CAPITALISM AND ITS ALTERNATIVESECON 434 | Spring 2011

What is communism? Some “answers”:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wccIqjrGGMk (to 2:40)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8gplRWZ5ZJQ (start at 1:15)

The response http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76frH

HpoNFs&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8gIxu

OabGBE&feature=related (to 3:25)

What is capitalism? Private property rights Laissez faire government policies

Some definitions Socialism: The unifying theme of socialism is the

call for social ownership of all major nonhuman factors of production, especially physical capital and natural resources. i.e., land, factories, major pieces of capital equipment

would be held by the government Types: Utopian, Fabian, Christian Goal: Equal outcomes, equitable distribution of wealth

Communism: The socialist ideal "From each according to his ability to produce, to

each according to need.“

Utopian socialism Collective ownership eliminates greed and

promotes personal growth What about prices?

Superfluous: Joy in giving = joy in receiving Thomas More (late 15th/early 16th c): Utopia Robert Owen (mid 1800s): Develops small,

socialist communities in Scotland and U.S.

Fabian socialism Developed in England (late 1800s):

nationalization of heavy industry; municipal ownership of public utilities [big communities as opposed to small]

H.G. Wells (author), George Bernard Shaw (playwright)

Founded British union movements (today’s Labour Party)

Christian socialism Conservative theology: Christianity supports the status

quo “Render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's and unto God

that which is God's“ (justifies existing distributions of wealth)

Christian socialism advocates charity and peaceful social reforms Resembles Fabian socialism in its goals; most Fabian

socialists, however, are atheists or agnostics. Liberation theology

Branch of Christian socialism that evolves in Latin America Supports violent overthrow of repressive regimes

(Christianity + Marxism)

Marxism (revolutionary socialism)

Socialism will replace capitalism after a violent revolution

Based on a type of dialectical analysis championed by Georg Hegel Every concept has a thesis and an

antithesis Long – short Rich – poor The combination of opposites yields a

synthesis: long + short height; rich + poor wealth

Marx cont. Marx uses dialectical analysis to color his

take on historical and economic processes

All history is a class struggle Agricultural interests (thesis) +

manufacturing interests (antithesis) industrial revolution/the rise of capitalism (synthesis)

Class analysis What’s a class?

Historically: Class was based on social relationships (ascribed status)

With capitalism: Class is based on socioeconomic considerations

Based on the particular relationship you maintain with the forces of production

Capitalism creates 2 antagonistic classes: Those who own the means of production (bourgeois) Those who work with the means of production

(proletariat) Class struggle: attempt to control the means of

production

Marx’s beef with capitalism Rent, interests, profit: surplus value Increasing inequalities make capitalism dynamically

unstable (Marxian capitalistic crisis) Boom and bust cycles grow more pronounced Capitalism sets the stage for its own demise

Attempts to employ labor as cheaply as possible will “drag” more and more into the proletariat

As the proletariat grows, it recognizes itself for the first time

Shared class interests trump ethnic or nationalistic differences

When the proletariat revolts, it emancipates everyone from class relations under capitalism

Marxian stages of economic development

Pre-class societies Tribal (pre-history)

Class societies Ancient (primitive culture) Feudal Capitalism Dictatorship of the proletariat

Post-class societies Communism

The communist ideal Capitalism: Sell labor for wages Communism: Labor is not used for

subsistence; instead, it’s used for expressing our innate uniqueness as human beings Conditions of material scarcity create a world

where you try to achieve sufficiency, not excellence

When subsistence needs are met without having to do anything, you do what fulfills you: “free labor”

Predictions Globalization

Capitalism “must nestle everywhere” Does globalization, as practiced today, help or

hinder the realization of freedom, per Marx? A debate about the sharpening (or dulling) of class

distinctions Misery of workers Explosive business cycles Bloody revolutions that successfully

overthrow capitalism

Anarchism Philosophical

anarchism counts on cooperation among people to ensure social harmony in the absence of government or law.

How to get rid of government? William Godfrey: Ignore

it Mikhail Bakunin:

Random violence

Syndicalism Syndicalism would abolish the state, corporate

capitalism, and private ownership of nonhuman resources.

Each industry would be owned by its workers and run by elected worker committees (syndicates). Industry-wide trade unions

Founder: French philosopher Georges Sorel In the U.S.: 1905, Industrial Workers of the World

(wobblies) Eugene Debs collects +1 million votes for president during

WWI Overthrow capitalism by locking out managers and seizing

factories.