look at it, I am disgusted and appalled by the actions taken in the name of social Darwinism against humanity.