Book Review: Can Capitalism Last? by Daniel Rubin; another look

99percentpower

Daniel Rubin is a long time communist functionary, educator and organizer. In Can Capitalism Last he sets out to examine   "...the main aspects of Marxism and how they can be of great aid to the struggle for progress..."  This 197 page "fundamentals" of Scientific Socialism is an ambitious undertaking and I believe a first for a U.S Marxist.  

 

One might ask why such a book now when there are thousands of volumes written in the name of Marxism by Marxists.   My response: Marxism is a living philosophical world outlook, part of social science, and a world view that requires constant application to the reality of class and national struggle. For more than 150 years Marxism has existed, developed and changed; and various works have been printed in virtually all languages.  Rubin points to observations and additions made by V.I. Lenin and the experience of the Russian revolution which brought Marxism front and center on the world stage.

 

There are other contributions including the work of the leaders of the 6th World Congress of Communists in the mid 1930's, and the building of the anti-fascist front as well as the work by national liberation leaders of the 1950's and 60's which contributed to the victory over colonialism.  Yet another category is that of Central and South American socialists, communists and democrats charting current progressive visions for their nations.  The experiences of the Chinese, Vietnamese and Cubans have produced great interest and huge change. This last group of nations has registered major advances in the living and working conditions of more than one billion people.   Each one of these nations state as their goal the building of the material basis for socialism.  In the current world situation, there is every reason to believe that Marxism will find new elaboration in the experience of struggle.     

 

 Marxism is not a prescription for successful struggle or a handbook for social change and revolution. Marxism is a tool, an aid, a world outlook used in the study and understanding of developments and conditions in each nation and the relationships among nations. As Marxist educator James Jackson argued, one must always locate the time, the place and the circumstances.  While there are great similarities of human experience among peoples and nations, each is at a particular stage of development and has its unique history and its political, economic and cultural life that require study and understanding.  

 

It's difficult to date the beginning of the current wave of struggle in the U.S.  It is important that the movement is getting on its walking and voting shoes.  Was there a moment when activists began to focus on the question, "what will it take to win this fight?" Some suggest there was a moment when that question began to get answers. Was it during the battle for a health care law?  Those answers are aimed at what next steps are required; the answers that best suit are fleshed out and put into the life of the movement. It is true that from the very beginning of right wing ascendancy there has been resistance and activism to defend hard won gains. 

 

The post Bush Administration period has shown that organizing to get out the vote and to influence and run candidates is developing; coalition building and mobilization of people is growing.  Millions are focused on responding to a stagnant economy with growing income inequality, attacks on rights, liberty and all manner of living conditions. Nothing, no benefit is safe from wholesale attack: unemployment insurance, food stamps, social security, Medicare, Medicaid and so on.  A growing coalition with the labor movement in the lead has emerged and together with allies is a serious obstacle to the right wing attack.  And in all this the notion that capitalism and its bloody foot print is the source of the problem has not escaped an increasing number.  The movement is diverse in its outlook and focused on the immediate tasks.

 

The activity of workers in fast food and big box industries across the country has captured the attention of the democratic and socialist movement.  Finding their voice and specific demands, these workers in more than 100 cities are claiming their right to increased wages and improved working conditions.  Prior to the economic crisis of 2008-09, people working in these industries would find their voices downed out.  In 2012-13 it became clear that those who cook the burgers and staff the check-out counters won't take the lame explanation 'you're just temporary workers on your way to a better job someday...'   For many a better job remains the goal, but the current job is what's needed.  The Moral Mondays' movement has developed in a number of Southern states demanding an end to the right wing agenda that restricts voting rights, wipes out unemployment insurance, attacks women's health care, and so on. The understanding, courage and determination to take action, issue demands and back them up with a campaign to build unity and broad support is based on their experience and on the idea eloquently put forward by Fredrick Douglas more than 100 years ago: "Power concedes nothing without demand".  

