Subject: CAPITALISM IS OBSOLETE
from: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: [che-list] C a p i t a l i s m i s o b s o l e t e
It would be foolish to deny that at one time the capitalist system was
a progressive development of society. It is doubtful if even a
dedicated admirer of privilege would want to go back to feudalism. Who
would want to be ruled by an absolute monarch in the shape of King
Charles III, either with or without Queen Elizabeth II?
If we were so ruled more than a few of us would be plotting a fate for
him similar to the one that befell his unfortunate predecessor King
Charles I. However, although capitalism once moved us forward, it has
long since outlived its usefulness. We come here to bury the capitalist
system, not to praise it.
In deciding whether capitalism, like feudalism, should be consigned to
history we should apply one simple test. Is the capitalist system
organised directly for the needs of all people? If it is not, that
would be the best reason for getting rid of it, and replacing it with
one that would. This is a choice between capitalism or socialism.
Capitalism is organised for private gain, for profit and the
accumulation of capital. It works through class ownership and economic
exploitation. It sets up economic antagonisms within communities and
divides the world into rival capitalist states. It breeds the
ideologies of hate which are expressed in many forms of religion,
nationalism and racism. It is enforced through the power structures of
the state. It creates vast amounts of waste and destruction. It turns
all the useful things of life, including our labour, skills and talents
into commodities to be bought and sold on the markets.
Capitalism makes a god of money and puts this above the real needs of
people, so how could anyone seriously argue that it is organised for
the benefit of the community?
Some obvious examples can be given. Surely, the first thing that any
decent society would do is make sure that everyone ate enough quality
food to sustain good health, yet there are more people starving or
seriously undernourished than ever before. In the 1990s UNICEF stated
that 40,000 children die every day from malnutrition or
malnutrition-related disease, and this has not improved. We were all
shocked and sickened by the slaughter of 3000 workers in the Twin
Towers in NYC. We should also remember that throughout the world
thousands of children are dying needlessly every day.
We are not only talking about undeveloped countries. In the so-called
advanced countries there is widespread poverty. In Europe 30 million
people live below the poverty line (less than half average national
income). In America the number is 32 million. According to a report
issued by the Department of Social Security Report: Households below
average income", one third of all children, that is 4.1 million, live
in poverty.
Appalling neglect of needs
How has capitalism responded to this appalling picture of starvation
and poverty? It cut food production because it was said there was
"over-supply". To understand this we have to understand that in the
twisted language of the market system "over-supply" does not mean "more
than we need". It means that too much food was produced for the purpose
of selling it at a profit. As a result food prices fell and profits
were threatened. To increase prices and profits, production was cut.
In America 82 million acres are taken out of cereal production.
This was equivalent to the combined states of Iowa, Illinois and half
of Indiana. Europe did a similar thing under a different name, "set
aside". Under the latest reform of the Common Agricultural Policy,
European farmers have had to take 15 percent of croplands out of
production.
The ‘Independent’ carried sometimes a picture of a Major Lloyd and his
wife who are being paid £19,000 per year for growing nothing on their
215 acres of high quality arable land in Oxfordshire. Major Lloyd is an
ex-life guards officer, a group who are not normally noted for their
humanitarian sentiments but even he can't help saying, "something is
wrong when there are so many people starving in the world and we're
being paid not to grow food".
A further example of how the priorities of profit and capital
accumulation come before the needs of people is unemployment. In the 25
countries of the so-called Organisation for Economic Co-operation and
Development (OECD) 35 million are unemployed. In Germany it is over 4
million. Since 1980 in Britain there has never been less than two
million unemployed using the old accounting methods.
In view of all the things that need to be done would a sane society
keep millions of its work-force in a state of idleness? What has been
the "opportunity cost"? Two million unemployed means 10 million
work-days lost every week or 500 million every year. Since 1980, in
Britain alone, more than eight billion work-days have been lost because
of unemployment.
Think of all the useful things that could have been done with these
eight billion work-days, the houses and hospitals that could have been
built, the production of food, better education, a decent public
transport system and a clean-up of the environment. These are all
examples of how the capitalist system prevents our use of resources
whilst needs are denied.
We are not only talking about material things, we are also talking
about de-humanised relationships in which producers are used as objects
for private gain. Profit and capital accumulation can only be achieved
through the economic exploitation of one class by another. The function
of workers is to create values over and above what their wages or
salaries will buy. This surplus is the source of the obscene
disparities in the ownership of wealth which we see all around us.
The ‘Independent’ reported that in America "Just weeks after AT&T
announced plans to shed 40,000 workers, it has emerged that its chief
executive, Robert Allen, received a pay package in valued at just over
$16 million, compared with $6.7 million a year earlier." In this
country, Barclays Bank has announced the loss of a further 1,000 jobs,
just after posting $4 billion profits. This comes on top of its 21,000
workers sacked since 1991.
Many such examples could be given and what they add up to is the fact
that capitalism is ruthless in its treatment of people when pursuing
its aims. By no stretch of the imagination could the capitalist system
be said to be organised for the benefit of the whole community, and
this is the test as to whether it has outlived its usefulness, now that
a world of abundance is possible.
Practical alternative
The practical alternative which would be organised directly for the
needs of all people is socialism. The challenge of working with others
round the world to set up a new system is not so great as it might
appear. Already we have people doing useful work in every field. In
farming, mining, industry, manufacture, building and transport, and in
the running of services like education, health, communications, radio
and television, and the like, we have people of every skill and talent
doing the useful things of life.
The challenge is to free these resources from the constraints and the
anti-social aims of the capitalist system. If workers around the world
can run society in the interests of profit-mongers then they can surely
run it in their own interests.
This would have to be based on common ownership where all resources and
all means of producing and distributing goods would be held in common
by all people. Then through democratic control and voluntary
co-operation every aspect of society would be organised solely for the
benefit of the whole community.
What can be the justification for wanting to retain a system such as
capitalism, which is only distinguished by its ability to generate
failure and disillusion and all its various ways of thwarting the best
hopes that we have for our future?
The day is long overdue for getting rid of it.
Jan Pole
http://communities.msn.com/realworldsocialism
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