Surviving Capitalism (Not) : Capital accumulation

We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Saturday, January 16, 2016

Capital accumulation

My attention was originally drawn to this graphic illustration of capitalist exploitation of labor via economist David Ruccio's website which used it as a platform to discuss how wrong John Maynard Keynes was with regard to increasing wealth and leisure for working working people.

Keynes back in the 1930s tried to reform the capitalist system through re-distributive government policies. Little did he realize that capitalists would have nothing to do with such policies--they wanted it all for themselves--and they proceeded as always to shape the government to serve their needs. Thus the government became entirely as we see today: their government.

But enough of Ruccio who as a professor must not annoy his capitalist masters too much or else join the line at the unemployment office. I want to direct your attention to this political cartoon and its real source at the Capital Drawing Group in London. This group of four cartoonists have drawn numerous cartoons to illustrate various themes about capitalism based on Marx's writings.

The cartoon below illustrates "The General Law of Capitalist Accumulation" as a monster of devouring workers for the wealth benefit of the capitalist pocket shown at the top.