 

Organizing has moved forward with labor registering a modest gain in recent months.  We are at the beginning of these important and historic fights of workers for decent wages, union benefits and a voice in political life.  No one knows how long it will take but everybody is learning how much and how many it will take.  There are resources that activists and organizers now access routinely.  In particular labor history and the historic fight for civil rights offer many accounts in great detail, some within their collective memory, as well as that of older generations of workers who helped break the back of segregation, organized the steel mills, mines, auto shops and agricultural workers.  Those generalized experiences are found in Marxist literature.  In fact Marxism or Scientific Socialism is at its very core the elaborated experience of workers.  There are accounts of communists, socialists, anarchists, leftists and democrats who helped build the U.S. labor and peoples' movement from which there is much to be learned.

 

We have seen a resurgent interest in Marxism and socialism in recent years, and several new favorable books have appeared in commercial markets.  It stands to reason that a person who regards Marxism as his outlook and life's work would write Can Capitalism Last? Rubin begins his work with the common thread that moves people to social consciousness: the problems they face. One war after another in the 20th and 21st centuries, degradation of the environment, erosion of workers' living standards, stagnant job growth, the misery of the work place, racial and national oppression, rampant discrimination against women, decline in democratic rights and liberties, health and the provision of health care are all part of the common experience of millions. Special note must be mentioned of declining living conditions among the vast numbers of African American, Latino and other peoples of color in the U.S.  Taking note of the effect of racism and nationality discrimination will strengthen the ability of the movement to respond while building solidarity and unity.

 

While taking stock of the conditions of workers and their families as well as other strata experiencing declining conditions, observing the corporate world is astounding. The size, reach and scope of the international conglomerates and the centrality and magnitude of banking interests challenges many previous conceptions.   A recent news headline said that 85 people world wide were worth more than that of 31/2 billion people.  While this figure is jaw dropping, workers around the globe confront the financial oligarchy and experience increasing misery and poverty in their day to day lives. World wide there is growing resistance and struggle against the brutality of profit maximization.  It stands to reason that one would ask, "What makes this so? What will it take to reverse and improve the conditions for millions, advance the struggle and eventually eliminate the problem and the system?

 

Beginning with Political Economy and the system's essential features, the author takes the reader through the definition of value, surplus value, the working class, monopoly capitalism/imperialism.  Financialization and the general crisis of capitalism round out a 24 page discussion. Rubin's brief overview covers the objective character of capitalism, the social character of production and distribution, and the private ownership and concentration of capital among fewer and fewer, which sharpens economic and social problems and contradictions. (p.54)  Putting the theory of Political Economy at the beginning of the essentials of Marxism should be helpful for readers.  

 

Rubin moves through the essential categories without skipping ideas or giving in to brevity.  That plus the absence of examples make this tome dense.  Each sentence is packed with important ideas.  Yet one can't read for long without thinking of applications, experiences and the usefulness of the material for building an outlook.  This book will lend itself to group reading and study, always an effective tool to encourage thought and discussion.

 

Now you've reached the conclusion: capitalism has to go; the system can't meet the needs of billions of people. What will it take to build a movement capable of leading the way to fundamental change; to end the love affair with fossil fuels, to end the degradation of land and resources, to bring the working class and its allies to power?  

 

Strategy and tactics is the art and science of political struggle, and developing a strategy and the tactical application is a complex political process.  It requires working through what the strategic objective is; it requires answering the question "Who is the enemy and the obstacle to progress? Which class represents the future and which the current state of affairs?"  To understand the dynamic of political and economic activity of the .001% and the 99+% requires an objective assessment of the political activity and outlook of the actors. Rubin's study argues that all monopolists do not always have the same politics or even the same interests at any given moment despite their shared love affair and commitment to capitalism.  This produces tangible political differences among them.  It is these differences that afford opportunities for advancement in the people's agenda. 

