Humanity's Choice : Capitalism or Survival?

Humanity's Choice : Capitalism or Survival?

If the quantity and quality of global production is capable of altering the climate, and that production occurs not within a framework based on human need, but on the capture of profit by a relative few "owners" of "private" property, then this reciprocating dynamic poses the most fundamental question of human history : Shall we cling to a form of social relations which bases production on profit, or shall we instead survive? 

Over the entire world, the most important and necessary activity is social production. Social production is the basis of human civilization; each day human society must create and re-create its existence - production which contributes to the daily replication of society is "social production." Without social production, civilization would collapse. Without increasing social production, civilization can be said to stagnate. 

Most social production today occurs within the framework of capitalist social relations. Social relations are a specific term that refer to the relationship between human beings which serves as the framework for social production. Capitalist social relations are exploitative. This is not a pejorative, it is the most accurate word in the English language to describe it's essential nature. All wealth is derived in the final analysis from human labor. If you happen to discover a pile of gold in your backyard, you remain in a state of abject poverty unless that gold can command the products of human labor, or similarly services. Capitalist relations derive their relative power from being able to extract a large quantity of labor from the working masses, while at the same time alienating a large portion of the value produced by labor from the laboring class, and directing the surplus value thus alienated to an ownership class which uses these values to sustain itself as a dominant class.

Profit, derived from labor, is the engine of capitalist social relations and the dominance of the capitalist class. Profit is, moreover, in myriad ways, used against the interest of the laboring class. When, for example, many US industrial concerns offshored their manufacturing, they were empowered to do so by the fact that they had the resources to do it in the first place, all of which had been the product of previously appropriated profits. They were further empowered by laws, enacted by a political class reflecting the interests of the capitalists generally, which gave "tax credits" to the corporations for the deed, and, more importantly, rendered it illegal for labor to collectively oppose this shift (i.e. "sympathy strikes" by unions are illegal in the United States - the union supporting them would face immediate legal action and face fines and "de-certification" - net total destruction of the union). Many other examples of how the value created by labor is used against the interests of laborers could and should be made, but this essay concerns something even more fundamental.

The essential point to understand here is that private profit exists in antagonism with the society which makes it possible. Profit is derived from labor, exclusively, and is used used again and again, institutionally, systematically, politically, to subvert the basic interests of the working class which makes that profit possible. This tension or antagonism sometimes explodes; it can explode materially (in financial crises which temporarily reduce the quantity of social production), and it can also explode socially (in periodic protests, riots, and even uprisings and revolts due to some unconcealed contradiction between the social agenda of capitalism and the daily struggle for dignity among the laboring masses). Yet each time the capitalist class has successfully tamped down the explosion and preserved itself as the force dominating the majority. The "tamping down" takes the form of social programs which have the effect of dulling the edge of a knife already plunged into the laboring body.

Let us take something with which 40 million or more Americans are presently familiar: Food Stamps. Does society have a fundamental duty to feed those who for whatever reason cannot feed themselves? Fascists would argue it does not. Most everyone else would disagree. Hence, in the US there is a food stamp program. At least, most may in fact believe that this is the reason the US has such a program. But the truth is, the program exists as a means of self preservation of the capitalist class. It was instituted in response to an increasing number of people being unable to feed themselves in the richest country in the world which was, moreover, the worlds largest producer of food. Make no mistake, Food Stamps are not the result of capitalist munificence. The irony cannot be lost on us: What so many rely on for their survival, the food purchased with food stamps, in fact exists to ensure the survival not of those people, but of the capitalist class. 

Food stamps are but one example of capitalists 'tamping down' the revolutionary potential of the masses. There are hundreds or thousands more, and this includes the recently enacted health care bill which - typically - has yet to take full effect or provide real healthcare for the masses. Moreover, even when it does, the healthcare thus provided will be the subject of additional profit for the capitalist class, since it will be required for everyone to purchase insurance from a for-profit entity. Those who are poor will not have to pay for themselves, receiving a "tax credit" based on income which covers the premium. Rather than driving down healthcare costs, the profit dynamic is more likely to drive them up at the same time reducing the quality of generally available care in the drive to increase
margins. 

Let us return, however, to the main point. Having understood that capitalist social relations drive nearly all social production in the world today, and that the dynamic of this production is not based on human need but instead exists within a feedback loop limited only by greed, humanity itself now faces its greatest challenge. It is an existential challenge, rather than an organizational one. Because now production itself, due to its scale and scope, is now altering the global climate. A recent science report - based on an enormous research undertaking - predicts that by 2047 the climate will have reached the 'point of no return'. The coldest days from that time forward will be warmer than the hottest days today. The ecological disaster this presents hardly needs to be elaborated - in addition to a rise in sea level, agricultural production will be unable to support the world's population (even just the population we have today) because photosynthesis breaks down above 87F, in addition to the absolute reduction of arability due to desertification. This is an entirely man made crisis, but more significantly and dangerously happening in the context of capitalist social relations. 

Because private property relations drive production, and production is now climate forcing to a point threatening extinction, the choice is : maintaining capitalistic relations, or survival. 

On lolaholic.com I saw a cartoon recently which captures the future dystopia likely to emerge unless capitalism is replaced. A man in a very old and worn suit was sitting at a campfire with two children. The caption read : "Yes, we destroyed the planet, but for one brief shining moment we created value for shareholders." Some value.