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Well, that was an unexpectedly incredible watch. Thanks for posting.
No problem. Always happy to share a Benn Jordan video.
If you watch the video, he discusses how Capitalism has moved away from the traditional definition as private ownership is stripped away from everyone participating in Capitalism.
Firstly, capital is still owned privately and the capitalists who have capital still dominate everything so that have not changed. Secondly, when have “everyone” been owning capital in America? The wealth of America have been concentrated in the hand of a small oligarch of capitalist since day one and that also have not changed. So the whole notion of capitalism ending is just delusional. That’s also some highly misleading definition of capitalism that’s entirely outside what Marx and other communist have defined. “Capitalism” is when the people have capital? What a joke 🤣
I’m just summarizing what the video was about.
Yes, ownership is stripped away from us, and transferred to the ever-shrinking circle of rent-seeking monopoly capitalists.
This thread is a perfect example of why Marxist keep trying to get people to read a book for once in their lives. All these things people are “discovering” right now about the nature of capitalism have been well understood for like a whole century now.
The benefit of articles is that OP’s argument is evaluated independently, instead of alongside everything else in the book. If you stop reading at the first part that seems wrong, you won’t read the other ideas.
My complaint is regarding the argument being presented as something that’s just been discovered while it’s something that’s been well understood for around a century now. It’s perfectly fine for people to make their own independent analysis, but it’s important to frame it in the context of what’s already known.
What I’m saying here is that content producers should spend more time educating themselves on the subjects they purport to educate others on.
On the flip-side, the fact that non-Marxists are now discovering similar conclusions to what Marxists have already known to be true is a good sign for political consciousness among the Western Proletariat. It can also make Marxism more appealing than it once was, as these jumps aren’t as far as when Liberalism has a stronger hold.
I think so as well.
to be fair: marxism is so demonized and capitalism so venerated that you would not only have to overcome your programming, but you would have to be made aware of where how to access m/l materials; which can only happen by accident in my country, since all other sources are edited for propaganda’s sake.
also: capital is dense af; pushing audiobooks & youtube links would gain traction much more easily as they did for me here on lemmy.
For sure, most people don’t have time to read dense theory and they rely on people with the interest and ability to get through that and package it up in an accessible way. This is the whole idea of a vanguard in Marxism. While large sections of western left reject the notion of vanguardism, the reality is that people creating this sort of content are playing that role. The problem here is that they’re attempting to educate people on the problems, without spending the time to educate themselves first. I think that we have to hold these kinds of content creators to a higher standard.
Yep. Thanks so much for this share.
I surely hope so. Capitalism was never intended to be lasting.
Never intended by whom? There’s no immortal, unseen planner behind the 400+ years of capitalism’s historical unfolding.
people don’t seem to understand that the profit motive has never been the driving force of capitalism.
capitalism is at it’s most base level is just private property rights and it still works exceptionally well.
the lie that was sold to the public may be dying but capitalism isn’t going anywhere.
ownership of property gives you power over it. if an individual owns a factory, they can influence how that factory operates. little by little, that control allows the individual to benefit themselves. and they can use that benefit to accumulate more property and therefore more power.
if you have private property rights, then a dictatorship is eventually inevitable. It’s simple cause and effect.
people don’t seem to understand that the profit motive has never been the driving force of capitalism.
Is this a joke?
The M-C-M’ profit motive is self-evidently the driving force. Just ask literally any member of the capitalist class.
capitalism is at it’s most base level is just private property rights and it still works exceptionally well.
Yes, and not just any kind of property, but specifically the means of production. And it does work well, but not for everyone, specifically for the bourgeoisie, who are the ones who own said private property. It doesn’t work well for the proletariat, and it works less and less well for them as private ownership continues to consolidate to a smaller and smaller circle of wealthier & more powerful billionaire oligarchs.
Why would a system that cares about profit hire middle managers?
it’s the power struggle. always has been. the implication is always that the system is working for those in power or it would be changed.
Because capitalists usually don’t know how to do a single fucking thing, and rely on other workers to direct production and, mostly, to act as disciplinarians who avert unionization and promote an environment of exploitation. You’ve never seen anyone half as worried about the owner’s money as the guy with the small office, slightly higher pay, and a plaque that says you’re under him.
Have you never worked for a corporation? Yes some middle management is useless but there is always the one guy that’s actually doing beneficial things. Besides you need a layer of slaves under your upper management so that you can do illegal things without repercussions and just fire some middle management. That’s all capitalism is, 100% profit seeking
Why would a system that cares about profit hire middle managers?
Obviously because the company owners believe that hiring those middle managers will increase profits. This is like Business 101-level stuff.
Who wants to directly deal with those peasants?
Its not the death, its murder.
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lol i wish we were that organized.
Sorry? Are you part of the ruling class that’s murdering American Capitalism? Because yeah, they are pretty organized.
The ruling class is the Capitalist class. They are doing further Capitalism. Capitalism isn’t only its less-developed stages, but also its dying stages.
You’re not really contradicting what I’ve said.
the ruling class is as good as ever. why would they murder their own hegemony? where do you think our lack of money is going? why do you think they are doing this stuff to us?
we are experiencing capitalism as intended. its not dying its just bad and doesnt feel the need to hide it anymore like they did briefly the last few decades.
Okay, and? Doesn’t change the fact that they’re murdering the current system to replace it with something far more dangerous.
i edited my comment after you responded, before i noticed that you did.
i argue that this is capitalism working as intended. its just that they don’t feel like hiding it anymore. if we just wait and let it collapse it might as well bring the literal habitability of the planet down with it. the burgeoise does not seem to want to stray from this path. the us empire is indeed collapsing, however.
Again, nothing is collapsing. It is intentionally being sabotaged.
see what i mean is thats not sabotage, its neither. thats just squeezing more out of us, poors are getting poorer. the people on the reigns are slightly less dumb than they look.
