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Speaking of ... Capitalism
The global protest movements opposed to neoliberal globalisation have named their enemy: capitalism. From Chiapas to Seattle, from Quebec to Genoa, from Prague to Gleneagles… anticapitalists exclaimed “we are everywhere”. But what is it we oppose? What is wrong with capitalism?
For many “activists” in the movements against global capitalism the answer is practical: fighting against empire means fighting against Bush, Blair and Coca-Cola, against the perceived puppeteers who pull the strings behind the scenes of financial transactions. They reduce a global economic system to a few faces, names and addresses (usually somewhere in the US). And the world will be changed by a multitude of the most oppressed, they say.
But is it really that simple? Who is a villain and who a victim? Can you smell the working-class revolution behind the next corner?
No, it’s not as black and white as that. Maybe then we need to re-examine what contemporary capitalism really is, how it functions and what roles we play in it. In short, we need to engage in a critique of capitalism.
Manchester labourers
Two of the most prominent critics of capitalism spring to mind immediately: Marx and Engels. Their writings are more than 100 years old and thus they do not speak of the same phenomenon that we are facing today. And yet, they are point of reference for most modern critiques of capitalism, Interestingly enough, the misery of many Mancunian working families provided the background for much of Marx’ and Engels’ analysis. Engels spent a good deal of his time in Manchester’s Chetham Library researching his book on The Condition of the Working Class in England. Marx, based in London, came for occasional visits.
In the first half of the 19 th century, Manchester, driven by its cotton industry, was at the forefront of the Industrial Revolution. Increasingly, merchants and manufacturers would invest their surplus capital into property and machinery. But while profits for the capitalists soared, the vast majority of the population lived and worked under miserable conditions. Workers (including many children) in the cotton mills and other factories were submitted to long hours for low wages under crowded conditions. In addition, the arrival of new machinery posed a severe threat to factory jobs and undermined the workers’ case for higher wages.
Marx and Engels did not make individual capitalists and industrialists responsible for the misery of working Mancunians. And we should refrain from doing so too. The manager of a company will always try to keep wages low and working hours long. That doesn’t make him a consciously greedy profiteer. Rather his greed is driven by the “need” to accumulate capital or succumb to competition, and the imperative to expand his business or face financial ruin. All, bosses and workers alike, are part of a bigger capitalist machinery. But there is no machinist, no puppeteer who holds all the strings in his hands, no conspiracy. Capitalist exploitation is anonymous, impersonal. It is not enough to get rid of our leaders and bosses (there will be new ones). We have to criticise capitalism in its immanence.
London financiers?
Finance capital is seen as incontrollable capitalism gone mad. In 1999, the banks and exchanges in the City of London were targeted by 10,000 anticapitalists for their role in facilitating global financial transactions. For many anticapitalists, London signifies the free flow of capital and its financial institutions. But this is only half of the story. We should never assume that, if capitalism can go mad, it can ever be tamed.
If London stands for finance, then Manchester stands for production and labour. It was here that some of the first factories were built, where material goods and commodities were produced for the Commonwealth market. As much as London’s financiers and bosses are not individually responsible for human misery, Manchester’s labourers never played a revolutionary role (as much as Marx wanted them to). Both are inextricably linked to a system that demands the reproduction of capital, irrespective of human needs and desires. Capitalism leaves no space for heroes and villains.
Luxury for all
Anticapitalism is not about the equal distribution of misery. We do not want to wait until the gap between rich and poor compels us to rebel. The hidden structures of capitalism make exploitation too incomprehensible to act upon. What we need is not just the equal and sustainable distribution of our material and immaterial riches. More than anything we need to challenge the way we work and produce them. The revolution isn’t nigh. At this moment we are left with critiquing capitalism in its abstract form, and to live our lives despite capitalism.
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text published as leaflet for Mayday 06