 

 The 99% too have obstacles to their political unity: racism, sexism, homophobia to name a few.  The idea that capitalism is eternal and fair is becoming frayed but is still powerful.  Rubin argues (as others since Marx and Engels have) that our compelling common interests, our common ability to confront adversity and learn from class and peoples' struggle enable the movement to develop a consciousness of class and the historic necessity of a socialist system to replace capitalism.  This is hinged on an array of organizations needed to bind and unify the many threads of class and social forces.  Consciousness based on struggle with organization and a scientific outlook is a powerful force.

 

The CPUSA has as its strategic objective the building of the Anti-monopoly coalition. Its program sets out observations and ideas for the path to socialism.  The party has pursued a policy of identifying the ultra Right as the main immediate obstacle to progress. The Right is a political subset of monopoly interests.  The interests of these varying monopoly groups don't always coincide. This is not a new observation of our time and place alone.  Lenin spoke about different objectives in the run up to November 1917. The South African Communists as well as many others identify stages in their revolutionary process. Involved in each of those ideas is an assessment of class and social forces.  

 

During the 2010 electoral period a layer of right wing monopolists were joined by others who saw an opportunity to impose right wing 'solutions' to their advantage.  In 2014 their unity seems tarnished.  Still the agenda of the right, their electoral base and strength demand that progressive and democratic minded people keep the focus on defeating them.  One third of the U.S. Senate seats together with 37 governorships and all House seats are up for election. Attention will be focused on particular states.  Recent polls suggest that a majority of Republican voters favor an increase in the minimum wage and are sensitive to the growing issues of economic inequality.  Given the growth of grass roots political action significant democratic gains are within the reach of the people's movement in 2014. While no one can predict the politics that will significantly push back the Right, it's fair to say every blow counts.  

 

One final word.  Politics is a rough business.  Working class politics reflects the larger environ, no way around that.  Still the fight to win people, working class people, and build unity demands that political practitioners proceed with respect for the millions of people who day to day live with the impact of a bad and decaying system, a system that cannot provide for its people.  Those of us who have long ago reached the conclusion that capitalism is a brutal system and needs to be replaced by a just socialist system need to remember the enormity of the change.  It is true that life forces us to do it until we get it right.  Respect for millions and their struggles needs to translate into respect for one another as activists and leaders, not perfect but trying like hell.

Daniel Rubin's book is an invaluable tool in this process. You can get a copy of Can Capitalism Last? through a local bookstore or from International Publishers.

Can Capitalism Last? was first published in 2009. Another review appeared then in the People's World.

Photo image   Google images/CC

 

 

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  • This is a very good review. However, Rubin's book may lead to the conclusion that class consciousness may be achieved spontaneously. History has demonstrated that this will not happen without a communist party rooted in Marxism-Leninism.

    I believe that one reason for the collapse of the Soviet Union was the notion that class consciousness was now a given and the need for continuing ideological struggle was either down played or completely ignored. Hence the rise of the most reactionary nationalism soon after the collapse.

    Also, Edelman states that the CPUSA has the strategic objective of building the anti-monopoly coalition. I believe this was abandoned in favor of the all peoples' front to defeat the ultra-right, Rather than see the anti-monopoly coalition as the ideological and practical glue holding the united front together, it was seen as a diversion. Looking through documents of the past several years you will note a lack of specific discussion of mass or intermediary forms that helped build coalitions and gave workers a pathway to the Party. What happened to the trade union rank and file caucuses? What happened to the U.S. Peace Council? What happened to the various organizations we built for the struggle against racism? All of these would have strengthened the united front. How do we respond to the masses who are looking for an alternative to capitalism? None of this is in opposition to building a front. Rather, they strengthen it.

    I am reminded what Gus Hall said about the direction of the Soviet Communist Party before the collapse. He said, "They need more socialism, not less." In the 21st century, we need more Marxism-Leninism, and a large Communist Party of cadre.

    Posted by David Bell, 03/06/2014 11:57am (10 years ago)

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