According to Osho, unethical practices like bribery and fraud are not born of capitalism but of poverty and scarcity. When resources are insufficient, people are driven to dishonesty for survival; when prosperity rises, honesty becomes possible. Thus, the blame lies less with capitalists than with systemic lack—overpopulation and inadequate supply. Create abundance and opportunity, and corruption naturally diminishes.
When there isn’t enough for everyone, people cheat to survive; make life abundant and cheating fades—so capitalism itself isn’t the main culprit.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
And the really amusing thing—worth understanding—is that, as one friend has asked: since so many capitalists take bribes, do black-marketing, smuggling, all kinds of fraud, are you in support of them too?
I support capitalism. I do not support fraud, dishonesty, or bribery. But I want to tell you this: bribery, fraud, and dishonesty are the offspring of a poor society. The capitalist has very little hand in this; the poor society has a much greater hand. We are so many people sitting here. If there were food enough for fifty and five thousand people were present, you can be sure it would be very hard for theft and disturbance not to begin. Where there is food for fifty and five thousand stand ready to eat, there cannot be much waiting; people will try by dishonesty, trickery—every means—to get the food. If you want these five thousand to be honest, there must be food enough for five thousand. Otherwise honesty is very difficult; it cannot reasonably be expected. If there were a water shortage in Ludhiana, people would start stealing water at…
He then said. "It appears that this mountain with an echo point is symbolic of man's life. What we say or do here returns to us a thousandfold. If we bark like a dog we will be surrounded by a thousand barking dogs. If we hurt others the hurt will return to us multiplied by a thousand. If we treat the world with anger, hate and violence, the same hate and violence will come back to us, magnified greatly. The old dictum is true that if we sow the seeds of the thorn, we will have to reap a whole harvest of thorns alone. In the same way, if we share our love and bliss with others it will return to us a thousandfold. Life is really an echo point." That is why I say that I am not against selfishness.
Beloved Osho, every time I hear you praising capitalism I get angry. You say sannyas means to get rid of all conditioning and to escape out of every cage whether it is religious, philosophical or political. But isn't capitalism a cage too? Why can't we live a creative life in wealth and freedom without any "isms"?
Swami Prem Vardan, capitalism is not an "ism" at all; just don't get too obsessed by the word. Sometimes words become too important to us and we tend to forget the reality. Capitalism is not an ideology; it is not imposed on the society, it is a natural growth. It is not like communism, or fascism, or socialism -- these are ideologies; they have to be imposed. Capitalism has come on its own. In fact, the word "capitalism" has been given by the anticapitalist thinkers: the communists, the socialists and others. Capitalism is a state of freedom; that's exactly why I am in support of it. It allows you all kinds of freedoms. Communism will not allow you all kinds of freedoms; communism will give you only one ideology to believe in -- there is no question of choice. I am reminded of Henry Ford.... When he made his first…
Another friend has asked; he asks: Osho, why does capitalism exploit the worker?
Some notions, if they are proclaimed long enough, we simply pick them up and forget to ask whether they are true or false. Capitalism does not exploit the worker. In fact, under capitalism the price of everything is set by its demand and supply. If in a village there are ten laborers but fifteen are needed, those laborers will get higher wages—ten are available while fifteen are required. But if there are fifty laborers and only ten are needed, wages will be low, because there is an excess supply of labor in the market; the buyer will buy cheaply. Capitalism fixes the price of each thing according to its scarcity, its rarity. And there is no other sane way to set prices. God does not send price tags with things—how much wheat should cost, or what the Kohinoor diamond should be worth. There is only one Kohinoor diamond, so its…
Question: BELOVED OSHO, I AM CONVINCED THAT THE RICH EXPLOIT THE MASSES. NOW YOU ARE TELLING ME THAT CAPITALISM IS THE BEST SYSTEM FOR FREEDOM. I HAVE NEVER SUPPORTED RUSSIAN TOTALITARIANISM, BUT I THOUGHT THAT MAO ZEDONG IMPROVED LIFE FOR THE MAJORITY IN CHINA. YOUR STATEMENT ABOUT ANTI-CAPITALISTS BEING JEALOUS RINGS TRUE, BUT DON'T SOME RICH CAPITALISTS USE THEIR POWER TO EXPLOIT OTHERS THROUGH SUCH MEANS AS MONOPOLIES, SELLING AT A LOSS FOR SHORT PERIODS OF TIME IN ORDER TO RUIN SMALLER BUSINESSMEN, ACQUIRING MORE LAND THAN THEY NEED, AND THUS DENYING POOR PEOPLE THE ABILITY TO OWN AND USE LAND, ET CETERA? ALTHOUGH THE SOVIET-BLOC COUNTRIES RESTRICT FREEDOM, ARE NOT THE SOCIALIST AND COMMUNIST PARTIES IN THE WEST DEDICATED TO MORE PERSONAL FREEDOM -- THAT IS, FREEDOM FROM THE POWERFUL, MANIPULATIVE, RICH CAPITALIST?