Anti-Capitalism is Common Sense.
So let’s bring back some of it back.
Often I am asked about my political beliefs, many of my acquaintances are curious how one arrives to conclusions that are by some measure or another radical. I can admit that the reasons for my interest in Socialism started as relatively shallow and vain, the real question is how does one stick to such beliefs? In order to answer that I wrote this introduction to Class Struggle to hopefully illuminate some of the economics and essential arguments for Socialism. My biggest hope for this article is however not to bring about a new worker’s movement, my humble hope is that people will not roll their eyes at my writing style. Dear reader, I hope you can find some joy in the writings of someone too infatuated with the past.
Andrej Markov, 2019
Landlords love to reap where they never sowed.
~Adam Smith, An inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.
What is capitalism? Where is the struggle?
Capitalism at its core is the system based around the private property of individuals or groups. Private contrasting with public/communal and personal properties. In detail it is the system of profit, interest and rent, maintained through labour. In this context profit does not simply mean the money left over from a sale but rather the revenue specifically derived from a person’s function as the owner. This means that the owner at the end of the month gains revenue from his wage as a manager of a business as well as profit from his position as it’s owner, though this is almost always disguised under some common name and is ruled by the same principle of ‘profit’. This creates the following problem, a distinction between owner and worker with different (class) interests.
Let me further explain how that dynamic is economically exploitative. In a viable commodity, a product meant to be sold on the market that is both in demand and a producer is willing to supply, it’s market value doesn’t spontaneously appear. Rather, a more or less reasonable price is chosen based not only the demand for the product but also based on the composite of labour and rent going into the product. Besides rent, the fact remains that the materials, which often had to be produced by workers mind you and are present in production as Embodied Labour, have a certain value which is enriched by the Living Labour of workers to reach the new market price. It is out of that enrichment that the profit of owners comes. It is blatantly obvious to the proletarian of any age that most money does not “trickle down” but rather creeps up the economic ladder, strangling the worker out of his practical freedom. During the 2008 recession, a time that was supposedly bad for the economy, the number of global billionaires still rose. It appears that one class gains more while the other loses only to be thrown into a life of precarity.
Since the owner has legal power in a workplace they can enforce their class interest on the worker. Switch workplace and the owner there too has interests that run counter to yours. The worker wants high wages, the owner wants high profits to put it bluntly. This conflict is the core of all Class Struggle, the capitalists will try to obscure it but every concession workers have gotten were earned through this (often violent) struggle. Class struggle therefore starts with your regular work and ends with radical critique of Capital. Each time you work towards a better wage, each time you stop the bad treatment of a coworker you are struggling due to and for your class. Climate change, exploitation in the Third World, the sub-par education of working class children are all manifestations of that conflict, when we fight against it we are the propellants of society but all conflict has to come to an end some day either by progress into a better system or into collapse into a worse, though temporarily more stable one. So you see that anti-capitalist action is not a project derived from some misguided altruism or resentment but rather in the rational self interest of the international working class. If a worker wants to be a master of his own destiny, if he wants freedom then he can take two routes. That of the exploiter or that of liberated cooperator. One has to imagine a world in which you can choose what to do with your own time based on your circumstance rather than having your actions dictated by elites and bosses, owners and landlords.
Hmm?
It is time to admit that what we understand that anti-capitalist action is not as precise as previously presented. The exact break-off point of systems is vague, is mutualism, market socialism or syndicalism capitalism? They certainly seem radically different although they maybe are not “orthodox socialism”. The fact is that anti-capitalism is a varied field that can be progressive, conservative, national, international, with or without markets and while I find certain versions of this anti-capitalism essentially pointless(or even detrimental) the point of this short article is less to be an argument for a particular brand of anti-capitalism but rather as a starting point for workers to not only realize their own exploitation but that there are in fact more possible solutions that can be applied to society outside of the typical Marxist-Leninist/Anarchist divide we tend to see in socialism as.
I don’t want to fight anyone!
“I don’t like violence.”
“My cousin is a cop/boss and I don’t hate him.”
As hinted at previously, class struggle does not inherently mean revolution and while it may be necessary one day it is generally not wise to get one’s revolutionary fervor from a single pamphlet or article. Let us still discuss for a moment the legitimacy of proletarian violence against the capitalist system and the bourgeoisie. First of all, private property and it’s legitimacy. While a capitalist may have acquired his wealth “legitimately”(in the current system) it would be delusional that private property itself is legitimate. Most of it was either conquered or enclosed from previously common lands, why then should it be illegitimate to advance the worker’s interests through violence? Especially since it moves us closer to a more democratic society?
