And Jacob sod pottage: and Esau came from the field, and he was faint: And Esau said to Jacob, Feed me, I pray thee, with that same red pottage; for I am faint… And Jacob said, Sell me this day thy birthright. And Esau said, Behold, I am at the point to die: and what […]
Two Key Sentences
Understand these two key sentences from Karl Marx and you will understand the end of capitalism. Of course, I am not trying to say you could possibly understand everything Marx had to say about the end of capitalism by studying only these two sentences. Sometimes it seems one could study Marx for a lifetime and barely scratch the […]
Friedrich Engels on Historical Materialism
The following is excerpted from Friedrich Engels’s essay, Socialism, Utopian and Scientific (1880). The full text can be found on the marxist.org website from which this excerpt was copied. III HISTORICAL MATERIALISM The materialist conception of history starts from the proposition that the production of the means to support human life and, next to production, […]
What Does “Post-Capitalist” Mean?
We cannot begin to explore the subject of post-capitalism without a clear, working definition of the word capitalism. Otherwise, how would we know that capitalism was ending? We cannot have a clear definition of capitalism unless we understand what makes the capitalist mode of production unique. So we must understand what a mode of production […]
Open Question for Advocates of a Universal Basic Income
This is an open question to any and all advocates of a basic income: By advancing the idea of a basic income are we seeking to enhance capitalism or supersede it? And, if we are content to preserve capitalism, how do we avoid inadvertently empowering a potentially dystopic plutocracy? I’m sure some readers will understand […]
Universal Basic Income: A Crucial Caveat
Note: If you are not familiar with the idea of a guaranteed basic income and how popular the idea is becoming please check out the website basicincome.org for an introduction. Universal basic income is a great idea — with one caveat. Ok, maybe two caveats, but my first concern seems to be pretty widely understood and […]
How Exactly Do Robots Destroy Capitalism?
The bourgeoisie cannot exist without constantly revolutionizing the instruments of production, and thereby the relations of production, and with them the whole relations of society. This sentence, taken from The Communist Manifesto (1848), is an excellent starting point for understanding the end of the capitalist system. All of the following is packed within this one succinct sentence: The […]
Preface to the Critique – With Commentary
In an earlier post I presented this excerpt from the preface to A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy, without comment. If you’ve never encountered this writing before you may prefer to read it without my comments first, to form your own opinion. If so, you’ll find it here. For the rest of us, here is the same […]
Stephen Hawking Warns Capitalism is the Real Problem
In a Reddit Ask Me Anything session Stephen Hawking was asked the following question: I’m rather late to the question-asking party, but I’ll ask anyway and hope. Have you thought about the possibility of technological unemployment, where we develop automated processes that ultimately cause large unemployment by performing jobs faster and/or cheaper than people can […]
Why Karl Marx?
Someone is bound to wonder — Why bring up Karl Marx? Isn’t there some way to express what you are trying to say without complicating things by dragging in such a controversial figure? Well, yes, probably. But that would be intellectually dishonest. Marx was the first to see and describe the processes which drive changes in […]