Tag Archives: Political

CAPITALISM – a Great Reset or a Great Replacement.

Posted on by malpagaia

A Great Reset of capitalism from the top down.

Capitalism, our present socio-economic form of governance and productivity has long since become global, imperialist and dangerous, it now places too much emphasis on the accumulation of privately owned wealth, with far too little emphasis on meeting the social and cultural needs of humanity.

In our preparation for world socialist revolution and thereby the replacement of capitalism with socialism, the international working class will need to carefully consider some of the counter revolutionary forces working against us. For example, the World Economic Forum (WEF) should be seen as a very formidable counter revolutionary force that will need to be reckoned with. The WEF has a great deal of money, power and influence available for achieving its capitalist objectives. Take for example part of an introduction to a recent (2020) WEF project named ‘The Great Reset’ –

‘To achieve a better outcome, the world must act jointly and swiftly to revamp all aspects of our societies and economies, from education to social contracts and working conditions. Every country, from the United States to China, must participate, and every industry, from oil and gas to tech, must be transformed. In short, we need a “Great Reset” of capitalism..’ (weforum.org)

It can and probably should be assumed that in order ‘To achieve a better outcome’ within a ‘Great Reset’ of capitalism, the working class would inevitably continue to be exploited. Given the extent to which capitalism depends on the exploitation of the working class to generate profit and thereby the privately owned wealth that underpins the WEF and its members, we can safely assume that any proposed ‘revamp’ of ‘societies and economies’ would not be done on behalf of the international working class.

While capitalism in its current form – from an international socialist perspective, might well be regarded as being in an advanced state of decay, it is clear from the above WEF statement that the ruling class is determined to keep capitalism alive and well in one form or another. It now appears most likely that capitalism is to be either ‘reset’ from the top down with more or worse of the same damage it now inflicts on our planetary Biosphere in general and the international working class in particular, or it is to be replaced with an international socialism via a political program and party of world socialist revolution, from the bottom up. The WEF is clearly a counter revolutionary capitalist forum that has little or nothing in common with the ICFI/SEP/IYSSE program and party of world socialist revolution. In promoting their ‘Great Reset of capitalism’ project the WEF goes on to say –

‘Clearly, the will to build a better society does exist. We must use it to secure the Great Reset that we so badly need. That will require stronger and more effective governments, though this does not imply an ideological push for bigger ones. And it will demand private-sector engagement every step of the way..’ (weforum.org)

Knowing in advance that the ‘Great Reset.. will demand private-sector engagement every step of the way’, should be more than enough to alert the international working class that this WEF project cannot be trusted to bring about any meaningful improvement to their working conditions and livelihood. On the contrary, it would appear that the WEF’s ‘Great Reset’ project is designed to ensure that smaller ‘stronger and more effective governments’ will be subordinate to the ‘private sector’.

Be this as it may, from an international socialist perspective the WEF is indeed a capitalist force to be reckoned with and strongly opposed. The only force capable of doing so is the same productive force that produces the profit and thereby the privately owned wealth of the capitalist members of the WEF, namely the international working class. To overcome such a formidable opponent and thereby replace international capitalism with international socialism will require a critical mass of the international working class to join the ICFI/SEP/IYSSE program and party of world socialist revolution. Only then can one prepare for and participate in the program of world socialist revolution.

A Great Replacement of capitalism from the bottom up.

From the perspective of the international working class, capitalism is a powerful global force that must be reckoned with and replaced by an even stronger global force. Replacing international capitalism with international socialism can only happen from the bottom up via the productive force of the international working class. Capitalism depends entirely on the productive force of the international working class to design, produce, operate, maintain and defend all of its territory, property, goods and services. By virtue of its productive role, it is the much exploited human productive force that can and must unite to overthrow its capitalist owners and state power.

The capitalist ruling class has no respect for planet Earth other than it being a so called ‘god given’ resource for the  accumulation of their privately owned material wealth. Capitalist ruling classes have long since colonised planet Earth into seperate, competitive, antagonistic nation states, the most powerful of which now jealously threaten each other with more than enough nuclear weapons to transform planet Earth into a lifeless desert. Climate change, wars, poverty, pandemics and tens of millions of displaced refugees having to flee from all of the above negative impacts are a direct result of a fundamentally flawed and mostly corrupt capitalism.

