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Anti-capitalism is a political ideology and movement encompassing a variety of attitudes and ideas that oppose capitalism. Anti-capitalists seek to combat the worst effects of capitalism and to eventually replace capitalism with an alternative economic system.


Characteristics

Anti-capitalism can range from a reformist position, which aims to limit corporate power and oppose neoliberal policies, to a radical position, which entirely rejects capitalism and seeks to replace the existing
social order The term social order can be used in two senses: In the first sense, it refers to a particular system of social structures and institutions. Examples are the ancient, the feudal, and the capitalist social order. In the second sense, social orde ...
. Key principles of anti-capitalism, as outlined by the charter of the World Social Forum, include a committent to
democracy Democracy (from , ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which political power is vested in the people or the population of a state. Under a minimalist definition of democracy, rulers are elected through competitiv ...
and
egalitarianism Egalitarianism (; also equalitarianism) is a school of thought within political philosophy that builds on the concept of social equality, prioritizing it for all people. Egalitarian doctrines are generally characterized by the idea that all hum ...
. Anti-capitalists view capitalism either as a social relation or as a distinct economic and political system, and how they view it informs their methods of opposing it. Reformist anti-capitalism places itself in opposition to specific economic practices, including commodification and capital accumulation, and seeks to combat the negative externalities of capitalism without fundamentally altering the economic system; on the other hand, forms of
revolutionary socialism Revolutionary socialism is a political philosophy, doctrine, and tradition within socialism that stresses the idea that a social revolution is necessary to bring about structural changes in society. More specifically, it is the view that revo ...
see capitalism as a fundamentally flawed social system that needs to be overthrown and replaced. Although the reformist and revolutionary perspectives differ, they are not necessarily distinct, with anti-capitalists often taking aspects of one or the other depending on the material conditions they are faced with. Various economic systems have been proposed as an alternative to capitalism. American economist Michael Albert proposed a system of participatory economics, a kind of democratic socialism which would involve social ownership, workers' self-management, participatory planning and system of remuneration based on contribution, among other factors. Neozapatismo emphasises the
self-determination Self-determination refers to a people's right to form its own political entity, and internal self-determination is the right to representative government with full suffrage. Self-determination is a cardinal principle in modern international la ...
of
indigenous peoples There is no generally accepted definition of Indigenous peoples, although in the 21st century the focus has been on self-identification, cultural difference from other groups in a state, a special relationship with their traditional territ ...
and a form of participatory democracy that stands in contrast to the centralisation and vanguardism of authoritarian socialist tendencies.


History

Early opposition to the rise of capitalism first arose during the 17th century, when
feudal Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was a combination of legal, economic, military, cultural, and political customs that flourished in Middle Ages, medieval Europe from the 9th to 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a way of struc ...
landowners first came under threat from the increasing power of business owners. During the 19th century, the
Industrial Revolution The Industrial Revolution, sometimes divided into the First Industrial Revolution and Second Industrial Revolution, was a transitional period of the global economy toward more widespread, efficient and stable manufacturing processes, succee ...
gave rise to mass production, which accelerated the shift away from mercantilism as the predominant economic system and the globalization of capitalism. The division of labour within this industrial capitalist economy led to the rapid growth of the working class, who were increasingly drawn towards anti-capitalism and organised themselves in
trade union A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...
s and socialist parties.


Contemporary anti-capitalist movement


1960s–1980s

Contemporary anti-capitalism finds its roots among the New Left and the counterculture of the 1960s, which infused anti-capitalism with a postmodern tendency by the end of the
Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...
. During this period, anti-capitalism began to developed within the environmental movement, with
green politics Green politics, or ecopolitics, is a political ideology that aims to foster an ecologically sustainable society often, but not always, rooted in environmentalism, nonviolence, social justice and grassroots democracy.#Wal10, Wall 2010. p. 12-13. ...
drawing a lot of its influence from the New Left and groups such as Greenpeace aligning themselves against
economic growth In economics, economic growth is an increase in the quantity and quality of the economic goods and Service (economics), services that a society Production (economics), produces. It can be measured as the increase in the inflation-adjusted Outp ...
and pioneering new methods of direct action which had previously been advocated by anarchists. Radical environmentalists such as Earth First, which infused their green politics with anti-capitalism, used decentralised clandestine cell systems to carry out large-scale acts of sabotage; tactics which would later be taken up by the wider anti-capitalist movement. Anti-capitalism was increasingly seen as responsible for
environmental degradation Environment most often refers to: __NOTOC__ * Natural environment, referring respectively to all living and non-living things occurring naturally and the physical and biological factors along with their chemical interactions that affect an organism ...
, leading to the adoption of anti-capitalism by those who aimed to stop it.


