 The Sustainability of Pure, Unregulated Capitalism Here is a post I found written by a marxist named jaako
on the politicsforum.org: Quote:
The law of maximum profits which is the most fundamental economic law of mature capitalism (imperialism) has become in an increasing contradiction with the actual development of the productive forces.
On one hand the further survival of capitalism is more and more dependent on the commodification of all possible sectors of human life, of services and activities that have formerly been outside of commodity circulation. Instead seeking more profits by expanding the actual productive forces, it's easier for capitalists seek profits through commodification of such human activities that produce value for the capitalist in question but which are non-productive in the scale of the global capitalist system as a whole ie. activities which don't produce new value (such as playing Habbo Hotel on-line).
This brings us to the "the other hand". As is apparent from the aforesaid, the expansion of commodification and the so-called "consumption society" may expand profits but the more it does so the less it actually developes the productive forces of society. Capitalism (like any social system) can't do away with its base in material production. The more the "consumption society" especially in the centres of imperialism expands, the more dependent these centre areas become of basic material production in the "periphery" ie. the semi- and neo-colonial world where the majority of peoples and the proletariat lives.
If capitalism in its imperialist stage has become a hindrance to the real development of productive forces in the centres of global capitalism, it's downright destructive in the colonial -type countries. When during the industrial revolution in Europe young capitalism played a progressive role in sweeping away feudalism, capitalism in its imperialist stage is subjecting the majority of the world's peoples under a colonial division of labour which both feeds the remnants of feudalism and poses the main barrier to the industrial revolution there.
What we have here on this planet is a situation that is in the long-run unsustainable both economically and ecologically. We have huge waste of natural resources for luxuries and mindless consumption enabled by super-profits of astronomic scale extracted from the oppressed nations. The abundance of commodities and levels of unsustainable consumption are contrasted by reality of the vast majority of humanity being denied not only some of the basic fruits of the industrial revolution and technological progress but even the security of some fundamental needs of human life that have existed before capitalism.
This is the paradox in short - capitalism has become an obstacle to further progress and prosperity, while its further growth has become unsustainable.
Back to the subject of "just, fair and equitable society". What we understand by "just, fair and equitable" vary from one socio-economic formation to another, aswell as according to class-perspective. In socialism they will surely change further, as they have throughout the evolution of society. Also in socialism the conceptions of "just", "fair" and "equal" will probably go beyond the existing social conditions, and the existing conditions might never fully satisfy the ever developing cultural ideals. But that's progress. Acknowledging it is one thing that differentiates scientific socialism from utopian socialism. The goal of Marxist communists has never been a utopian society where people are completely satisfied with the existing social conditions, where cultural progress has reached some eternal static state like "nirvana".
| I liked his post. Discuss. | 
07-26-2007, 09:21 AM
Linear Mode
