In a 'consumer society'

Will Capitalism disappear?

Your Comments

11 February 2004

Thanks for your website.

A question. Do you think there is a realistic chance that capitalism will disappear?

As an adult education teacher I often ask my students about social justice, and often get the impression that the advertising industry has been very effective. As long as they have consumer goods, solidarity with the poor and oppressed doesn't matter at all.

Kevin, Germany

Editor: Kevin, read Socialism in the 21st Century

11 February 2004

I would like to reply to Kevin. As a socialist, I do believe that there is a realistic chance that capitalism will disappear, or rather be overthrown, and certainly within my lifetime, if not within this or the next decade.

If capitalism was effective at supplying people with their needs, that would be different, and the advertising industry pimps would continue to have their pound of flesh.

But half the world lives on less than two dollars a day.

The number of starving people is rising by the million, not diminishing, due to the policies of the IMF, the World Bank, and the World Trade Organisation.

The US is destabilising the Middle East, bringing terrorism and bloodshed to the world.

Closer to home, Germany is mired in recession.

You ask for sympathy for the poor, and perhaps your students feel the emptiness of their own pockets, their own day-to-day struggles, and perhaps the emptiness of their own lives. Perhaps some have little sympathy left for others.

As a socialist, I strive to discover what are the day-to-day struggles of workers and youth.

Socialists are for a united struggle of all youth and workers (including teachers) together with the poor and oppressed of the world, against capitalism.

I suggest when you discuss social justice, you examine why students don't have more rights within the education establishment, why today the student grant of the past has been taken away, instead of being increased to realistically cover all costs.

Why is not education free for one's lifetime? Why does one not have any democratic control over the decision making processes in education, or for that matter at work?

Why should we not have democratic control and management of the places we work in?

Where is the social justice in me working for a boss who makes an enormous profit from my work, our collective work, while we get redundancies and speed-ups?

Pete, London

Kevin replies:

Thanks for your reply, Pete.

What you said is perfectly valid, but judging from my conversations with my students the right would have more chance than the left in the event of an economic collapse. Cf Len Pen, Haider, Fontuijn, BNP marches in Burnley etc. Most of my students blame the influx of Turks and Russians for their worsening economic situation and not the capitalist system.

Also, socialism has an "image problem". The moment I mention Marx they conjure up pictures of life in grey tower blocks, three-hour queues for cheese, arbitrary arrest, no freedom to lie on Mallorcan beaches etc.

Other organisations too enjoy a twenty year start in the battle for their minds. We have RC and Protestant religious instruction here where children are told how awful atheism is. As socialism is associated in the public mind with atheism, it is dismissed as evil. No amount of logical argument can convince them otherwise.

I'm interested to know how people react to your Marxist beliefs in London.

Kevin, Germany

Pete from London replies

The threat from the Right, the BNP for instance, is very real. There's nothing to be taken for granted.

But they have no solution, so those people fooled mostly soon see through them. Also they provoke a big reaction because most people don't want the return of right-wing anti-working-class governments anyway. Remember the movement in France against Le Pen.

These far right-wing parties and governments you mention promise or bring more cuts, more privatisation - they are currently just another window dressing for the bosses system. We'll oppose them every inch of the way, and argue our alternative.

Read What About Russia - I'm sure you will find useful arguments there about Stalinism verses socialism to help with it's "image problem." We expect to have the media against us. That's why we produce our own newspapers.

People have enough trouble putting their own problems out of their mind - but you discover they are beset by all kinds of concerns. (Alienation)

I try to link those to the way capitalism has been dragging society backwards into an war-torn abyss over the last two or three decades.

As a Marxist, I am mainly interested in those people who already see the need to struggle against the injustices around us. That may only be a few people now, but it's growing all the time.

We meet them every day in London, anyway.

The Socialist Party attracts the most active, thoughtful, insightful, courageous, and determined people - I've met them.

Meanwhile I support the Socialist Party's call for setting up a new mass workers party, which will be attractive to people who would not necessarily embrace marxism yet, but see themselves as socialists, or anti-capitalists, or campaign against cuts or fees and other things.

This will be a major step forward, and the unions are seriously debating it now.

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