Marxism, Anti-capitalism and the Mobilisation of the Political Left (Part 2)
September 23, 2010
In Defence, But in Admitting Defeat
In defence of capitalism, the free market has brought many people out of poverty, stabilised our society and delivered us many wonderful products which have enhanced our lives. The problem, however, is that capitalism depends on growth and without it, everything goes to the shits (ie. world financial crisis). That is, when the number of people consuming/the amount that they’re consuming is not increasing or the means of production cannot be further cheapened, companies can’t make more money and therefore we have a crisis. As consumers and production are maxed out and can’t be squeezed any further, these crisis become like contractions when giving birth, they become longer, more frequent and more intense. Artificial growth, such as bailouts and economic stimulus work for a while, but they are a band aid solution as, in the end, the system needs growth through customers or cheaper production. So capitalism works and has worked for a while, and now, as resources strain, it’s beginning to choke and splutter, the future then is to witness the system spasm into its eventual death.
Aside: Conservative Politics and the Dominance of Capitalism
The last 30 years of politics have been a pivotal in securing the dominance of capitalism through conservative politics rather than reform to quell the negative impacts of capitalism. In the US, UK and Australia, the overwhelming majority of elected politicians over the past 30 years have served conservative interests vested in supporting the power structures of the corporate elite. George Bush Senior and Junior, Clinton, Thatcher, Blair, Howard have only forwarded the cause of capitalism.
The Answer
Capitalism obvious cannot and should not continue as it depends on continual growth which as we know is depleting the world of valuable resources (human and environmental). What we need is a new economic system, one that shifts the motivation of corporations away from profits and redirects them towards human need. We have the capacity to solve all the worlds problems if the systems of economics support it.
I believe in that socialism can break the profit motive and focus on human need through democratic ownership of production and taxation against greed.
Worker’s Owning the Means of Production
It’s funny how we say that companies are made up of people, when in fact its only a relative handful of people who are involved in the decision making. I don’t believe in centralised power. I think that the more people involved in making an important decision, the better the decision as different people will run into different ideas. I therefore think that it is right for workers to own the means of production. That is, each worker has a stake in the production side of the company. So workers therefore make up a greater balance of power and have more influence in the company (as the company is dependent on production). Then when it comes to making decisions the constituents go to the polls and vote. The workers, being professionals in what they do, understand their job more than anyone else and therefore they should have more right in influencing the workplace. As a teacher, I know what I need in the classroom, what I’m not getting and how some changes can help me teach better.
Now, I am not an advocate for communism, so unlike Mao and others, I’m quite aware that workers are workers, they’re not bosses, managers or CEOs, they don’t know how to run companies and nor should they, it’s not their job. (Animal Farm is a good metaphor for that). So, I believe that workers should have full entitlement over what matters to them and that’s the work place. Business, management, advertising and so forth ought to be handled by the people who understand it and they should have sufficient control over it. A hierarchy should be maintained, since some people choose to work harder than others and deserve that entitlement.
When workers own what they produce, a class structure is maintained, the right people are doing the right work and the balance between workers and bosses is fair, the workplace suddenly becomes more democratic.
(So much hinges on class and balancing of power, a dilemma of a more democratic work place which does not want to allow workers to overthrow bosses or bosses to rule over workers. However, despite the complexities of forming such systems, so long as workers control production, quality of life and the production will become the new motivation.)
Taxation on Corporate Capitalism
Pretty self-explanatory. By tightening the tax rate of corporations as profit increases, the motivation to earn more profits decreases, since once an upper limit is reach, all of the money goes to the public. High taxes on big business kill any incentive to make more money than is deemed necessary to run a business.
So by workers exercising more democratic control over the work they do and by limiting the amount of money a company can earn, the profit motive is replaced by a motivation to improve production. This would lead to more innovative and creative products, as opposed to following whatever makes money. It would also ensure that workers are happier since they have more control over their work and therefore their destinies.
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