Fatal Contradictions: Capitalism is Doomed

"The working class is a massive chunk of humanity and the moment it becomes conscious of itself it will wield irresistible power."

by Nathaniel Turner

7/31/06

Capitalism has begun wheezing and sputtering under the influence of its fatal contradictions. One of the more graphic illustrations of the system’s growing irrationality is being vividly painted now in one of its outposts—Israel. The state that Zionism created sees its own death coming and is thrashing around accordingly. Because the rulers of Israel see the end of the line they are gripped with fear. The indiscriminate bombing in Lebanon and Gaza and the resultant killing of civilians and destruction of infrastructure, the kidnapping of Hamas legislators, and the targeting of a U.N. observer post are acts increasingly outside the bounds of rationality. And their fear is bound to grow now that their military adventure has failed. Olmert’s security cabinet has already given up on the idea of driving to the Litani River to establish their so-called “buffer zone” and realize they will not defeat Hezbollah militarily. This turn will further electrify the Arab people and put additional pressure on Israel.

Under normal circumstances the impending death of a form of racism like Zionism and the establishment of a secular state on the territory Israel now occupies where Palestinian Arabs of various religious persuasions and Jews could peacefully co-exist as equals would be cause for human celebration. Unfortunately, the insanity that clearly grips Israel means they will likely resort to their nuclear arsenal when all else fails. And that, on a small scale, is the dilemma that the whole world faces as the capitalist system passes into history.

Much like Charles Darwin’s immutable truths regarding of the origins and evolution of life, Karl Marx guided us through the reasons capitalism was born, why it would thrive and dominate for a time, and how its inherent contradictions condemn it to be replaced by a superior economic system. Outside of capitalism’s hacks at places like the University of Chicago, Marx’s brilliant science-based vision can no longer be challenged on the facts. It’s going to continue to unfold just as he forecast. Capitalism is doomed. Unfortunately, Marx never foresaw the development of nuclear weapons.

So the problem humanity faces is that capitalism in its last throes, rotting internally, irrational and increasingly insane, is now armed with doomsday weapons and has created an immune system for itself. It influences culture and controls the mass media and education across a growing part of the world, places its servants in seats of political and military power, and creates philosophy and myth to glorify its own existence. A cornerstone of capitalism’s defenses mechanisms is its complete amorality. It is now evolving into a system that would not bat an eye before killing every single human being on the planet. In the near term, capitalism will take increasing advantage of war, disaster, disease, terror, and slavery to feed itself. Wholesale destruction and regime change will be visited on the oil producing states like Iraq, Iran and Venezuela and other resource-rich areas. Left unchecked, eventually the United States, China, and the European Union will fight wars for control of world markets and access to resources.

What does capitalism feed itself? Profits, of course, and the appetite for those profits simply cannot be satisfied! For example U.S. oil companies have realized world record profits every quarter for the past several years. An observer unfamiliar with the nature of capitalism might conclude that Big Oil can take a breath with all those billions in the bank. The fact is, unless they make ever-greater profit into the indefinite future Exxon Mobil and Chevron will whither and die. That is why against all common sense the oil company’s lapdogs in the Congress reject a windfall profits tax, have given away billions of dollars of royalty rights revenues, and will eventually give up drilling rights prohibitions on the Gulf Coast and in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Today even the largest corporations, like General Motors, Nissan and Renault, seek the comfort of each other’s arms. Their survival depends on it!

Wars for oil, higher gasoline prices and mega-mergers are only putting off the day of reckoning for capitalism. There is only so much technology can boost production or wages can be depressed until a slave system must be created. Even at that, the system will then stare into the eyes of its fatal contradiction. Slaves cannot buy the products they produce.

Really, only a single life-or-death question remains. Will humanity and the planet Earth survive the end of capitalism? To a great degree, our self-preservation depends on the building of an effective class-conscious resistance here at home, in the belly of the beast. What is to be done in the United States of America?

Start with a clear understanding of capitalism. Fueled by the Industrial Revolution the capitalist system broke the brutish shackles of feudalism on the people of that day. At the same time capitalism began creating the only force capable of destroying it—the working class. Nascent capitalism enjoyed explosive growth and it spawned revolutions around the world, including the American Revolution. The young and dynamic economic system found that a bourgeois democracy created the most fertile ground for development. The United States and several other countries adopted this form of government.

Capitalism has been able to provide the American people with several powerful incentives to go along with the program. Five percent of the world’s population is invited to consume 30% of the world’s resources by way of imperialism. White Americans are invited to enjoy the bonus of material privilege by way of racism. A very comfortable place is provided to politicians, intellectuals, academics, bureaucrats, and entrepreneurs
in the narrow strata of society Marx called the petty bourgeois. But the times they are a’ changing! The U.S. economy is being transformed into a service economy. The jobs of elite industrial workers are disappearing along with their health benefits and pensions. For the most part, even white Americans are suffering a declining standard of living.

Now as capitalism enters its final stages, a nearly seamless transition to fascism is taking place. The trappings of bourgeois democracy are a brake on profits and so they are being discarded. The Constitution and its Bill of Rights are being rendered meaningless by presidential signing statements, extraordinary rendition, government surveillance programs and the like. Programs based on democratic principles like the public schools, Social Security, Medicare, affirmative action and welfare are targeted for destruction The mass media and electoral machinery and both major political parties are now fully under the control of those in power. Bloodless coups in 2000 and 2004 installed George W. Bush in the White House and no future election is going to remove the candidate of the ruling class from power.

American bourgeois democracy is being drowned. It will never be resuscitated. The liberal intelligentsia of the petty bourgeois spins its wheels in the mud of this reality. A learned man like Al Gore sees what is being done to the planets ecosystem and tries to sound the alarm with a film like An Inconvenient Truth. Lay out the inescapable facts of global warming, organize and agitate and a tipping point will come that changes governmental policy. A young Al Gore saw Dr. Martin Luther King do just that in his confrontation with racial injustice and clings to the memory along with the idea that rationality still has influence in American ruling circles. The real inconvenient truth is that even the great Dr. King could not generate an effective civil rights movement in 2006 and that the assault on the environment will not end until a stake is driven into the heart of capitalism by the only force able to do it.

Racism and xenophobia and every other tactic of division have been the lifeblood of capitalism with good reason. The working class is a massive chunk of humanity and the moment it becomes conscious of itself it will wield irresistible power. Unity of the class is the only potentially deadly threat to this system and that is where the insurgency must begin. Unity! White supremacy, Black Nationalism, religious fundamentalism, sexism, homophobia, and all the crackpot schemes and the nihilistic cults of the bourgeoisie, like al-Qaeda, are dead ends for all of us. Global capitalism recognizes no national boundaries. The working class must ignore capitalist inspired divisions and enlist people and accept the leadership of people without regard to race or nationality. Like the Africans in the Middle Passage and on slave plantations workers must learn each other’s languages and begin to talk. Unions must reach across national boundaries to unite workers everywhere. Share class-conscious thought with others, especially our working class sons and daughters in the US and other militaries.

As working class unity is being forged, a mobilization must begin to take shape that evolves into a strategic resistance. Tactics and specific actions will be varied based on the reason, place and time of their execution. But Fredrick Douglas was right and “power concedes nothing without demand.” This will naturally evolve into a fight and everything that word implies. A working class force must be fully prepared to fight effectively.

Socialism is the only way humankind will live into the distant future on this planet. Only a working class in power will see this and willingly share our available resources to insure our survival. Some others will be forced by leaders to settle for only their fair share for several generations until the system takes root and communism evolves.

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