1990s

By the 1990s, neoliberalism had asserted a hegemonic influence over the global economy. In reaction against the rise of neoliberalism, a new anti-capitalist movement began to take shape. The contemporary anti-capitalist movement first emerged in January 1994, with the Zapatista uprising against the implementation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Zapatista spokesperson Subcomandante Marcos explicitly expressed solidarity with minority groups throughout the world, seeking to make a common cause with others who experienced oppression under globalized capitalism. The Zapatista autonomous region in Chiapas inspired a new generation of anti-capitalists worldwide. Anti-capitalists began to defend cultural pluralism and stand in solidarity with indigenous rights movements, breaking from the 20th century's anti-capitalist movement, which had few links with the decolonial and anti-racist movements of its period. In 1995, the establishment of the World Trade Organization (WTO), which sought to promote a neoliberal policy of economic globalization, met with opposition from the nascent anti-globalization movement (also known as the alter-globalization movement or global justice movement). Other opponents of neoliberal globalization included nationalists and religious fundamentalists, although these tendencies differed widely from anti-capitalism in their principles and objectives. The anti-capitalist movement provided a militant opposition to the WTO and its General Agreement on Trade in Services, distinguishing their progressive politics from the prevailing liberal democratic politics which upheld these institutions and had resigned to a belief that no alternative existed. English philosopher Mark Fisher referred to this phenomenon as capitalist realism. Towards the end of the 1990s, the British environmentalist group Reclaim the Streets sought to build ties with the anti-globalisation movement, culminating with the Carnival Against Capital on 18 June 1999 in
London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
. Although the protest precipitated a decline in the British anti-capitalist movement, following the rise of Tony Blair's New Labour government, it also renewed contacts within the international anti-capitalist movement and accelerated a shift towards revolutionary anti-capitalism. During the late 1990s, confrontations between militant anti-capitalists and the police became commonplace at G8 summits and WTO conferences, which were regularly targetted for protests by a diverse and decentralised coalition of organisations. The largest of these were the 1999 Seattle WTO protests, where anarchists, environmentalists and trade unionists caused conference negotiations to collapse; this inspired a new wave of anti-capitalist
activism Activism consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make Social change, changes in society toward a perceived common good. Forms of activism range from ...
in the 21st century, with large protests taking place against the 26th G8 summit in
Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...
and the 27th G8 summit in Genoa.


2000s


2010s


2020s


See also

* Accumulation by dispossession * Adbusters * Anti-Capitalist Convergence * Anti-consumerism * Anti-system politics * Anti-politics * Christian views on poverty and wealth * Fascist economy * Degrowth * Distributism * Eye of a needle * Foundations of Real-World Economics * Humanistic economics * Islamic views on poverty * List of anti-capitalist and communist parties with national parliamentary representation * New Anticapitalist Party * Post-capitalism * Real utopias * Real-world economics * Religious economy * Religious views on capitalism * Social democracy * Solidarity economy * Syndicalism


References


Bibliography

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Further reading

* * * * * * * * * * *


External links


Anti-capitalism: theory and practice
by Chris Harman, SWP (2000).
Rough Guide to the Anti-Capitalist Movement
League for the Fifth International *
Infoshop.org Anarchists Opposed to Capitalism
Infoshop.org

1907 anti-capitalist pamphlet hosted at EconomicDemocracy * Sam Ashma

''International Socialist Journal'' 2003
Marxists Internet Archive
* Dr. Wladyslaw Jan Kowalski * Aufheben
Anti-Capitalism as an ideology... and as a movement
Libcom.org
Studies in Anti-Capitalism

How to Be an Anticapitalist Today
Erik Olin Wright for '' Jacobin.'' December 2, 2015.
Infographic: Where People Are Losing Faith In Capitalism
''
International Business Times The ''International Business Times'' is an American online newspaper that publishes five national editions in four languages. The publication, sometimes called ''IBTimes'' or ''IBT'', offers news, opinion and editorial commentary on business and ...
.'' January 27, 2020. {{Authority control Alter-globalization Anarchism Anti-globalization movement Communism Economic ideologies Labour movement Labor relations Marxism Political ideologies Political movements Schools of economic thought Socialism