[Fresh Ink] Crisis of Capitalism and the Left

[Richard Menec]

Crisis of Capitalism and the Left

by Emir Sader

MR Zine - September 20, 2008

http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/sader200908.html

A new crisis of capitalism, in the style of 1929.  The theories of casino 
capitalism are confirmed.  The US government contradicts itself again and 
heavily intervenes, demonstrating that its confidence in the market isn't as 
great as its propaganda displayed. Neoliberal capitalism spills its guts, 
and the theories of the Left -- Keynesian or anti-capitalist -- critical of 
neoliberalism are corroborated.

Our theories about the anti-social and perhaps terminal character of 
capitalism borne out, we leftists smile, rubbing our hands, eager for social 
and political consequences of crises.

Should we?  Or perhaps should we ask ourselves how prepared we are to 
confront this new crisis with left- wing alternatives?  Not just with 
theories, but with the social, political, and ideological force to contest 
hegemony in crisis.  Are we ready to ask ourselves if the measures taken by 
governments wouldn't mean more suffering for the poor, more desperation, 
abandonment, unemployment, and precarious labor, without people being able 
to see alternatives?

If we are to merely play an intellectual role of being critics of 
capitalism, the new crisis is a great feast. We can rejoice and churn out, 
day after day, week after week, new articles that foresee -- "as we have 
written already" -- the end of capitalism in short order.

But every catastrophism is self-deceiving.  In the 30s, the Communist 
International subscribed to the theory of economist Eugene Varga, who 
revisited Lenin's theory to diagnose that the crisis of 1929 brought 
capitalism, finally, to its final stage.  As the New Deal rescued capitalism 
from itself, the category of the "second phase of the final stage of 
capitalism" was introduced. By now we must be in the fifth or sixth phase.

Giovanni Arrighi recalls that, in the 70s, the debate was not about the end 
of capitalism but about when, where, and how capitalism would end -- the 
subject that was apparently accepted by even theoreticians in favor of 
capitalism.

Nevertheless, as Lenin himself reminds us, capitalism doesn't collapse, nor 
will it ever collapse, unless it gets defeated -- as shown by the 
revolutionary processes that ended up with capitalism, temporarily or 
definitively.  It doesn't collapse on its own, and it even demonstrates 
capacity for recovery.  Who knew that the homeland of Lenin, of the first 
worker-peasant revolution in the history of humanity, would see restoration 
of capitalism, in a gangster version?

Who knew that the United States, "mortally wounded" by the crisis of 1929, 
would preside over the longest and deepest cycle of expansion of capitalism 
in its history -- its "golden era" according to Hobsbawm -- after WW2, 
pressuring the USSR and defeating it technologically and economically, 
before facilitating its political implosion?

I'm not saying this to be characterized as a propagandist of apologetic 
visions of capitalism or to encourage demoralization, but to perform a 
salutary affirmation of Brecht, who said that "we must attack the strongest 
flank of the enemy," so as not to deceive ourselves about the real 
conditions of the battle against it, so as not to underestimate its forces, 
and, above all, so as not to overestimate our forces.

Every crisis that the Left faces with hand-rubbing glee leaves it even more 
defeated than before, for such a Left is one content with contemplating the 
last days of a capitalist Pompeii, which however persists and survives 
thanks to the lack of alternatives -- theoretical and political -- on the 
Left, the very Left that appears to believe that finally one day, in the not 
too distant future, peoples of the world will be persuaded of its 
apocalyptic theory, without it having made its theory real as an economic, 
social, political, and ideological force.

For the time being -- as Marx said of the petit bourgeoisie -- it seems that 
the people are not yet mature enough to understand the theory of a Left that 
is satisfied with itself, with our marvelous theory that tells us that, 
whether in the long, medium, or short term, inevitably history will reveal 
that it's advancing toward socialism.

The turns -- both revolutionary and counter- revolutionary -- of the 20th 
century have taught us nothing if we are still waiting for the corpse of our 
enemy to turn up, rather than meticulously preparing to make our dreams and 
utopias a reality, as recommended by Lenin's revolutionary realism.

The original article "A crise do capitalismo e a esquerda" was published in 
the Blog do Emir section of the Carta Maior Web site on 18 September 2008. 
Click here for a Spanish translation by Insurrectas y Punto. English 
translation by Yoshie Furuhashi.

[Emir Sader, the executive secretary of the Consejo Latinoamericano de 
Ciencias Sociales (CLACSO - Latin American Social Sciences Council), one of 
the leading Brazilian intellectuals of today, an author and editor of 77 
books (including the Enciclopedia Latinoamericana and La Venganza de la 
Historia [History's Revenge])]

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