More importantly however I would generally advise against violence, this goes doubly for people new to anti-capitalism. A person being excited about doing violence or when they are too easily convinced without any kind of foundation of anti-capitalist theory is more likely a thug or an infiltrator not in it for liberation but participates either out of a love for violence or out of a resentment of the bourgeoisie is likely not going to be a great asset of any organization.
As for personal connections to say a police officer or a business owner two things have to be said. First of all, all anti-capitalists take issue with the police system as a whole but everyone agrees that to a smaller or larger extent, depending on conditions and political opinion, policing is necessary and important even. Phrases like ‘All Cops Are Bastards’ are more often aimed at the institution under capitalism or used against Police when anti-capitalists(or in some cases even capitalists) try to subvert the system. Ultimately one needs to remind themselves of the simple fact that police officers are proletarian, where one goes with that information can be left to them.
As for owners, it is very likely that the owners you personally know are small business owners, themselves suppressed by the capitalist system. When any kind of anti-capitalist system comes to be, little to nothing changes for many of them. Although depending on their quality as a boss their future work relationships may be of course tough. That is however not something out of line even in our current society. Critique or even different tactics in dealing with small scale owners, police or landlords should be certainly examined as I would not be the first one to say that Gulag or Laogai might not be practically humane or even potent solutions.
Self criticism and advice.
Two things I have to admit about this article. First that, in order to make an easy and fair introduction to Anti-Capitalism I am quite liberal with some of my wording around what is generally seen as permissible in Socialist circles but I believe that for any radicalization to happen or for any new strains of thought to emerge this type of soft generalized view of Anti-Capitalism needs to be part of the fundamental education for people new to Left politics. Even if all leftists were “violent Anti-Fascists” the fact would remain that violence would still not be endemic to Socialism.
However in that description of Left thought as very modular I also called it potentially national or conservative, and it is true that fundamentally Left politics don’t have to be internationalist or progressive my conscience would however haunt me if I did not point out one issue with that type of heterodox, conservative Socialism. Even though for an immediate advantage that conservatism it is rare for it to propose effective long term solutions in issues such as immigration. Of course one should not throw the baby out with the bathwater but I must implore the reader to be careful with conservative rhetoric and to try to distinguish between well reasoned compromise and capitulation to the national bourgeoisie that will only try not to divide workers when they are trying to make money off of them.
Another thing that is usually not addressed in these types of online “pamphlets” is what one should do if one is convinced that Socialism is a noble goal and for that I would recommend three “introductory” actions fitting to the character of this article. It is usually possible for people to do one of these things I would advise against devoting one’s self in only political and social matters unless it is a matter of existence, it is incredibly easy to become a disconnected bore if one does that.
- First is to join a union, while there is a fair share of reactionary unions that for the uneducated proletarian might be detrimental it is generally so that through trade-unionism one is able to help and be helped, it is the worker’s first line of the defense against open and aggressive exploitation
- Second is to join a local Leftist solidarity organization. Either those that concern themselves with actions such as helping the homeless or poor or one that is concerned with organizing solidarity for people in other countries. Not only is this an incredible way of directly helping people but it is also a way of meeting new people and connecting to one’s community in a deeper way.
- The third and last recommendation is joining a Leftist or generally political, philosophic or economic Reading Group. A complaint I hear from many people is that they find it difficult to concentrate or understand these types of texts. Education however is an indispensable tool for self-determination if one wants to understand his surroundings and choose wisely what to do next. A Reading Group forces one’s self to read and engage with these texts while also providing support if one might not understand something.
Say you are still not convinced, then congratulations. Your opinion should be based on more research than this article however I hope it gives everyone that reads it a good starting point to understand anti-capitalism. I do have one point that I would like every reader to take away no matter the politics one has on any number of issues. At our current time no one can afford to be passive, everyone’s politics need to be engaged and radical and not just Socialists but also Social Democrats and Liberals need to find a solid foundation of theory and effective Praxis. Especially when it comes to Climate Change where it goes doubly, it is there where our options seem to be between EcoSocialism and EcoFascism,
