The (Sur)realpolitik of Capitalism

 Capitalism is fundamentally flawed – obscene built-in inequality with ourselves at the bottom , toiling at mindless, dead-end jobs, while massive corporations full of unfettered greed, propped up by a corrupt governance and hollowed-out democracy, supported by endless propaganda spewed by lickspittle media, undermine what crumbling the social fabric remains. Even where working-class have achieved some victories, capitalists lie in wait always keen to reverse these and turn back the clock. Capitalism is increasingly incompatible with democracy and now possibly human existence. As socialists we understand that socialism to be a system where the vast wealth of society is controlled democratically and put to constructive collective purposes; it is not controlled by a narrow sliver of society to do with as suits them. Marx’s assessment of capitalism's fatal flaw applies today more than ever: The problem with capitalism is ultimately that it radically increases the productive capacity of society but it keeps control over the wealth in the hands of profit-driven individuals and firms, who control how this potential will be developed to suit their own interests. So it is that the productivity of the average worker is many times greater today than it was 50 years ago. But that increase in productivity has not translated into higher living standards or a shorter working week. Instead we see living standards in decline, inequality mushrooming and infrastructure in varying states of collapse, while there is a record number of billionaires.

People all over the world used to dream and desire things like solidarity, beauty, love, justice for all, equality and brotherhood. Knowledge was supposed to have one and only purpose: to give people the intellectual tools to build better societies. Now, education is conditioning with young people crushed under the deadly weight of student debt. Healthcare little more than a well-remunerated business, with pharmaceutical companies engaged in plundering instead of curing. People arescared that they might get sick one day; not because of illness itself, but because they would not be able to pay their medical bills. Great science is locked up behind the doors of corporate laboratories as lawyers secure their patents for profits. Instead of advancing humanity. The best scientific brains are working for the military, or they are busy developing ‘products' for markets. The Arts has been reduced to mostly indistinguishable soulless entertainment. Instead of inspiring people to revolution, instead of making them aim at something higher, artists have been reduced to the level of cheap providers of pap. Hardly anyone reads. Hardly anyone thinks. Ideals are being spat on. Nobody seems to be happy. People are miserably atomized, lonely and lost.  Only consumerism, and commercialism are glorified. There is nothing that encourages people to dream of a much better world, or to struggle for a new, just and egalitarian society. Instead of creating beautiful music and poetry, instead of building public parks and ecological cities, we are choking our urban centers with cars; we are murdering millions of people over access to natural resources. We live for over-production and over-consumption, while billions are dying in the gutter.

Most of the people have been made to forget that human beings are essentially optimistic, sharing and loving creatures. Most people have been made to forget, or were never allowed to know, that building better societies is much more glorious and fun than living in some extreme individualistic nightmare. Living for humanity, not for profit, not for a ‘me-me-me-goes first' dogma, is fulfilling and actually gives meaning to one's existence. People want life to have meaning again… and to be full of beauty, of hope and dreams! These are clear signs of an economic system that no longer plays a productive role and needs to be replaced. The idea is becoming increasingly popular. It is an idea whose time has come. With the beginning of 2015 we enter a journey to the end of the night. The major task for the social movement is to build People Power together. We build together because our issues are all connected and unified power is when we are strongest. Global trade agreements, rigged for big business interests seems distant but it has impacts at the local level, adversely hurting workers. 

We should all engage in this fight because the stakes are high. We will create the world in which we want to live and one that increases the chances of a livable future. One truly lives only when he or she is  marching forward and aiming at a better world. The priority now is for humanity to survive – to survive as free people, not as wage-slaves. Let us unite and shout:

“We Want Our Planet Back!”

That should be the demand on our banners, our battle-cry. Not everyone is for sale, neither is everyone willing to be a slave.