By way of disclosure, I’ve been a socialist my entire adult life. But lately I’ve been looking at the issues of socialism versus capitalism in a much different manor and perspective. In the past, the argument for socialism was “it’s a better economic system than capitalism” and that was basically the assumption I always operated under.
More recent historical developments have served to change the way we look at economic systems, including both capitalism and socialism. The awareness brought on by these developments have added new criteria to past definitions of what real progress for humanity entails.
A Brief Summary of Pre-Capitalist History
To sum up what capitalism is and what it entails has admittedly not changed much over the years for me. Bear with me while I outline the basics of capitalism and what preceded it.
Before the early days of capitalist development, the driving force for human civilization was forced labor and slavery. Patriarchy and authoritarianism flourished. This was the way forward for the developing dominant classes and depended entirely on the exploitation of the work done by what became the have-not’s and possessed slave classes. In this classically unequal relationship, the ruling elites got the better of all things that could be created, invented, built, and eaten.
The have-not classes and slaves got barely enough of these materials to survive, while small middle classes also developed, mainly more skilled worker craftsmen. Under this system one would expect conflict, wars and violent methods of enforcement to be maintained to make sure the have-nots and slaves produced the required labors and services for them and did not rebel over the drudgery and absolute poverty conditions most lived under. As civilization advanced and spread to different regions, imperialism — a form of international exploitation — developed and accumulated (stole) massive amounts of wealth from the newly discovered territories.
Then Came Capitalism
Capitalism, which developed alongside of technological advances in production and machines, naturally was also based on exploitation of the under classes and under imperialism, also the exploitation of entire nations. Soon added were mechanisms and methods for mass production, and capitalism was on its way. In was built largely over the class structures and relationships that previously existed.
Limitations of Marxist Thought
Karl Marx had it right about capitalist development’s dependence on exploitation, cheap labor and perpetual imperial expansion. Its very existence depends on maintaining these unequal and imbalanced relations. Resulting in perpetual never-ending wars, conflict, massive poverty and environmental destruction. What great minds like Marx knew much less about were ways to achieve a change over to a sustainable and balanced economic system that doesn’t threaten planetary health. He also labeled capitalism objectively “progressive” because of the more efficient way it organized production. But this also was an acknowledgement of the terrible and dangerous working conditions provided and abject poverty that resulted from extreme worker exploitation.
I’m Still 100% for Socialism but . . .
One of the more popular arguments for supporting capitalism is that it works, whereas socialism does not. This is a patently false statement which falls apart upon closer examination. Not the part that socialism doesn’t often work, because countries that have committed to it have mostly, for various reasons, regressed quickly back to varieties of capitalism. It’s the part that capitalism “works” which is false.
Refuting “Greed is Good”
In Wall Street the movie, Michael Douglas gave a tongue in cheek statement about capitalism:
"Greed, for lack of a better word, is good." He went on to make the point that greed is a clean drive that "captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Greed, in all of its forms; greed for life, for money, for love, for knowledge has marked the upward surge of mankind."
Many people buy a BS statement like this. That with all its problems, capitalism works better and for more people than any other system. The success of capitalism, however, cannot not be judged by the economic well-being of the most privileged, but by what this system has done to the planet and the billions of poor and marginal people who live under it.
One reason that socialist experiments fail is that thousands of years of deeply imbedded cultural practices behind its existence facilitate capitalism’s survival. Socialism by definition cannot be forced upon people who have little concept of it except the hostile definitions placed upon it by the dominant classes and their corporate owned media outlets.
Other considerations that should be factored in when judging whether or not capitalism “works” are the hundreds of years of capitalist exploitation that has, in a dollar sense, stollen mega-trillions of wealth from the masses here and all over the world and kept control of it in private hands. And the mega-trillions that will be needed to clean up and counteract the environmental destruction caused by industries which never financed the real costs of cleaning up waste and pollution and preventing its deadly consequences. You can also add combatting the damage done by using fossil fuels, which will cost more mega-trillions to replace it as a fuel source and develop ways to neutralize the greenhouse gases causing global warming. This is the real cost and result of capitalist development.
Consequences of Capitalist Industrialization & Development
In addition, progress and higher standard of livings often attributed to capitalism in the developed countries has come from the imperial aspects of advanced capitalism, through unequal exchange, the plundering of raw materials at rock bottom prices and the super exploitation of cheap foreign labor. Resulting in massive amounts of poverty, underdevelopment, and environmental destruction in these countries and even to a lesser extent, in our own. This enormous debt to our environment, the planet and its people now threatens our very existence.
Unrecycled plastics from the advanced countries are reaching the ocean even at its deepest point, toxic garbage contaminates domestic water and soil and industrially caused cancers kill millions each year. Hundreds more examples like this could be given. Fossil fuels dominating the planet as an energy source have triggered global warming and threaten the planet's ability to produce food and fresh water.
So for me, failures at setting up socially responsible economies and governments, movements we call socialist, does not mean we should stop trying and embrace capitalism. Whether we admit it or not, we are in a planetary struggle for survival. We were brought to this point by none other than the capitalist system and way of life. It cannot not and will not save us from something that it is, in reality, the primary cause of it.
No Matter What You Call it
I’m not naive enough to believe that we have any short-term chance of changing enough minds on concepts of socialism, public ownership, and societal and business cooperation. But we can talk about the need for socially responsible government, businesses and enforcing the rule of law. And ways to force the ruling classes to pay huge tax increases out of their profits to begin combatting the problems they created and profited from. And an explanation as to how a once relatively progressive tax system has degenerated into one which produces Oligarchic tyrants like Eton Muskrat.
No matter what name you choose to call socialism, we must somehow find and commit the resources necessary to stop the planetary death spiral being led by capitalism. One way to attack capitalism that’s not tried enough, is to stick a label on it as a socially irresponsible system that refuses to address its many faults and blames others for its own faults and pathological greed.
And when it will likely red-bate critics in response, to double down at challenge them: “If you don’t want to socialize America’s economy, how do you propose to address the many serious faults of the system? Who will pay for the huge debt that you owe to our environment. Or for protecting our health from industrial cancers? Why won’t you pay for it?”
It’s not hard to come up with catchy lines of attacks against the major capitalist interests, you just need to form groups and organizations that are unafraid to do so. Their justifications for capitalism are extremely weak but never get publicly challenged and seem stronger than they really are.
Change is Coming
Any rapid change from capitalism to socialism, even when possible, will cause massive chaos and conflict and should never again be attempted. Any changeover, to be successful and progressive, must win popular support and be gradual and preserve smaller enterprises and most personal use and live-in properties. We could wind up on one future day with a system that is neither fully capitalist nor socialist.
This is not to say that there won’t be intense protracted struggle to get to a point where such changes gain traction in the body politic. But it’s what is currently lacking in politics. An honest critique of capitalism, which will be strenuously resisted. But it must be remembered that rarely has the political system been willing or able to confront the many misdeeds that capitalism has heaped upon us. That will compromise struggles for a new future. Quite frankly, there is significant support in the ruling circles for a more authoritarian state.
Musk is One of Many Oligarchs for Fascism
We have been heading toward oligarchy for some time. It’s past time we push back. The class struggle must be extended to include the ruling elite behind the Republicans. The Republican politicians carry water for segments of our ruling circles. They need to be identified and made to pay a political and economic price for their fascist sentiments.
The costs of not committing to progressive economic changes are much greater.