The replacement of capitalist socio-economic forms of governance and productivity that place so much emphasis on the accumulation of privately owned wealth with socialist socio-economic forms that place an emphasis on meeting the social and cultural needs of society, is long overdue. The political program and party of world socialist revolution namely the ICFI/SEP/IYSSE is well advanced and prepared to provide the international working class with the necessary revolutionary political leadership. Rank and file committees of workers, students and others are being well informed and encouraged to develop throughout the entire planet on a daily basis via the pages of WSWS.org .

Meeting the social and cultural needs of society first and foremost would be a great step in the right direction for the human race in particular and our Biosphere in general. The establishment and development of federations of united socialist states throughout the entire planet would enable far more of our natural resources – including and especially that of human labour, to be put to better use. It would do away with the need for nation states to aggressively compete with each other, material wealth could be far more equitably distributed throughout the entire planet, wars, poverty, refugees and environmental degradation could become things of the past.

From a working class perspective, international socialism must be our next logical socio-economic form of governance and productivity, it would be one great step for humankind – from the bottom up.

Taffy,

Southern Winter 2020.

The Productive Force

Posted on by malpagaia

– for better or for worse?

The ‘productive force’- according to Karl Marx, consisting of all waged and salaried labour – also known as ‘the international working class’ designs, produces, operates and maintains every built thing, including all artificial intelligence (AI) together with its rapidly increasing number of algorithms, all of which can now be incorporated into the machinery for peace or the machinery for war ie; for better or for worse.

With this in mind it should not be difficult to understand why the owners of the productive force – also known as ‘the ruling class’ are thereby totally dependant on their waged and salaried producers for everything they own, especially the accumulation of their privately owned wealth. Most if not all modern socio-economic forms of governance and productivity have been globalized and designed to maintain this relationship between the owners of the productive force and the actual producers, including the waged and salaried ‘universal soldier’. The socio-economic relationship between the ruling class and the working class is such that it increases the wealth, power and influence of the ruling class, gained through an increasing exploitation and impoverishment of the working class. Ultimately the above mentioned machinery for war only exists to protect the privately owned property and wealth of the ruling class. Moreover, for the universal soldier, most of whom are better paid and cared for than their fellow working class producers, there is a requirement or command of strict obedience and preparedness to sacrifice their lives during war(s), as part of their exploitation.

It can now be writ large on anyone’s digital tablet that we need to replace the dominant capitalist socio-economic forms of governance and productivity that place such emphasis on the accumulation of privately owned property and wealth for the ruling class; with socio-economic forms of governance and productivity that place the emphasis on meeting the social needs of the productive force – the working class. Doing away with the ruling class constructed artificial barriers between nation states and meeting the basic social needs of the productive force should eventually eliminate the need for standing armies and the obscenely expensive military industrial complex required to support them. A more sophisticated socio-economic form of governance and productivity could achieve a more sustainable level of social equality, more cooperative international trade and far greater freedom for cultural diversity throughout the entire planet. As indicated above, only the productive force itself is capable of achieving this, it alone has the incentive, the labour, the intellect and thereby the capacity for replacing the existing profit driven capitalist system with a more sophisticated and sustainable system throughout and on behalf of the entire planet and all of its life supporting systems.

For the global productive force to make such a revolutionary change in time to avoid what is now a three pronged capitalist threat of nuclear war(s), catastrophic climate change and the militarization of AI, it must first recognise itself as being the international working class engaged in a class war against the international ruling class. Then the productive force must unite and prepare itself to participate in a political program of ‘world socialist revolution’, such as the program of the International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI) and its branches of the Socialist Equality Party (SEP). [i] Anything less than the unification of the productive force under the banner of a political program and party of world socialist revolution – as defined by Karl Marx and Leon Trotsky, is doomed to continue being threatened, exploited and impoverished by the capitalist ruling class. The productive force must now make a choice to be a force for better or for worse.

 

[i] Information about which is made available on a daily basis via the pages of the World Socialist Website WSWS.org