Many influential people, from newspaper editors to economics professors, will tell you that capitalism is natural. Human beings are greedy, selfish and competitive and so any economic system must be based on greed, selfishness and competition. According to them, capitalism is a system that uses our natural urge to compete and dominate to benefit everyone, even the losers in the competition. The economy grows because ruthless competition between firms forces them to innovate and expand, creating wealth out of nothing which then trickles down through society. These propagandists, because thats what they are, disagree with each other over whether this can happen completely naturally or whether governments should intervene to smooth the process. Some argue that everything should be open to competition – hospitals, schools, the lot – so that the benefits of growth can spread everywhere. Others, sometimes even calling themselves socialists, argue that some things like health care and education should be run by the government. This creates a healthier and better educated workforce for the capitalist firms and so makes them more competitive. These arguments are sometimes fierce, but in the end the two sides agree about everything that is important. Some people should own and control the factories, services and land that are the basis of the economy. These people should make all the decisions and should get most of the wealth that these businesses create. Other people should work in these places under the control of the managers. They should take orders, not make decisions and should get a wage for what they do. This is the essence of capitalism. One small group of people controls the places that we work in, the land that produces our food, the factories that make our clothes and everything that makes life possible. These people are the ruling class and their power comes from their control over the means of production, the resources and equipment that are needed to produce the things we need to live. Everyone else must work in the fields and the factories, the call centres and the office blocks. We are the working class and in this system we operate the means of production. We provide the labour that allows these fields and factories, call centres and offices to produce goods and services, commodities, for the ruling class to sell at a profit. Capitalism, then, is a system of exploitation. It is a class system where a majority, the working class, is exploited by a minority, the ruling class. The ruling class are the people who own or control the places where we work. They make the decisions about what kinds of products the factories make or what kinds of services are provided, and they make the decisions about how this work is organised. The working class are all the people who are forced to work in these places in order to get the money that they need to live. We, the working class, build and provide everything society needs to function. They, the ruling class, suck profit out of our work. We are the body of society; they are parasites sucking us dry.
Posted on: Mon, 14 Apr 2014 17:34:47 +0000